134 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



diately followed by the Journal of Botain/^ which happily is still 

 flourishing. The articles in the Fhjtolofjist were mostly concerued 

 with British Botany, and by means of this magazine and its suc- 

 cessor we have a very complete history of the progress of the science 

 in the British Isles during the last sixty years of the century. Some 

 of the chief contributors to the enrly volumes of the t'Injtolofjist 

 were Dr. Bromfield, Edwin Lees, Edward Newman, H. C. Watson, 

 Thomas Moore, E. G. Varenne, James Backiiouse, Rev. W. T. 

 Bree, Jos. Woods, G. S. Gibson, and William Wilson of Warring- 

 ton. In 1842 a very attractive book on British Forest Trees, indi- 

 genous and introduced, was pubUshed by P. J. Selby. It is an octavo 

 volume of 540 pages, illustrated by a large number of delightful 

 engravings. It is a choice and, I believe, now rather scarce work. 

 We now come to the vear 1843, in which a work appeared 

 which forms an epoch in the history of British Botany — namely, 

 the famous Manual of the late Professor Babington, the first edition 

 of which was published on 1st May of this year. A few extracts 

 from the preface to this volume (which differs in later editions) 

 will be read with interest. The author remarks that, from the 

 attention which had long been paid to the elucidation of the flora 

 of Britain, he " did not suppose that much remained to be done in 

 British Botany, for he could not expect that, after the labours of 

 such men as Smith, Hooker, Lindley, and others, and the publi- 

 cation of so invaluable and unrivalled a collection of figures as is 

 contained in the English Botany, there could still be many questions 

 concerning the nomenclature or any considerable number of un- 

 ascertained species the determination of which would fall to his lot. 

 He had not, however, advanced far in the critical examination of 

 our native plants before he found that a careful comparison of 

 indigenous specimens with the works of eminent continental authors 

 and with plants obtained from other parts of Europe must necessarily 

 be made, for it appeared that in very many cases the nomenclature 

 employed in England was different from that used in other countries ; 

 that often plants considered as varieties here were held to be distinct 

 species abroad ; that several of our species were only looked upon as 

 varieties by them; and also that the mode of grouping into genera 

 was frequently essentially different." He then expresses his sur- 

 prise at these discoveries, and attributes the facts to the ascendency 

 of Sir J. E. Smith, "the fortunate possessor of the herbarium of 

 Linnffius," and to the long separation of this country from conti- 

 nental nations, owing to the war with Napoleon, " by which we 

 were almost completely prevented from observing the progress 

 which botanical science was making in other countries," so that 

 "at the conclusion of the war we had become so wedded to the 

 system of Linnaeus and .... so well satisfied with our own pro- 

 ficiency that, with the honourable exception of Mr. Brown, -^^ there 

 was at that time scarcely a botanist in Britain who took any interest 

 or paid the least attention to the classification by natur^il orders 



• Robert Brown, who adopted the Natural System as early as 1810 in his 

 Prodromua Florcp Noiup Hollo.vdi(P. 



