KEVIEW—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 
755 
solid frame-work of which contains silicate of potash, without silicic acid and 
potash; or plant of the genus Oxalis without potash; or saline plants, such 
as the salt-worts (Salsola and Salicornid) without chloride of sodium, or at 
least some salt of similar properties. All seeds of the GraminecB contain 
phosphate of magnesia.in combination with ammonia. It 
is contained in the outer horny husk .... The bran of flour contains the 
greatest quantity of it. It is this salt which forms large crystalline concre¬ 
tions, often amounting to several pounds in weight, in the cceciim of horses be¬ 
longing to millers. Most plants, perhaps all of them, contain 
organic acids of very different composition and properties, all of which are in 
combination with bases, such as potash, soda, lime, or magnesia. These bases 
evidently regulate the formation of the acids, for the diminution of the one is 
followed by a decrease of the other . . . The leaves contain more inorganic 
matters than the branches, and the branches more than the stem .... All 
plants yield by incineration ashes containing carbonic acid; all, therefore, 
must contain salts of an organic kind . . . Since, then, in the different fami¬ 
lies of plants, various kind of substances are found, it cannot be supposed that 
their presence is the result of accident ? Certainly not.” 
The art of culture is next entered upon, with the influence of food, 
light, and manure on plants ; the rotation of crops, &c. But we 
have hardly commenced our review, ere we are warned to stop. All 
we can do is cordially to recommend the work to the attentive study 
of our readers. 
Our object has been to shew the intimate connexion between 
agriculture and chemistry, and to couple with these the science of 
botany, all of which should constitute parts of the education of 
the veterinary student: by and by, they will be; and already an 
important step, and at which we rejoice, has been taken towards it 
at our alma mater. We fear, however, that it would be too severe 
a task for one individual to undertake the whole of these divi¬ 
sions, adding to them materia medica and therapeutics, which, of 
themselves, constitutes an essential, nay, indispensable part of vete¬ 
rinary instruction. We can see important sub-divisions, alike 
valuable to the teacher and the taught, and we will patiently wait 
the result of time. Surely, there is no union so profitable to the 
individual and to the community as that of veterinary medicine 
with scientific agriculture and its dependencies. 
W. J. T. M. 
Illustrations of the Breeds of the Domestic Animals of 
THE British Islands: Parts IV and V. By David Esq., 
Professor of Agriculture in the University of Edinburgh. 
We return with undiminished pleasure to a review of this splen¬ 
did national work. A history is given of the ox tribe—the bisons 
inhabiting both the old and new continents, and distinguished by 
round, smooth horns, and a musky odour which exhales from the 
skin—the buffaloes characterized by angular horns, and a fainter 
odour of musk, and being natives of the warmer regions of Asia 
and Africa—and the Taurine group comprehending the common ox 
