So'werhy^s Supplement to Eriglish Botany. 65 



degree of pictorial beauty with scientific exactness, been brought to a suc- 

 cessful termination by the patronage of the public alone. Besides, where 

 is there a larger number of persons living by authorship, and when do we 

 witness more frequently the union of science with trade ? Under any other 

 system the difficulty would be to preserve this advantageous union in an 

 active state, so important to the prosperity of the country, and the instruc- 

 tion of the public. Books for the people, and those of the best kind, are 

 sold to a greater extent in England than in any other country on the face 

 of the globe ; and it is certain no such result could have followed from a 

 system of royal or government patronage. We probably should have had 

 a few more profound scholars, stars of the first magnitude, who would have 

 illuminated the firmament ; but the mass of the people would have groped in 

 darkness, not vastly benefited by the splendour of the ascendant light. 



In England we have brought into play the interests and the gratifications 

 -of the public to support science ; and it may well be doubted whether any 

 other mode of patronage is so^well suited to our condition. Men of science 

 take a station in society both honourable and, in many cases, profitable ; 

 and the Messrs. Sowerby, father and sons, the authors of the work now 

 under our notice, by adopting natural history, the least profitable of any 

 pursuit, have acquired a rank which greater men might envy, and an inde- 

 pendence which the greatest frequently do not attain. Long may they and 

 their class continue to flourish, and thus negative the assertion that science 

 is placed on a discreditable footing in Great Britain ! 



The numbers of the Supplement to English Botany which lie before us 

 contain several very interesting additions to the Flora of the country ; and 

 in every case the plates are executed by Mr. James D. C. Sowerby, while 

 the descriptions are furnished by some of the most acute botanists of 

 the day. Among the contributions we may notice jErica ciliaris, found by 

 the Rev. Mr. Tozer near Truro \ Cyperu* fuscus, which we have endea- 

 voured to persuade ourselves may be wild ; i?eseda fruticulosa, which is 

 probably not so, but is spreading itself apace ; Chaerophyllum aromaticum ; 

 Orobanche caryophyllacea ; Hierochloe borealis; ./uncus capitatus ; Doroni- 

 cum Pardalianches, being the true plant, that figured in English Botany 

 proving to be the jolantaglneum. Crocus prae^cox and aureus are probably 

 escapes from the garden ; but we quarrel not with them. What we do 

 quarrel with is, that the contributors to the work have palmed upon us so 

 many obscure and undefinable species, which are only known empirically, 

 and are not capable of being held within any definite characters. It is 

 desirable, without doubt, that even these should be recognised by the 

 accomplished botanist ; yet to all but the initiated they are utterly worthless ; 

 and the raising of them to the rank of species, and assigning to them names 

 of equal degree, is involving the whole subject in obscurity, and leading the 

 novice into darkness, confusion, and despair. This eternal splitting of 

 hairs is become the bane of natural history, is unworthy of science, and its 

 advocates will one day have to lament that they have stood sponsors to such 

 a spurious and equivocal offspring. Why do not these lynx-eyed contri- 

 butors turn their attention to some other parts of their subject, record facts, 

 extend observation, connect the knowledge we have with some we have 

 not ; show the length, breadth, heighth, and depth of their science ; the 

 range, conditions, uses, place, and ends of the plants they study ; notice 

 their geographical and geological relations, and be no longer content with 

 the meagre indication of habitat in pratisy pascuis^ cultisy Sj-c. ? One tithe of 

 the sagacity they discover in the infinitesimal division of species, directed to 

 these points, would pile up a mountain of knowledge for future use, and 

 immortalise their own names, which, under their present puerile system, will 

 perish with the ephemeral names they are imposing upon undistinguishable 



things. — c:y- 



Vol. IV. — No. 17. f 



