44 REVIEWS. 



first no longer exist as such, their more important details being included 

 in chapters iii. and iv. of the present edition, which treat nearly of the 

 same subjects. 



Passing over the four first chapters, whose contents we have already 

 referred to, we find the fifth occupied by " General Rules for the Use of 

 the Microscope, and for the Preparation of Objects," which, though not 

 containing anything novel, are marked by great clearness of expression. 

 The three following chapters are devoted to the histology of vegetable 

 tissues, and the concluding chapters (ix., x., and xi.) we have already 

 noticed as having been extracted from another and later work by the same 

 accomplished observer. 



As a microscopist, Dr. Schacht has long maintained a deservedly high 

 reputation, and his works are free from that crudeness of theory which 

 disfigures so many Continental productions. We are glad to find that 

 their ability has been recognised, and that their author's zeal has been 

 stimulated to increased exertion by those marks of royal favour too rarely 

 bestowed on the man of science. For another important work, containing 

 his researches into the vegetable cell, and kindred subjects,* he was for- 

 tunate enough to gain the notice of the King of Prussia. This, though 

 attracting considerable attention, is scarcely superior to the one we have 

 been noticing in its claims on the attention of the student. The manner 

 in which Mr. Currey has executed the delicate task of editing this work, 

 and the judgment and care with which his additions and omissions have 

 been made, lead us to hope that we may again be gratified by an intro- 

 duction to other Continental works of merit from one so well able to 

 appreciate their points of attraction, and gracefully to veil their defi- 

 ciencies. 



In thus briefly noticing works which have long reproached us for our 

 silence, there are topics which we passed over because we felt that they 

 demanded a separate notice ; to these we purpose, at a future time, to 

 revert. It was, for example, our first intention to have introduced into 

 the present article some account of the application of micro-photography to 

 the purposes of natural history ; on more mature consideration, we have 

 preferred deferring it to a future number, when we hope to notice some- 

 thing of what has been written and done on this subject. We cannot, how- 

 ever, dismiss the subject without urging the necessity of habits of repeated 

 and accurate observation. Theories are, alas, too often and too superficially 

 advanced, and the result is discredit to the cause of science. The student 

 is surrounded by objects all demanding and all worthy of examination. 



* Die Pflanzenzelle, der innere Bau tind das Leben der Gewfcchse. Berlin. 1852. 



