116 Synopsis of Canadian Ferns and Filicoid Plants. 



WOODWARDIA. 



W. virginica, Willd. — Frond pinnate ; pinnae lanceolate, pinnatifid ; 

 6ori arranged in line on either side of the midribs of pinnae and pinnules. 

 Woodwardia virginica, Willd.; A. Gray Man. p. 593. (Doodia^ 

 R. Br.) — Millgrove Marsh, C.W., Judge Logie; sphagnous swamp near 

 Heck's Mills, ten miles from Prescott, Augusta, C.W., B Billings, jr. ; 

 Pelham, C. W., P. W. Maclagan, M.D. ; Belleville, J. Macoun. 



{To he continued in next number.) 



EEVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



1. Victoria Toto Ccelo ; or, Modern Astronomy Recast. By 

 James Keddie, F.A.S.L., Hon. Mem. Dial. Soc. Edin. 

 Univ. London, 1863. Hardwicke. 



2. Quadrature du Gercle. Par un Membre de TAssociation 

 Britannique pour Favancement de la Science (James 

 Smith). Bordeaux, 1863. 



Well said the poet, though lie did not anticipate the present 

 application of his lines-— 



" The times have been, 

 That, when the brains were out, the man would die, 

 And there an end : but now they rise again, 

 With twenty mortal murders on their crowns, 

 And push us from our stools." 



Quietly ignored by the British Association, of which they are 

 members, or, worse, informed politely that their lucubrations are 

 of that order which the French Academy (" in consequence of a 

 resolution already ancient") so wisely refuses to entertain, Messrs 

 Reddie and Smith rush into print in Latin and French, the so- 

 called languages, par excellence, of true science, with the barely 

 concealed hope that at last the world will do them justice. So 

 far their cases are parallel ; but in respect of patient endurance 

 of well-merited neglect, or still more richly-deserved castigation, 

 at the hands of common-sense, Mr Smith is far in advance of his 

 fellow-martyr. He deserves, therefore, some little consideration 

 (which we can hardly extend to Mr Reddie, for a reason presently 

 to be shown), and we shall endeavour in a word or two to show 

 where and how he errs. 



It is certain, even to Mr Smith, that the area of a circle is half 

 the product of its radius and circumference. 



It is also certain that the circumference is proportional to the 

 radius. In scientific works this ratio (whatever it may be) is 

 denoted by 2?r : 1 where is some definite number. 



