Éléments de Patéobotanique

Abstract

SOME of the most striking advances in botanical science during the last two or three decades have been in the domain of Palæobotany. The study of fossil plants is now generally recognised as a science of primary importance, which affords, not merely useful data for the stratigraphical geologist, but furnishes valuable information as to the course of plant evolution, and enables us to connect some of the phyla of the plant-kingdom at points where their common origin is clearly indicated. Prof. Zeiller, of the École des Mines, Paris, has played a prominent part in placing fossil botany on a thoroughly scientific basis; his work, which embraces a wide field, is characterised by a philosophical handling of facts, a thoroughness of treatment and a breadth of view that are too frequently lacking in scientific writings of the present day. In the book before us Prof. Zeiller has performed a difficult task with considerable success. Within a small compass he has included a systematic though necessarily brief account of the more important types of fossil plants, and concise and clearly-written chapters on various subjects of geological and botanical interest. The illustrations are well executed, and it is a pleasure to note that many of them are new. In the section treating of the preservation of plants as fossils, Zeiller draws attention to a method of examination of “impressions” which he has used with considerable success. It is often possible, after suitable chemical treatment, to examine microscopically the thin carbonaceous film, which may sometimes be detached from the surface of a plant fragment lying on a slab of shale, and in this way to obtain important information as to anatomical details. Éléments de Patéobotanique. By R. Zeiller Pp. 421. (Paris: Carré and Naud, 1900.)