416 



Monthly Review of Literature, 



[OCT. 



made of the whole as will impress on tlie memory, 

 by a little practice and attention, the different 

 classes to which nature has subjected the vege- 

 table kingdom ; and thus by degrees we become 

 acquainted with each particular vegetable. 



ljut the study, however interesting and instruc- 

 tive in Itself, or necessary for the better compre- 

 hending the more intricate parts of the vegetable 

 kingdom, isof too limited atendencytoembracc that 

 enlarged view of 'the subject, which we consider 

 to be important in the study of botany. 



It is not only the external formation and dis- 

 tinguishing character of plants, or a knowledge of 

 all their varieties, which should become the sub- 

 ject of philosophical interest ; but it is more par- 

 ticularly their internal structure the functions 

 and uses of each part their growth, maturity, de- 

 cay, and renovation and the general and particu- 

 lar purposes for which they were created, that con- 

 fer dignity on the science of botany, and render it 

 one of the most interesting subjects to which our at- 

 tention can be directed. We may indeed admire 

 and dwell upon the beauty and endless variety 

 with which Providence has been pleased to adorn 

 this most interesting part of the creation ; and we 

 may find it convenient to set down in our memo- 

 ries the class, order, and species to which each 

 particular plant may belong, so that we may the 

 more readily recognize it when brought under our 

 notice ; but it is the economy and laws by which 

 the vegetable kingdom is regulated, and their 

 various operations and corresponding effects, that 

 render the science a matter of deep interest, or 

 entitle it to a place in the school of philosophy, 

 &c. 



And, now we have begun to quote, we 

 may give a specimen of his philosophical 

 Opinions, and mode of illustration : 



Adverting again to the brute creation, there is a 

 train of actions peculiar to animals, which though 

 not powerfully bespeaking intellect, have, in our 

 opinion, erroneously been attributed to instinct. 

 Thus, when we see an animal, which has frequent- 

 ly been conducted to a particular spot at some 

 distance from home, and through intricate roads, 

 after a certain period of practice, of itseli find its 

 way back; or when we observe that animals shall 

 uniformly return three or four times a day at the 

 accustomary hours to be fed ; or, as in the case of 

 cows, at fixed periods to be milked ; we should not 

 call this instinct, but habit, from the exercise of the 

 memory ; an intermediate state between instinct 

 and reason ; since the practice depends upon acci- 

 dental contingencies, in which a small proportion 

 of reason must be exercised, to carry them into 

 effect. But if, on returning home, the animal on 

 meeting roads of opposite directions, should stop 

 to look about, and hesitate, as if dubious of the 

 right, and then determine, as we have frequently 

 noticed ; this we should call reflection, and if it be 

 reflection, that attribute we know must emanate 

 exclusively from reason. 



To the influence of reason, we should also attri- 

 bute the resentment often evinced by animals 

 when under ill-treatment from ourselves; the par- 

 tiality and affection which they display towards us 

 when an uniform series of kindness and preference 

 has been bestowed on them ; and the jealousy they 

 evince when that preference has been transferred 

 to another ; the recollection which they retain of 



punishments and rewards ; and the corresponding 

 actions produced therefrom ; the evident influence 

 on many of them (but especially on the dog spe- 

 cies) of the passions expressed in the human coun- 

 tenance and voice, whether of encouragement to 

 approach, or threat of punishment, a command to 

 retire, or to move in a new direction, a dread of 

 their attacks, or a look of determination to resist 

 their threats. All these diversified effects, with a 

 vast variety of others that might be enumerated, 

 we consider to be the result of a certain portion of 

 reason ; since they are produced from unforeseen 

 excitements not connected with the animal's exist- 

 ence and ordinary habits, and must be preceded 

 by reflection, and followed by decision, before they 

 can be called into action. 



But the poisons we again refer to as the 

 best parts of the book. By the way, talk- 

 ing of hydrophobia, an odd nation seems 

 floating in Dr. Lempriere's brain. Dr. 

 Elaine, the dog doctor, says, in all his 

 extensive practice he never saw a mad 

 dog that bad not been bitten. Therefore 

 he (Dr. Lempriere) is ready to conclude 

 there is no such thing among dogs as spon- 

 taneous madness. Who bit the first mad dog? 



Prison Discipline Society. Seventh 

 Report; 1827. Though it be very un- 

 usual with us to notice Society Reports, 

 as being in general rather calculated, 

 when containing matters of extraordinary 

 interest, for another part of our miscel- 

 lany, yet we are tempted to advert to the 

 one before us, as well for the many in- 

 teresting matters it concerns, as the un- 

 usual ability with which it is executed j 

 and which, unnoticed as these things 

 commonly are by literary journals, are in 

 imminent danger of escaping the know- 

 ledge of all except such as are personally 

 interested about them. The report is 

 valuable beyond the common value and 

 that no light one attending the accurate 

 returns of the state of prisons, by its 

 bringing forward in a bolder tone than 

 before a number of matters, which have 

 hitherto, partly from fear of revolting 

 existing prejudices, and partly from a 

 lurking distrust of the soundness of the 

 propositions themselves, been kept back 

 we mean the substitution of imprison- 

 ment for death not in all cases, but for 

 numerous offences for which it is now 

 occasionally inflicted, the obstructions 

 to the admission of bail, and the accursed 

 state of the debtor prisons and debtor 

 laws. 



The report was, we were glad to observe, 

 noticed very generally by the daily prints; 

 but in most of them absurdly remarked 

 upon, in a tone of conclusive censure, as 

 being too long too long it undoubtedly 

 would be, were its contents of a frivolous 

 cast ; but long and short are relative terms 

 a page maybe too long, and a volume too 

 short it is the importance of the matter 

 that determines the justice of a proper- 



