374 



Notices of Books; 



[April 



" According to the natural arrangement, all plants, whether of a pro- 

 vince, a kingdom, or of the whole world, agreeing in certain ascertain- 

 ed peculiarities of structure, taken not from one set of organs only, but 

 from every part of the plant, commencing with the root and ascending 

 to the perfect seed, are grouped together as one order or family, under a 

 name derived either from a prominent genus of the group or from some 

 striking peculiarity of the order (^Rajiimculaceae from Ranunculus,: 

 Cruciferae from their cruciate flowers : Leguminosae from the leguminous 

 fruit, &c.). Such groups, if correctly associated according to their affi- 

 nities, that is organic structure and physiological peculiarities, would, 

 it w'as presumed, be found to participate in the kind and qualities of 

 secreted products which result from the operations of organic life. 



" In this anticipation the philosophical investigator of nature has not 

 been disappointed; for, so constantly does the fact agree with the theory, 

 it is now known, except in rare instances, plants referable to dif- 

 ferent fimilies will not graft on each other, apparently because the 

 juices elaborated in different families of plants, though growing side by 

 side, in the same soil, are so different in their qualities, that those of the 

 one are unfit to nourish a branch taken from the other : while, on the 

 other hand, two plants of the same natural family, however much the 

 soils in tvhich they respectively grow may differ, can generally be 

 readily grafted on each other. From the same cause, the action, name- 

 ly, of organization on secretion, we find, in a great many instances, iden- 

 tical properties common to whole families of plants. Acrimony pre- 

 dominates throughout the Ranunculaceae and Cruciferae : narcotism is 

 the characteristic of Papaveraceae and Solanaceae : Apocyneae are ge- 

 nerally poisonous, and some of the species most virulently so : astrin- 

 gency is common to nearly all the arboreous Mimoseae as well as to 

 many of the Caesalp'meae, it equally predominates in Terminaliae, and 

 the whole of the genus (^Mf^-cws is pre-eminently marked by that pro- 

 perty. The Cucurbiiaceae, Convolvulaceae and Eapliorbiaceae are 

 equally distino:uished by properties the very reverse, the action of many 

 species of each of these orders being violently drastic. The fruit of 

 Itosaceae and seed of Leguminosae, on the contrary, are so universally 

 wholesome, that it may be laid down as a general rule, almost without 

 exception, that they may be safely partaken of whenever they are 

 met with. 



** These few examples will suffice to show how vastly the study of pro- 

 perties is facilitated by an acquaintance with natural affinities, and will 

 I trust, at the same time serve to remove an objection which I have 

 more than once heard urged against this work, that it did not sufficiently, 



