REVIEW— THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH DEVON. 287 
cover that, to arrive at them, we must apply ourselves to the 
whole range of human learning. To secure these desiderata 
firmly in our grasp we must engage in inquiries both abstruse 
and intricate, and devote as large a portion of attention to the 
lower classes of God’s great family as to its higher and intel- 
lectual members ; and then we find, to our astonishment, that 
subjects which had been but little noticed by us contribute 
most influential matter to our deliberations while occupied in 
the absorbing scrutiny. 
In our examination of the structure and functions of living 
beings, we necessarily find the operations of several natural 
laws extended to each of them. By attention and careful con- 
sideration we ascertain the phenomena induced by each sepa- 
rate law, and note the connexions or the characters of these 
results. Carrying these data and conclusions with us, we finally 
learn to anticipate and expect laws on any new subject of exa- 
mination from an observation of their structure and functions — 
the functions of living beings being themselves in great mea- 
sure united, the laws by which they act must be also, in greater 
or less degree, in unison, mutually dependant and reciprocally 
illustrative of each other, wherever found. In this way is it 
shewn how the laws of life in one series of beings illustrate and 
imply those of others, and accordingly how essential is the study 
of every department of organic life to the perfect knowledge of 
the physiology of one. 
The author of the Natural History of South Devon is every 
way calculated for such an inquiry, having a thorough ac- 
quaintance with the localities of the district he describes, an 
intimate acquaintance with the Great Book of Nature, and 
bringing to bear on the whole no ordinary anatomical and phy- 
siological ability. 
No portion of the world has enjoyed greater celebrity for a 
happy union of all that delights the eye than England ; and no 
part of our island has received more marked distinction, on ac- 
count of the peculiar junction of every sort of scenery, than 
Devonshire. The author first takes a hasty glance at these 
scenic characters of its southern districts, comprehending Dart- 
moor, towards the centre of the county, and the coasts which 
occupy the southern limits ; and these examinations extend to 
three opposite kinds of scenery, — the jirst, mountainous, bold 
and romantic, desolate and bold ; the second , wooded, greatly 
intersected by rivers, hilly, rich in pasturage, and highly fruit- 
ful ; the third , bold, but sometimes soft and gentle, and at 
others grand and terrible, generally precipitate and barren. 
From these differences in the physical condition of South 
