Histoire des Plantes

Abstract

THIS is a fine book—a very fine book, one might say; nevertheless, not wholly satisfactory. Turning over its pages we feel a sense of power wasted in an attempt to bring together too much in a digested form,—far more indeed than any one cares to find in one work. The book, if it goes on, will be a sort of Botanical Encyclopaedia, suited rather for adepts and advanced students than for the general reader. No one thinks of turning to an Encyclopaedia for the best and most exhaustive information upon anything, and so it will be in this case. M. Baillon brings together Organogeny, Structure, and Taxonomy, including a description of every genus of Flowering Plants. Now this is too much for any single mind to work out. M. Baillon is a man still young and vigorous, and of wonderful assiduity; and if he live, it is quite possible he may bring his work to a close. And it will be no mean monument, though not without its warning, especially to those whose ambition impels them to aim too much at leaving behind a name in large characters rather than deeply cut. As yet, however, our author is hardly out of shallow water. Nearly all the groups which he has touched upon have been quite lately worked up systematically by other eminent botanists, and their material has doubtless afforded him a good bottom. Histoire des Plantes. By H. Baillon. Vol. I. 8vo, 488 pp. With 503 figures by Faguet, price 21s. (Paris and London: Hachette and Co.)