380 Gray’s Manual of Botany. 
dent will find far preferable to the old Linnean system, even for 
arriving at the name of a species. 
The descriptive part of the work, which occupies 700 pages, 
bears the impress, as already intimated, of a vast deal of origmal 
research. At the same time all unnecessary abstruseness has 
studiously avoided. As far as is consistent with brevity and per- 
spicuity, the descriptions are drawn up in simple untechnical 
glish, and special effort has thus been made to remove impedi- 
ments in the way of the learner. This liberty with the precise 
language of science, a hazardous trust in the hands of the un- 
skilled, is used with great caution and good judgment. The 
characters moreover are given with fullness. They are not, as in 
most compendiums, confined to a few dry terms hardly sufficient 
for the adept, but are drawn out with some detail; and the well 
selected observations which follow, indicate an observer familiar 
with the objects he describes, often bringing the plant like a pic- 
ture i the learner. 
To render the work still more convenient for use, the names 
of the genera and species are printed in a broad faced type, and 
are thus made to stand out prominent on the page. Moreover the 
accentuation is indicated, and also the etymology of the generic 
names. No pains have evidently been spared, to render the work 
serviceable to the science and the learner. 
We observe that some old familiar names of genera are chan- 
ged, and these new titles to old plants may seem at first unneces- 
sary innovations, adding new difficulties to the science. They 
are not difficulties to the young learner, who has no knowledge to 
unlearn. And by the scientific botanist they are required, what- 
ever the inconvenience, provided the changes are only corrections 
of former errors, or a recognition of an earlier and neglected name. 
We do not —— ourselves to judge in all the particular cases, as 
this demands careful research. But, after the exposition of Prof. 
Gray’s views on changes in nomenclature, in this Journal, vol. 11, 
for 1847, p. 304 and beyond, we have good reason to place im 
cit reliance upon his decisions. Progress implies change, and an 
unyielding nomenclature is one of the greatest obstacles to the 
advance of scientific truth. 
_ The manual is from its nature a book of reference. The sub- 
jects of structure and physiology, which are briefly presented in 
the Introductory Chapter, are treated of at length in a previous 
work by our author, entitled the Botanical 'Text-Book, the see- 
ond edition of which appeared in 1845. ‘The whole process of 
growth with its various phases of development, the nature of @ 
na and the peculiar structures exemplified in the different oF 
are here brought out in a popular yet scientific style, with 
humerous illustrati his former treatise is full of interesting 
detail, and isa valuable and appropriate introduction to the M 
