54 REVIEWS OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



discovery of the natural laws which govern the vegetable kingdom. Our au- 

 thor's reply to his reviewer is cleverly managed, and had we not been previously 

 aware of the reviewer's name, we should not have guessed it from Mr. Watson's 

 observations. Much less should we have suspected, reasoning a priori, that 

 the said reviewer was one of the " pillars of Botany." The erroneous tendency 

 of the reviewer's observations is, however, so obvious, that we shall not waste 

 further time in discussing the point. 



Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons ; illustrating the Perfections of God in the 

 Phenomena of the Year. By the Bev. Henry Duncan, D.D. Autumn. Edin- 

 burgh : W. Oliphant fy Son ; Hamilton, Adams, fy Co., London. 1837. 12mo. 

 pp. 408. 



We have had occasion to review the former parts of this series in preceding num- 

 bers (Vol. I., p. 274., Vol. II., p. 225), and the present volume completes the work. 

 It " will be found, in some respects, to differ in its character from the preceding 

 volumes, and to bear, in a large proportion of its contents, a less direct reference 

 to the season of the year. It seemed right that the concluding volume, besides 

 containing various details of autumnal appearances, produce, &c, and of the 

 diversified labours of the harvest, should be mainly occupied with the general 

 results of that remarkable system which pervades animated nature, and of which 

 the phenomena of the revolving year constitute one of the most prominent fea- 

 tures." — p. iii. 



Though original in character and execution, this book is intended for the ge- 

 neral reader, and is not altogether free from the errors common to the class of 

 publications to which it belongs. Justice, however, compels us to state, that 

 these are neither numerous nor glaring, and it must further be observed, that it 

 cannot be expected that every one should be fully acquainted with the most 

 recent discoveries in Physiology, Zoology, Botany, and the various subjects, 

 which must be occasionally touched upon in these volumes. In cases where 

 these mistakes are many and important, the misfortune is, that they will alone 

 remain undetected by those whom they could be calculated to mislead. 



The general divisions adopted by the author are, — the phenomena, produce, 

 and labours of the season, the woods, human food, human clothing, architecture, 

 the close of autumn, and general summary of the argument, each chapter con- 

 taining a vast mass of information, conveyed in a clear and unaffected style. 



Though not belonging to that extensive class termed " gloomy religionists '' — 

 men, be it observed, better than their fellow-creatures rather in theory than in 

 practice, and often holding views opposed alike to scripture and to reason — Dr. 

 Duncan is occasionally, and we think too frequently, inclined to be austere on a 



