330 The Jungermannia Section of Liverworts. 



The assertion that " every structure consists of matter in two 

 states — the living or germinal state, and the formed or lifeless 

 state," — which Dr. Beale repeats continually, is an instance 

 of over hasty generalization. Can any one believe that as 

 soon as an organ is formed it is dead, and that the only live 

 matters in the world are those soft pulpy particles which are 

 passing from an unorganized to an organized state ? There 

 are probably germs of valuable truth in Dr. Beale's specula- 

 tions on this subject, but the " formed material-" of his 

 hypothesis is, we fear, as dead as his system could require. 



THE JUNGERMANNIA SECTION OR GENUS OF 

 LIVERWORTS, FRUITING IN THE WINTER 



MONTHS. 



BY M. G. CAMPBELL. 



It is marvellous that even in the present day, when microscopic 

 research has ransacked hill and dale, dredged our ponds, and 

 turned our garden slugs inside out for objects of interest and 

 beauty, that so little seems to be known of a tribe of plants so 

 eccentric in habit, and whose exceeding- beauty and delicacy 

 of structure pre-eminently fit them for subjects of microscopic 

 investigation. It is true that Hooker wrote a work on the 

 British Jungermannia some years ago, but how few know any- 

 thing about the book ; while more recent discovery has added 

 to the list of our indigenous species several not named by 

 Hooker. 



Generally speaking, booksellers can give a tolerably correct 

 idea of the measure of intelligence of a nation's mind upon any 

 particular subject. Some little time ago, wishing to collect all 

 the .best works upon the subject, in any European language, 

 ?« went from one scientific publisher to another, visiting many 

 without meeting with one who seemed even to have heard the 

 term before. It is true the term has no characteristic meaning 

 in itself, being simply given to this genus in honour of a Ger- 

 man botanist, Louis Jungermann; and it is to be regretted 

 that compliments of this kind should, as they often do, stand 

 in the way of the advancement of science. 



A word descriptive of some peculiarity in the plant would 

 be more attractive, contain information in itself, and be far 

 more likely to fix itself in the memory, enlisting as it would 

 the understanding in the effort to retain it. However, we 

 must take things as we find them, and proceed to describe tho 



