428 THE PEOCEEDINGS OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY 



in like manner contradictory. The choice of these contradictions 

 being left to the reader, he selects the member which applies 

 most nearly to his specimen, and then passes on to the next pair. 

 It is evident that, sooner or later, the several series of characters 

 must be exhausted, and the name of the plant arrived at. Al- 

 though there is, no doubt, some convenience in this arrangement, 

 it is open to grave objections, as not based upon natural dif- 

 ferences, which are generally multiple, or composed of several 

 concomitant variations, but upon single points, which may be 

 accidental, or of little importance. Moreover, as my friend Dr. 

 Woolls writes, " In a small genus or order, the dichotomous split- 

 ting up of characteristics is little help, as one may just as well 

 look over short diagnoses ; but to find out the species in a large 

 genus, or a particular genus in a large order by the dichotomous 

 method, is often beset with the danger of being led astray by the 

 misunderstanding of any solitary characteristic. The book is, 

 nevertheless, a valuable contribution to the botany of Tasmania, 

 and reflects credit on the zeal and ability of the author." 



I must not, while speaking thus of Elementary Scientific Teach- 

 ing, omit to notice the " Physiography " of Professor Huxley, 

 which is a course of Lectures, forming an admirable example, not 

 indeed of a Manual, but'of a Method, and is therefore to be re- 

 garded from the same point of view as other printed lectures. It 

 is, however, published in Macmillan's series of Manuals for Stu- 

 dents, and is, in all probability, already a Text-book in which 

 candidates are to prepare themselves for examination. These 

 charming sketches deserve a better fate than this abuse, and 

 will be read with the greatest interest by all those who are 

 free to use their reason and imagination as the prime powers of 

 mind ; and who are not under constraint or temptation to subju- 

 gate them to memory, their excellent servant but intolerable 

 master. About one fourth of the book is occupied by geological 

 inquiries depending mainly upon the Biological Sciences. The 

 rest is concerned, chiefly, with Astronomical and Physical con- 

 siderations. 



Among local works, the publication, which, upon various 

 grounds first attracts our attention, is the posthumous treatise by 



