LITERARY NOTICES. 295 \^ 
" What is here called organic matter is the whole amount of volatile matter expelled hy a red heat, 
It contains, however, a very large quantity of ammonia, amounting to not less than 7.7 grains in 
a gallon, in addition to which the organic matter contained 5.93 grains of nitrogen in the form of 
nitrogenous compounds." 
Such we may assume as a type of the liquid sewerage of a common house drainage : as to solid 
matters carried off directly as they are produced, the filtering process detects only a very small propor- 
tion. The mischief that now exists is found in the nuisance created hy fermentation in masses. The 
results of the timely application of purified drainage upon garden vegetables as well as fodder herbage 
are certainly great ; but when the compounds exhibited in the table above given are made to enter the 
soil, we need not be much surprised at the fertility thus occasioned. 
LITEEARY NOTICES. 
Balfour's Pliyto-Theology (Johnstone & Hunter). — For two reasons we hail with peculiar satisfac- 
tion the appearance of the present work, _/?)•«<, because it will be extensively instrumental in diffusing 
a taste for botanical pursuits in quarters where that taste had not been evinced before ; and, secondly, 
because it will have a powerful influence in inducing those who engage in the pleasant study of God's 
all-beautiful works to pursue their researches in a devotional spirit, such as becomes the creature when 
contemplating the handiwork of the Creator. In this neat, little, admirablj'-illustrated volume of 
botanical sketches, intended to illustrate the works of God in the structure, functions, and general 
distribution of plants, the author gives a very lucid and popular detail of the leading, and especially 
the more remarkable facts in vegetable physiology, with an exceedingly interesting chapter on the 
relation which botany bears to various departments of science and art, and many other details of 
vegetable phenomena, which will be entirely new to many readers, and instructive and entertaining to 
all. We have seldom met with so much really agreeable botanical reading in a foolscap octavo of 240 
pages, as Balfour's Phyto-llteology contains; the pious spirit in which the work is written, and the 
many striking reflections that are offered on the, in many cases familiar, phenomena brought under 
notice, are calculated to give a healthy tone to the mind of every observer of nature. Truly does our 
author remark that " we may look on the broad landscape smiling in summer beauty, and speak with 
delight of the wonders of nature, and the goodness of a beneficent God, and follow with reverence the 
man of science as he displays God's wisdom and power in the creation of the universe ; and yet there 
may be no true appreciation of the character of God, no sense of his holiness, and none of that wisdom 
which comcth from above." We feel an anxiety to treat our readers to many interesting passages from 
the work ; but must, in the meantime, confine ourselves to the following observations on the flowering 
of plants, embracing Richter's curious detail of the " human clock," which strikes us as not having 
previously appeared in any English work : — 
" The flowering of plants takes place at different periods of the year, and thus a calendar of the seasons may be 
constructed. By observing the exact time when plants in the same garden flower in different years, an indication 
will be given of the nature of the season, The Mezereonand Snowdrop, Hepatiea, and "Winter Aconite, put forth 
their flowers in February in this country, the Primrose and Crocus in March, the Cowslip and Daffodil in April, 
the great mass of plants in May and June, many in July, August, and September, the Meadow Saffron and Straw- 
berry trco in October and November, and the Christmas Rose in December. Besides annual periods, some flowers 
exhibit diurnal periods of expansion and closing. On this principle Linnajus constructed what he called a floral 
clock, in which each hour was marked by the opening of some flower. . . . Eichter, in his remarks on 
Linmeus' floral clock, contrasts it with the periodical occupation of man at different hours of the day. ' I believe,' 
ho says, ' the flower clock of Linnanis, in Upsal [Sorologium Flora), whose wheels arc the sun and earth, and 
whose index-figures are flowers, of which one always awakens and opens later than another, was what secretly 
suggested my conception of the human clock. I formerly occupied two chambers in Schreeraw, in the middle of 
the market-place ; from the front room I overlooked the whole market-place and the royal buildings, and from the 
back one the botanical garden. Whoever now dwells in these two rooms possesses an excellent harmony, arranged 
to his hand, between the flower-clock in the garden, and the human-clock in the market-place. At three o'clock 
in the morning the Yellow Meadow Goatsbcard opens ; and brides awake, and the stable-boy begins to rattle and 
feed the horses beneath the lodger. At four o'clock the little Hawkweed awakes, (shoiristers going to the cathedral, 
who arc clocks with chimes, and the bakers. At five, kitchen-maids, dairy-maids, and Iiutlcr-cups awake. At 
six, the Sow-thistle and cocks. At seven o'clock many of the ladies' -maids are awake in the palace, the Chicory 
in my botanical garden, and some tradesmen. At eight o'clock all the colleges awake, and the little yellow 
'A Mouse-car. At nine o'clock the female nobility already begin to stir — the Marigold, and oven many young ladies 
ftv who have come from the country on a visit, begin to look out of their windows. Between ten and eleven o'clock * 
the court ladies and the whole staff of lords of the bedchamber, the' grei D Colewort and the Alpine Dandelion, and Y\ 
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