348 REVIEWS. 



We cannot for the present, reasonably hope to see the cultivation of these 

 staple 3 carried to the same height, as in the days of the old regime ; at 

 least many years must elapse ere it arrive at this point of success." 



Manual of Botanic Terms. By M. 0. Cooke. R. Hardwicke. 



We had occasion to notice recently a work from the pen of Mr. Cooke, 

 and the present cheap volume, with numerous illustrations, promises to 

 be equally useful. The special features it presents are : that the terms are 

 written in their Anglicised forms, under which they are commonly em- 

 ployed, and the derivations are recovered from the mysticism of a Greek 

 alphabet, so as to adapt the work to general use, as a plain and ready 

 reference for botanical students. 



The West India Quarterly, No. III. A. De Cordova, Kingston, 



Jamaica. 



There are some very excellent papers in this number of the ' West India 

 Quarterly,' and we would especially enumerate Mr. Hill's K Jottings by the 

 Sea-side," a paper " On the Importance of the Study of Physiology," and 

 a curious article " On the Advantages of smoking Pimento with Tobacco," 

 a subject which we had before seen adverted to in Jamaica. Many lighter 

 articles come in to relieve the heavy scientific papers, making an interesting 

 variety for tropical reading. 



" As it would be as easy to arrest the torrent of Niagara, as to put a stop to 

 the universal habit of smoking, it might, nevertheless, be practicable to adopt 

 a middle course, or modification of the present vicious and filthy system of 

 smoking tobacco, and, thereby, diminish the deleterious influence of the 

 drug per se. With this view, an admixture of pimento with tobacco has been 

 recommended, nearly in equal proportions. This mode is decidedly less 

 deleterious — the stimulating effects of the pimento counterbalancing the 

 sedative effects of the tobacco — and, while forming an agreeable fra- 

 grant and exhilirating compound, which, so far as it has been used, is gene- 

 rally preferred to tobacco smoking, it, moreover, possesses the advantage of 

 being agreeable to those who are sometimes involuntarily compelled to 

 endure the reek of an empyreumatic pipe. 



" To the inhabitants of some of our towns and villages — hemmed in by 

 the swamp, and to those exposed to malaria in any of its forms, whether 

 the miasms be almost imperceptible to the senses, or produces nausea and 

 vomiting, as happens to some, in passing such stagnant putrid lagoons, as 

 those of the Ferry, on the Spanish Town Eoad, smoking pimento with 

 tobacco, if not altogether a safeguard, is yet preferable to the tranquillising 

 sedative tobacco, and, as such, should have the preference. If Dr. Reid, 

 when planning the ventilating of ships fitting out for the unfortunate Niger 

 exploration, had also enjoined smoking pimento with tobacco, he would 

 have made a step in the right way ; and if he could have persuaded the 

 government that acclimated seamen, recruited at Port Royal, were prefer- 

 able for such a dangerous enterprise to unseasoned sailors from the banks 

 of the Thames, the result might not have ended in such a disastrous 

 failure!" . . ... 



" In smoking pimento with tobacco, let me not be misunderstood. To 

 say that any chemical change is effected, or that the fragrance of the fumes 

 possess any disinfectant power over malaria, would be incorrect, and lead to 

 error and disappointment. The first sanitary step to be taken, Avhether in 

 town or country, whether in temperate or tropical climates — especially in 

 tropical climates — is to remove all excreta, or anything capable of genera- 

 ting foul air to a safe distance. One of equal importance is, for those living 

 in malarious districts, if possible, to leave the vicinity of the lagoons and 



