NOTICES OF BOOKS. 223 
transatlantic publication ; in point of matter and arrangement they are 
equally deserving of praise, and each forms a portable volume of some 
500 or 600 pages. Dr. Asa Gray observes that “his compendious 
treatise is designed to furnish classes in our schools and colleges with 
a suitable text-book, as well as private students with a convenient 
sitedidetory manual, adapted to the present condition of botanical 
science." Dr. Balfour in his Manual, says: “In the compilation of 
this Manual, the object has been to give a comprehensive view of all 
departments of the science. Attention is directed, first, to the ele- 
mentary structure of plants, and the functions of the simplest tissues, 
and then to the compound organs, and the functions which they per- 
form. In the consideration of these subjects the works of Jussieu and - 
Henfrey have served as a model. The application of physiology to 
agriculture, both as regards the cultivation of plants and their diseases, 
is brought under notice: the works of Liebig, Mülder, and Johnston, 
having been consulted. In the important subject of classification much 
aid has been derived from the standard work of Lindley. The system 
adopted is that of De Candolle, but in the arrangement and definition 
of the natural orders, Walker Arnott has been chiefly followed. Many im- 
portant hints have been d d from Henslow's excellent syllabus, as well 
as from the systematie works of Endlicher. In detailing the properties 
of plants care has been taken to notice all those which are important 
in a medical and economical point of view ;. Christison, Royle, Bennett, 
and Lindley, supplying valuable data. In the chapter on the geogra- 
phical distribution of plants, a very general view is given of the prin- 
cipal facts brought forward by Meyer, Schouw, Humboldt, Berghaus, 
: iart 
Ansted, and Hooker, (J. D. H.) have been made available. The pub- 
lishers placed at the author’s disposal the wood-cuts of Jussieu's 
Cours Elementaire * and some from Beudant's Geology; and in ad- 
dition to these, there are Ber taken from Raspail, St. Hilaire, 
Schleiden, Amici, and Maout." 
From this extract, our inia may have some idea of the varied 
subjects treated of in the Manual. A great deal of valuable informa- 
tion is arranged under the respective families of plants, on their pro- 
* Not surely of the French or Paris editions, in which the cuts are as superior to 
these, as are those of Dr. Lindley to Professor Gray’s. 
