Scientific Reviews. B58 
‘forms part of the same close system against which we have be- 
fore inveighed ; and were it not for the principle, that “ when 
human nature appears in the utmost state of corruption, it has 
actually begun to reform,” we should with the voice of prophecy 
exclaim, that the Wernerian Society must shortly pass away, and 
terminate dishonourably a dotage of decrepitude, which is nothing 
but a burden to its friendly supporters. But let those active and 
spirited members, who dare to assert their independence, labour 
for its regeneration ; for it “ cannot quicken unless it die.” 
With this view, we have but one more suggestion to offer. We 
‘have pleasure in being able to testify that Professor Jameson is 
-ealeulated to make an excellent President, and in a certain sense does 
‘male such a one. But as it is sufliciently known that he exercises 
-uncentrolled authority over the affairs of the Society, we shrewdly 
suspect that the editor of a Philosophical and Natural History Jour- 
nal is not the individual best fitted to regulate the publication of the 
Transactions of a Natural History Society. We have spoken. 

C. A. Agardh Species Algarum rite cognite cum synonymis, dif- 
ferentits specificis, et descriptionibus succinctis. Vol. II. Sect. I. 
Gryphie 1628. 
Alge Britannice ; or Descriptions ofthe Marine and other Arti- 
culated Plants of the British Islands, belonging to the order 
Alge ; with Plates illustrative of the Genera. By Roprert 
Kave Grevit_e, LL.D. F.L.S. F.R.S.E. &c. Maclachlan & 
Stewart, Edinburgh ; Baldwin, Cradock, & Joy, London. 1830. 
THE degree of attention which is paid to any particular branch 
of natural history, very often depends upon the success with which 
-one or two individuals have devoted themselves to its study, and 
-have developed its history and comparative situation in the scale of 
erganization.. The inarticulated A/gew of the British Islands, would 
probably have long remained unknown, had it not béen for the la- 
bours of Turner, Hooker, and Greville ; but after the publication 
of the “ Algw Britannic,” no botanist can be excused for not be- 
ing as well acquainted with the unobtrusive productions of our 
‘shores and rivulets, as with the lively forms which grace the moun- 
tain side, or are scattered over the flowering mead. 
Our review is headed by two works of interest, which will prove 
how much attention is paid to the subject at home and on the con- 
tinent. Lamouroux must be considered as having not only laid the 
foundation-stone of an uniform system, but as having carried up 
‘the edifice to a considerable elevation. To Professor Agardh’s 
Synopsis Alearum Scandinavie, succeeded Hans Christian Lyng- 
‘bye’s Tentamen Hydrophylologie Danicw, (Copenhagen, 1819.) 
Bory St. Vincent, in Duperrey’s Voyage, described the new species 
brought home by the naturalists of that expedition, and the same 
observer contributed a series of splendid articles to the Dict. Clas- 
