The Express.
London, England, 1846-11-07 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The VegetaLk Kingdom. By JOHN LINDLEY, Ph.D.
F.U.S. Bradbury and Co.

Although botany is not generally cultivated as a
science in this country, there are few departments of
nature so directly tributary to the natural and arti-
ficial wants of man as the vegetable kingdom. In
the delicate cells and vessels of the plant all his food
is orginally elaborated, although he frequently has
recourse to it, at second hand, from the animal
kingdom. These also supply him with the medi-
cines, which renovate and purify his body in disease.
With the same cells and vessels he weaves by far
the largest proportion of his clothing, and constructs
from them, when compacted together, the articles
which form his household furniture, and many of the
tools with which he subdues the ther kingdoms of
nature to his own uses. It is, then, somewhat sur-
prising that in a nation so eminently practical, and
whose arts and manufactures depend so much on ma-
terials derived from the vegetable kingdom, that
botany is studied so little. It is true it for a part
of the qualifications required by some medical boards,
and is consequently taught in medical schools. But
here botany is only regarded in its relations to medi-
cines and physiology. In the Universities of
Cambridge and Oxford the chair of botany is
but a name, and the lectures, if any, attended
only by a few amateurs. But whilst there
has been this general neglect of the study in'
this country, there has not been wanting great men in
the science. Robert Brown still lives amongst us,
whose genius has given a new impulse to the physio-
logy of his day, and Lindley continues to apply his
acutely observant and generalising powers with un-
wearied and astonishing assiduity to every depart-
ment of the literature of botany. The present work
seems to be the crown of his labours. In it he seeks
to arrange around the idea of the vegetable
kiagdom all that is known with regard to the
individual biology of its members, their distribution
in time and in space, " the relation in which they
stand to each other as species genera, orders and
classes, and their subserviency to the natural or
acquired demands of man. To go over such a field
required the mind of a master of the science to ar-
range the general principles, and the untiring energy
of a powerful will to collect its numerous details.
And the work
does justice to such requirements, and
stands unrivalled in the literature of botany. This
work consists of nearly one thousand pages of' close
print, and is illustrated with five hundred engravings.
Such a work would have been formerly produced
in portly folios, and at a price that only the
most wealthy could afford, and that only the devoted
botanist would think of giving. It is now published
in a form, and at a price, that places it within the
reach of all classes. We believe that this work is
calculated to draw attention to the science of botany,
and to diffuse widely a taste for its cultivation.
There are some classes of persons, as the farmer, the
gardener, the success of whose operations entirely
depend on their knowledge of the functions and
habits of plants, and it is not to be supposed that the
practice of their arts would not be facilitated by a
knowledge of the scientific principles involved in them.
The cotton and flax-spinner, t he cal ico-printer, the I ndia-
rubber manufacturer, the tanner, the paper-maker,
and the druggist, are all engaged in the use of veget-
able materials, an intimate knowledge of which, in a
scientific point of view, would often lead to great
improvements, to the more profitable investment of
capital, and, consequently, to the increase of produc-
tive labour, and of a national advance.
As a specimen of the way in which this valuable
book is written, we give the following account of the
properties of the order of plants to which the bread-
fruit tree belongs :
" The most important plant of the order is the breadfruit, Arto.
cerium incisa, the most s indent the Dos her, Antiaris toxbaria.
Like morals, the species afford eaoutehonc, and an eatable trait.
The edible quality of the breadfruit appears to be owing to the pro-
pene* of a large quantity of starch in ite succulent heads. The Jack
Artaearpus integnfolla, has a similar quality, but is Interior. The
rearm of the Antler poison, Annan+ toxicans, Ii due to the presence
of that most deadly substance, etryetinkt ; notwithstanding the meg-
ger.ited statements that have been made regarding this tree, the Uptis
of the Javanese, there remains no doubt that it is a plant of extreme
virulence, even linen fabricated from its tough fibre being so acrid as
to verify the story of the shirt of Nessus ; for it excites the most db.
teeming itching, if insufficiently prepared. However, the seeds are
always wholesome ; those of a plant nearly allied to eeropia, called
Slussno by the Africans of the Gold Coast, as well as of Arto-
carpus, are eatable as nuts The famous Bow Tree, or Palo de
Vacs, of South America, which yields a copious apply of a rich
and wholesome milk, as good as that of the cow, is a spades et
Broeimum. It has been analvsed by various chemists, especl2.4lle.
Edward Folly, who found in It as much as 30.57 per out. of
(See " Phil. Mag.," Nov. ISSN Brophrium alicestrum abounds in a
tenacious, gummy milk ; its leaves and young shoots are much eaten
by cattle, but when they become old they muse to be innocuous. The
nulled nuts are used Method of bread, and hare much the tote of
hazel nuts. The milkiness of the sap is in itself an evidence ef the
of outdebate, and sonardingly the tree Vie et Pepenths,
=Lb eaciatelsoue is obtained in that country, is suppose so be
cascUloa elastics* a tof this order. A similar subsume is ob-
tained from a peltata, a very common tropical tree. The bark
of this plant, remarkable for its stem being hollow between the nodal,
is astringent, and used in diantirs and gonorrhaa. The light porous
wood is used by the American savages to glee them light by friction.
Plana species of antiaris (called by Mr. Nimmo,Lepursadre‘saceidara)
sacks are made in Western India, by the following process : 'A branch
is cut, corresponding to the length and diameter of the sack wanted.
It is soaked a little, and then beaten with clubs till the fibre separates
from the woad. This done, the sack formed of the bark is turned
inside out, and pulled down till the wood ia steed off, with the ea-
ceptiou of a email pleoe left to form the bottom of the sack. These
lacks are in general use ; a ppeeimen-of them was exhibited to the
Lthrtaran .yoc#My some years ago. here there is no trace of the vum-
lence of the upas tree, and notwithstanding the fatal character of
that species, other. appear to be also inert. In the province of Mar-
taboo, Dr. Wallich found ha water vine (phytocrene) whose singular
soft and porous wood discharges, when wounded, a very large mann-
tit y of pu and tasteless laid, which is quite wholesome, and is
drunk by the natives. This is an extraordinary exception to the usual
character of the order, and If the plant be really destitute of milk, it
will break down very much the limit between Arteearpads and Nettle- '
worts, unless, indeed, Phytocrene is out of its place, which itscopious
albumen (!) beds one to suspect Martlus toys, that the fruit of
Pt:angoras bicoloe is sub-arid, and worth cultivation, ithough muei,
heinous. Snake-wood, or Bois de Letters, so called because of the
markings which it present, is obtained from the Brosimum, called by
Anblet Piratenera smianumis, a tree sixty or seventy feet high, whom
beautiful timber is so hard that it can only be felled by the American
axe.
In like manner a summary is given of the uses of
every natural group of plants. In order to render
the great mass of matter easily available, there is a
copious index, and an analysed contents for the bota-
nist. We are glad to be able to announce that the
author's determination to sell this work at the lowest
possible remunerative price has been perfectly success-
ful ; and that a second edition is about to be issued.

Untbersity salt Cutts' (labs.
Oxman. Nov. 6--This morning Mr. Hawkins, Commoner of Oriel
College, was elected •• Scholar of that Society.
PRRACIMIS AT Sr. MAlell.—The Rev. Dr. Cotton, Proroat of Wor-
mier College, Sunday morning ; the Rev. George Lillingstone, MA.,
of Worcester College, Sunday afternoon.
The Margaret ProfeisorofDirinity, Dr. Pauaactt, will begin a course
of lectures on the reformation and thirty-nine article', on Tuesday the
17th Instant, at one o'clock. The lectures are Intended for those who
have passed their examination for the degree of B. A. ;

CAIIIIRIDOL-11. Leary, LA., Fellow of Trio. Col., has been sp.
pointed Assistant Master of Harrow Schoal ;J. Smith, A., Scholar
of Trio.
Col., has been appointed to onc of the mastenlips of Zrighton
College.

DIIIIMAX.—At a Navigation, holden on W. dnesdav, the following
onkel.' were aapppqo,inted for the years 1146-7.—Ssi-Wards.,: I:ev.
Professor tbsvallkr, B.D.—sfordi:or of Avows's: W. L. Wharton,
kf.A.—Proetro• Rev. C. T. WSitlev. M.A. ; Rev. D. Melville, M.A.
—Pro-Proctors Rev. S. A. Pears, II.D. ; Rev. W. 0. Henderson,
M.A. .Degrees: B.D. (ad modern) Rev. S. A. Pears, Corpus Christi
Celle e. Oxford; Rev. F. Watkins, Fellow of Emmanuel College,
Cambridge.— M. A.: Rev. R. Loiham, University College.—M. .1. :
(ad wingless) Rev. W. O. Henderson, Fellow of Magdalene College.
Oxford.—B. A.: Rev. 11. Verde ;A. E. Welby. -B. A.((ad eundeo ):
H. B. Bowlby, Wadham College, Oxford; T. W. Prickett, Trinity
College, Cambridge.
A grace was pared for setting the University Seal to the counter-
part of a lease, ibr the purpose of endowing a scholarship, founded by
ble. Ralph IJadsay.

ParyzawErr.—Bey. W. E. Radelyfle to Garage, AU Saints V.
Dorset, SM.
Vscarr.—Beeehingetohe It, Wilts. dlo., Ra'Mary, 293/., with
ppehe ho. flt for reaidesee, pat., G. W. Ilenvige, En., vacant by the
resignation at the Rev. E. W. Caulfeild.

NAVAL.

ADMIRALTY, Nov. b.—With reference to the despatches
from Rear-Admiral Inglefield, C.A., dated the 9th and 17th
of June, 1816, which appeared in the Gazettes of the Bth and
22nd of September tut, the board have directed that Com-
mander F. W. Auaten shall be promoted to the rank of cap-
tain, when he shall have served the required period at sea to
qualify him fur that rank. The board have also directed that
1). Kamm, gunner, shall be advanced to the second class of
warrant officers.—Gazette.

THE RETIRED LIST.—The Gazette of last night states.
with reference to the announcement of the 3rd inst., that
the name of Capt. F. J. Thomas has been added to the list
of eapta is of the royal navy who have accepted the rank
of retired rear-admiral of her Majesty's fleet.
SALVROE.—Au official notice, dated Nov. 3, was pub-
lished in last night's Gazette, to the officers and company of
the Albert steam-vessel, Lieut. Mc Leod B. Cockratt com-
manding that ED account of the proceeds of a sum awarded
as salvage for services rendered to the merchant brig Ocean,
Dee. 6, 1843, would be deposited in the registry of the tligh
Court of Admiralty on the sth inst., agreeably to act of par-
liament

..----
Poarsmotern, Nov. 6 —The Scourge, st., has sailed with
despatches for Lisbon. The Sphynx, st., 4 getting ready for
sea with all possible despatch, the shipwrights being at work
upon her until a late hour at night.
DEVO;iPORT.—The Scourge, at., Commander Caffin, ar-
rived here on the Ist instant, with 26 distressed British sea-
men from Rochfort, in France. She sailed on the following
day for Portsmouth.--The Seahorse, 24 : An artisan of the
name of Bowden fell from this ship into the dock, and ex-
pired in a few hours.—The Constitution, Brazilian frigate,
had her masts taken out on Wednesday, and was taken into
dock on Thursday morning.—The crews of the Andromache
and Andromeda have been paid advance wages, and will sail
for Ireland immediately.
SHEERNESS.—We are enabled to state that Captain David
Price will shortly succeed Captain Richard Arthur, C. 8., as
Superintendent of Sheerness dockyard, the salary connected
with which, and the command of the Ordinary, is 810/. per
annum. Captain Price was made a Lieutenant ia 1809, a
Commander in 1813, and attained to post rank on the
13th:June, 1815. He has done the state some service, as the
following record will show, and his appointment to Sheer-
ness yard reflects great credit on the Board of Admiralty :
He was midshipman of the Ardent at Copenhagen in 1801 ;
and in the Centaur at the capture of four French frigates in
1806, bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807, the destruc-
tion of a Russian 74 in 1808, and was slightly wounded in
her boats at the capture of a Danish despatch-boat. When
Lieutenant of the Ilatcke he frequently distinguished him-
self in her boatsin the Channel, and on one occasion was
severely wounded. He was in the San Josef in the partial
action with the French fleet off Toulon in:1813, and, in com-
mand of the Volcano bomb, was actively employed in
America, particularly against New Orleans, siege of Fort
Boleyn, &c., where he was again severely wounded.—We
have some authority for stating that Captain Plurnridge,
M.P. for Falmouth, will succeed Captain Phipps ltornby as
Comptroller-General of the Coast-Guard.
WOOLWICH, Nov. 6.—The Edo* was towed past Wool-
wich to Deptford yesterday, by the African steam tug.—
The Grappler steam-vessel, Lieut.-Commander Hawker,
was docked yesterday to have her botton cleansed and var-
nished, previous to her leaving for sea The Tracer steam-
vessel, fitted with the screw propeller by Messrs. Miller and
Ravenhill, was tried to-day, and appears to anew. r very
satisfactorily. The trials Out have been made with the
Medea and Geyser since their being refitted for sea, are
alsospoken of in high terms.
Panimnoss, Nov. 3.--E. Mill, to be retired Commander; G. H.
Balfour, to be Lieutenant; C. Bleach, to he Acting Gunner.
APPOINTSICNV, Nov. s.—Commanders A. 11. Ingram, to the Bk.
kenhead ; 0. W. Ithmond, to the Medea; J. Foote, to the Rasa,
mond ; A. Farquhar, to the Albatrovv. Surgeon It. Dough.", to the
Vaaguard. Assistant-Surgeons: U. Picer, to the Castlereagh; G.
Clarke, to the Penelope :acting). Second-Master T. B. Read, to the
Excellent (acting). Midshipmen : It. G. Pochin, to the Thetis; 0.
D. Murray, to the St. Vincent. Naval Cadet W. B. Bitilthavri, to the
Thetis. Master's-Assideuits: G. W. Acheson, to the Nuiad ; W. R.
Cronin, to the flag-ship at Cork; W. A. N. Monk, to the Germ..
Lieutenants: N. S. Sulivan, to the Birkenhead; A. Wilnishurat, to
the Albatross; T. F. Tottenham, to the Medea; G. Wale, to the
Rosamond. Maskers: G. IL K. Bower, to the Birkenhead; W. H.
Crane. to the Albatross (acting); It. B. Mudge, to the Medea' (acting) ;
J. H. Ashton, to the Roseunond ; Manser Bradshaw, to the Alban (in
command). Paymasters and Pursers : S. T. Butcher, to the Birken-
head ; 11. K. Conquer, to the Albatross (acting); J. C. Pinhorn, to
the Medea (acting); W. Shenway, to the Hammond. Clerk : L. G.
Palmer, to the lle:leisle. Gunner: It. Wall, to the Birkenhead.
Boatswains; J. Matthews, to the Birkenhead; J. Paul to the Alba-
tross; T. CASA, to the Medea (acting) ; T. Oimpliell, to the Rosa-
mond (acting). Carpenter: T. Ankcrs, to the Birkenhead. Second
Engineers: J. Taylor, to the Alban; 0. Walter, to the Bpbynx,
Third Engineers :T. Gilmour, Griffith., to the Spk nx.