BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 249 
self still to Indian Botany, distributing his ample Herbarium, and con- 
tinuing the * Prodromus Flore Peninsule Orientalis; With the ad- 
vantages he will hereafter enjoy, this work will, we have no doubt, be 
marked by accurate and sound views of structure, system, and nomen- 
clature. Indeed, despite all the drawbacks which he enumerates as 
having. pressed heavily on him in India, in the shape of deficient libra- 
ries, etc., his works show a singular, and, we say with regret, a very 
rare love of truth, and earnest desire to reduce species to their proper 
limits and their proper names. This singleness of purpose is the more 
admirable in a naturalist having every facility and every excuse for 
magnuifying the importance of his own researches, and describing all 
supposed discoveries as new. Dr. Wight herein stands out in bold 
and singular contrast to the host of botanical authors now obscuring 
the pages of our periodicals with a cloud of synonymy. 
To the general usefulness of all Dr. Wight’s works there is but one 
drawback, namely, a want of attention to style and composition. Now 
_ that botanists have so much, and often useless, matter to wade through 
before arriving at a result in any department of their science, it is par- 
ticularly incumbent on authors to study terseness of expression, to avoid 
all verbosity and alliteration, to arrange discursive matter well, and to 
prune it of as many words as possible. The writings of Brown and 
Lindley are models in this respect, ever before the English botanist's 
eyes, —ever approved of, but seldom imitated. 
Botanical News from Italy. (From the * Bonplandia.’) 
Florence, June 17, 1853. 
I did not write to you in May because I had nothing to communi- 
cate. I anticipated it would have been the same this month, but, con- 
trary to expectation, several recent publications have just reached me, 
of which I will now proceed to give a brief summary. I shall begin 
with two memoirs by Professor Moretti, of Pavia; the one is his eighth 
memoir in defence and illustration of Mattiolo’s botanical works; in 
which, continuing to investigate the subject of representation of plants 
in wood-cuts, he treats of those belonging to the 16th century, and 
through his erudite researches brings to light several new and interest- 
ing facts, The other is an historical and critical account of Dantia 
VOL., V. 2k 
