151 



Now Mr. Davis is said to gain his acquaintance with the Trinity, 

 Parama, Vishnu, Siva, Egyptian priests of the Sun, Persian Magi, and 

 Zoroaster, by Divine revelations of Nature when in a state of mesmeric 

 clairvoyance. If transatlantic naturalists like to believe this they are 

 quite at liberty to do so, but I cannot admire the taste which dictates 

 its reproduction before the British public : and I turn with disgust 

 from such palpable impossibilities as this, to those passages in which 

 the author can have i - eceived no assistance from books or from 

 observation, and which are as purely fictitious as the adventures of 

 Munchausen, the flying Dutchman, or the jumping baron ; and, in my 

 humble opinion, rise no higher as objects for the attention of the 

 learned. That readers and admirers can be found for such trash 

 must be a matter of regret to all who are capable of reflection, but 

 that such readers and admirers should be among the honourable and 

 influential literati of the day is a fact ' to make angels weep.' My ex- 

 tracts are purely phytological. 



Vegetation of Saturn. — " There are four general classes of vegetable 

 developments here existing. One class assumes high and bulky 

 forms, but it is produced only near the poles, where exist the minimum 

 amount of light and heat. These do not exist near the equator, nor 

 in the vicinity of water. They are gigantic vegetable developments 

 in the form of trees ; but the kinds of materials composing them are 

 not to be found in any higher order of vegetable formation. The 

 second class has a smooth, slim body, and the branches in length are 

 twice that of the body ; and they cast a deep shade. They are in ap- 

 pearance similar to the Upas, but not in quality or composition. 

 These bring forth delicious fruit, which is long in shape, internally 

 white, and encompassed with a thick external coating. The branches 

 that first eject themselves from the body are several feet from the earth, 

 but not quite so high as it is from these to the top. This class should 

 be understood as the second in the order of formation — as the ultimate 

 and perfection of the former class. The third in order presents itself 

 as a more perfect vegetable. This rises but a few feet above the sur- 

 face of the ground. It has several descending boughs, which when 

 developed act as new bodies by fastening themselves as roots in the 

 earth. This vegetable is much complicated in its parts. Its location 

 is near the equator, and to this fact its peculiarity may be attributed. 

 This brings forth a kind of pulse-fruit. Being exceedingly nourishing, 

 it enters very frequently into the composition of animal forms. 



" The fourth vegetable formation is the last developed and most per- 

 fect. Being a succeeding development of all beneath it, its composi- 



