The Press.
London, England, 1857-01-24 00:00:00

LITERARY NOTICES.

Two beautiful little bcoks on Botany have lately
been issued from the press of Messrs. Reeve, which
it gives us great pleasure to notice from the combina-
tion of admirable qualities they exhibit. One of
these volumes is on " British Lichens," the other
on " Palms and Their Allies" (1). These works are
popular without being superficial, and sci,mti6c
without being technical. Liclisus are extremely
attractive from their variety of form and beauty of
structure. The name is comparatively modern ; it is
supposed by Mr. Lindsay to be derived from the
Greek word auxsy, a wart, characteristic of the
development of this class of vegetation. The most
striking varieties are exhibited in a number of well
drawn and coloured plates. To dwellers in the
country the volume must be peculiarly acceptable
from the charm with which it invests rural excursions.
The volume on palms takes a wider range, and shows
the varieties of this graceful plant prevailing in
different parts of the globe. The author appears to
be thoroughly master of his subject. His proof-
sheets were submitted to the veteran Humboldt.
We quote a passioa which that distinguished savant,
in a letter to the author, states he had read with
the greatest pleasure. It follows a description of the
Palm house at Kew :

Enough has been said to convince the student of palms
that the great Conservatory in the Royal Botanic-gardens
at Kew is a place worthy of his attention, and a school
where much valuable information may be obtained. For
the purposes of study, no doubt, a bright sunny day is to
be recommended ; but to see the palms to the greatest
advantage, in an (esthetic point of view, a dull or rainy
day should be selected, especially when the shades of even
ing are approaching—a time when they always look best,
owing partly in Kew to some local causes, but principally
to the fact that the generality of palms are intended for
the gloom of the virgin forest, and are therefore, like some
pictures, not well adapted for bright and strong lights. If
at such a time the visitor will take up his position in the
gallery, and cast his eye upon the thick foliage filling the
vast area of the building, his thoughts cannot help wander-
ing to those far-off regions whence the beautiful objects
before him have with so much difficulty and care been
imported.
such reflections, the verdant masses will assume before
his mind's eye more extensive dimensions than they
actually possegs, become endless forests where strange
animals and barbarous people have taken up their abode.
The more he looks, the more new beauties, fresh charms,
will be revealed ; and the more he reflects, the more uses,
the more properties beneficial to mankind, will be dis-
covered ; until, fully impressed with the grandeur of the
subject before hint, he will exclaim :—" What a pity that
our northern countries are deprived of palms, plants alike
beautiful and useful ! I wonder why this is,—why a
country should not be able to supply all the wants of its
own people, and thus insure the perfect independence of
one nation from another. Why have we to go to Africa
for our dates, to America for our cocoa-nuts, and to Asia
for our sago?" Nature does nothing without an object,
and must, in acti.'g thus, have intended to convey a
lesson. What can that lesson be ? A great and glorious
one, repeated in all her works, even in the smallest details.
She has never lavished on one country all the productions
which its inhabitants require, nor heaped, to quote another
instance, upon an individual being all the talents and
beauties of our species, though she may have been ex-
tremely liberal, but sown them broadcast over the face of
the whole earth, divided them judiciously among the whole
race of man. She has, by distributing her gifts in such a
manner, wished to point out the mutual dependency of one
country or one man upon another, thus practically teaching
us peace, humility, love !—the three great watchwords
without which human society cannot prosper, and human
happiness becomes an impossibility.
Both volumes are produced with great care. They
are thoroughly genuine, and the most agreeable
introductions to the study of the subjects on which
they treat that can well be conceived.
" Thom's Irish Almanac for 1857 " (2) has as-
sumed proportions approaching those of " Kelly's
London Directory." It is now a volume of 1450
pages, containing an immense mass of idormation
on all subjects relating to the trade and social state of
Ireland ; and as Ireland is now an integral part of the
British empire, this Directory takes in a wide range of
imperial subjects, giving the principal statistics of the
United Kingdom and colonies, with complete lists of
imperial dignities, of the army and navy, of Govern.
ment offices, of banks, and other information of
analogous character. The statistical department is
especially valuable. It is satisfactory to find from
a variety of indications that the social state of Ire-
land is improving, though the decrease of population
from emigration does not yet seem to have ceased.
The total population, which was 8,173,0003 in 1841,
had sunk mainly through the terrible years of famine

(1) Popular Hatory of Bnt.sh Lichens. By \V. L. Lludsay,
M.D.—Popular tiastory of the Palma and their AUks. By Berthold
apeman. ph. D. London : Reeve.
(2) MEC s kWh Almanac for 1657. Dublin: Thom and bons.

SATURDAY,

to 6,551,004) in 1851, and was supposed to ke
6,077,000 in 1856. The tide of emigration has bees
remarkable. In 1841 the total number of en grants
was only 16,000, nor until 1847 was the total emigre-
Lion equal to the increase by births ; but in that year
the emigration rose to 215,000, and obtained its
highest point in 1851, when it wa5249,000. In MO
it bad sunk to 91,000, which would show a decrbase
in the number of the people for that year of abovt
30,000. The number of paupers, 2,142,000. is 1849,
was only 305,000 in 1855, and the expendi-
ture in the same years was respectively 2,174,0001:
and 685,000/. The criminal convictions have sunk
from 10,454 in 1852, to 5,220 in 1855. The total
railway receipts amounted to 418,0004 in 1849 and to
999,000/. in 1855. In 1850 the sheep sold at Balli-
nasloe fair amounted to 51,000, in 1856 to 23,000 ; the
horned cattle sold in the former year were 2,000, in.
the latter 18,000. The total income of Ireland,
which was in 1850 4,413,0001., was in 1856 7,164.,000L.
The tonnage of new vessels built was in 1851 only
96i tons, and was in 1855 10,123 tons. These are
but a few indications of the progress made by In-
land in the last few years. If the country be ban
preserved from the baneful influence of agitation, we
may reasonably hope that the improvement will con-
tinue. We may add that the continual expansion of
this really national volume is not one of the least
convincing proofs of the onward movement of Irish
enterprise and industry.
A " Medical List" (3), just published, supplies a
want which must have been long felt in the profes-
sion. It gives the names of all qualified practi-
tioners of medicine in both town and country. An
alphabetical arrangement of places is adopted, anti
the names of practitioners, with their qualifications,
are conveniently ranged under each locality. Great.
care has evidently been bestowed to make this list as
correct as possible. The book contains, besides,
much information useful to the medical profession—
as a poor-law medical guide, the names of all medical
officers in the army, navy, and East India Company'le
service ; a compendium of medical universities, col-
leges, and schools in the United Kingdom ; with lists
of wholesale druggists, instrument makers, book-
sellers, insurance.offices, &c.

Mr. Bradshaw, long celebrated for his railway
guides, has now issued a "Descriptive Railway Hand-
book" (4), intended for the use of tourists in all parts
of the United Kingdom. In connection with the rail-
way guide, descriptions are given of each line of
railway, and of the several towns and objects of
interest in their vicinity, with the names of hotels,
banks, money order offices, and such information as
the traveller is likely to require either for pleasure or
business. Views of remarkable buildings and
scenery, and a series of plans of great towns,
and maps of picturesque localities—as the lake
districts—are given. The compilation appears
to be altogether complete and serviceable, and, for its
size, is a marvel of cheapness. We recommend that
in future editions the monthly guide should be so
inserted as that it may be easily taken out and a new
one put in its place, as the general contents of the
handbook are not of temporary, but of permanent
benefit.

Dod's book of dignities (5) enters, with this
issue, on the seventeenth year of its existence. It is
one of the merits of this volume that all the titled
classes are included in it, and the statement that it
records seventy thousand facts shows the range of its
usefulness and the amount of labour expended on its
production. We are glad to see that the same care
is bestowed on the work by the present editor—a son
of Mr. Dod, we presume—which its able and in-
dustrious originator employed to establish its charac-
ter and bring it to perfection.

An essay on the Camel (6), from the United
States' press, agreeably narrates the natural history
and characteristics of the animal, and discusses the
expediency of naturalising it in the United States,
for use in the wide tracts west of the Mississipi to
the Pacific. For the commissariat of the States'
army the author thinks the camel nsight be ex-
tremely useful. His arguments have great plausi-
bility to recommend them, but we can only notice
his essay for the complete and amusing history of
the camel it supplies.
Dr. Hassan, in a bulky well-produced volume (7),
enters fully into the large question of the adultera-
tions of fool, his main purpose being to furnish
plain instructions for the discovery of fraudulent
adulteration. Such instructions, however, can rarely
be available for other than professional persons. He
insists on the great use of the microscope as an
agent for the detection of impure and foreign sub-
stances in edible commodities, and in his highly-

(3) The Medical List; or, Ediglish Medical Directory for 1.:,57
London : Lane and Lan.
(4) Bradshaw's Descriptive Railway Guide and Illustrated
Handbook. London: Adams.
(5 ) The Peerage, Baron:lay, and Kaifettage of Great Britain
and Irelandfor 1657. By B. I'. bud. Loudon : Whittaker.
(e) The Came fly G. P. Marsh. London : Trul,ner and Co.
(7) AdiateratiONDficded, P 7 A.ll. gisoall, M.D, PuiloPi
1.044n3014s

!arm 24, 1857.

finished drawing shows the different aspects pre-
sented by genuine and spurious goods. In a general
introductiai be considers the whole question of the
best means of preventing adulteration. He would
make it punishable in every case, though the adul-
teration should not in itself be either fraudulent or
burtful. He recommends the appointment of inspec-
tors and analysts for every district in the kingdom,
and suggests the punishment to which fraudulent
traders should be subjected, one of his proposals
being, that the convicted adulterator should be com-
pelled to exhibit for a time a placard in his window
stating the nature of his offence. Dr. Hassell has
in this, as in his previous publications, ably exposed
:tile impositions practised on the public, and made out
.s strong case for the interference of the Legislature to
protect the public from the dishonest practices
)knows as "tricks of trade."
lQ<ttibird edition of Macilwain's " Memoirs of Aber-
nethy" ic.B) gives the whole work in a single volume,
together with some important additions selected
;from Abernethy's papers, and a lithograph tram a
,drawing, showing his attitude when lecturing. The
book now takes rank among established biographies.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.-JA %.
BOOKS.

The Rural Parsonage, and Olher Poems. A Clergyman
Hall and Virtue
Landmarks qf the History of Greece. Rey. James Woutledgehite.
R
Ditto

I.rhe Ladder of Life.
•aditiuns and Superstitions of the New Zealanders.
Longmans
The Legend of the Traseteria, Jeer. Illaitrated by teastave
Dori. Adder and Co.
.astrology as it is—not as it hae keen Represented. Ilailliere
lßerinuds ; a Colony, a Fortress, •44 a Prison. By a Field
Officer. Longinans
Era, and Otker Poems. Caroline Gaud Moxon
Niobe. Beanie Samms Turner. Sarnders and Orley
The Little IJ-vrld of London. Charles Mitobv Smith.
Virtue sn3 Hall
Saunders and Orley

rgo Baadi. Speranza.
PAMTTILETS.

The Gates f the East. Ward and Lock—A Review of
the Divorce Bill of 15.56. J. W. Parker—Mural Controrrrpp.
.Groombridge—Road Reform. Blackwooda—Plutus. Bos-
‘wlrth—Comnson Things. Sampson Low.

PERIODICALS.

The Rural Alinanack.—.lrish Quarterly Review. Simpkin
eakd Marshall—The Post Magazine. Pateman—British
Ji'urbiau. Partridge and Co.

XUStC.

---
Hanle: Messiah. Novello--Mosares Reviisat Mass.
:Novelle.

MAPS.
Atkis of Universal History. Gitlin and Co.—Map of
London. :Stanford.

Vie grams.
SURREY THEATRE.

Mn. F. PsThrers's " new and original" play, A Bird
in the fiend is worth Two in the Bush, seems likely
to enjoy a continued success, so admirably is it cal-
• culated to suit the tastes and capacity of the audience
to which it is presented. There is no complexity of
. plot, no refinemeat of wit, no
.delicacy of sentiment
:to puzzle the honest simple folk over the water.
'.The characters are all old stage properties, familiar
/friends whose faces we recognise at once as soon as
use see them, and whose time-honoured jokes and
inevitable traditional sentiment we tolerate for the sake
of 4-aulu lang Fyne." There is no mistake about them ;
the I"illains are villains, unredeemed by even a touch
of honesty—black all over, like the Othello of Mr.
£rummles'a enthusiastic friend; and the virtuous
<personages are as supernaturally excellent as they are
miserable and ill-used. There is the wealthy, crowhetty
uncle with two nephews, the good nephew and the
bad nephew, the latter having naturally "done" the
former by falsehood and treachery out of his rightful
%heritage. The wife of the one is, as a matter of
.course, a rustic personification of all the cardinal
virtues in russet ; of the other, a fashionable lady with
:an army of servants, nerves, poodles, carriages, and
no heart. Then there is a rough major, an old
Snead .of the rich uncle, who believes in the good
;poor nephew, and don't believe in the bad. rich
nephew, and says so, and a faithful old servant who
dollows the major's lead. A comic attorney (well
played by Mr. Widdieornbe), who holds securities for
the fast nephew, and arts skeleton to the fashionable
establishment, completes the circle. The plot is
extremely simple; at the instigation of the major,
Int old friend consents to die for a short time, and,
disguised as his own steward, to %certain by personal
observation the true characters of his two nephews.
Tile contrast between then is sufficiently stnking.
Virtue limps in, dusty and footsore, in fustian, with an
empty parse, and a mouth full of moral claptrap ; hay •
ing " first turned aside to shed a tear over the grave
of the relative so dearly loved !" Vice conies on, pre
ceded by a crowd of lackeys and waiting-maids,
blustering and swaggering after the most approved

(8) Memoirs of John Abernethy. lard Editivn. Loudoa:
ILatcbard.