LITERARY NOTICES. 



\Z"J 



cators of this continent. Our firm be- 

 lief is, that the truth can take care of 

 itself — that it does not need any bolster- 

 ing or hedging round or underpinning; 

 and we therefore throw our pages open 

 to any one who can discuss a timely 

 subject bearing upon the progress of 

 human interests in a scientific manner. 

 We know of no other principle upon 

 which a "Popular Science Monthly" 

 could be honestly or successfully con- 

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 ity which are too spiteful to be scien- 

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 from its beginning, need give us ex- 

 tremely little concern. Some time ago 

 we had occasion to remark that a single 

 number of the " Canada Educational 

 Monthly" contained two articles bor- 

 rowed from " The Popular Science 

 Monthly " — one of them without ac- 

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 the public goes far to set off the illib- 

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 same quarter. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



The Folk-Lore or Plants. By T. F. Thisel- 

 ton Dyer. New York : D. Appleton & 

 Co. Pp. 328. Price, $1.50. 

 Folk-lore is always a fascinating study, 

 and no branch of it offers more of peculiar 

 interest than that of plants. Prof. Dyer, 

 therefore, has chosen a popular theme, one 

 that has engaged the attention of many writ- 

 ers before him, and the present volume is a 

 condensation in large part from previous 

 books and papers upon the subject. In the 

 author's own prefatory words it is " a brief, 

 systematic summary, with a few illustrations 

 in each case of the many branches into which 

 the subject naturally subdivides itself." The 

 book before us is, therefore, a hand-book to 

 all who are interested in the subject upon 

 which it treats. A mention of some of the 

 twenty-three chapters into which the work is 

 divided will help to present a faint idea of 

 the scope and success of Prof. Dyer's compi- 



lation. Plants in witchcraft, plants in fairy 

 lore, love-charms, plant language, doctrine of 

 signatures, sacred plants, plants in folk-medi- 

 cine, and mystic plants ; these are suggestive 

 of the careful systematic work done by the 

 author. It is impossible to epitomize a work 

 of this kind which in itself is an epitome of 

 a vast subject. The foot-notes and refer- 

 ences, one or more on nearly every page, il- 

 lustrate how very wide has been the glean- 

 ing of the painstaking author. Open the 

 book at any page, and a pleasing, succinct 

 statement will be found of some ancient su- 

 perstition of plant spirit, plant worship, plant 

 witchery, plant demonology, or plant legend. 

 Darwin, in his famous work upon " Move- 

 ments of Plants," says : " Why a touch, 

 slight pressure, or any other irritant such as 

 electricity, heat, or the absorption of animal 

 matter should modify the turgescence of the 

 affected cells in such a manner as to cause 

 movement we do not know." In the light of 

 this frank confession of ignorance by one of 

 the wisest of Nature's modern students it is 

 not strange that during the early ages of the 

 world every living thing was believed to be un- 

 der the direct control of some spirit, good or 

 evil, which was none the less real to the ig- 

 norant people because unseen. It was natu- 

 ral for the ancients to ascribe causes to well- 

 established effects, and the world of plant life 

 came in for its full share. They believed 

 blindly in the vegetable origin of the human 

 race — that is, man sprang from some sacred 

 world-tree. In modern times the belief is 

 not altogether different from this, but the 

 method is through the gradual unfolding of 

 the higher from the lower by the slow pro- 

 cess of evolution. In like manner the an- 

 cients, in seeking for a divinity, ascribed su- 

 perhuman power to the mighty oak, and 

 clothed other trees as with the garb of gods. 

 The worship of to-day is often of structures 

 far less lofty and inspiring than the forest 

 giants. In our time we can with profit glance 

 back and note the growth of ideas as they 

 broaden with the ages and see that our own 

 idols must be broken in pieces by the relent- 

 less wheels of progress. This is one of the 

 good features of such books as the one be- 

 fore us, and should make them popular, be- 

 cause being a history of the people in every- 

 day life — their common thought and conver- 

 sation. 



