492 
REVIEWS. 
up wild theories on insufficient data.* The views of this genus, which in some respects 
are peculiar to himself, are, at all events, presented to the reader with plausible ar¬ 
gument, sustained by the records of personal observation on the spot. Mr. J. E. 
Howard remarks, after passing in review the slender result of the labours of Mutis, “ we 
are thus shown still more absolutely our dependence on the researches of Dr. Karsten, 
as our only guide to any clear botanical knowledge of the medicinal barks of the vast 
districts of New Granada and Popayan. I have before expressed my conviction of the 
great value of his researches, and of the accuracy (so far as I can judge) of his descrip¬ 
tions, which the valuable gift of this gentleman’s original herbarium specimens enables 
me more distinctly to certify. I have now only to reiterate these remarks, and to ex¬ 
press my cordial satisfaction at the reprint of such interesting information in the 
English language.” We have special satisfaction in recording this testimony to the 
just appreciation with which Dr. Karsten’s discoveries have been welcomed in England, 
as we fear, that from some reasons, his advancement at Berlin has not, in all respects, 
been equal to his merits. 
The price of the ‘Specimina Selecta’ places it beyond the reach of most private 
individuals and of many learned societies. It will, therefore, be the more acceptable to 
our readers to learn that the present volume, which we hope will be rendered easily to 
be procured by the public, contains five well-executed plates, lithographed by Vincent 
Brooks, of the more important species described and figured by Dr. Karsten, among 
which they will see with pleasure the Cinchona lancifolia , of Mutis ; the C. Triance, 
Karsten; the C. cordifolia , Mutis, with its beautifully heart-shaped leaves, as also the 
C. Tucvjensis (the bark of which used to be called Maracaibo bark, and is now imported 
from the German colony of Tovar, Caraccas), and C. cori/mhosa, Karsten. It is to be 
regretted that most of Dr. Karsten’s own specimens of bark were lost through the neg¬ 
ligence of an agent at Tumaco, but, fortunately, some specimens of the above remained 
in his possession, and thus the bark of C. lancifolia and of C. Tucujensis appear in the 
above delineations. 
A complete list of the species ascribed to the genus Cinchona , noticing more especially 
the kinds introduced into India, is appended to the volume of Mr. Markham. Whatever 
other value may or may not attach to this document, it tends at all events to show, how 
abundant and how diversified are the productions of nature in this as in other depart¬ 
ments, and how difficult it is to constrain her to rest in the Procrustean beds of our pre¬ 
viously determined systems. It is evident, at all events, that we have yet much to learn 
in this direction, and also much to accomplish before it can be said that the knowledge 
already acquired is reduced to systematic order and arrangement. 
First Principles of Modern Chemistry : a Manual of Inorganic Chemistry for use 
in Schools and Science Classes. By U. J. Kay-Shuttleworth. London : Churchill 
and Sons. Pp. 200. 
This book contains something more than is indicated in its title. The first part in¬ 
cludes just those cuttings from the physical works of Tyndall, Ganot, and Miller, which 
are of especial interest in the eyes of gentlemen preparing for matriculation at the Uni¬ 
versity of London. For general details and to obtain accurate results, readers are, in¬ 
deed, frequently referred to those works,—the instillation of “ first principles ” being the 
avow r ed object of Mr. Kay-Shuttleworth, This is all very well, but if the author had 
not proclaimed his orthodoxy in the preface—“ it may be assumed that practical study 
in a laboratory should always accompany a course of reading on chemistry ”—we should 
have considered him guilty of something closely allied to “ cramming.” The title, on 
the other hand, indicates more than is found in the book. “ For the study of the metals 
and their compounds the reader is referred to more complete works.” In short, the 
work only includes the inorganic chemistry of the non-metallic elements, and may be 
described as a portion of that excellent outline of chemistry, Frankland’s “Lecture- 
Notes for Chemical Students,” filled in by Miller, Naquet, Koscoe, Hofmann, and Kay- 
* Though even Dr. Karsten generalizes too much as to the scrobicules on the leaves being 
a necessary indication of the good quality of the bark. 
