1834.] 



Observations on Botany, ^c. 



328 



sale. One of them {B. nepalensis) is a native of the Neelglierie* 

 and might be so used. Of cmciferse we have only 5 or 6 species, 

 while the Himalayas possess about 70, showing again how much 

 that is an extra tropical order. 



We have now we trust, to the extent that our space would allow, 

 proved to the satisfaction of every unprejudiced mind, that Botany, 

 so far from bein^^ what we have heard it tauntingly called " a frivo- 

 lous pursuit," " a profitless science" " a pretty amusement for 

 ladies*' is in truth a science founded on philosophical principles, one 

 from which mankind have already derived many advantages, and 

 from which, now that our modes of investiji;ating nature are 

 improving, they will yet derive many more ; and consequently that 

 the time spent in its study could not be better employed, so long as 

 it is not allowed to interfere with the performance of those duties, 

 which our respective stations in life necessarily impose. 



With respect to the work which has afforded us a text for so 

 long an article, we must say, that if it has not yet realized all the 

 prospectus promises, it bids fair to do so before it is finished. 

 It is true the chapter on the geographical distribution of the Flora 

 of nbrthern India, shows want of arrangement, and is in our opi- 

 nion tedious and prolix, faults which might have been avoided by 

 subdivision of the subject, and by throwing the numerous lists of 

 plants which are scattered through the text, into a tabular from, 

 which would have enabled the reader at a glance to have compared, 

 those of one district with another, in place of wading through half a 

 page at a time of hard names ; and to have saved repetition he 

 might have numbered the different places treated of, and to each 

 plant added the number of each district where it was found. This de- 

 fect however, scarcely detracts from the value of the work, which 

 contains a vast mass of valuable information, and is, we suppose, 

 to be attributed to the disadvantages under which Indian authors 

 labour, who go home to publish on such subjects, in being from want 

 of time, obliged to print before their manuscript is completed, pre- 

 venting their revising, and if necessary recasting it before going to 

 press. Bearing this in mind, and making the necessary allowance 

 for it, we think the work highly creditable to the author, and worthy 

 the encouragement of every lover of Natural history. His remarks 

 on the natural orders are both interesting and instructive, and often 

 display much classical research. Of the plates 18 are Botanical, 

 one Zoological, and one Geological, they are in general well executed, 

 and to the Amateur who purchases the work for study, economical, 



