508 
REVIEWS. 
L.—Climate : an Inquiry into the Causes oe its Differences, 
and into its Influence on Vegetable Life. By C. Daubenv, 
M.D., F.E.S. 
The Natural History Society of Torquay baying elected Dr. Dau¬ 
beny an honorary member, he could not but accede to the request 
made to him by some of the members, that he should give them a 
few lectures daring his stay in their neighbourhood last winter. 
This was very considerate and wise of Dr. Daubeny, for at little 
strain upon himself he was able at once to gratify and instruct his 
friends; as, indeed, we all of us ought to be willing to do whenever our 
turn comes round. But matters did not stop here, for at the special 
request of a Master in Chancery, as it would seem from the dedica¬ 
tory inscription, the lectures were dispatched to the printers. The 
result is an octavo volume, published by subscription, of some 140 
pages, bearing the title which heads this notice. 
Our opinion is that these lectures, although well suited for their 
original purpose, were not worth printing. We observe nothing new 
of importance in them; little that is old put in a new light; and 
there are numerous inaccuracies scattered through the book which 
render it in no way creditable to the author, whose honoured name 
we regret to find endorsing so much questionable matter. The 
lectures are four in number. The first and second refer almost ex¬ 
clusively to Climate, and discuss the relations of temperature to 
latitude, actual and normal temperatures, local causes affecting tem¬ 
perature, a polar sea, probable greater preponderance of water during 
an early period of the earth’s history, temperature of the soil, humid¬ 
ity, winds, ozone, and the like. Upon the author’s general obser¬ 
vations under these heads we have nothing to comment. In the 
third lecture an attempt is made to explain the influence of climate 
upon vegetation, wild and cultivated species being distinguished, 
and some little detail entered into with reference to some of the 
more important food-producing plants. Mr. Darwin’s theory is of 
course referred to ; Dr. Daubeny inclining to withhold his assent to 
the whole thing until some vast gaps, which he alludes to, are bridged 
over. The fourth lecture relates mainly to the power of man in modi¬ 
fying climate, whether for better or worse, and the subject of accli¬ 
matisation ; winding up with a reference to the “ combination of 
circumstances” which render Torquay suitable as a winter residence 
for invalids. 
At the commencement of his third lecture, Dr. Daubeny speaks 
of all Flowering plants as being divided into those with one germinal 
leaf or cotyledon, and those with two. He goes on to say that these 
two classes present the most marked differences in their structure, 
growth and mode of flowering, and that “from a review of these 
differences it will be obvious, that whilst dicotyledons are, as a rule, 
best adapted for cold climates, monocotyledons are equally so for 
warm ones.” The differences in structure which generally obtain 
