[ 344 ) 



REVIEWS AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS. 



Voyage Scientifique en Moree. Paris. Levrault. 



When it was determined to employ the combined arms of England 

 and France in order to clear Greece of the remains of the barbaric 

 race of Othman, the opportunity was not lost by the French go- 

 vernment, and with the laudable zeal for science, which, amid the 

 motley changes we have witnessed in these days, has never ceased to 

 animate the various parties who have successively ruled at Paris, a 

 sort of ambulant Institute, resembling on a smaller scale the cele- 

 brated body which accompanied the Egyptian expedition, was fitted 

 out, with a view to explore the classic and almost unwrought soil 

 their arms were called on to visit. 



The result of the labours of this commission has been recently 

 made public, and we shall proceed to analyse such parts of it as the 

 nature of this publication permits. Although we must in candour 

 say that we have risen from the examination of it with a considerable 

 feeling of disappointment, and that when we consider the means at the 

 disposal of the commission, the time devoted to it, and the power 

 they possessed of perambulating a region of comparatively small extent, 

 and perfectly accessible in every point ; as well as the vast advantage 

 of visiting a country which, as far as natural science is concerned, 

 with the exception of the botany of Sibthorp, might be said to be un- 

 explored, we felt entitled to expect that more might, and in fact 

 ought to have been done ; — nevertheless they have brought to light 

 some very interesting facts, which we shall lay before our readers, fol- 

 lowing the course of the publication itself. 



The work contains a sort of personal narrative of the parties en- 

 gaged, a summary of the observations on mammalia, reptiles, insects, 

 fishes, botany, geology, antiquities, statistics, and topography. There 

 is a large volume filled with drawings and illustrations of various 

 kinds, most of them well executed, and of great interest and value ; 

 but we certainly think that the many sheets occupied by landscape 



3 



