44 
Reviews. 
/  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
l.     January,  1900. 
nitrification  ;  that  is  to  say,  B.  ramosns  breaks  down  the  gelatine,  and  ammo- 
nia is  formed  ;  this  is  then  oxidized  to  nitrous  acid  by  Nitrosomonas,  and  the 
nitrous  acid  is  further  oxidized  to  nitric  acid  by  Nitrobacter.'''' 
In  endeavoring  to  ascertain  some  knowledge  of  the  physiology  of  symbiosis, 
it  is  apparent  that  in  the  "  closely  associated  symbiosis,  such  as  those  com- 
posing a  lichen,  the  ginger-beer  plant,  or  a  clump  of  symbiotic  bacteria  or 
fungi,  researches  have  made  it  practically  certain  that  the  provision  of  definite 
food  materials  by  the  one  symbiant  for  the  other  may  be  an  important  factor, 
e.  g.,  an  alga  supplies  a  fungus  with  carbohydrates,  or  a  fungus  converts- 
starch  into  the  fermentable  sugars  which  the  associated  yeast  needs.  In  other 
cases  the  advantage  derived  is  one  of  protection  from  some  injurious  agent, 
e.  g.,  the  aerobic  bacterium  prevents  the  access  of  oxygen  to  the  anaerobic 
one."  Other  factors  besides  these  are  at  work  causing  symbiotic  fermentation, 
and  Marshall  Ward  discusses  them  in  the  Chem.  News,  1899,  p.  173.  The  con- 
sideration of  the  subject  of  both  enzymic  and  symbiotic  fermentation  is  of  great 
importance  in  the  arts  and  medicine,  as  it  is  these  enzymes,  as  well  as  other  pro- 
ducts which  are  secreted  by  the  fungi,  bacteria  and  other  organisms,  which  are 
either  useful  or  harmful,  and  which  ma}'  be  produced  in  extent  and  kind  de- 
pending upon  the  quantity  or  quality  of  food  materials  at  command. 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
Morphology  and  Histology  of  Plants.  Designed  Especially  as  a  Guide 
to  Plant  Analysis  and  Classification,  and  as  an  Introduction  to  Pharmacognosy 
and  Vegetable  Physiology.  Part  I.  The  Morphology  of  Plants,  by  Henry  H. 
Rusby,  M.D.  Part  II.  Plant  Histology,  by  Smith  Ely  Jelliffe,  M.D.,  Ph.D. 
With  693  Illustrations.    Published  by  the  authors. 
It  is  probably  the  experience  of  all  schools  and  colleges  of  pharmacy  that 
the  per  cent,  of  matriculants  holding  high-school  diplomas  has  been  a  con- 
stantly increasing  one  from  3-ear  to  year.  Furthermore,  it  is  gratifying  to  note 
that  most  high  schools  are  giving  more  attention  to  the  study  of  the  sciences,, 
especiall}'  botany,  than  heretofore,  so  much  so,  in  fact,  that  some  universities 
leave  the  teaching  of  the  elements  of  systematic  and  physiological  botany  to 
them,  and  require  botany  for  entrance.  As  this  is  the  exception,  however, 
rather  than  the  rule,  and  as  many  students,  especially  in  pharmacy,  have  not 
enjoyed  more  than  a  common-school  education,  it  becomes  absolutely  ueces- 
.sary  in  all  teaching  institutions  of  pharmacy  to  more  or  less  thoroughly  re- 
hearse those  departments  of  botany  deemed  essential  to  the  proper  study  of 
pharmacognosy  and  materia  medica.  A  suitable  text-book  for  the  use  of  phar- 
macy students,  one  which  is  not  burdened  with  useless,  dr}~  details,  and  at  the 
same  time  is  written  in  plain,  easily  understood  language,  has  been  really  want- 
ing in  America.  In  the  writer's  opinion  there  is  no  text-book  which  so  nearly 
supplies  this  want  as  the  second  edition  of  the  above-named  book.  It  may  be 
truly  said  that  this  edition  has  been  made  wider  in  its  scope  by  the  addition 
of  a  large  amount  of  matter  of  a  more  general  character,  but  this  is  no  objec- 
tion, since  it  serves  a  larger  class  of  students. 
Quoting  from  the  author's  preface,  "  the  additional  matter  consists  in  part  of 
a  more  complete  treatrn2.1t  of  the  original  topics,  but  more  especially  in  the 
