Villa and Cottage Florist's Directory. 557 



is " an indefinite series of dividual essences, which are annu- 

 ally brought forth in succession ; " that " it is the most essen- 

 tial organ of a vegetable being ;" and further, that it is "the 

 fountain which first contains, and from whence flows all the 

 productions of a plant." Now, previously to reading these 

 passages, we nattered ourselves that we had some idea of 

 what is usually understood by the word corculum, in reference 

 to a bulb ; we find, however, that we had quite mistaken the 

 meaning of the term. But whether it is an essence, or an 



• • • 1 



organ, or a fountain of vegetable production, our worthy 

 author should have informed us, as assuredly it cannot be all 

 three. We are still more puzzled to comprehend what fol- 

 lows. " It is," says our author, " variously located in the 

 system : in some, it is confined to one place ; in others, de- 

 tached in groups from the first station ; and, on the generality 

 of trees and shrubs, it is diffused like a covering over the 

 whole surface of the plant." (p. 2,) We are also informed 

 that " the first, or highest in order," of this series of essences, 

 " is, in the autumn before it is developed, composed of a sur- 

 rounding envelope of thick fleshy bodies, like scales." Now, 

 we candidly acknowledge that we have not capacity sufficient 

 to understand this mysterious passage ; but we are willing 

 that our objections to it should be set down solely to the 

 obtundity of our everyday intellect. We dare not attempt 

 to follow our author in his profound lucubrations respecting 

 the developement of the " processes of the senior part of the 

 corculum," nor those regarding the increase in size of the 

 vital principle (p. 3.) ; nor express our astonishment at the 

 discovery, " that the essence which covers the whole surface 

 of trees and shrubs is no bigger than a grain of mustard seed ; " 

 neither will we venture to dispute the still more extraordinary 

 information respecting the influence of disease in hyacinths. 

 We speak this advisedly ; for our author informs us that the 

 new bulb is formed " by the gouty basis of some of the last 

 and this year's leaves embracing those, together with the 

 stem and flower, which are to be expanded in the next." The 

 transcendental philosophy is a mere joke, comparing it with 

 the mysticism of that of our honest phytologist. 



It is surely unnecessary to say one word more on the phy- 

 siology of this volume. We blame the author for his temerity 

 in throwing away his bladders before he has learned to swim, 

 and incautiously venturing beyond his depth : in plainer 

 language, for introducing as physiology, vague, unintelligible, 

 and crude ideas into his otherwise useful book ; lessening his 

 authority with his readers ; and rendering them distrustful of 



