368 
REVIEW, 
PART II. 
REVIEWS AND EXTRACTS. 
REVIEW. 
ALPHABET OF BOTANY, FOR THE USE OF BEGINNERS. 
BY JAS. RENNTE, ESQ. M. A. 
Author of Alphabet of Insects, Alphabet on Scientific Gardening, fyc. Small 8 vo. 
123 Pages, and numerous Cuts. —1833. 2s. 6d. 
This Work, like the Alphabet of Insects, noticed page 275, is intended to assist 
those who commence the study of botany without any instructor, and it is well 
calculated to answer the end proposed. The technical terms are explained and 
simplified, and the elements of botany are so detailed and illustrated as to suit 
the most uninitiated. So soon as the student is sufficiently acquainted with the 
alphabet, we would recommend him, if practicable, to proceed to the study of 
Lind ley’s Introduction, noticed page 129. Should that be beyond his means, 
the Alphabet will supply him with a large portion of very useful knowledge not 
readily obtained, except at a much greater expense. A few extracts may suffice 
to shew the style and general character of the work. At page 4, speaking of the 
skin, or bark of plants, the author says, “ in animals, the outer skin, which is 
raised up by a blister, has no more feeling than the nails or the hair, and is, 
therefore, intended to sheath and protect the more sensible parts beneath. In 
plants there is a similar outer skin, commonly termed the rind, intended no 
doubt, for a similar purpose, though this is notso well understood as in animals.” 
Again, page 24, “ it appears from experiments, that leaves perform some office 
similar to the lungs of animals, at least, when healthy and exposed to sunshine, 
that they exhale oxygen gas through the pores on their surface, Rnd at night, or 
in cloudy weather, they exhale carbonic gas.” At page 57, he remarks, 
“ There is an obvious and well known proof, that plants live on water chiefly, if 
not altogether, derived from hyacinths and other bulbs placed in glasses, and 
supplied with water, in which they blow as well as in a garden. It is found, 
however, that they do not thrive unless the water be regularly changed, indica¬ 
ting that it is not the water alone, but something in the water which becomes 
exhausted. It has also been found by experiment, that distilled water will not 
support a healthy growth in plants, and most, if not all species, when planted in 
pure calcined sand, and watered with distilled water, quicklv die, as they do 
when quite deprived of water. From chemical analysis and experiment, it ap¬ 
pears that the chief matters taken up by plants, besides water, consist of carbo¬ 
nic acid gas and azote, together with a few salts, such as potash, and out of 
these and the hydrogen and oxygen of the water, all vegetable products seem to 
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