LITERARY NOTICES. 



629 



import, her publishers were induced to 

 bring out a revised edition of them here. 

 The English edition was defective from ex- 

 cessive compression, the figures often over- 

 lapping so as to produce a confused effect. 

 In the American edition they are spread 

 over twice the original surface, giving them 

 much greater clearness for class-room use. 

 Several American specimens have been sub- 

 stituted for English species which do not 

 occur in this country, and the whole ar- 

 rangement has been much improved. 



These charts illustrate the principles of 

 the whole science of botany. They repre- 

 sent twenty-four orders, and more than 

 forty species of typical plants with all their 

 details of structure, in such a way as to ex- 

 emplify the complete organization of the 

 science. Each specimen is first shown of 

 its natural size and colors, then a magnified 

 section of one of its flowers is given, show- 

 ing the relations of the parts to each other. 

 Separate magnified views of the different 

 floral organs, exhibiting all the botanical 

 characters that, belong to the group of which 

 it is a type, are also represented. All va- 

 rieties of botanical structure^ in leaf, stem, 

 root, inflorescence, flower, fruit, and seed, 

 are thus exhibited. The charts contain 

 nearly 500 figures, colored to the life, and 

 their purpose is not to supersede the study 

 of living plants, but only to facilitate it. 

 Minute parts which are often difficult to 

 find are represented upon an enlarged scale, 

 and thus become a guide to the study of 

 the plant. 



In her Second Book, Miss Youmans 

 says : " Besides this special assistance in 

 object-study, the charts will be of chief 

 value in bringing into a narrow compass a 

 complete view of the structures and rela- 

 tions of the leading types of the vegetable 

 kingdom. In fact, they are designed to 

 present, fully and clearly, those groupings 

 of characters upon which orders depend in 

 classification, while, in several cases of large 

 and diversified orders, the characters of 

 leading genera are also given by typical 

 specimens. The charts will thus be found 

 equally valuable to the beginner, the inter- 

 mediate pupil, and the advanced student." 

 A key accompanies the charts, ana they 

 can be used with any botanical text-books ; 

 and, during the season of plants, they 



should be upon the walls of every school- 

 room where botany is studied. 



On Intelligence. By H. Taine, D. C. L., 

 Oxon. Translated from the French by 

 T. D. Haye, and revised with Additions 

 by the author. New York : H. Holt & 

 Co. Pp. 553. Price, $5. 



The writings of M. Taine on art, litera- 

 ture, and science, have taken a high rank 

 in Europe and in this country. Though his 

 genius may, in strictness, be said to be ar- 

 tistic rather than purely scientific or philo- 

 sophical, yet, in the work before us, he has 

 shown not only a varied knowledge of the 

 details and specialties of the sciences, but 

 an admirable aptitude in collocating and 

 generalizing their doctrines. 



All speculation, to have any permanent 

 value, must be based upon the natural order 

 of things : it must be interwoven with mat- 

 ter, motion, and force. When the intelli- 

 gence becomes a faithful mirror, and reflects 

 the universe as it is, weighing and measur- 

 ing it, real progress in thought is inevitable. 

 Well-observed and well-digested facts, thor- 

 ough and patient experiments, drawn along 

 the varied lines of Nature, generate new and 

 recast old ideas which open out a fresh in- 

 tellectual life between the two great factors 

 of science, man and the cosmos. 



We do not claim for M. Taine any no- 

 ticeable discoveries in the realm of natural 

 facts, through either observation or experi- 

 ment ; but we claim that he has enriched us 

 with many new ideas and a wealth of ex- 

 pression very rarely equaled. His recondite 

 thoughts are clothed in beauty by a most 

 exquisite imagination. 



M. Taine has divided his labor into two 

 parts, containing eight books and eighteen 

 chapters. The first two books, on " Signs and 

 Images," are relieved of much of their neces- 

 sary subtilty by the picturesque and realis- 

 tic manner of their treatment. His words 

 are never void of the kernel of the con- 

 crete, which is never overshadowed by 

 abstractions. The various objects of the 

 external world and their permanent rela- 

 tionships are physiologically gathered up 

 by the five senses, and require to be properly 

 named or labeled before entering into the 

 laboratory of thought. For this purpose 

 signs are deftly woven together and become 

 indispensable as servants of the mind. This 



