845 



ment of science, as in any othei-, acquires a talent from nature, as well 

 as study ; albeit the talent is widely different in kind from that which 

 makes a Humboldt or a Combe. 



In addition to a natural fitness for the scientific path which he has 

 chosen to take, the author of the Manual has enjoyed several adventi- 

 tious advantages which have not fallen so favourably to the lot of any 

 previous describer of British plants. Among these we may fairly 

 reckon the leisure which is afforded by an entire freedom fi-om pro- 

 fessional and domestic ties, frequent and extensive travel about the 

 British islands, greatly increased facility of intercommunication 

 with other botanists by rail and post, the recent publication of 

 various other descriptive and pictorial works of high merit, together 

 with access to a vast number of ready-labelled European specimens, 

 whether sent originally to the author himself, or to the Botanical So- 

 ciety of Edinburgh, which is perhaps much the same thing in practi- 

 cal usefulness to him. The last advantage can scarcely be estimated 

 too highly. We make no doubt that his identifications of species, and 

 corrections of nomenclature, have frequently been thus suggested to 

 our author ; and that the accuracy and value of the Manual have been 

 gi'eatly increased thereby. In this, there is no detraction from his 

 merit as a scientific writer. He has not only had unusual advantages 

 wathin his reach, but he has also known how to use them, — to make 

 them available to his own object, serviceable to others, and conducive 

 to the promotion of science. 



The true character of the Manual, however, appears to have been 

 imperfectly understood by reviewers and critics. In a certain sense, it 

 really was a new work, as somewhat ostentatiously pronounced to be ; 

 and yet it exhibited little of originality in conception or of novelty in 

 execution. It might almost have been termed, ' Koch's Synopsis, 

 adapted to the botany of the British Islands, with variations and addi- 

 tions fi'om other sources.' It is, and was from the first, an excellent 

 critical digest of the descriptions and nomenclature of British plants, 

 as set forth in the works of Continental and British authors, and veri- 

 fied by comparison with the plants themselves. In some instances, in- 

 deed, the author substituted fresh characters for species, on the faith 

 of his own examinations only ; but, as before hinted, these attempts at 

 novelty have sometimes proved less sound or successful than his criti- 

 cal compilations. Nor is there anything to excite surprise in this. 

 Little room could remain for novelty in the descriptions of plants 

 which had been described before, and most of them described a hun- 

 dred times over. 



Vol. II. 6 n 



