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commences Book II., which has to do with special morphology ; and lastly 
comes Book III., which has the following chapters : — 1st, the molecular 
forces in the plant ; 2nd, the chemical processes in the plant ; 3rd, the general 
conditions of plant life ; 4th, the mechanical laws of growth ; 5th, the 
periodic? movements of the mature parts of plants, and movements dependent 
on irritation; 6th, the phenomena of sexual reproduction; and 7th, and 
lastly, the origin of species. Of these several chapters we shall he more 
prepared to speak at the period of our next notice. 
A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS.* 
T HE labour that has "been undertaken by Mr. Bancroft, the author of the 
two splendid volumes now before us, was indeed a vast one, one which 
alone a person who devoted wellnigh a life to it could have at all achieved. 
And if the author has not been completely successful we are sure that few 
critics will be so singularly ungrateful as to condemn the work on that 
account alone. If we for a moment consider the vastness of the region 
proposed to be explored — extending from the Pole to the Equator — the 
immense library of books that a writer on the subject must have to examine, 
and the physique which an investigator of such a subject must be possessed 
of, we are the more astonished that so much good work should have been 
done, than that so little has been acquired. Mr. Bancroft has set himself 
down to give us an accurate account of all the races, civilised and savage, 
of the American Indians, and he has, we think, discharged the duty he has 
undertaken with remarkable fidelity, and with an absence of that tendency 
to theoretical disquisition so common in all who have to discharge similar 
duties. When we further consider that the extent of surface of the earth 
covered by the races he has dealt with in these volumes is nearly one- 
tenth of the entire globe, we shall have some idea of the vastness of the 
labour ; and we are compelled to admit the force of the author’s observation, 
that the labour of preparing these two volumes is equivalent to that of 
one man working continually for at least ten years. Let us see how this 
labour was discharged. Mr. Bancroft found that the information relat- 
ing to these numerous tribes was diffused through no less than 1,200 
volumes in different languages, of which he has given an accurate list, 
with their dates and places of publication. How, then, were these to be 
sifted, with a view to collect the grains of truth from the chaff of fable and 
unreality ? It is thus explained : — u In the work of selecting, sifting, and 
arranging my subject-matter I have called in the aid of a large number of 
assistants; and while desiring to place on no one but myself any responsibility 
for the work, I would render just acknowledgment for the services of all.” 
Which he then proceeds to give. To do more than point out the general plan 
of the work would be here completely out of place. And this we shall now 
* u The Native Races of the Pacific States of North America.” By H. IT. 
Bancroft. Vol. I. Wild Tribes. Yol. II. Civilised Nations. London : 
Longmans & Co. 1875. 
