Literary Notices. 129 



extraordinary application. The fecundating organs of plants arc also 

 arranged and delineated, so that the apparently mysterious function of 

 vegetable procreation may be understood by all. The second part of the 

 work is devoted to elaborate and complete descriptions of Southern 

 plants. These arc arranged on the Natural system, which has superseded 

 the Linna;n school ; but in order to make the work more perfect, the 

 descriptions are preceded by a Linnaen and Dichotomous analysis. In a 

 word, we consider the book eminently calculated to secure the object 

 entertained by its author, viz., a work which shall in a brief form impart 

 that knowledge requisite to the botanical student, and a correct impression 

 of the botany of the country. As such, we cheerfully recommend its 

 adoption by institutions that give instruction in the science its pages 

 convey. 



Stray Leaves from the Book of Nature. By Scheie de Vcre. 



G. P. Putnam, 2^'^Mishcr. 



It is universally conceded that the United States is making more 

 rapid advances in a practical point of view than any other country in the 

 world ; but while these rapid practical advances are acknowledged, we 

 have been accused of neglecting literature, science and the arts in a 

 corresponding ratio. A few years since, our country was a wild, unculti- 

 vated wilderness, the home of the savage and the beast of prey, into 

 which civilization was feebly but perseveringly struggling to effect an 

 entrance. Thanks to the determination and powers of endurance of our 

 ancestors, difficulties, apparently insurmountable, were overcome, and a 

 solid foothold at last obtained. The vegetation of the forest held every 

 foot of soil in an unbroken mass, and the undisturbed luxuriant growth 

 of thousands of years required the patient and long-continued efforts of 

 the pioneer to sweep away. Success dawned upon these struggles : the 

 land was cleared, the soil tilled, roads were made and bridges constructed. 

 As these first wants were filled, new necessities arose ; the school-house 

 sprang up by the side of the village church, and the manufactory, at first 

 humble, but ever enlarging, made its appearance on the adjacent water- 

 course. More rapid means of locomotion were now demanded, and the 

 puff of the steamboat was heard on every navigable stream, while the 

 thunder of the rail-car echoed through the valleys. But while these 

 matters of national interest were advancing with gigantic strides, the 

 school-house, the academy, the college and the university were following 

 in the wake. Every hamlet has its school-house, every town its academy. 



