156 Silliman' s American Journal. 



REVIEWS. 



Art. I. The American Journal of Science and Art. Conducted 

 by Benjamin Silliman, M.D. LL.D., &c. Vol. xxxi. No. 1. 

 October, 1836. 



The American Quarterly Journal of Science and Art, con- 

 ducted by Professor Silliman, has now reached its sixty-third 

 number, having been carried through the difficulties which 

 have attended its publication, by determined perseverance 

 and unflinching exertions on the part of its editor, under 

 circumstances which do not redound greatly to the credit of 

 our transatlantic friends, considering that the periodical in 

 question is the only one of the kind which can be said to 

 have any direct claim upon them for support. The fault, 

 however, may not rest entirely with the public ; for it must be 

 admitted that some departments of scientific research are not 

 put forward in so correct or careful a manner as might fairly 

 be expected in a publication which, from standing almost 

 alone, holds so prominent a station as the one under notice. 

 But, granting this, still the merits of the work are such as 

 most assuredly have entitled it to more general countenance 

 than it appears to have received ; nor is it improbable that, 

 had it met with more extensive support, the deficiencies 

 which, in some particulars, are now observed, in that case 

 might not have existed. 



The American Journal of Geology and general Science, 

 undertaken by Mr. Featherstonhaugh, although conducted 

 with considerable talent and energy, was relinquished after a 

 vigorous but unsuccessful attempt to establish it. We trust, 

 however, that Professor Silliman, having so long weathered 

 the storm, will now have his meritorious exertions in the 

 cause of science rewarded, as the real importance of the 

 objects to which his journal is devoted are at this time 

 rapidly becoming generally acknowledged, and there must 

 necessarily be a corresponding increase in the number of 

 those who are engaged in pursuits of a scientific nature. 



The last number which has reached us is partly occupied 

 by a collection of miscellaneous notes, extracted from the 

 Diary of a Naturalist, during a tour, in 1835, to the Falls of 

 the Cuyahoga, near Lake Erie. These are penned in a free 

 and pleasing style ; and the writer is evidently one who has 

 had his eyes about him, although, like many other indiscrimi- 

 nate observers, he evidently possesses no definite acquaintance 

 with the details of science ; and his deficiency in this respect 

 is so manifest, as to destroy, in a great measure, the interest 

 which would otherwise have attended some of his remarks 

 upon various points in natural history. 



