REVIEWS. 243 
successful investigation. It is not a reproduction of the old and 
effete scientific platitudes of bygone times, but a genuine, origi- 
nal production, on a subject hitherto (among us Britishers at 
least) untouched. It is not here asserted that the relations be- 
tween plants and the soils on which they grow have hitherto 
been neglected: almost every writer on descriptive botany has 
noticed this branch of the subject. But it may be fairly as- 
serted that this department, viz. the geognostic relations of 
plants, was never heretofore treated systematically and scienti- 
fically. That every botanist and geologist will concur with Mr. 
Baker in his views, or admit his classifications unmodified, is 
not to be expected. The present essay is modestly entitled, 
“ An Attempt to Classify the British Plants,” etc. It is a laud- 
able attempt, and its author is well entitled to the hearty com- 
mendation of all who are interested in the promotion of science. 
The title, which is quoted above, fully explains the nature of 
the paper,—the classification of plants according to their geo- 
gnostic relations, or, in other terms, according to the nature, or 
rather chemical constituents, of the soils on which they grow. 
It has long been observed and recorded that certain plants evince 
a preference for certain soils. Some of the Orchids, for example, 
are restricted, in this country at least, to chalk (cretaceous soils), 
some are restricted to chalk and limestone (cretaceous and cal- 
careous soils), while some of the same Order are generally or 
universally distributed, manifesting no very decided partiality 
for any particular kind of soil; hence the classification adopted 
by Mr. Baker, viz., first, the restricted species; and second, the 
unrestricted species. The first class comprehends the cretaceous 
and calcareous plants (species growing on these soils), the argil- 
laceous, arenaceous, etc.; the second class, by far the most nu- 
merous in species and number of individuals, evices no very 
decided predilection for particular soils, but are found in almost 
all soils and under a wide climatic range. But our object is not 
to give our readers an analysis or a réswmé of the author’s valu- 
able contribution to the knowledge of British plants. We hope 
they will procure the essay, and read it and compare it with their 
own experience, and employ it as a stimulus to their subsequent 
observations. Our intention is merely to hint to our friends, 
and contributors especially, that knowledge is many-sided, and 
that there are several particulars worth knowing about plants, 
