18 THE Gx\RDENER. [Jan. 



say he will deserve a prominent niche in it, not only for the originality of his 

 views on that subject, but also for his remarkable opinions regarding the 

 mental capacities of his own class — the farmers of the Lothians ; that is, as- 

 suming, of course, that he was not "crammed" on the subject of the Potato 

 murrain, and induced to exhibit himself in the capacity of lecturer before the 

 Haddingtonshire farmers, by some malevolent wag who knew the lecturer's 

 weak point. According to the 'North British Agriculturist,' Mr Stevens set 

 out with the affirmation that the Potato disease was "entomological in its 

 nature — that is to say, an insect destroying the plant." It was not an insect 

 as large as "the caterpillar on the Gooseberry," which, it appears, must also 

 be an insect — but it was an insect for all that ; and the lecturer was afraid 

 lest he might be " charged with egotism were he to repeat the long string of 

 illustrious names who supported this affirmation." This modesty on Mr 

 Stevens's part was, we feel quite sure, superfluous, because any "string" of 

 illustrious names might have been flattered by being even remotely associated 

 with such a remarkable discovery. It is not by any means an easy task 

 following Mr Stevens in the train of reasoning by which he evolves a Potato 

 fungus from a Potato beetle, and associates it with Huxley and Tyndall, and the 

 "bacteria," " all of a heap ; " and it is really a relief to the reader to get quite 

 lost and confounded with the lecturer, in a maze of Parliamentary evidence 

 and much irrelevant matter that does not appear to have any earthly relation 

 whatever to the subject of the lecture. Burns talked of "stringing blethers 

 in a rhyme," but Mr Stevens's were strung to such good purpose, that one of 

 his audience declared that, "for his part, he did not know that he was a bit 

 wiser; but by groping in the dark," in the way they had begun presumably, 

 he thought " they might stumble on something that would be a preventive or 

 palliative of the disease." Considering that the lecturer had just traversed the 

 field of science for more than two hundred years back, in order to make the 

 beetle-fungus theory clear, such a remark was neither kind nor compliment- 

 ary. This was not all, however, for Mr Stevens's discovery got into the 

 * Scotsman;' and the lecturer being questioned regarding the "entomological" 

 descent of the Peronospora infestans — second cousin to the Gooseberry cater- 

 pillar — he explained that the insect-view of the subject was adopted purely 

 for the purpose of carrying the idea home to the minds of men, into whose 

 heads it could not be beaten in any other way ; "he therefore wrote for them 

 [the East Lothian farmers] in such words as would carry the idea into their 

 minds. " The testimony of one of his listeners, already given, shows, however, 

 that the lecturer's laudable object failed somewhat in this respect. It seems 

 exceedingly probable that Mr Stevens's hearers went away with about as 

 accurate an idea of the Potato disease "monster" in their minds, as the 

 Irishman had of the mosquito after hearing a description of it, and recognised 

 his entomological acquaintance in an elephant which he met soon after, ex- 

 claiming, " By jabers, if there ain't the very baste itself ! " Mr Stevens's at- 

 tempt to get out of the "entomological " situation, by throwing the blame on 

 the stupidity of the class he lives amongst and associates with, is not generous, 

 and cannot be accepted as quite satisfactory. The whole tenor of the address, 

 and the remarks that passed, show that the ignorance was not all on the side 

 of the audience; and besides, Mr Stevens uses terms such as "bacteria," 

 "mycelium," flocculent Alms, "zoospores," &c., without explaining them, 

 that leads one to think he entertained a very high idea indeed of the in- 

 telligence of his hearers. In his closing remarks, he states that it is his 

 "earnest desire that more and abler minds than his may give the subject 



