Abstract
A BOOK of modest pretensions, and not without its value. As a rule there is no class of scientific literature to be more carefully avoided than that which professes to compress the whole of the elements of a science into a small portable volume; nowhere is the master's hand more urgently required than in the compilation of text-books. Mr. Hayward we do not recollect to have met with before as a botanical writer; this little book, however, evidences great care in its preparation, and the author is careful not to claim for it too high a place. Its object is to “afford information to the tyro, and also to refresh the memory of the more advanced botanist who, by examining on the spot any doubtful plant, may be saved the trouble of carrying home specimens of little value; it is not intended as a book for the study, nor as a rival to the many excellent and complete manuals of our leading botanists; but to be accepted for what it is, viz., ‘A Botanist's Pocket-book.’ ” This purpose it may well serve; occupying not much over 200 pages of thin paper in limp cloth binding, it will be no great burden to the pocket or knapsack, and may frequently be usefully resorted to by a young botanist on the tramp, leaving more careful study till he gets home.
The Botanists' Pocket-book: containing in a tabulated form the chief characteristics of British plants.
By W. R. Hayward. (Bell and Daldy, 1872.)
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
B., A. The Botanists' Pocket-book: containing in a tabulated form the chief characteristics of British plants. Nature 7, 360 (1873). https://doi.org/10.1038/007360b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/007360b0