Recent Text-books 
135 
of the topics dealt with in the chapter. The success of one of the authors in 
conducting practical classes in elementary plant physiology is a guarantee of 
the workableness of the experiments suggested and of the practical directions 
given for carrying them out. 
Part II contains general chapters on the process of reproduction, a very 
short chapter on the Outlines of Classification (the only concession to “mor¬ 
phology ” the book contains), and another on Evolution, Variation and Heredity. 
This last has no directions for practical work attached. Part III consists of 
a chapter on Plant Response, another on Ecology and Plant Geography, and 
a third on the Soil. 
The treatment of the subject is on the whole excellent and well calculated 
to fulfil the authors’ primary aims. The practical drawback is that since ele¬ 
mentary students have rarely time for more than one text-book, the omission 
of any treatment of morphology, which all examination syllabuses require 
and most teachers regard as a necessary part of the training of students, will 
tend to prevent the adoption of the book as a text-book in university classes. 
Professor Small’s book is decidedly longer, though the number of pages is 
considerably increased by the very numerous illustrations, and considerably 
more expensive than the other two. It is stated on the title-page and in the 
preface that it is intended primarily for medical and pharmaceutical students. 
The reviewer is quite clear that medical and pharmaceutical students ought 
not to be expected to become acquainted with so wide a range of facts and 
theories relating to plants as is contained in this work. It is the overloading 
of the syllabus in elementary biology as well as the undue preponderance of 
morphological detail which has been largely responsible for the desire on the 
part of some medical educationists to cut biology out of the syllabus altogether. 
This would be a deplorable action, but if it should be taken biologists will 
have their own unintelligent particularism largely to thank. Medical students, 
certainly, and probably all students who are not going to become professional 
botanists, should be taught not so much about plants for their own sake, but 
rather what plants can teach us about life as a whole. The outlook of Prof. 
Jones’ and Dr Rayner’s book is indeed much better adapted to the real 
educational needs of such students, though it would probably be quite im¬ 
practicable to use it as a text-book in very large medical classes. 
A feature of Prof. Small’s book, alluded to in the preface, is the somewhat 
“ advanced ” treatment of the physico-chemical basis of physiological processes,: 
We are inclined to agree with the author that “ the average student is intelligent 
enough to appreciate the fundamental significance of these points, while the 
brighter students welcome a glimpse of what lies behind the dry bones of 
structural botany, and want to hear more of the inner life of the plant.” At 
least the author’s bold and straightforward method of dealing with these 
problems is better than the slovenly and wholly inadequate treatment which 
they too often receive. Another feature which will certainly be criticised is 
the inclusion of the author’s hydrion concentration theory of geotropism, 
recently published in this journal, and certainly still very much “in the 
controversial stage.” Prof. Small defends himself by saying that “in this 
matter these views are in the same position as many others which, in the past, 
have been taught dogmatically until such time as their limitations have been 
proved.” 
