24 
REVIEWS. 
who will carefully study Fownes may possess, in greater or 
less degree, the qualities of his guide, the knowledge of many 
facts, and a sound acquaintance with principles. 
Lesso7is in Bleine^itary Botany. By Daniel Oliver, F.R.S., 
F.L.S., &c. London and Cambridge: Macmillan & Co, 
1868. 
Although botany is a branch of natural science which 
has not yet been introduced into the curricula of the English 
school of veterinary medicine, we have reason to know that 
its importance to the veterinarian is fully understood, and 
that the absence of such knowledge is often deplored, espe¬ 
cially by those members of our profession whose duties are 
carried on in the country. 
It is not at all times an easy matter to show to the 
student of human medicine the advantages to be derived 
from botanical studies, whereas it can he readily demon¬ 
strated to the student of the veterinary art that a thoroughly 
practical acquaintance with at least the flora of Great 
Britain and Ireland may often enable him, by a careful and 
systematic examination of the plants in a locality, to discover 
the cause of sudden and unusual outbreaks of disease. 
Professor Oliver, by the arrangement of his matter, by the 
familiar and easily obtained illustrations he has selected, and 
by the exceedingly clear and pleasing style of explanation he 
has adopted, has transformed a dry ’’ and difiicult subject 
into one which is most attractive. AVe feel certain that any 
person of even very moderate attainments could with a fair 
amount of application, and the assistance of ‘ Oliver’s Lessons 
in Elementary Botany,’ very shortly acquire such a know¬ 
ledge of the structure and physiology of common plants as 
would be of material benefit to him, whether the study of 
botanical science be regarded as a means of training the mind to 
make minute observations and to form correct conclusions, or 
