March 15, 1877. I 



JOURNAL OF HOBTIOULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



197 



moderation in the nae of fermented liquors. This practice he 

 recommended Btrenuouely to all who coneulted him. 



His frequent journeys into the country on professional buei- 

 ness contributed also in no small degree to the preservation of 

 his health and his faculties, which latter remained unimpaired 

 to the day of his death. Hia death wag sudden, occasioned 

 by a fit of what he was used to call angina pectoris, which he 

 had several times experienced, and always relieved by bleeding 

 plentifully. 



As Dr. Darwin was a votary to poetry as well as medicine, 

 he oooasionally sent his effusions in that way to one or other 

 of the monthly publications, but without his name, conceiving, 

 from the example of Akenside and Armstrong, that the repu- 

 tation he might acquire by his poetry would operate as a bar 

 to his advancement in the practice of medicine. His "Botanic 

 Garden," in which he celebrates what he calls the "Loves of 

 the Plants," the first of his poems to which he put his name, 



was not published until the year 1781, when his medical fame 

 was so well established as to make it safe for him to indulge 

 his taste in any way he should choose. Besides, the poem was 

 so amply furnished with notes containing the natural history 

 and accounts of the properties of plants, that it did not seem 

 very alien from his profession. The " Botanic Garden " is 

 comprised in two parts. In the first the author treats of the 

 " Economy of Vegetables," in the second the "Loveaof the 

 Plants." The novelty of the design, the brilliancy of the 

 diction, full of figurative expressions, in which everything 

 was personified, rendered the poem lor some years extremely 

 popular. 



In 1793 the author published the first volume of " Zco- 

 nomia, or the Laws of Organic Life," Ho. The second 

 volume, which completed the author's plan, was printed in 

 the year 179C. As the eccentric genius of the author was 

 Ijnown, great expectations were formed of this woik.the labour 



Fig. 27.— Dr. EBiSMDS DABWIS. 



we were told of more than twenty years. It was to reform, or foreoastinga of Dr. Darwin, 

 entirely new model, the whole system of medicine, professing [ tive, as when he wrote- 



He made common topics attrao- 



no less than to account for the manner in which man, animals, 

 and vegetables are formed. They all, it seems, take their 

 origin from living filaments susceptible of irritation, which is 

 the agent that sets them in motion. Archimedes was wont to 

 say, " Give me a place to stand on and I will move the earth ;" 

 such was hia confidence in his knowledge of the power of the 

 lever. Our author said, " Give me a fibre susceptible of irrita- 

 tion and I will make a tree, a dog, a horee, a man." It would 

 be useless to enter into an examination of the Zoonomia, 

 which has long ceased to be popular. Those who wish to see 

 a complete refutation of the sophisms contained in it will 

 read with satisfaction " Observations on the Zoonomia of Dr. 

 Darwin," by Thomas Brown, Esq., published at Edinburgh in 

 8vo. in 179S. In iHOl the author published " I'hytologia, or 



the Philosophy of Agriculture and Gardening;" but the public, 



tired with the reveries of the writer, let this large book of « ttot/ittt la Avrri miri? -nrrvriTTV apwtcj 



six hundred pages in 4to. pass almost unnoticed. As little AURICULAS AND THE WOOLLY APHIS. 



attention was paid to a small tract on female eJuoatiou, which I nAVE to thank my friend Mr. Horner for his note and 

 bad httle indeed to attract notice. good wishes on this subject, and am sorry to say that I did 



We are admirers of the poetry, as well as of the aoientific not read his notice of it in the October number of the " Florist 



' 3 here are of learned taete who still prefer 

 Cos Lettuce, Tarragon, and Cucumber; 

 There are who Btill with equal praisea yoke 

 Young Peas, Asparagus, and Artichoke; 

 Beaux there are Rtill with lamb and Sipinach nurt 

 And clowns eat Beans and bacon till they burst. 

 This boon I ask of Fate, where'er I dine, 

 O be the Proteus form of Cabbage mine; 

 Kale, Colewort, Cauliflower, or soft and clear 

 If Broccoli delight thy nicer ear, 

 Give, rural Muse t the culture and the name 

 In verse immortal to the rolls of Fame." 

 He foresaw the future when he penned — 



" Sum shall thy arm, nnconqnerM Steam I afar 

 Drag the slow birga or drive llw ra,iid ear; 

 Or on wide-waving wings expanded bear 

 Tlie flj iug chariot through the fields of air." 



