Two Recent Nature Study Books. 139 
modern practical plant-physiology, and the concluding section on the 
“ Battles of Plants in the World” gains everything from the modern 
study of ecology, so widely developed in America during the past 
few years. 
The faults of the book seem very trifling. We are not sure 
that putting a number of the sentences in the form of questions, 
evidently intended to keep the mind of the reader active, is a good 
plan. It breaks up the exposition, and tends to turn the “crispness’ 
of the style into “ choppiness.” Furthermore, while some of the 
questions are answered in the context, others are not, but are 
supposed to be left to the observation of the reader, and this has 
rather a bewildering effect, A few statements are a little mis¬ 
leading or obscure. On page 119 , for instance, it is implied that 
the formation of starch always precedes that of living substance in 
the plant, which is hardly accurate; while on page 193 it is stated 
that “ there is a royal bit of life substance in the very young embryo 
case, known as the germ or egg.” The use of the adjective “ royal ” 
here, without explanation or comment surely is a little strange. Oc¬ 
casionally the author’s outbursts are rather amusing. After telling 
the “life stories” of Ferns, Mosses and Mushrooms, he says : “ Some 
will tell you that such interesting plants as the ferns, mosses and 
puff-balls are cryptogams , and that therefore you should not try to 
read the stories they have to tell. But why call them cryptogams ? 
That is a terrible word that ought to be blotted out of the English 
language. Why not call them plants, as they are? They are just 
as much God’s creatures as the dandelion and thistle and smart- 
weed. They are just as interesting, too, and mean as much in our 
lives as they do.” We wonder what the average child will make of 
this. Or is it intended as a mild rebuke to a possible ignorant and 
pedantic teacher? Some of the half-tone reproductions of 
photographs of vegetations are not so good as they might be, 
though others are excellent. 
But we must congratulate Professor Atkinson very heartily on 
the work, which ought to be of considerable use on this side of the 
Atlantic, the only drawback being the fact that many of the native 
American plants mentioned are not found in England. 
Mr. Scott Elliot’s book has a different object. It “ has been 
written ” says the author “ with the view of helping those non¬ 
professional lovers of Nature Study” who are really interested in 
the mystery of Plant-life Mr. Scott Elliot is very anxious “as far 
as possible, to do without technical terms.” “ In England,” he says 
in his preface, “ the terminology of Botany is fast becoming a sort 
of Chinese alphabet, which will require so much time to master, 
that nothing of a life-time will be left in which to use it in the study 
of Nature.” This rather suggests that a student learns all the 
botanical terms in current use before he begins to use any of them ! 
The student who tries this plan is certainly to be commiserated. The 
more usual method, we should have thought, isto learn such terms as 
are necessary in order to have exact names for things he wants to 
read about or allude to. No one will ever acquire exact knowledge 
of any branch of the science unless he does so much, and no serious 
botanist we have ever met desired more terms than were 
“ necessary ” in this sense. Of course, in “ popular classes,” that 
