Botany and Zoology. 109 
_ Exosmosis; Electric attraction, ete. after Chemical affinity; Chemical 
_ affinity after Aggregated Existence ; and Motion and Equilibrium /ast. 
The author is to be commended for his desire to agai nachiap truth ; 
but he has made s stupid book that will damage 
. On the Existence of Forces oe of changing we pig level ached 
different Boclatae Epochs ; by Prof. Hennessy (Proc. Brit. As 
Athen., No. 1559).—If, in assuming its present state from an anterior 
condition of entire fluidity, the matter composing the crust of the earth 
underwent no change of volume, the direction of gravity at the earth’s 
surface would remain unchanged, and consequently the general figure of 
the liquid coating of our p anet. f, on the contrary, as we have reason 
to believe, a change of volume should accompany the change of state of 
the materials of the earth from fluidity to solidity, the mean depth of the 
ocean would undergo gvadual though small changes over its entire extent 
at successive geological epochs. This result is easily deduced from the 
general views contained in other writings of the author, whence it ap- 
ears, that if the surface stratum of the inter nal fluid nu ileus of the 
exist to increase the ellipticity ‘of the liquid covering of the outer xarfate 
mean ellipticity of the ocean increased from >}5 to zdq, the level of the 
sea would be raised at the equator by about 228 feet, while under the 
parallel of 52° it would be depressed by 196 feet. Shallow seas and 
banks in the latitudes of the British isles, and between them and the 
pole, would thus be converted into dry land, while low-lying plains and 
Islands near the equator would be submerged. milar pheno oc- 
curred during early periods of geological history, they would manifestly, 
influence the distribution of Jand and water during these periods, a 
With such a direction of the forces as that referred to, they would tend to 
increase the proportion of land in the polar and temperate regions of the 
earth, as compared with the equatorial regions during uecessive geologi- 
cal e epochs, Such maps as those published by Sir Charles Lyell on the 
distribution of land and water in during the tertiary period, and 
those of M. Elie de Beaumont, ¢ fester Beudant’s ‘ Geology,’ would, 
if sufficiently extended, assist in wari or disproving these views. 
III. BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY. 
hands, have been anxiously waiting for his full monograph. This, we 
understand, is now completed, although the last fasciculus has not yet 
sgt this country, The greater part is before us, and an admirable 
aph it is, worthy of a place in the Archives which contain that 
indilel one on the Malpighiacee of his lamented botanical master. It 
illustrates in detail about 470 species, under 40 genera, and is accompa- 
nied by 20 well-filled plates, drawn by the author. It opens with a Con- 
e 
