126 ThomsorCs Lectures on Botany. 



except in the article of shelter, he has no more immediate value 

 than the purchaser of a picture. 



" The difference, however, between Allanton, with its orna- 

 mented park, and Allanton as it was twenty years since, would 

 soon be ascertained, were it brought into market," 



The expense for each tree is calculated by Sir Henry and 

 others, at an average of about from 125. to 15s. for removing 

 a tree, from 1 00 yards to a mile distant, and from 25 to SO ft. 

 high. 



Thus having gone over what you have been pleased to pro- 

 pose for me, I hope it may meet your approbation, and prove 

 useful for your publication. 



I am, dear Sir, yours, &c. 

 Chelsea, April 9. 18^28, James Main. 



Art. II. Lectures on the Elements of Botany. By Anthony 

 Todd Thomson, M.D. F.L.S. &c. Svo. Vol. I. Plates and 

 Wood-cuts. ll. 8s. Reviewed by Inquisitor. 



Sir, 



In the earlier ages, the art of gardening was confined to the homely 

 heads and hard hands of its practitioners ; experience was the only guide of 

 their operations, and necessity the only incentive to exertion. Utility and 

 beauty were the only recommendations of the objects of the gardener's care, 

 and circumstances of nature or civilisation lent the means, and governed 

 the extent, of his practice. Science had not stooped from her high station, 

 to elucidate the physical properties of vegetation, and assist the intentions 

 of the practitioner, or explain to him the principles of his art. The phy- 

 sical philosopher employed himself in scanning the diversities of animal 

 matter, and ransacked the bowels of the earth for the lifeless, though pre- 

 cious minerals, while the most beautiful examples of vegetable organisation 

 on its surface were neglected. 



But, in the "march of intellect," the researches of the philosopher could 

 no longer overlook the physical constitution of plants ; and this being once 

 taken up, it increasingly occupied the attention of the naturalist, from 

 beyond a century back to the present time. Many have immortalised their 

 memories by discoveries and writings on this branch of science ; and though 

 never pursued with more diligence than at the present moment, nor such 

 advances made in the knowledge of it, still there appear many uncertain 

 points of opinion to be settled, before our perceptions of it can be complete 

 or satisfactory. 



This new study is called Botanical Physiology, and has been much ad- 

 vanced by the united sciences of anatomy and chemistry ; and though the 

 anatomist has been foiled in applying too closely his science to vegetable 

 economy, and the chemist, perhaps, has been led too far by his affinities and 

 assimilations, still the union of these important studies has formed so excel- 

 lent a vocabulary for the subject, that, though it may at first darken the 

 descriptions, and puzzle the novice, it will, in the end, be the only means of 

 conveying correct ideas of the subject. 



