98 jRetrospedive Criticism, 



that day, 20^ ; extreme cold, 22° j wind north-west. The warmest day in 

 that month was on the 12th: mean temperature of that day, 53°; extreme 

 heat, 57^; wind west. On 13 days the wind blew from west and south- 

 west ; on 6 days, from north-west ; on 7 days, from due north ; and on 4 

 days, from easterly points. There were 10 days of clear, and 2 of partial, 

 sunshine; 18 were cloudy. 



The copious rains, and unusual warmth, in the early part of October, 

 produced a sort of late autumnal growth in trees and shrubs, which has 

 made them more tenacious than ordinary of retaining their foliage, not- 

 withstanding the severe frosts in November. The laurustinus was in full 

 blossom by the end of October ; and on the 5th of November the Highland 

 hUls were covered from to 1 to 2 ft. deep with snow : violent winds from 

 the north-west, blowing over the snow-clad hills, gave early indication of a 

 storm, which followed on the 16th, and several subsequent days. The 

 storm had spent its rage by the 20th ; and on the 23d the thermometer 

 stood at 53°, or 29° higher than on the 19th and 20th. In the fields early 

 sown wheat is rather forward, much having the coronal roots already 

 formed; a general precursor of a small ear, these roots being often hurt 

 by the winter or spring frosts. Wheat sown on the Sd of November is just 

 beginning to appear, but is not yet fully brairded. The fieldfares and wild 

 geese arrived in the low carse [vale] early in November. In the cultivated 

 districts partridges have been strong, and in great plenty ; and the moorfowl 

 aiforded fine sport (if sport it can be called) on the hills. The J'rbutus 

 C/^nedo was in full blow by the middle of October, and its berries [those 

 from the blossoms of October, 1830] are now assuming a scarlet colour. 

 JVarcissus, and other bulbous-rooted plants, begin to send their foliage 

 above ground. The flowers of the sweet-smelling coltsfoot (Tussilago 

 fragrans) have been nipt by the frost, when left in the open air ; no plant 

 pays better with scent in the green-house in the winter months. The 

 Tritoma media shows a vigorous flower stem in the open border, notwith- 

 standing the late severe frost ; and the Aponogeton distachyon is now in 

 full blossom in a well where the temperature of the water is 47°. — A, G, 

 Annat Gardens y December 1. 1831. 



Art, III. Retrospective Criticism. 



The Mot in Sheep, asremBrked on in Vol. IV. p. 284. 472. — D. N. has 

 had but few opportunities, I fear, of examining sheep in the early stages 

 of the rot, or he could scarcely have hazarded his theory of the biliary 

 circuit and deposit of tubercles on the liver. (Vol. IV. p. 472.) It cannot, T 

 conceive, be demonstrated that bile is thrown back upon the system, and 

 mingles with the circulating fluid ; for in the early stages there is no obstruc- 

 tion to the bile ; and in the latter, what little is secreted is intercepted by 

 the flukes (Vol. IV. p. 284. fig. 51.) on the hepatic side of the gall-bladder. 

 The eye, which D. N. takes as an index to the bilious condition of the sys- 

 tem, has really not that " tinge of yellow and jaundiced-like appearance '* 

 at the commencement of the disease. On the contrary, the peculiar white- 

 ness of the eyes is the first symptom which guides the shepherd to the 

 unwelcome truth. If the bile ducts be carefully examined in the earliest 

 stage of the complaint, there will be found a few flukes in the duct which 

 conveys the bile from the gall-bladder to the intestine, but none in the gall- 

 bladder, and none beyond it, a sound liver, no " tubercles," no " abscesses," 

 ■and withal a fine fat healthy-looking carcass. If it be in the latest stage 

 when the examination is made, the gall-bladder will be found filled with 

 flukes instead of bile : and the animals will be seen making their way up 



