178 Louis Figuier. [April, 



Camerarius completely proved the great fact of the existence of the 

 sexes in plants just as in animals. This discovery made an impres- 

 sion on the minds of naturalists ; it was, in fact, one of the most 

 striking victories which natural science had ohtained." * 



The portion of the work devoted to systematic botany is pre- 

 ceded by a sketch of the history of botanical science from the time 

 of Aristotle, giving an account of the labours of Grew, Tournefort, 

 Eay, Magnol, Linnaeus, Bernard de Jussieu, Adanson, Laurente de 

 Jussieu, De Candolle, Robert Brown, Dr. Lindley, and other great 

 botanists ; and it forms a very appropriate introduction to the study 

 of that department of the science. Dr Lindley 's son has lately 

 written to the ' Athenaeum,' complaining of the unfair use made of 

 his father's works in compiling the ' Vegetable World.' If. Figuier 

 and his editor quote largely from Dr. Lindley 's works, and adopt 

 his classification of plants; but their obligations to him are 

 honourably acknowledged in numerous instances, and the translator 

 and editor pays the following tribute to his merits :t — " His know- 

 ledge of vegetable structure was extensive and profound. His 

 indefatigable industry and unequalled powers of generalization 

 enabled him to grapple with and bring to perfection the vast scheme 

 of rearranging on physiological principles, after careful structural 

 examination, the whole vegetable world. His ' Vegetable Kingdom ' 

 remains a monument of immense learning, technical knowledge, and 

 vast industry. The modern school of botanists may be said, one 

 and all, to have been his pupils, and the system he has framed is 

 probably the nearest to perfection which the world has yet seen." 

 The classification proceeds in the ascending order, commencing 

 with the Diatomacea?. We should prefer De Candolle's subdivision of 

 the class Exogens into Thalamiflorae, Calyciflorae, CorollifloraB, and 

 Monochlamydae, to that adopted. 



We were somewhat puzzled for a moment at seeing the pages in 

 which the genera Fraxinus, Olea, Solanum, Xicotiana, Atropa, &c, 

 are described, headed " Piosals ; " but this is a typographical error, 

 and will, no doubt, be rectified in the next edition. 



The engravings, we are told in the preface, are all from nature. 

 They seem to have been drawn from living nature, and not from dried 

 specimens, as sometimes seems to be the case in works on botany. 



The concluding portion of the book is on the geographical 

 distribution of plants, and is not the least interesting portion ; but 

 want of space prevents us from giving any further extracts, for we 

 have still to deal with M. Figuier 's labours in other departments of 

 human intelligence. 



Perhaps one of his most attractive productions is after all his 



1 Merveilles de la Science,' and those who have seen the book will 



not be surprised to hear that it has had a veiy large sale in France. 



It is a work still in progress, and first appears in numbers at 10 cts. 



* P. 177-8. t P. 220. 



