112 BibliograpJdcal Notices^ 



as is calculated rather to mislead than to guidethemiri their researclies- 

 And among physiologists it is but recently that the great truth has 

 been generally recognised, that the study of the structure and func- 

 tions of the inferior classes of organized beings is capable of afford- 

 ing the most important assistance in the solution of the many difficul- 

 ties which attend the investigation of the phaenomena of life in man. 

 The object of the volume before us is to supply the means of at- 

 taining such knowledge within moderate limits ; and, by presenting 

 a comprehensive survey of the whole organized creation, to afford 

 the best preparation for the successful pursuit of any line of inquiry 

 that may suit the taste and opportunities of the student of nature. 

 The author has not contented himself with a superficial view, how- 

 ever, as from its brevity it might be supposed to be, but has endea- 

 voured to introduce his readers to the highest departments of phy- 

 siology and natural history, by a simple exposition of such general 

 laws as have been discovered to preside over their varied phsenomena, 

 and, by a judicious selection of facts, to make the application of these 

 laws and the path to be followed in search of others fully intelligible. 

 Among the leading features of the work are the rank given to vege- 

 table physiology, and the original manner in which this subject is 

 treated. We are not acquainted with any treatise on this depart- 

 ment of science in which the Cryptogamia receive a due share of atten- 

 tion. By British writers they have been especially neglected, the 

 structure and functions of the flowering plants alone being treated 

 of in any detail. In this work, however, we find not only a general 

 suVvey of the whole vegetable kingdom, in which its principal natu- 

 ral groups are all delineated on the same scale, but a detailed view 

 of each system of organs, which is traced from its first appearance 

 in the lower members of the series up to its perfect evolution in 

 the highest. We are thus led to perceive the gradual specialization 

 of each function by the restriction of it to some portion of the or- 

 ganism particularly adapted to perform it, and this is shown to 

 take place also during the evolution of the embryo of any one of the 

 highest tribes of vegetables. We believe then that Mr. Carpenter may 

 fairly claim the credit of having apjilied to the vegetable kingdom 

 the general law based by Von Baer upon his examination of the ani- 

 mal world, that, both in the ascending scale of creation and in the 

 development of any single being, " a heterogeneous or special struc- 

 ture arises out of one more homogeneous or general, and this by 

 a gradual change." We shall illustrate this position by giving an 

 abridgement of the section which treats of the absorbent system in 

 plants, and this will afford us an opportunity of explaining another 



