Bibliugraphical Notices. 325 



and such a spot, for the sake of the curious ' mosses,' found about 

 the rocks, and more such innocent, unconscious irony, conveying to 

 him the impression that he is regarded as an individual, inoffensive 

 perhaps, but somewhat monomaniacally devoted to a pursuit which 

 has no end or aim beyond the collecting and classifying of weeds, and 

 whom it is advisable to the artistic horticulturist to keep out of his 

 garden as a ruthless destroyer, or an encourager of obstructive, unat- 

 tractive ' curiosities.' Were education what it ought to be, — did Greek 

 roots and the root of evil, with their accompaniments, absorb no 

 more than their appropriate share of the time of our youth, the natu- 

 ralist would perhaps have a fairer appreciation. For with the majority 

 of mankind, it is only in youth that the mind is freely opened to 

 the reception oi new fields of knowledge, and seeing that even the 

 small Latin and less Greek are mostly lost in the bustle of active Ufe, 

 it can hardly be expected that new modes of thought and obsersa- 

 tion, new sciences, will be readily taken up by the occupied adult ; 

 yet, if the young mind had been familiarized with the objects and 

 methods of natural history, many and many a man, now a mere 

 sportsman, a grower of prize turnips, or a hunter up of old first edi- 

 tions or rare copies, might have found delight and advanced human 

 knowledge, in devoting his leisure to the promotion of some branch 

 of inquiry, in which his intellect would have had a fair chance of 

 being kept in healthy exercise and trained to the annihilation of pre- 

 judice. 



These reflections have been awakened by the sight of the book 

 before us, a translation of a little work written by one of the most 

 distinguished among German botanists of the new school, for the 

 purpose of popularizing the leading ideas of the science. The letters 

 are intended for educated readers, and perhaps may be found to pre- 

 suppose a larger infusion of scientific knowledge than is gene- 

 rally possessed here ; but the conscientious reader, who will take the 

 trouble to read them as carefully as he would a leader in ' The Times' 

 on the subject of free trade or the law of settlement, will not find 

 much more difficulty in understanding them, and will gain acquaint- 

 ance with laws which have a rather more striking and permanent in- 

 fluence on the world's history. 



The translation is fairly done, — perhaps is a little too much tinged 

 with German idiom. As a small matter, but one partaking of the 

 crying sin of modern literature, we must deprecate most strongly the 

 introduction of new words and barbaric compounds, and in this view 

 cannot forgive the expression plant-cell, plant-acid, &c. The wood- 

 cut illustrations are very elegant. 



Synopsis des Caloptenjyines. Par M. E. de Selys-Longchamps. 



Brussels, 1853. 



Every one who has wandered on a summer's day on the banks of 

 any of our rivers, must have noticed a dragon-fly of considerable size, 

 whose beautiful metallic tints, dark wings and graceful motions 

 render it one of the most elegant denizens of such locahties. This 



