234. 



PART II. 



REVIEWS. 



Art. I. A Flora of Bewoick upon Tweed. By George John- 

 ston, M.D. &c. Vol. I. — Phsenogamous Plants. Berwick. 

 8vo. 1829. 



In the course of time many wise saws have been held cur- 

 rent in physic, and many vain promises made by the empi- 

 rical, yet we are acquainted with no apothegm half so wise 

 as that which is condensed by Dr. Cullen, into two lines of 

 small pica, and read as follows : " I have cured weak stomachs 

 by engaging the persons in the study of botany, and particu- 

 larly in the investigation of native plants." This being our 

 sovereign panacea for the cure of the ills which flesh is heir 

 lo in this great city, we shall be excused for calling our readers' 

 attention, more at large than usual, to one of the best local 

 Floras that has passed through our hands. 



The northern counties have been more than ordinarily for- 

 tunate in the number of active botanists who have resided 

 within their borders. Mr. Winch of Newcastle, so well 

 known among naturalists for his skill and accuracy, has pub- 

 lished various works as Guides to the Botanists through this 

 interesting corner of the island. Then, Mr. Thompson, a 

 surgeon in the army, set an excellent example to his migratory 

 brethren, and showed them how they might reap laurels in 

 other fields than those of death, and published " A Catalogue 

 of Plants growing in the vicinity of Bernsoich^^ adding thereto 

 many which had not been observed before. 



The author of the present work, not content with descri- 

 bing species for the hundredth time, and giving a mere cata- 

 logue within a limited district, has thrown in many pertinent 

 remarks respecting their geological distribution, their uses in 

 the arts, their physiological phenomena ; and in the Flora of 

 a river so celebrated in pastoral as the Tweed, " where flowers 

 of fairy blow," he has noticed the superstitions connected with 

 them in former times, and the illustrations they have fur- 

 nished to the poet. Not a field nor a flower but suggests to 

 our author some beauty which is veiled from the ordinary 

 passenger. The pleasures of science are thus greatly en- 

 hanced, and a higher relish given to the pursuits of life. 



