General Notices. 613 



tion. Theory, and Method. " Science," says Sir John Herschel {^Treatise on Nat. 

 Philos. p. 18.), "is the knowledge of many, orderly and methodically digested and 

 arranged, so as to become attainable by one." The knowledge of reasons and 

 their conclusions constitutes abstract science ; that of causes and their effects, 

 and of the laws of nature, constitutes natural science. The inductive process 

 of illation (inference) forms a science ; the synthetic process of illation pro- 

 duces art : every art is, therefore, posterior to, and exists only in virtue of, its 

 cori'elative, anterior science, of which it is the effect. Statistics, therefore, 

 like other subjects of human thought, may be viewed both as a science and an 

 art. Considered as a process of inference from particulars to generals, or 

 from many to one, it is a science ; and, considered as the application of general 

 principles to individual cases, it is an art, precisely the same as any other sub- 

 division of the natural and abstract sciences. Those who sneer at art as some- 

 thing very contemptible, should be reminded that every art is the legitimate 

 offspring of a science ; and that the principles of art are the result of scientific 

 induction. Every rational art has reference to an a prioii theory, a precon- 

 ceived principle, obtained by reasoning scientifically from the particular to the 

 general ; or, as logicians phrase it, from the concrete to the abstract. If the 

 march of intellect be a desirable march, it assuredly is more important^ to 

 proceed securely, than rapidly, never forgetting the great Baconian maxim, 

 " Hominum intellectui non plumas addendae, sed potius plumbum et pondera." 

 {Athenceum, Nov. 26. 1836.) 



Anomalous Structia-e in IJicotyledones, — M. Decaisne has presented to the 

 Academy of Sciences a work on the family of the Lardizabale<s, and some im- 

 portant observations on the anatomical structure of the wood of the genera 

 Menispermura and ^ristolochia. Dicotyledones are known at first sight by 

 the concentric zones which are annually formed around the ligneous axis of 

 the first year ; and, at the same time that a layer of wood is formed, there is 

 also a layer of bark; so that their number corresponds exactly with the age of 

 the plant. Nevertheless, according to the experiments of M. Ducaisne, there 

 are several modifications of this law, hitherto regarded as general, and of 

 which he states the following : — 



1. The wood of the menispermums differs from that of other dicotyledonous 

 plants in having no concentric annual layers. The woody fibre remains simple, 

 and is not divided in its length, as in other dicotyledones; but it increases in 

 length by the annual formation of a new layer, without the first, and within the 

 bark. The layer without each of the woody fibres ceases to grow after the first 

 year of vegetation. 



2. The aristolochias differ from the menispermums in many respects ; for in 

 some species (^A. sipho, &c.) there are annual concentric zones, and in others 

 {A. labiosa, A. Clematitis) the woody fibre is divided by the interposition of 

 imperfect cellular rays, converging between them towards the centre, in the 

 manner of a fan. These two modifications according to the experiments cited, 

 do not appear to depend upon differences in the climate or seasons. 



3. The stem of the aristolochias has only one point of organisation, which 

 is common to it and the menispermums ; namely, the disposition of the bark, 

 which is seen in the form of small fibres opposite to those of the wood ; but 

 the fibres of the bark appear to increase at the same time with those of the 

 wood, since they are equal in number, and opposite. 



4. In some menispermums (Cissampelos Pareira, Cocculus /aurifolius) 

 new tissue, similar in appearance, but destitute of spiral vessels and bark, is 

 seen at the end of several years, without the first, forming around them a con- 

 centric layer. This formation being often repeated gives the appearance of a 

 number of layers. But each of them requires many years' growth, instead of 

 only one. As soon as the new ligneous formation appears, the old woody 

 fibre ceases to grow, and the cambium to form perfect wood. In this case, 

 the bark not belonging to the circle first formed, instead of being at the cir- 

 cumference of the tree, as in all other dicotyledonous plants yet known, is in 

 the centre, and near the pith. 



n R 3 



