REVIEWS. 



LINDLEY'S NATURAL SYSTEM OF BOTANY. 1 



The cultivators of botany in this country are generally 

 acquainted with the former edition of this work through the 

 American reprint, edited by Dr. Torrey, and published by 

 Messrs. Carvill of New York, in the spring of 1831. Dr. 

 Lindley's treatise was, at the time of its appearance, the only 

 introduction to the Natural System in the English language, 

 if we except a translation of Achille Richard's " Nouveaux 

 Elemens de la Botanique," which was published about the 

 same period. It is unnecessary to state that a treatise of this 

 kind was greatly needed, or to allude either to the peculiar 

 qualifications of the learned and industrious author for the 

 accomplishment of the task, or the high estimation in which 

 the work is held in Europe. But we may very properly offer 

 our testimony respecting the great and highly favorable in- 

 fluence which it has exerted upon the progress of botanical 

 science in the United States. Great as the merits of the 

 work undoubtedly are, we must nevertheless be excused from 

 adopting the terms of extravagant and sometimes equivocal 

 eulogy employed by a popular author, who gravely informs 

 his readers that no book, since printed Bibles were first sold 

 in Paris by Dr. Faustus, ever excited so much surprise and 



1 A Natural System of Botany ; or a systematic view of the Organi- 

 zation, Natural Affinities, and Geographical Distribution of the whole 

 Vegetable Kingdom ; together with the uses of the most important spe- 

 cies in Medicine, the Arts, and rural or domestic economy. By John 

 Lindley. Second edition, with numerous additions and corrections, and 

 a complete list of genera and their synonyms. London : 1836. (Ameri- 

 can Journal of Science and Arts, xxxii. 292.) 



