10 
REVIEWS. 
Should Dr. Cocks carry out his present intentions, we can assure him of 
our most cordial co-operation, as we have from experience learned to value 
the luxuriant beauty of the specimens of Algas which he has already 
arranged for distribution among his friends, and in which all the charac¬ 
teristic features are most prominently preserved, while the graceful habit of 
the plants is never sacrificed. 
In the present little work our author’s object is merely to assist the 
collector, by such judicious directions, as will enable him to collect and pre¬ 
serve his specimens for future examination. These directions (which also 
include instructions of how to mount specimens for microscopic exami¬ 
nation) are followed by a systematic list of the British Marine Algge, while 
the volume is concluded by an alphabetical list of them, with localities and 
times of appearance. We with difficulty refrain from extracting some 
directions for the management of the more delicate species, and those for 
the preparation of specimens for the microscope, which we had marked for 
that purpose ; but, on reflection, we will, in justice to their author, content 
ourselves with strongly advising our algaeological readers to purchase, read , 
and practice the directions of Dr. Cocks for the preservation of these ocean 
flowers, and we will assure them that the increased beauty of their collec¬ 
tions will amply repay the time and money expended. 
Wanderings among the Wild Flowers; How to See and How to 
Gather Them. With Two Chapters on the Economical and Medicinal 
Uses of our Native Plants. By S. Thomson, M.D., F.B.C.S.E. With 
upwards of 170 Engravings. Pp. 338. 8vo. Price 5s. London: 
Groombridge and Sons. 1854. 
This little work contains a pleasing epitome of botanical science; not, it is 
true, very scientifically expressed, but sufficiently so, we think, to serve as 
a stepping-stone to a work like Balfour’s Botany. We have, in Part I., 
a popular treatise on the organs of plants. Part II. contains—Classifica¬ 
tion of plants, its necessity and use. We need not dwell upon either of 
these chapters, but will hasten to the next, which is the most original part 
of this volume. It opens with an account of a student’s botanical excur¬ 
sion in Scotland. This is interesting, and we append it— 
u The rendezvous for one of the Saturdays of July, 1835, had been fixed at the 
village of Currie, six miles from Edinburgh—not then, of course, as now, a railway 
station ; and, as botanists do not ride, it was walking distance. The trysting-time 
at the inn, eight o’clock, and breakfast ready ; six, therefore, must be the time to 
start from town. As bright a July morning as ever dawned it was, as the author, 
with one friend—now the Madras editor, Dr. Alexander Hunter—started for the 
meet. Parties of twos, threes, and fours soon gathered, all tending towards the 
