1863.] REVIEWS. 529 



of our continuous progress in literary erudition, and also of the 

 truth of the trite remark made by the wisest man, " that there 

 is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything whereof it 

 may be said, See this is new ; it hath been already of old time, 

 which was before us ? " 



The simple or unlearned portion of humanity naturally infers 

 that " as new names are imposed only on new things,^' 7iova 

 nomina in res novas imponenda, the modern term morphology, 

 or the doctrine of the formation, configuration (shape), adapta- 

 tion, position, etc., of the organs of vegetation was a novelty 

 first discovered by a celebrated German poet, and gradually 

 adopted by the hard-headed, unimaginative sons of science. It 

 will be gratifying, especially to the orthodox, to be informed 

 that this new learning about the formative energies of nature 

 does not contradict Solomon's adage, a saying of the wisest of 

 men. 



If our readers will take the trouble to read this tract on Mor- 

 phology, or even this notice of it, they will learn, as we have, to 

 our great contentment, that " there is nothing new under the 

 sun." The present age has made so great strides in learning, 

 that it is a question whether our literary and scientific attain- 

 ments have not advanced pari passu, with equal rapidity. We 

 do not know who can answer the question — who is the original 

 discoverer of morphology ? but we can now tell those interested 

 in these and similar inquiries, that the modern doctrines about 

 the simplicity of organization, unity of type, organic similarities, 

 etc., included under the scientific word morphology, was not 

 first discovered by Goethe, nor by Linnseus, nor by Wolff, nor 

 by Jung, nor by Albertus Magnus, nor by Theophrastus, nor 

 by Aristotle, — though this eminent sage, the earliest and the 

 most systematic of the ancient philosophers, was the first who 

 clearly enunciated this principle. For it may be inferred that it 

 was no discovery of his, but that he received it from his contempo- 

 raries, and fixed it as one of the canons of his philosophical system. 



May it not be concluded that this, and many other discove- 

 ries claimed by modern savants, descended to these illustrious 

 ancients and moderns from the first man, the original parent 

 and founder of the human family? 



May it not be inferred that it was no discovery of Aristotle's, 

 but that he derived this fact, among many other equally important 



N. S. VOL. VI. 3 Y 



