28 NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
ever may be their origin, are not at present being manufactured ; they — 
are, as far as we, our ancestors, or our successors are concerned, per- | 
manent realities; so that it is not beyond the possible that some - 
master in science may give us a definition of a species that will be uni- 
versally accepted. The difficulty is not, as Mr. Syme clearly puts it, — 
whether certain groups or forms exist which are more or less separable 2 
and definable by characters, but do these groups deserve to be called — 
species? The diversity of opinion on this point has divided modern 
tanists, as is well known, into two schools—the one, the “ Jumpers,” t 
uniting allied though permanent * forms" under one specific name r : 
while the “ splitters” consider the existence of permanent characters, — 
even though they are not very striking, as sufficient grounds for con- — 
sidering the same “forms” as species. Mr. Bentham belongs to the — 
first school, while Mr. Syme is a cautious “ splitter.” 
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The * Illustrated Handbook’ is intended for the use of beginners and. : 
amateurs, and Mr. Bentham has produced a manual which can be - 
easily used by such persons. We say, has produced, for the text i 
scarcely altered from his published * Flora,’ which has now been before — 
the public for five years; the only change worth notice in the part be- — 
fore us is the recognition of Ranunculus hederaceus as a species. The — 
dichotomous arrangement characteristic of the work is of great practical — 
value to persons who, without any previous knowledge of botany, de- 
sire to name the plants they notice in their country walks. By using 
plain language, by happily fixing on striking contrasting characters, 
and by uniting allied ** forms” under one specific name, the author has 3 
made the naming of British plants, according to his system, a very easy E 
matter. We doubt whether the illustrations will be much help to the — 
tyro. Perhaps our opinions are influenced by a long-entertained notion  . 
that drawings of the various plants of a country executed of a uniform —— 
size, without respect to their different magnitudes, are apt to mislead, - 
and must almost invariably do so if they are greatly reduced. Given, 
however, a block of wood two inches by one and a half to figure the — 
Hellebore or the Mousetail, we cannot. conceive of their being done 
better, on the whole, than the cuts executed from Mr. Fitch’s drawings. — : 
Small though they are, the habit of the plant is frequently caught, and E 
there is a vigour, freedom, and truth in them that we do not remember — 
in any similar cuts. It must have been occasionally a difficult matter — 
for the artist. to obtain'a plant that would agree with the written de- —— 
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