398 Scientific Intelligence. 
satisfaction, that we announce to the public the appearance of a 
work by Dr Fleming, in two volumes octavo, entitled Phi- 
losophy of Zoology^ which we have no hesitation in recom- 
mending to the particular notice, not only of the profess- 
ed naturalist, but also to the general reader, as a suc- 
cessful arrangement of the facts and views of one of the 
most difficult and interesting branches of natural history. 
The first volume commences with an account of the pecu- 
liar characters of inorganic beings ; the properties of the vital 
principle, the conditions of its existence, and the modifica- 
tions to which it is subject, as the characteristics of organized 
beings ; the distinguishing marks between vegetables and ani- 
mals ; and a view of the polity of nature. An enumeration is 
then given of the substances which enter into the composition 
of animals, and of the compounds of organization. The re- 
mainder of the volume is occupied with the different systems of 
organs, their structure and functions, viz. Cutaneous, Osseous, 
Muscular, Nervous, Digestive, Circulating, (including the Pe- 
culiar Secretions of Light, Electricity, and Heat,) and the Re- 
productive. Under the Nervous System, a comparison is insti- 
tuted between the mental powers of man and the lower animals. 
The second volume is chiefly occupied with the classification of 
animals. It, however, commences with illustrations of the Du- 
ration of Animals, their Physical and Geographical Distribu- 
tion, Revolutions, the methods of investigating their External 
and Internal Characters, with the principles of Zoological No- 
menclature. Under the title Classification of Animals, there is 
a general view of the more obvious characters of the different 
classes, prefixed to those groups into which they are subdivided, 
27. Notice regarding the History and Distribution qf the 
genus Psittacus or Parrot . — The Greeks seem at first to have 
known only one species of parrot, which was imported from the 
east by one of the Captains of Alexander’s Fleet. Aristotle, 
the father of naturalists, speaks of it as a rare bird, of which 
he had heard by report. The beauty of parrots, and their 
faculty of speech, soon made them objects of high request among 
the luxurious Romans, whom the virtuous Cato justly reproach- 
es for this puerile attachment. In his time, they kept them in 
cages of silver and ivory, and bought them at a price as high 
