Abstract
THIS volume contains a collection of essays of which some have appeared in periodicals, others are published in English for the first time. They are all more or lesss directly concerned with life, from the phantasy on thfe sun-dial to the eulogy on the boxer's first, only the two last, on the intelligence of flowers and perfumes, are relevant to the subject of flowers. In the former of these, M. Maeterlinck describes in his perspicuous language some of the striking phenomena connected with fruit dispersal, flower pollination, and movement in plants. The accuracy of the word-painting bears witness to the author's first-hand observation of many of the phenomena, although, as he points out, except for his original experiments with the species of Salvia, the results of which are not sufficiently advanced to publish, the facts are taken from well-known sources. The attribution of arithmetical powers to the Rue and other such hyperboles may be regarded as the expression of a strong imaginative temperament. The account of the pollination in Orchis pyramidalis furnishes one of the best examples of the author's faculty of description.
Life and Flowers.
By M. Maeterlinck. Translated by A. T. de Mattos. Pp. xii + 312. (London: George Allen, 1907.) Price 5s. net.
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Life and Flowers . Nature 76, 198 (1907). https://doi.org/10.1038/076198c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/076198c0