Introduction to the Natural System. 75 



sary ; and it is not possible for any one to peruse it without feeling his mind 

 enlarged, and his thinking powers called into action. After speaking thus 

 highly, and we trust justly, of the merits of the work, we have only to regret 

 timt we find anything which appears deserving blame. There is one paragraph 

 in the preface which we could wish expunged. It is that in which Mr. Smith, 

 after having explained his own views, censures the labours of others who 

 have trodden in the same path. This, to say the least of it, is in bad taste, 

 and is unnecessary : if, as we conscientiously believe, Mr. Smith's work 

 really is superior to most works of the same kind, he may rely upon its 

 meeting with proper attention and encouragement; and if it is not, nothing 

 that he can say in disparagement of its rivals will be of any avail. Man- 

 kind are now, generally speaking, too enlightened to be dictated to on 

 such subjects, and works, whether good or bad, very soon find their true 

 level. 



Mr. Smith's language is plain, and his plan simple. He first gives some 

 very clear ideas of the value of figures in notation, and then proceeds to 

 explain the four great rules of Arithmetic; viz. Addition, Subtraction, Divi- 

 sion, and Multiplication ; which, he says, may be characterised simply as 

 modes of joining and separating : the two latter being only amplifications 

 of the two former. After fully explaining and exemplifying the usual 

 signs or marks employed in arithmetic, Mr. Smith enters upon the more 

 difficult branches of the science, and renders all the mysteries of Compound 

 Ai'ithmetic, Fractions, Decimals, and Duodecimals perfectly clear and easy 

 of comprehension. The whole of this part of the work must be studied to 

 be fully appreciated ; but we may add that we were particularly pleased 

 with that portion which treats of Progression and Proportion, and of the 

 Ratios of Numbers. The paragraphs are numbered instead of the pages, 

 for the purpose of more easy reference ; and though the examples given are 

 few, they are so clearly applied to the rules as to answer every purpose 

 which could be desired. We dislike the conclusion ; and think the work 

 would be much improved by the omission of all that follows the paragraph 

 containing the Roman Numerals. — ./. W. L. 



Lindley, John, Esq. F.R.S., L.S., G.S., &c., Professor of Botany in the 

 University of London: An Introduction to* the Natural System of 

 Botany ; or, a Systematic View of the Organisation, Natural Affinities, 

 and Geographical Distribution of the whole Vegetable Kingdom ; toge- 

 ther with the Uses of the most important Species in Medicine, the Arts, 

 and Rural or Domestic Economy. London, 1830. 8vo, pp. 400. 



This volume exhibits a comprehensive mass of most valuable information. 

 England, as it is well known to the masters in botany, is far behind the Con- 

 tinent, and particularly behind France, in the reception and practical 

 adoption of the natural system of classification. From this cause the 

 Continent teems with numerous writings, by a great variety of most able 

 authors, each illustrative of some particular department of the natural 

 system ; while England, though tar from unproductive in Linnean pub- 

 lications, has yet produced but few in the way of natural arrangement. 

 But the Continental works above alluded to, in which the most important 

 scientific information may be found, in which the most excellent and 

 valuable views are exhibited, have hitherto been perfectly inaccessible to a 

 vast majority of English lovers of plants, either from the number and ex- 

 pensiveness of the works themselves, or from the circumstance of their 

 being published in Latin, or in some of the languages of the Continent. It 

 is, then, with the highest satisfaction that we behold the present work by- 

 Professor Lindley, whose most meritorious labours have dispensed with tlie 

 necessity of procuring these numerous Continental works, and of translating 

 them when procurecl, by supplying us with the essence of them all in one 



