Gray’s Manual of Botany. 379 
uncommon thing for a single book-making genius to grasp (or 
grasp at) the whole range of sciences. With more modesty, Prof. 
Gray, in making this small manual, in a department that has oc- 
cupied many years of research, ventured himself upon a portion on- 
ly of the field. He was indebted to Joun Carey, Esq., for the sec- 
tions on the Willows, Poplars, and the large group of grasses, con- 
stituting the genus Carer, with which Mr. Carey was especially con- 
versant ; moreover, Mr. Wm. 8. Sutuivant took the entire charge of 
the Mosses and Liverworts, and Mr. E. Tuckerman, that of the 
Lichens. Here then, in the writing of a common school-book, 
we have the combined labors of three accomplished botanists in ad- 
dition to the author, besides also farther aid from others, whose as- 
sistance is fully acknowledged in the preface. The chapter on 
the Lichens has been omitted in this edition on account of the 
size of the volume, but is promised in connection with a second 
tion. 
The work commences with an introduction on the outlines of 
y- The structure of a plant and the nature and uses of its 
parts are briefly but perspicuously explained, and definitions are 
given of the various terms employed. ‘This introduction is not 
a mere glossary, although possessing the advantages of one, es- 
pecially in connection with an alphabetized list of terms follow- 
ing. The idea of a plant as a living object having powers of 
growth and development, as well as leaves and flowers, was evi- 
tly in the mind of the able writer, and as such it is presented 
to the reader. 
The introduction covers about fifty pages. The rest of the 
Volume is occupied with the description of genera and species. 
The limits and general scope of the work have been already pre- 
sented by us on page 298, in citations from the preface. 
- The arrangement adopted is the Natural Classification, or that 
based upon the natural relations of the species. The only ad- 
hopsis of this arrangement, with brief characteristics of genera, 
by means of which the learner is guided to the genus, if his 
