ed signs of nausea; and at length threw up the food which he had just taken: after this crisis he seemed to be better, but soon threw up a kind of viscous shiny matter, and the vomiting continued with intervals to his death, which took place in about ten hours. "The design of my experiment did not permit me to administer to him any medicinal aid. I employed an able surgeon to open him, who having attentively examined the state of his stomach and other viscera, assured me that he perceived no signs of erosion or laceration, and nothing more than the characteristic effect of a violent emetic, an effet confirmed by the symptoms which preceded

the death of the animal.

"It appears that vegetable poisons operate almost always in the same manner. I have given a dog some fresh hemlock, which produced effects similar to those of the poisonous mushroom. Wepfer, in his history of the water hemlock, proves by numerous examples, that the most noxious plants occasion the same kind of disorders. This physician gave wolfsbane to some animals which had for some time been kept without food: in almost half an hour they threw it up, with a thick, viscous, frothy substance, and were afflicted with violent reaching till they died. When their bodies were opened, nothing was discovered but the vestiges of a powerful emetic."

We have selected the latter article on account of the important information which it contains; the former not so much for its excellence, for there are many much better, as for its differing from all former naturalists, in describing the camel with two cutting teeth in its upper jaw. Aristotle and Pliny both observe, that the camel is the only animal with out horns, which has no teeth so situated; and in this representation, as far as we know, all succeeding authors have hitherto concurred.

We also regret that Desmarest, though he was aware of the impropriety, has continued the appellation of dromedary, as a general name of the species, with one dorsal bunch, of which it is in fact only a variety. The two species are

clearly described by Aristotle and Pliny, and called, one the Arabian, and the other the Bactrian camel. Araç pëσi, says the former, δ'αι βακίριαι των Αραβίων αν μεν Sva excom oßes, and ex. Camelos, says the latter, inter armenta pascit oriens, quarum duo genera Bactriani & Arabici, differunt quod illi bina habent tubera in dorso, hi singula. The word dromas occurs as a name of the camel in Livy, and is expressly attributed to the Arabian camel by Stra bo. It is lengthened into dromedarius in the vulgate translation of the Old Testament, and in Jerom's Life of Malchius; who says, that the camel is so called on account of its swiftness. The latter term has been adopted by the moderns, but with some confusion in the application of it to the species. Aldrovandus, Gesner, Linnæus, and Buffon, have all given it to the camel with one dorsal bunch. Tepontinus, quoted by Gesner, Johnston, and Bell, the British traveller into Russia and China, reverse the names, and call the camel with two dorsal bunches the dromedary. Bell relates that he found many dromedaries on the banks of the Volga among the Tartars, who, he says, have few Arabian camels. It is not improbable that the name dromedary may be applied to a high-bred, swift-footed variety of both species. But however that may be, it is better to discontinue it entirely, as a specific appellation, and to follow Aristotle and Pliny in calling the species with one dorsal bunch the Arabian camel, as Dr. Shaw has judiciously done in his General Zoology.

Mr.

The best account of the species and varieties of camel which we have seen, is in Russel's History of Aleppo. If our author had been acquainted with this work, and had particularly attended to the note quoted in our last volume, p. 945, he would, we doubt not, have given a different description of the apparatus for preserving fresh water in the stomach of this interesting quadruped.

IN our review of the former volumes of this translation we expressed a wish that Dr. Turton, instead of Gmelin's edition of the Systema, had taken for the ground-work of his version the last edi

tion published by Linnæus, and had taken from Gmelin only such alterations and additions as are real improvements. When we first laid our hands on this fifth volume, which relates to the vegetable

kingdom, we felt a recurrence of the same wish with a greater degree of solicitous earnestness. The readers who re. quire an English translation of that part of the work which describes the animal kingdom are comparatively few. Zoo. logy, in its full extent, and in its more difficult branches, is not a fashionable pursuit with the unlearned; and there are many circumstances which will probably prevent its ever becoming generally prevalent. But botany has charms which are almost universally attractive: the love of plants is found in all ranks of life, and is peculiarly suited to the elegant taste and delicate feelings of the female sex. The number of greenhouses and stoves has rapidly increased within the course of a few years, and may justly be ranked among the most refined luxuries of the present age. The pleasure of possessing these must be greatly increased by a scientific acquaintance with their contents, and a capacity to arrange them according to their respective relations and affinities. It was, therefore, highly desirable, that the second part of the Systema Naturæ should appear in our native language, with the addition of the numerous exotics which, since the death of Linnæus, have been poured in upon us from the remotest regions of the earth. We were accordingly disposed to give a cordial welcome to this part of Dr. Turton's labours; but our pleasure was not a little diminished by the apprehension that our unlearned, and especially our fair readers, were to contemplate these treasures in the perverse arrangement of Gmelin. This was clearly announced to us in the title page. The fifth, as well as the former volumes, is said to be translated from Gmelin's last edition of the celebrated Systema Naturæ. But here, as in many other instances, we have found reason to acknowledge the truth of the old adage, fronti nulla fides; an adage which a reviewer almost instinctively translates, there is no trust ing to title pages. Many a time has the discovery given us a painful mortification. For once, it affords us a lively pleasure. Dr. Turton, certainly not for his own advantage, has sacrificed truth to the uniformity of his title pages; and has not even thought it worth his while, either in a preface or by any other method, to give us any intimation of his departure from his original plan; and yet his fifth volume may with almost as much propriety be stiled a translation of

Ray's Historia Plantarum as of Gmelin's edition of the Systema Vegetabilium. He has not only separated the classes icosandria and polyandria, which have been most absurdly blended together by the last editor, but has also replaced all the classes which had before been abo lished by Thunberg, and has restored the whole of the Linnæan arrangement, with the single exception of the order monogamia, in the class syngenesia. And in this small deviation from the original system he is sanctioned by the sterling judgment of Dr. Smith and Professor Willdenow. He has, in fact, given the English reader an abridged translation of the last and incomparably the best edition of the Species Plantarum, new publishing at Berlin. The order of the genera and species, the terms of his ge neric and specific characters, and the additions of new plants are all taken from Willdenow, wherever Willdenow varies either from Gmelin or Linnæus. But it is not merely a copy of Willdenow: the new genera chiefly of Austrasian plants, instituted by Dr. Smith, with many new species under the old genera, which were not known to Willdenow, are carefully added; so that Dr. Turton's work has a just claim to be esteemed the fullest enumeration which has ever appeared, and will enable the female botanical student to find out the genus, species, and name, of the rarest exotics which she may have the happiness to possess.

Dr. Smith and Professor Willdenow having, without the knowledge of each other, named distinct genera in honour of Persoon, an honour well merited by his skilful investigation of the intricate tribe of fungi, Dr. Turton inadvertently inserted both genera, each in its proper place, under the same name. This error he has corrected in his table of errata, and has properly directed that Willde now's personia should be called caraba, the name originally given to it by Aublet, its first describer; a disposition to which, we doubt not, the candour of the learned Professor will readily submit, from the consideration that Dr. Smith's genus is an original one, which has not been pre sented to the scientific world under any other name.

The translation is, as in the former volumes, generally faithful and judicious, and will be readily understood by all who are possessed either of Withering's Hull's, Martyn's, or any other English elementary work. And to some of these

the young botanist must necessarily apply; for of Linnæus's introductory explanation of the vegetable kingdom only a small part is translated, giving little more than a brief account of the fructification. The definitions, as far as they go, are clear and accurate, that of the follicle excepted, which is said to be a single-valved pericarp, opening longitudinally on one side, and containing loose seeds. The idea directly conveyed by the last phrase is totally inconsistent with the essential principles of vegetation. Loose seeds can derive no nutriment from the parent plant, and will never come to maturity. The original is folliculus membranaceus, univalvis, latere dehiscens, a seminibus distinctus. Its meaning, though not completely express

ART. IX. A New Illustration of the

"TO turn the penny, once, a wit
Upon a curious fancy hit;
Hung out a board, on which he boasted,
Dinner for threepence, boiled and roasted!'
The hungry read, and in they trip,
With eager eye and smacking lip:

Here, bring this boiled and roasted pray."
Enter potatoes, dressed each way:
All stared and rose, the house forsook,
The dinner cursed, and kicked the cook.
My landlord found, poor Patrick Kelly,
There is no jesting with the belly.

Now can't you guess the application! Don't raise too high an expectation."

So sang, or so said our English Roscius, forty years ago, in one of his hu morous prologues. Whether Dr. Thorn ton had never heard of this luckless Hibernian, or confident of his own powers, had no doubt of equalling the most lofty expectations which could possibly be excited, we know not: but certain it is, that he did not hesitate, previous to the appearance of this new illustration of the Sexual System in successive numbers, to publish a prospectus, at least as full of promise as the humbler board of poor Paddy. It was recommended alike to the lover of science and the lover of elegance, as a great national work: it was described at its outset, in a dedication to the queen, as intended to exceed all works of the kind on the continent, and to be not only (by employing the first artists of this country) a national honour, but an eternal memorial of that protection which is granted to science by her most gracious majesty its patronage was pom

pously announced as comprehending her most gracious majesty, their royal highnesses the prince and princess of Wales, and the duke of Gloucester; their serene highnesses the princess of Wirtemberg, and the princess Sophia of Gloucester; nine foreign kings and potentates; seventy-four English, and five foreign nobility; one hundred and ninety-four gentry; two hundred and sixtysix medical gentlemen, twenty florists, and fourteen public bodies, at the time when only one hundred and fifty subscribers were deficient, beyond which number not a single individual was to have the honour and happiness of possessing this superb work. Its claim to general admiration was to be founded partly on the fairness of the paper, the beauty of the letter, the accuracy of the figures, and the splendour of the coloured engravings: but, as in these, Dr. Thornton was to be indebted entirely to the talents and skill of professional workmen and artists, it would naturally be taken for granted, that the part executed by himself would possess an equal degree of pre-eminent excellence. He could not but be sensible that, as the superior qualities of the paper and type are merely decorations, so the engravings, though in some degree illustrative, are chiefly ornamental; and that the substance, the life, and the spirit must be sought for in the matter, the facundia and the lucidus ordo of the literary composition. For, if we suppose him unacquainted with the mishap of Patrick

Kelly, he could not be a stranger to the maxims of Horace. And if, for a moment, he had entertained the idea, that the richnesss and magnificence of the embellishments could compensate for the poverty and squalidness of the work it self, the

Inceptis gravibus plerumque & magna professis Purpureus, late qui splendeat, unus & alter Assuitur pannus"

of the Roman didactic poet, must have occurred to his memory, and checked the insolence of the presumptuous hope. Such a presumptuous hope he appears not to have entertained; but to have felt the necessity of keeping pace, in his own exertions, with the best artists of the age. His plan of the work, as it was detailed in his original proposals, and repeated almost verbatim in his first number, is such as required no small degree of knowledge and diligence.

"The object of this work, therefore, will be, to trace in as perspicuous a manner as possible, the philosophical principles of botany, from the earliest times, up to the present period; and by faithful and well executed engravings, of the several subjects of investigation, to render this curious and interesting enquiry level to every one's compre

hension.

Following the order of nature, I shall begin with the seed committed to the ground. and trace its various evolutions, until the root, stem, branches, and leaves are formed. I shall here chiefly dwell on the anatomy of the root, their diversity, of forms, and office.

"The object of my next consideration will be, to display the organized structure of the stem and branches, when I shall consider the several juices of plants, with the motion of the sap.

"Pursuing the course of nature, I shall next contemplate the various appendages at tached to the stems and branches, explaining the organization and design of each.

Next I shall examine into the structure and variety of leaves; their relationship to light; the evolution from them of oxygen

and other airs.

"My next enquiry will be the food of plants, when I shall enter widely into the consideration of the principles of agriculture. "Arriving at the flower, I shall consider its structure; the uses of the several parts which compose it; when a full enquiry will be made respecting the sexual relationship, with a refutation of the objections which have been raised against this doctrine.

"Thus far the natural history of botany. I shali next lay before my readers an

"In the order of the discoveries, the lives of the several eminent botanists will be comprehended, with their portraits, including the most celebrated professors and botatanical writers of the present day.

"After this introduction, I shall commence with a translation of the genera of plants of Linnæus."

Here the delineation of the plan in the first number stops: but in the original proposals Dr. Thornton proceeds thus;

to which will be added, all the discoveries made since his time. In order to render the science of botany as sim ple as possible, the classes of Linnæus will be reduced to twelve, his genera new arranged, and tables given, invented by the author, comprising the easiest discriminating characters."

It must strike all our readers that this proposed translation of the Genera Plantarum, is spoken of as the commencement of the work; but by what it is to be followed, we are not told. It seems, how. ever, evident, that it could not be the intention of the author to comprize more than the introduction in the twelve or fourteen numbers, which, according to the original proposals, were to complete the splendid part of this great national work. And to effect this in the compass of about one hundred and sixtyeight folio pages would require a compression of matter, we believe hitherto unexampled. It would be to squeeze an Iliad into a nutshell.

Dr. Thornton's subscribers must soon have been sensible that his powers of compression are very feeble, and that he would execute only a small part of his plan within the assigned limits. This, however, he himself did not soon dis cover; for, after the publication of the the purchasers, that the whole should fifth number, he still pledged himself to

teen, and should comprize all the philosophical principles of botany. It was not till the thirteenth number appeared, that a ray of light darted upon him, and convinced him that, the illustration of the seed vessel and seed being yet unfinished, the other branches of his promised philosophical enquiry could not be dispatched in the fourteenth. But this enlargement of his intellect was not all clear gain. It was obtained at

not extend to more than twelve or four

a lamentable expence of memory. Not withstanding he had expressly declared in his first proposals, and had repeated more than once in the progress of the work, that his object was to trace, in as perspicuous a manner as possible, the philosophical principles of botany; he now, in 1802, gravely tells his subscribers, that "when he first launched forth his New Illustration of the Sexual System of Linnæus, the horizon was overcast, and the sciences and arts checked by the expences and uncertainties of a war involving the whole of Europe:" that therefore"no intention could at that time be entertained of entering into philosophical disquisitions but the prospect of returning peace, and the revival of the arts, dawning, he was persuaded by several well-wishers to what they were pleased to call a national work, to enlarge his views,which were before, of necessity, so extremely limited; and considering the high respectability of the body of his subscribers, and the natural inherent spirit of the British nation, le has consented to their wishes, and trusts, and hopes, that in so doing, he has the more satisfied the large bulk of subscribers, fully able to appreciate the different values of a full or a contracted illustration of the most lovely of the sciences."

So true is the observation of the poet, that

As on the land while here the occan gains, In other parts it leaves wide sandy plains; Thus in the soul while memory prevails, The solid power of understanding fails; When beams of warm imagination play, The memory's soft figures melt away.'

He at length proposed that the work should extend to about twenty numbers. Seventeen are now before us; and we are called upon by our duty to the public to state how much is done, and to appreciate, to the best of our judgment, how well it is done. Knowing nothing of Dr. Thornton, but through the medium of his publications, and total strangers to all his connexions, we trust that our minds are free from every improper bias; and as we shall nothing extenuate, so we shall set down nought in malice.

The first section of twelve pages contains only the plan of the work. The second is devoted to an explanation of the three kingdoms of nature, and a fanciful comparison of the great families of plants, with the different ranks of civilized

society, translated with little variation from the Systema Naturæ. The whole would scarcely have filled two pages, but to swell it to the bulk of four, it is stuffed with two quotations from Milton, with a long note from Aristotle and Cicero, and a pious address to the Deity from Fenelon, which, having like Bayes's prologue, an universal fitness, would do equally well for any part of any system of natural history, that ever has been, or ever will be published.

Hitherto we have been only in the porch. The third section conducts us over the threshold, and introduces us into the vestibule of this magnificent na tional edifice. It is entitled, The different kinds of seed vessels, and informs us in a style of beautiful simplicity, that " as the crysalis of the silk worm is included in a golden tomb, so is the seed guarded in a similar manner: and that for the farther purpose of the protection of the seed, nature has sometimes filled this vessel with air, as in the bladder senna; or with down, as in the bean and cotton plant." The pericarp is distinguished, as usual, into the capsule, silique, legume, follicle, drupe, pome, berry, and strobile, with the addition of the nut, which Dr.Thornton exultingly tells us, twice within the compass of three lines, he has considered as a distinct species of pericarp; adding that the almond, which, according to Linnæus, is a dry drupe, perhaps would better follow the ensign of the nut. The berry (bacca) he defines, a pulpy seedvessel, enclosing numerous seeds, dispersed throughout the pulp. By inserting the word numerous he excludes all the monospermous berries of Linnæus, as well as the fruit of the rubus, which, according to Linnæus, is a compound berry, having a single seed embedded in the pulp of each of its component parts. And to make it evident that his idea of a bacca is alike inaccurate and imperfect, he has figured, as an instance of it, the fruit, in popular language, called a strawberry; which Linnæus terms an improper bacca, and which, according to his own definition, is not a bacca at all.

The fifth section enumerates the component parts of the seed, to illustrate which Dr. Thornton, following almost every author from the days of Grew, has chosen the common garden bean. But with Grew before him, who is a model for clearness of method and perspicuity of description, though his style is now become obsolete and apparently stiff, he