Scientific Reviews. 269 
Alleghany, or red and black oak ; the region of eastern hills, the 
country of red and black ash trees, of sycamores, acacias, and chest- 
nuts, and in the south, of laurel and orange trees ; the region of 
maritime fir trees,, cedars, and cypresses ; the region of the west, 
whose principal trees are the Juglans Hickeri, white oak, cherry 
tree, tulip tree, &c. &c. Those portions of the calcareous band 
which are entirely deprived of trees, are called barrens, and appear 
to be caused by the subterranean passage of water, which should 
go to fertilize the soil. The origin of the prairies is often similar ; 
and “ purgatory swamps, or devil’s holes,’ mentioned by our author 
as a species of quagmire, are holes occasioned by the surface falling 
in, and he has been led quite into error in supposing them render- 
ed unfit for the growth of trees, from “‘ too copious moisture.” The 
remainder of the work is occupied by a short account of Canada, 
which we cannot enter upon at present, and three chapters on the 
Americans of the United States. The eye of the world is upon 
America. Her government and her civil institutions are regarded 
as experiments in legislation, as a grand trial of the possibility of 
the permanency of natural liberty ; and we will not discuss how 
far we may be penetrated with the picture of a noble and irresis- 
tible progress to moral happiness and universal empire, or whether 
the chain that was linked in a common cause, will constantly bind 
together provinces wide apart—with different manners and customs. 
The possession of Cuba, or a port in the Mediterranean, so anx- 
iously sought for by their statesmen, would, it has been stated, lead 
in ten years to the dissolution of the union, and Canada would re- 
main the great outwork of the British empire. America is a great 
and happy country: without the heat and deserts of Africa in its 
tropics ; traversed by large navigable rivers; its shores washed on 
all sides by an almost boundless ocean: from the moment of its 
colonization to the present distinguished era, has been one conti- 
nued progress of improvement. The passions and interests of man 
have’caused blood to be shed on its virgin soil, and independence 
has been only gained by the sword ; but that blood has sealed it 
powerfully and securely, and eyes that watched her first attempt 
to fly, now gaze in glorious admiration on her present proud career. 
- 
On the present state of Science in Great Britain. 
No. I. Edinburgh College Museum. 
Tune impuneé hec facias —TER. 
WHEN, in our earliest conception of this Periodical, we proposed 
to ourselves the novel object of occasionally glancing at the state of 
science in Britain and abroad, we had been lulled into a confident se- 
curity in the vigorous condition of our own land, and little dreamt how 
soon a viper, which was hidden in our very bosom, would be warmed 
