REVIEWS 
BOTANY FOR SENIOR STUDENTS. By D. Thoday. Cambridge 
University Press. 5s. (hi. 
This book is intended primarily for use- in schools preparing for the 
Senior Cambridge Local Examination in Botany, but as the syllabus for 
this covers much the same ground as that for the Cape Matriculation (except 
for the Natural Orders), it should be just as useful in High Schools in this 
country. In fact, it seems to fill the long-felt want of a botanical text-book 
for Standards D and E, as far, that is, as can be done by any book written 
outside the country. Placed in the hands of students in those classes, it 
would save much time now spent in the giving of “ notes,” as the structure 
and functions of the plant organs are clearly and simply explained, the 
necessary minimum of chemistry and physics is supplied, and no previous 
knowledge of the subject is assumed. 
It is to be wished however that in the section devoted to Plant Physiology 
simpler experiments had been substituted for some of those given — experi- 
ments that could be carried out by the scholars themselves — and also that 
more precise directions had been given for the setting up of the experiments. 
A solitary student not accustomed to the manufacture of gases and the use 
of apparatus generally would become bewildered and disheartened in trying 
to carry out some of these experiments, and would probably descend to learning 
off the accounts of them by heart instead of trying to perform them himself. 
In the hands of a capable teacher however this section will be of value 
as a text, as the writer has paid special attention to various matters which 
experience as an examiner has convinced him are widely misunderstood or 
imperfectly grasped. Similar experience has shown the reviewer that the 
difficulties he dwells on are particular stumbling-blocks to South African 
students, and one feels that a study of Mr Thoday’s clear and careful 
explanations would go a long way towards removing them. A chapter is 
devoted to the balance between absorption and transpiration and adaptations 
to xerophytic conditions, so important in this country. In the section on 
Plant Structure, there are some refreshingly new diagrams of the Sunflower 
stem, and teachers will be pleased to find explanations of the structure of the 
