1861.] ARENARIA BALEARICA. 47 



nor an agreeable task which is now to be fulfilled. It is seldom 

 that the ' Phy tologist ' assumes the functions of a censor morum, 

 and these duties, when undertaken, are discharged in the spirit 

 of meekness, kindness, and charity, with a vivid consciousness of 

 human infirmity, and with the sincere desire of dealing honestly 

 and candidly, neither suppressing any important fact, nor setting 

 " down aught in malice.^' 



The earnest desire of the writer is to be a healer of breaches, 

 a peacemaker; to write in the conciliatory mood, not to exas- 

 perate nor alienate, but to reconcile. If justice demands firm- 

 ness in the refutation of imjust accusations, moderation requires 

 gentleness in the style or diction. Suaviter in modo, f&rtiter in 

 re, will be the rule in the following composition. 



I will not incur the jealousy and hatred of mankind by assump- 

 tions of superiority, nor by the affectation of philosophico-phreno- 

 logical discernment, nor by any superciliousness of language, nor 

 by dictatorial dogmatic assertions. These are the weak instru- 

 ments of minor mediocrities, who mimic and parody the affecta- 

 tions of genius, and, by their feeble efforts to obtain notoriety, 

 render themselves only objects of ridicule and commiseration to 

 the rest of mankind. While they are laughed at for their egre- 

 gious self-conceit, and the airs of importance which they assume, 

 they are, by the more feeling and sensible portion of humanity, 

 pitied for their weakness, for the defects of their education, the 

 want of moral training and discipline, and for the faithlessness 

 of their friends, who wanted the courage and the love to tell them 

 of their infirmities and to admonish them to beware of the seduc- 

 tive allurements of self-glorification. 



I further beg to intimate to those readers of the ' Phytologist' 

 who have not seen the extract subjoined, that this is one of the 

 twin cases supplied to Professor De Candolle, to convince him 

 " that our eminent botanists are not sound reasoners." With 

 the other case the present deponent has no concern ; he has only 

 to justify Mr. Sim, the correspondent who transmitted the fact, 

 and the Editor who gave it publicity. 



Another preliminary remark may be made on the author's 

 reference to his " own readers " needing no apology for his 

 " troubling them with this second warning instance." His rea- 

 ders might possibly save him the trouble of apologizing, but the 

 readers of the ' Phytologist ' might ask why he did not publish 



