Abstract
THIS is a most attractive-looking book by the same author as the dismal little tractate just noticed. It might have been hoped that it would have made clear some of its dark sayings. But they all seem to be ipsissimis verbis, sugared over with copious extracts from all sorts of people, from Thoreau and Kingsley to Mr. Worthington Smith, Dr. Masters and Mr. Darwin. On p. 30 we have “The carbon absorbed from the air is combined with the cell-sap and forms a substance called starch,” which is even harder doctrine than anything in the “Easy Lessons.” Much is said about Equisetacecz and the hygroscopic movements of the elaters of their spores. An unfortunate microscopist is quoted from Science Gossip of such a remote date as 1878, who is of opinion that “the ultimate cause of this movement is quite unknown …. most probably it takes place by the contraction and expansion of the cells of which the elaters are composed.” Of course it is well known that the spores are unicellular and the elaters are simply strips of the spirally torn outer cell-wall. The book, with all its blundering accounts of Englena (sic), Claydonia (sic), the “lovely Closterium” which consists of two cells,” and the like, may stimulate the curiosity of those who know nothing of plants to know more and better. It is at any rate interesting to find that Prof. Schwendener's lichen-theory has found its way to popular books, even though it is introduced with the remark that “concerning” gonidia “a humorous theory was promulgated a few years ago, but met with the ridicule it deserved.” The book has 148 illustrations drawn by the author, which scarcely do justice to the “specially prepared rolled paper” provided for them.
Plant-Life. Popular Papers on the Phenomena of Botany.
(London: Marshall Japp and Co., 1881.)
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Plant-Life Popular Papers on the Phenomena of Botany . Nature 24, 211 (1881). https://doi.org/10.1038/024211a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/024211a0