(551 



exclusive sense, to particular things."* Had he attended to this rule 

 instead of merely reciting it, he would not have introduced a new and 

 inelegant word for dying, or a new and inappropriate term for stem. 



There is one other subject on which we must say a few words in 

 the way of disapprobation : we allude to the explanation of system 

 being confined exclusively to the Linnoan. Without entering into 

 the merits of the two systems, surely the general use of the Jussienian, 

 demands that in any rudimentary work it should be carefully ex- 

 plained. We grant that Mr. Henfrey has a perfect right to prefer or 

 recommend either system, but he should fully instruct beginners in 

 that which is now universally employed. K. 



On the Experiments of raising Primula}, fyc, from Seed. 

 By the Rev. J. S. Henslow, M.A., F.L.S., &c. 



In running my eye over the ' Phytologist' I see the record of sun- 

 dry experiments with Primula? and Anagalles, recalling two old ex- 

 periments of my own, in which I considered I had obtained Primula 

 vulgaris from Primula veris, and Anagallis arvensis from Anagallis 

 caerulea. I have not lost sight of this inquiry since, and may some 

 day have an opportunity of reverting to it. Unless a thought is re- 

 corded at the moment it is often not recorded at all, and I wish to 

 say that although negative testimony is never entirely worthless, and 

 often very valuable, it cannot be of much weight in comparison with 

 a little positive testimony in deciding the question at issue. 

 Thousands and millions of seedlings may and will come true, to use 

 a common gardening expression, in most cases where a strong im- 

 press of a particular character has been mysteriously imparted to 

 some variety • and yet a fortunate opportunity may at length arise 

 for establishing the possible, or at least for pointing out the probable, 

 specific identity of plants whose forms are extremely dissimilar. We 

 all know the beautiful blue of the common borage {Borago officinalis). 

 It must be five or six years since I observed a white variety in a 

 single plant in a hedge between this village and Ipswich. I brought 

 home a few seeds, and the plants that sprung up have been allowed 

 to seed freely among some currant-bushes in my kitchen-garden, and 

 numerous specimens have since appeared. Every one of them has 



* This axiom was first contended for by Mr. Newman (Erit. Mag. i. 395, et seq.) 



