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ture of the sugar arises from the presence of great quantities 
of raphides, that is internal microscopical crystals, (not of 
oxalate of lime) ; it appears that such crystals are found ex- 
clusively in the parenchyma of the ascending part of the 
plant; that is to say, in the above-ground part of the root, 
and in the stems and leaves. The quantity of such crystals 
is affected essentially by the soil in which the plants are 
cultivated ; in highly manured, rich soil, frequently watered, 
they are found to exist to the amount of 12 per cent., which 
was rather more than the quantity of sugar contained in the 
leaves examined. The sugar was found by M. Decaisne to be 
secreted exclusively in the parenchyma, and in a limpid state. 
Illustrations of Indian Botany, by Robert Wight, M.D. 4to. Madras, 1838 $ 
published in numbers, each containing 8 coloured plates, with appropriate 
letter-press. 
Of this work six numbers have reached me. It is 
executed on the plan of Royle's Illustrations, and is intended 
to bring the Botany of India before the people of India in a 
cheap and interesting shape, an object which there can be 
no doubt that it will accomplish. The price is so moderate 
that it is secure of a remunerating sale, and there is there- 
fore no room to doubt that Dr. Wight will complete his 
undertaking. The plates are executed in lithography, and 
are characteristic of the plants; if they want the neatness 
and finish of European works, they fully answer the purpose 
for which they are destined. It is impossible not to regard 
this work as one of the many means which are now silently, 
but surely, working in harmony towards the great national 
end of improving the resources of the British possessions in 
India. One of the great obstacles to this important object, 
so far as the vegetable kingdom is concerned, has been the 
difficulty of ascertaining to what plants the native names of 
useful products really apply. Like all vernacular names, 
those of India are uncertain and unstable; the same name 
being given to one plant in one province, and to another in 
some other province. One of the results of Dr. Wight's work 
will be to enable residents in India to give plants their scien- 
tific names, and thus to render certain and precise what must 
otherwise be most uncertain and deceptive. 
Among the more curious plants illustrated in the first 
six numbers, are species of the genera Acrotrema, Schuma- 
cheria, Hydnocarpus, Xanthophyllum, Hugonia, Hopea, 
