OZ REVIEWS. 



In a brief introduction of 14 pages, the climatical and geographical con- 

 ditions of the island are summed up, and a sketch given of the general 

 character and distribution of productions. We could have wished this 

 chapter had been extended. The opening sentences, which are as follows, 

 will serve as a sample of the author's manner and matter. 



11 From the situation of the Isle of Wight on the southern boundary line of the 

 agricultural zone of Watson, we everywhere recognise the appropriate features 

 of the latter in the general aspect of vegetation, whether native or introduced. 

 We find the cultivation of wheat predominating over that of all other grain, 

 and producing as plentiful returns on the exposed crests of the loftiest cliffs, or 

 within a few yards of the sea beach, as in the sheltered vallies of the interior. 

 The Vine and the Fig are common, even in the cottager's garden, the latter 

 always, as a standard, bearing abundant and luscious fruit ; whilst, in addition 

 to the more ordinary orchard trees, the Quince, Walnut, and Mulberry ripen per- 

 fectly, and produce plentiful crops. Both the narrow and broad-leaved varieties 

 of the Myrtle (Myrtus communis) form stout bushes in the open air, and mature 

 their fruit in many places, even on the north side of the island and in the cold 

 soil of Ryde, suffering in very severe winters only, and are then seldom more 

 than partially killed back in exposed situations, as many very old and vigorous 

 trunks attest in various places. The sweet Bay (Laurus nobilis) attains the 

 dimensions of a tree, and ripens its berries in abundance, resisting our severest 

 frosts, as does the Laurustinus, which gives to our gardens and shrubberies at 

 mid-winter the verdure and bloom of summer, tbough its fruit is more sparingly 

 perfected. The Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) is equally common and hardy 

 with the two last, fruits pretty freely, and grows to a tree of respectable size, 

 though inferior to the timber-like dimensions it acquires on its native rocks in 

 the S. W. of Ireland, or even in the S. Western counties of England, where the 

 greater moisture of the atmosphere eminently favours the development of this, 

 as of most other evergreens. But if the greater cold of our climate in winter, 

 and the greater dryness at all seasons, tend to check the growth of these and 

 other sempervirent plants, the comparative absence of humidity and a less 

 clouded sky enables the increased heat of summer to ripen the wood, and so fit 

 it to endure a degree of frost it would else be unable to withstand. So happily 

 balanced, in the climate of the Isle of Wight, are the vicissitudes of heat and 

 cold to which it is occasionally subject from its proximity to the mainland and to 

 the continent of Europe, in a degree unusual to insular situations, that the for- 

 mer repairs, or rather counteracts, the destructive agency of the latter in vege- 

 tation." 



A lithographed portrait of the author is prefixed to the volume, which 

 contains 678 closely printed pages, besides XXXV. of preface and intro- 

 duction. 



W. H. H. 



The Testimony of the Rocks ; or, Geology in its bearings on the two 

 Theologies, Natural and Revealed. By Hugh Miller, Author of " The 

 Old Red Sandstone," &c. Edinburgh : Thomas Constable and Co. 

 1857. 



It would be difficult for any reader, even slightly acquainted with the cir- 

 cumstances attending the appearance of the work now open before us — 

 posthumous as it is, at least in its publication — to glance over its pages 



