Abstract
DURING recent years many books on botany have been published, specially for the use of students preparing for examinations. In these a few types and phases of plant life have been described somewhat in detail. In the present case a much wider range has been taken, the result being an illustrated botanical note-book, condensed but not meagre. In the preface the author takes it for granted that every student nowadays attends lectures or demonstrations, and “therefore does not so much require a manual with diffuse explanations, but rather a kind of illustrated digest and general note-book, which will enable him to quickly arrange and make most effective use of the various facts and theories treated of by his teacher.” A book on these lines Mr. Johnstone has been successful in producing. It consists of 260 pages and 226 illustrations. Some of the latter are the ones which seem by custom to be considered necessary for reproduction in every fresh botanical manual, while others appear to be new. The outline ones, such as those on p. 30, illustrating the branching of cells, give a much clearer idea than could be done by pages of letterpress. A short introductory chapter points out the position botany holds in science. The strictly botanical part of the work is treated of in four sections, viz. (1) morphology; (2) external morphology or organography; (3) physiology; and (4) taxonomy.
Botany: a Concise Manual for Students of Medicine and Science.
By Alex. Johnstone (Edinburgh and London: Young J. Pentland, 1891.)
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W., C. Botany: a Concise Manual for Students of Medicine and Science. Nature 44, 75 (1891). https://doi.org/10.1038/044075a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/044075a0