96 wood's hotaw. 



uals and Class-books of botany, but, though some of them possessed 

 considerable merit, there was scarcely one of them, which was adapted 

 to the wants of those who wished to pursue the study of the science 

 intelligently. The larger number of them were too elementary, not to 

 say puerile, to be placed in the hands of intelligent youth, and the re- 

 mainder were only adapted to the wants of the advanced student. — 

 The work, prepared by Alphonso Wood, has the merit of occupying a 

 middle ground ; or perhaps it is but just to say that, whilst it is suffi- 

 ciently elementary for beginners, it commends itself no less to the atten- 

 tion of those who have made no mean progress in tlie science. 



The work consists of two parts; viz: The elements of Botanical 

 Science ; and the JVatural Orders, iUustratedhy a Flora of the JVorthern 

 United Slates. 



In the first part are contained brief, but clear descriptions of the ele- 

 mentary organs, of the primary divisions of the vegetable kingdom, and 

 of the general physiology of the structure and functions of the different 

 parts of plants. 



The second part, which contains the Flora arranged according to the 

 Natural System, is preceded by a most admirable synoptic table of the 

 Linnaean Artificial Classes. It is well known to those, who have di- 

 rected their attention to the subject, that, without an acquaintance with 

 a considerable number of individuals in the vegetable world, it is almost 

 impossible for the student to use, with any advantage, the arrangement 

 according to the Natural System. This acquaintance the Artificial Sys- 

 tem of Linnaeus is well adapted to aflbrd with ease and certainty. By 

 means of this table the student may, if he desires to do so, at once refer 

 his plant to the Natural Order to which it belongs, and there study it in 

 connection with its congeners and afliliated species. One of the great 

 merits of this synoptic table as well as of those, which the author has in- 

 serted at various points in the body of the Flora, is that the process of 

 finding the genus of a plant is thrown into a series of dilemmas, which 

 may be answered by yea or nay. 



"The Flora comprehends all the Phaenogamous plants, with the ferns, 

 &c. which have hitherto been discovered, and described as indigenous 

 to the New England States and New York, together with the naturalized 

 exotics, and those which are more generally cultivated, either as useful 

 or ornamental." But though it was prepared to suit the Northern Uni- 

 ted States, it is scarcely less adapted to Pennsylvania and Maryland, most 

 of the plants belonging to those States being also therein described. 



We would therefore recommend Wood's Botany to students as a 

 work of great merit, and as one better adapted to their wants than any 

 other that we know. 



