Bibliography. Bil 



to pebbles and were finally cast again upon the shore — in all these and 

 other facts Dr. Mantell finds topics of most interesting and delightful 

 instruction. It is almost superfluous to add that the style is lucid, at- 

 tractive, eloquent, poetical and philosophical ; for all these attributes 

 are combined in his writings. The elegant form of the little book, its 

 snowy paper, excellent type and pictured engravings and cover, recom- 

 mend it to the eye of taste ; while to the philosopher as well as the pupil 

 it presents truly a first lesson in geology, and cannot be perused without 

 both pleasure and profit. It has passed through six editions, and we 

 wish they may be repeated as long as stars glow or waters flow. 



6. On the Groicth of Plants in closely glazed cases ; by N. B. Ward, 

 F. L. S. London, 1842. pp. 95, 8vo. — The earliest published account 

 of Mr. Ward's new method of cultivating plants without open exposure 

 to the air, was contained in a letter to Sir Wm. Hooker, published in 

 the Companion to the Botanical Magazine for May, 1836. The little 

 volume before us presents a fuller account of this discovery, and of its 

 important applications, indicated at the time, which subsequent experi- 

 ence has abundantly confii'med. Passing over the first and second 

 chapters of this essay, which treat " Of the natural conditions of Plants," 

 and " Of the causes which interfere with these conditions in large towns, 

 &;c." we extract from the chapter " On the imitation of the natural 

 conditions of plants in closely glazed cases," an account of the manner 

 in which Mr. Ward arrived at these unexpected results ; which, singu- 

 lar as they at first seem, are only what an hour's reflection upon the 

 physiology of vegetables might have anticipated. 



" The science of botany, in consequence of the perusal of the works of the im- 

 mortal Linnaeus, had been my recreation from my youth up ; and the earliest ob- 

 ject of my ambition was to possess an old wall covered with ferns and mosses. 

 To obtain this end, I built up some rock-work in the yard at the back of my house, 

 and placed a perforated pipe at the top, from which water trickled on the plants 

 beneath ; these consisted of Polypodium vulgare, Lomaria spicant, LastrcBa dilata- 

 ta, L. Filix-mas, Mhyrium Filix-famina, Asplenium Trichomanes, and a few other 

 ferns, and several mosses procured from the woods in the neighborhood of London, 

 together with primroses, wood sorrel, &c. «&c. Being, however, surrounded by 

 numerous manufactories and enveloped in their smoke, my plants soon began to 

 decline, and ultimately perished, all my endeavors to keep them alive proving 

 fruitless. When the attempt had been given up in despair, I was led to reflect a 

 little more deeply upon the subject, in consequence of a simple incident which 

 occurred in the summer of 1829. I had buried a chrysalis of a Sphinx in some 

 moist mould contained in a wide-mouthed glass bottle, covered with a lid. In 

 watching the bottle from day to day, I observed that the moisture which during 

 the heat of the day arose from the mould, became condensed on the internal sur- 

 face of the glass, and returned whence it came; thus keeping the mould ahvays 

 in the same degree of humidity. About a week prior to the final change of the 

 insect, a seedling fern and a grass made their appearance on the surface of the 

 mould. 



