Dr. Delitzsch says that the subjects in this book "are old pet children, which have grown with me since ever I began to feel and think." He has chosen the name Iris for his book, because of the various applications of that word to the rainbow, the sword-lily, the part of the eye which gives it its colour, and also to the messenger of the gods. The twelve papers are full of quaint details and out-of-the-way facts. The professor's hobby has led him into many gardens where few of us have learned to stroll, and he brings back many a flower which we are thankful to accept. "The Flower-riddle of the Queen of Sheba" is the paper which has pleased us best. It is a little dissertation full of legend, poetry, and history. In "The Gossip about Flowers and Their Fragrance" there is a capital passage about Luther. It seems that "he used to order seedlings from Erfurt and Nurnberg; and though his cloister garden was enough to occupy him, he had the weakness of buying up every piece of garden ground in Wittenberg that came into the market." The publication of these papers will enable many readers to share Dr. Delitzsch's musings. Mr. Cousin's translation is flowing, and, so far as we have seen, free from Germanisms; but, on page 19, there is the awkward expression, " so long of being distinguished."
—The London Quarterly and Holborn Review, Volume 73 [1890]