Bibliographical Notices. 413 



we can scarcely imagine anything better calculated than this Atlas 

 to impress the general public with a true idea of the value and in- 

 terest of scientific pursuits. The work must indeed be regarded as 

 one of the most valuable gifts ever offered by science to education. 



A History of Inventions, Discoveries and Origins. By Prof. Beck- 

 MANtf. 4th ed. Edited by W. Francis, Ph.D. &c, and J. W. 

 Griffith, M.D. &c. 



From the title of this work it would at first appear that it had little 

 to do with the subjects to which our pages are devoted, but under 

 the third head, that of Origins, we find several articles which, 

 although hardly to be considered as scientific, have considerable in- 

 terest for the naturalist. The inquiries concerning the plants known 

 to the ancients and the endeavours to settle their synonymy with 

 modern species present a good example of the wonderful perseverance 

 and earnestness which characterize German research even when its 

 results are to be devoted to popular instruction. 



In the article on the history of kitchen vegetables, the author, in 

 addition to those commonly in use, refers shortly to several which 

 are no longer considered worthy of cultivation. Speaking of the 

 name of Borago officinalis, he says : — " Some of the old botanists 

 have conjectured that it is derived from the word corago, which Apu- 

 leius, whose period is uncertain, gives as a synonym of buglossum. 

 Some think that the reading in Apuleius ought to be borago ; and 

 others assert that corago is the true name, and arose from the quality 

 which the plant has of strengthening the heart ; consequently we 

 ought properly to read corago, and not borago. It is probable that 

 our forefathers, under the idea that their borage was the buglossum 

 of the ancients and therefore had the property of strengthening the 

 heart, threw the flowers into wine, that their spirits might by these 

 means be more enlivened*. 



" Our borage is certainly a foreign plant, andCaesalpinus said that 

 it was brought from other countries to Italy. Linnaeus positively 

 states that it first came from Aleppo ; but I have not yet been able 

 to find on what authority this assertion is founded." 



There is a very interesting article on Kermes and Cochineal, 

 containing a well- digested account of the ceconomic history of 

 these curious insects. It is stated that 1,569,120 lbs. of cochineal 

 were exported from and consumed in this country in 1844, and that 

 each pound contains 70,000 insects ! 



We do not quite agree with the editors in their opinion of plant- 

 skeletons. This means of investigating structure, of stems espe- 

 cially, has been too much neglected, and is in fact almost the only 

 means of acquiring a clear idea of relations of parts in some plants ; 

 such a means is the less to be dispensed with that we know so little 

 of the subject. This book has been well-known in its former editions 

 and its value fully appreciated, and great credit is due to the present 



* Hence the old distich, " I, borage, 



