76 
NATURE 
[ NovEMBER 26, 1896 
In the garden the student may obtain a knowledge of 
form, structure, and affinity with greater facility than in 
the field or in the museum. In the garden, too, he 
can prosecute his experiments, even upon living things, 
without the chance of his objects being misinterpreted, 
with no fear of exciting the ire of well-intentioned senti- 
mentalists, and no risk of being harassed by restrictive 
legislation. 
On another side the artist has in the garden scope for 
the realisation of his ideas, be they in an artificial or 
formal direction, or in one that is, or is supposed to be, 
natural. 
As the surroundings and conditions are so extremely 
varied, so there is corresponding diversity in practice. 
There is, in fact, ample room for differences of opinion 
and for diversities of taste ; unfortunately, we must add 
for controversy, not always so amiably conducted as the 
nature of the subject would seem to necessitate. 
Miss Amherst, in presenting to the public a history of 
gardening in England from the earliest times to the 
middle of the nineteenth century, has, with few excep- 
tions, to which we shall hereafter refer, neglected none 
of these different aspects of gardening. 
It does not appear from her book that she is herself a 
specialist in horticulture, in botany, or in landscape 
gardening. But that she is endowed with sympathetic 
intelligence, aptitude for research, and love of her subject, 
is evidenced throughout. Her book is well planned, 
well put together, and accurately, yet withal pleasantly, 
written. It must form for a long time the standard 
work on the subject. 
Of course the history of gardening is in its degree the 
reflex of that of the period. At one time gardens were 
enclosed within monastery walls or castle garths. They 
were small in extent, and utilitarian in object. As more 
peaceful times came, the gardens became less restricted, 
both in space and in object. The utilitarian side was 
not neglected, but an increasing sense of security led to 
greater refinement and to a greater appreciation of the 
elegancies of life. At the same time travel became 
easier, and travellers more numerous. The consequence 
of this was that “outlandish plants” were freely intro- 
duced. Art also made its way into the garden as into 
other departments, and, as we have seen, it manifested 
itself in two opposite directions. Science found her 
place in the botanic gardens and in the various experi- 
ments made by the curious, experiments to which, in 
very large measure, we owe the profusion and excellence 
of the flowers and fruits of the present day. Nowadays, 
unless we except Orchids and some few other plants, more 
is done by hybridisation and cross-breeding of already 
introduced plants than by the importation of new and 
hitherto untried subjects. 
The plants of to-day are largely products of the 
gardener’s skill. There is nothing in nature precisely 
corresponding with the tuberous Begonias. They have 
originated from repeated processes of hybridisation and 
cross-fertilisation, and to some extent they reproduce 
their kind as ordinary species do. Neither Japan nor 
China can show ina wild state such Chrysanthemums 
as now excite the wonder of the spectator. They are the 
issue of cross-fertilisation, rigid selection, and of the 
suppression of some buds to the advantage of one only. 
NO. I413, VOL. 55] 
The enormous advance in commercial horticulture—in 
what is called market-gardening, more particularly—is 
hardly touched on by Miss Amherst, perhaps because 
she did not consider that it came within the scope she 
allotted to herself. It is nevertheless, so far as gardening 
goes, the great feature of the day, and when confronted 
with the depressed state of agriculture, it affords a mar- 
vellous contrast for the consideration of the economist 
and statesman, as well as for the historian of gardening. 
GEOMORPHOLOGICAL SPECULATION. 
Schopfungs-Geschichte. Von 
Hermann Habenicht. Mit 7 Karten-Beilagen und 2 
Text-Illustrationen. Pp. vili + 136. (Wien, Pest, 
Leipzig: A. Hartleben’s Verlag.) [Preface dated 
1896. | 
HIS “exact history of creation” is neither so clear 
nor so credible as the first chapter of Genesis, 
with which the author tries to harmonise it, nor does it 
appear to come any nearer to agreement with the views 
of modern geologists ; yet the aim of the work is distinct 
and noble. The preface begins :— 
“This book is the fruit of nearly forty years’ profes- 
sional study of the known surface of the Earth and of 
Geophysics, chiefly from the morphological point of view, 
according to the best existing original works which, for 
the most part, were official. It is the first attempt fo 
refer to one single fundamental natural daw, not only the 
position and structure of our planet, its continents, ocean- 
basins, and great mountain chains, but also the conditions 
of the stratification of rocks, fossilisation, earthquakes 
and volcanoes, ice-ages, &c., even the endless profusion 
of the organic world and the origin of species itself. It 
is the first attempt to coordinate the definitely ascer- 
tamed facts of Astro-, Geo-, and Experimental-Physics.” 
Grundriss einer exacten 
It is strange that forty years of that laborious and con- 
scientious study, which have made the name of Habenicht 
illustrious in his own department of cartography, did not 
reveal to him even one prior attempt to simplify the 
bewildering history of the formation of the earth. Man- 
kind is surely not so backward in cosmical speculation 
as that seems to imply. But of course these specula- 
tions do not appear in official reports ; they see the light 
in imaginative pamphlets and books published usually 
at the author’s risk, we fear, in more senses than the 
financial. 
This new attempt is a republication of papers which 
have appeared at various dates during the last twenty 
years, and are now grouped to form three parts. Part i. 
—‘“ Scientifically Observed Facts ”—deals with the sudden 
appearance of new stars, the cooling of the earth experi- 
mentally considered, and the seismic problem, the last- 
named illustrated by a map showing the active volcanoes 
and axes of greatest seismic activity of the world con- 
structed in 1889. Part ii.—‘‘ Traces of Facts from the 
Geological Past ’—cites, amongst others, the works on 
the flood of Sir Henry Howorth and the late Sir Joseph 
Prestwich, which appear to have greatly influenced the 
author. Part ili‘ The Theory of the Spherical Crater- 
basin ”—reveals the unifying law which simplifies the 
history of creation. It is the law of world-blisters. As 
the earth cooled originally, various gases extricated 
themselves from the fluid magma, and collected under 
