"The irresistible conclusion from all such evidence is, that the flower is one of the forms, the ultimate form,-under which branches appear; that the leaves of the stem, the leaves or petals of the flower, and even the stamens and pistils, are all forms of a common type, only differing in their special development. And it may be added, that in the earliest state in which these parts are discernible with a powerful microscope, they all appear alike. That which, under the ordinary laws of vegetation, would have developed as a leafy branch, does, from peculiar causes, finally develope as a flower; its several organs appearing under forms, some of them slightly and others extremely different in aspect and in office from the foliage. But they all have a common nature and a common origin.

"Now, as we have no general name to comprehend all those organs which, as leaves, bud-scales, bracts, sepals, petals, stamens, &c., successively spring from the ascending axis, or stem, having ascertained their essential identity, we naturally, and indeed necessarily, take some one of them as the type, and view the others as modifications, or metamorphoses of it. The leaf is the form which earliest appears, and is the most general of all the organs of the vegetable; it is the form which is indispensable to vegetation, in which it plays, as we have seen, the most important part; it is the form into which all the floral organs may sometimes be traced back by numerous gradations, and to which they are liable to revert when flowering is disturbed, and the proper vegetative forces again prevail. Hence the leaf is properly assumed as the type, to which all the others are to be referred. When, therefore, in accordance with these theoretic views, the floral organs are termed modified or metamorphosed leaves, it is not to be supposed that a petal has ever actually been a green leaf, and has subsequently assumed a more delicate texture and hue, or that stamens and pistils have previously existed in the state of foliage; but only that what is fundamentally one and the same organ developes, in the progressive evolutions of the plant, under any of these various forms. When the individual organ is once developed, its destiny is fixed.”—pp. 215, 216.

Great additions have been made to the portion which treats of cryptogamous plants. Before listening to the lectures of Professor Gray at the Lowell Institute, we had been accustomed to regard the study of these plants as possessing little general interest. But we have now learned that the Ferns, the Lichens, Mushrooms, Algæ, and Confervæ are all curious and interesting subjects of inquiry. Among these we are to seek for the links which unite the animal and the vegetable kingdom; and it is singular enough, that the plants which in form and development exhibit the nearest approach to animals are found among the lowest, or more properly speaking, the most obscure, of their race. If, too, we would pursue the study of adaptation and design in vegetables, we shall find the most abundant illustrations among the flowerless plants.

We notice some verbal errors in this volume. In the note on page 95, the sesquipedalian words "monocotyledonous" and

"dicotyledonous" are evidently transposed, so as to render the statement just the reverse of what it was intended to be. In the very interesting account of the chemical influences of vegetation upon the atmosphere, there is an obvious typographical error, twenty-four for twenty-two, as the context shows.

We must not omit reference to the very neat and tasteful manner in which the mechanical part of this book is finished. Its outside is as attractive as the subject of which it treats, the binding, print, paper, and engravings being not merely unexceptionable, but elegant. This is such a rare merit in a mere manual of instruction, and at the same time, as we consider it, a point of so much importance, that it deserves especial notice and commendation.

5.- Hebrew Tales, selected and translated from the Writings of the Ancient Hebrew Sages. Boston: Crosby & Nich. ols. 1845. 18mo. pp. 100.

THIS little compilation is not made exclusively for the use of the young, although they will profit by it most largely; but readers of all classes may be made wiser and better by the simple and striking lessons which it contains. The selection is made from a work of the same title, which was published some time ago by the learned Hebraist, Hurwitz. From the Talmud, and other similar collections of ancient Jewish writings, he culled a large number of moral sayings, parables, and narratives, the forms in which the wisdom of the Orientals is usually embodied, and put them forth for the entertainment and instruction of a later age and a Christian people. This collection the American editor has sifted over again with good taste and discretion, and has thus formed quite a remarkable little book, which we can cordially commend to the attention of our readers. The simplicity of the style, the aptness of the illustrations, and the beauty of the sentiment or thought often remind one of favorite passages of Holy Writ. The lessons here taught come with less authority, indeed, than if borrowed from the sacred volume; but they are impressive and sound, affecting the imagination strongly from their decided hue of Orientalism, and adapted to purify and elevate the heart and the life. The publication will do much good, also, if it should induce some who make a boast of their Christian faith to surrender at least a portion of their anti-Jewish prejudices.

6. Histoire des Peuples du Nord, ou des Danois et des Nor mands, depuis les Temps les plus reculés jusqu'à la Conquête de l'Angleterre. Par HENRI WHEATON. Edition revue et augmentée par l'Auteur, avec Cartes, Inscriptions, et Alphabet Runiques, etc. Traduit de l'Anglais, par PAUL GUIllot. pp. 583.

Paris: E. Marc-Aurel. 1844. 8vo.

THIS work in its English dress, entitled "History of the Northmen, or Danes and Normans," was first published in London in 1831, and was reviewed in our pages in the course of the following year. The book now before us is not merely a French translation of the original publication, but a new edition of it, enlarged with notes and the fruits of the learned author's subsequent researches. In 1838, Mr. Wheaton united with Mr. Crichton, of Edinburgh, in preparing and publishing a work called "Scan. dinavia," comprising the ancient and modern history of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, with an account of the geographical features of these countries, and information respecting the my. thology, manners, and political and religious institutions of their inhabitants. Aided by the materials thus brought together, by other publications relating to the same subject in France and Germany, and especially by the great work of Professor Rafn, entitled "Antiquitates Americanæ," our author has much increased the compass and importance of his book, and has now sent it forth in a dress adapted for circulation on the continent of Europe. He has followed in the track of the Danish antiquaries, and has carefully studied their editions of the old Sagas first made known to the world in print since 1831. A new introduction to his work contains a succinct, but comprehensive, view of the whole Scandinavian mythology. A new chapter presents a condensed history of the expeditions and conquests of Robert Guiscard and his brothers, in Sicily and Greece, coming down to the period, when the Norman dynasty, in the southern part of Italy, became extinct. With these additions and improvements, we hope the French edition may prove as serviceable to the author's fame among the learned on the European continent, as the work in its English garb was to his reputation in England and America. We rejoice to perceive, that his numerous, long-continued, and successful labors as a diplomatist have not been allowed to exhaust his time and abilities; but that he has still some leisure for the cultivation of his literary taste, and for contribu tions to the general stock of scholastic acquirements.

7. Phreno-Mnemotechny, or the Art of Memory; the Series of Lectures, explanatory of the Principles of the System, delivered in New York and Philadelphia, in the Beginning of 1844. By FRANCIS FAUVEL GOURAUD, D. E. S., of the University of France. New York and London: Wiley & Putnam. 1845. 8vo. pp. 566 and xcvi.

tion."

THIS is one of the most remarkable books it has ever fallen to our lot to examine. In style, manner, and matter, it will hereafter rank among the most curious of the curiosities of literature. Its great size is one of the smallest of its demands upon the attention of the learned world. In his "Ante-prædictum to the public," Professor Gouraud is candid enough to state that the argumentative parts of the following lectures were delivered extemporaneously," without even any previous mental preparaBut we feel bound to say, that to take the professor at his word would be doing him a great injustice. He had made considerable mental preparation; he had studied the subject of artificial memory, and, according to his own account, made not a little progress in the practical application of its principles. He has certainly improved upon the schemes of Dr. Grey," the illustrious vicar of Hinton," of Feinaigle and Aimé Paris, as we could show by comparing his "fundamental basis" (what basis is not fundamental?) with theirs, if he had not prudently threatened audacious copyists with the penalties of the law. The substance of the whole matter, however, in all these systems, is nearly the same; the leading idea is absolutely the same. In the "fundamental basis," certain letters are arranged to corre. spond to the numbers; and then the number of the date to be remembered is formed into a word, which word, it is supposed, may be more easily retained than the numerical sign. raud's method is to find a word which has some analogy with the subject to be committed to memory, and then to form a sentence in which that word shall be introduced; the sentence also bearing upon the fact or event which it is designed to fix in the memory.

Gou

In order to facilitate the application of this system, Mr. Gouraud, it appears, has published a phreno-mnemotechnic dictionary. We have not seen this work, but suppose it contains a series of numbers arranged with the various corresponding words to facilitate the rapid mnemonization of facts. It is obvious that a work of this kind is quite necessary, if a person really means to use the system to any important extent. It would be a wearisome and even endless task to be left to search out words cor

responding by their letters to all the numbers which one might desire to remember. With this apparatus it may sometimes be convenient to use the system for the purpose of remembering dates; but in most cases, as it would be necessary to have the phreno-mnemotechnic dictionary at hand, the question naturally occurs, Why is it not just as well to have a chronological table, and turn to the dates whenever they are wanted? In order to apply the principles of the system to any great advantage, a variety of things must be attended to and remembered. Though it may be easier to remember the mnemotechnic words, in many cases, than to remember the numbers represented, still, in a large body of facts and dates, there will be a large number of words and sentences to be imprinted on the memory by some method or other; by some analogy or association by contrast, or by actually committing them to memory. And it is not at all likely that these words and sentences will remain long fixed, unless the association is frequently renewed, and the ground repeatedly gone over. This exercise may be a very good one in some respects for the memory; and yet, to accustom the memory to depend on casual or indirect associations is to form a bad intellectual habit. The best memory is the natural memory, of course; and in most men, practice and attention will strengthen and enlarge it to almost any extent. Depending on such artificial aids is like using crutches to support the body, or, at best, like riding on a velocipede; a somewhat troublesome operation, that falls short of giving their appropriate exercise to the limbs, and, in the long run, and taking all things together, saves but little time and fatigue. It is a cumbrous contrivance to accomplish a very unimportant object.

To dignify such an arbitary mnemonic arrangement, as the system either of Grey, Feinaigle, Aimé Paris, or Professor Gou raud, with the name of science, is to misuse language, and to play the charlatan. The art is an ingenious trick, a pretty contrivance, and sometimes useful for special purposes, but having about as much claim to the dignity of a science, as riddles, charades, and puns. It has not a single characteristic of a science, a single philosophical principle about it. It is a mere piece of adroitness; and the most complete mastery of it has no tendency to improve the mind, exalt the imagination, or refine the taste. The attempt to introduce this or any other system of artificial memory into our systems of education is not very likely to be made; but if it should be made, would do nothing but mischief.

The language which Mr. Gouraud applies to the persons who have, by successive steps, perfected this mnemonic sleight, is ludicrously exaggerated. Dr. Grey is the "illustrious and learned