234 



MEETING OF SCOTTISH NATURALISTS. 



A FEW of the zealous and active naturalists of our northern metropolis and its 

 neighbourhood, have conceived the laudable de^gn of inviting a general assem- 

 bly of the naturalists of Great Britain in Edinburgh, during the present summer, 

 with the view of organizing an annual meeting, somewhat after the German model. 

 The idea, as we have been informed, originated with Dr. Fleming, Dr. Graham, 

 Dr. Greville, Mr. Walker Amott, Mr. James Wilson, and Mr. Neill ; and every 

 one who has since heard of the happy thought, has entered earnestly into the de- 

 sire for its execution. Application has been made to Professor Jameson, as the 

 head of Natural History in Scotland, to take the direction of the meeting, and to 

 permit the elegant apartments of the Museum of the University to be thrown 

 open for the reception of all those who receive the appellation of scientific men. 

 And we rejoice to have this to say in favour of our Professor, (of whom it may be 

 imagined we have no overweening admiration,) that he is reported to have joined 

 most cordially in the views of his friends, and will exert himself in every way to 

 promote an object which must be so serviceable to science and so honourable to 

 Scotland. Every thing now smiles upon the undertaking, and we trust, in our 

 next number, to be able to congratulate this city on the success of a spirited at- 

 tempt which gives promise of a new era in her annals. Our southern friends had 

 better be on the qui vive, for the metaphysical nation is becoming clear-headed, 

 and threatens soon to take a lead in the cultivation of natural science. 



The advantages of such a meeting as is contemplated need no explanation : 

 if it were only the service that must be derived from the immediate communication 

 of scientific men, and the extension of their acquaintance with congenial minds, 

 theie would be ample benefit gained ; but if personal intercourse and a convi- 

 vial meeting could be made to banish, even for a time, the jealousies and ani- 

 mosities which have so long branded the names and characters of naturalists, every 

 man who deserves the respect of his fellows would anxiously seize the means. 

 For it is a lamentable fact, that our science, in itself so peaceable and gentle, 

 should be constantly associated with disputes and malignities which appear to be 

 altogether unaccountable, unless we suppose that an hypertrophy of intellectual 

 power necessarily produces an atrophy of moral worth. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Lesson is preparing for publication a Picturesque Journal of a Voyage round 

 the World, in the Corvette La Coquille... The Emperor of Russia has accorded 

 a grant for the continuation of the publication of the Memoirs of the Imperial 

 Society of Moscow. . . A Journal of Natural History, Chemistry, &c. has also been 

 set on foot in the same town. 



List of New Books. 



Colleccion de los Viajes y des cubriminientos que hicieron, per mar los Espa. 

 noles desde fines del Siglo XV. Madrid.... Handboekje op eene Reis den Rjin 

 opwaarts tot Spiers. 1 vol. 8vo. Amsterdam — De Heerlijke Voorden van de 

 Moczel ; by Sprenger Van Eyk. 1 vol. 8vo. Rotterdam... Herbetreise durch 

 Scandinavien ; by Willibald Alexis. 2 vol. 8vo. Berlin.... Itineraire et souvenirs 

 d'un Voyage en Italic, en 1819 et 1820. 4 vols. 8vo. Paris... Bericht nber eine 

 Reise nach den Westlicken Staaten Nordamerikas. 8vo, Elberfeld...Reis door 

 een Gedeelte der Nederlandsche Bezettingen in Oost-Indie ; by J. C. Baane. 1 

 vol. in large 8vo. Amsterdam... Reise door weinig bekenden Zuidelijken Moluk- 

 Rchen Archipel, etc. ; by D. H. Kalf. In large 8vo. Amsterdam... Pratische 

 Mineralogie Zum Selbststudium ; by J. H. G. Rieth. 8vo. Voight... Flore de 

 la Moselle; par M. Holandre. 2 vol. 18mo. Metz...Monographia Rhizosperma- 

 rum et Hepaticarum, Auct. J. Corda. In 4to. Prague... Uber die Springmoeuse, 

 etc. M. Lichtenstein. 4to. Berlin... Molluscorum Borussicorum Synopsis, Auct. 

 Dr. G. Kleeberg. In 12mo. Koanigsberg. .. Hannibal's Passage of the Alps ; by 

 a Member of the University of Cambridge... Hooker's British Flora... Macgilli- 

 vray's, Withcring's Bofcany. 



