Επιμέλειαν. Εμοὶ μὲν δὴ, τοῦτος ὤν, οἷον ἐγὼ διήγημαι, εὐσεβὴς μὲν ἔτως ως μηδὲν ἄνευ τῆς τῶν θεῶν γνώμης ποιεῖν, δίκαιος δὲ ὡςε βλάπτειν μὲν μηδὲ μικρὸν μηδένα, ὠφελεῖν δὲ τὰ μέγισα τὲς χρωμένες ἑαυτῷ, ἐγκρατὴς δὲ ὥςε μηδέποτε προαιρεῖσθαι τὸ ἥδιον ἀντὶ τῇ βελτίονος, Φρόνιμος δὲ ὡσε μὴ διαμαρτάνειν κρίνων τὰ βελτίω καὶ τα χείρω——ἱκανὸς δὲ καὶ ἄλλες προτρέψασθαι ἐπ ̓ αξε την καὶ καλοκαγαθίαν, ἐδόκει τοιῦτος εἶναι, οἷος ἂν ἄξιςός γε ἀνὴς καὶ εὐδαιμονέςατος. L. iv. c. 8. f. 1 1. Auctore ART. VI. Mufcologia Hibernice Spicilegium. Dawfon Turner, A. M. Soc. Reg. Ant. Et. Linn. Lond. Imp.Ac. Nat. Cur. Phyf. Goett. necnon Lit. Non. Nov. Caft. Socio. 8vo. 230 pp. 18s. Yermutha: typis J. Black, fumptibus Auctoris. Londini: prost. venal. apud. J. White, in vico Fleet-Street. 1804. MUSCOS et mufcas quærat cui nihil aliud eft reliquum", was the objection urged of old against the ingenious investigators of the minuter branches of Natural History, and will, we fear, always continue to be the fentiment of those whofe attention is folely devoted to the purfuit of wealth or power, or even the more ordinary occupations of literature itfelf. Thofe, however, who have once tafled the mental luxury of pervading, with an eye of philofophic precifion, thefe minima of creation, will not eafily be deterred from their purfuit by the laugh of ignorance, or the faftidioufnefs of pretended fuperiority; but will, unmoved by idle reproaches, purfue the noifelefs tenor of their way, through the less trodden paths of human knowledge. Among thefe patient and profound enquirers, the fcientific author of the prefent work demands a diftinguished fituation ; and, perhaps, fince the days of Dillenius, it will not be easy to adduce an example of fuperior talents for the purpose, combined with a happier mode of execution. The work is not calculated for the unlearned botanist, being entirely in the Latin language, and is to be confulted only by the deeper and more fcientific ftudent. It contains an arrangement of the Irish Moffes, founded on the modern improvements in this part of botany by Hedwig, Schreber, Smith, Swartz, &c. with most accurate fpecific characters, accompanied by more particular obfervations. Many plates, executed with peculiar neatnefs, and properly coloured, are fuperadded to the text. A well-written Preface explains the nature of the fubject, and the mode of elucidation adopted by the author, who had be fore fore diftinguifhed himself by various botanical papers in the Tranfactions of the Linnæan Society. As a specimen of the work, we shall select one of the new genera, namely; "PTEROGONIUM." HEDW. St. cr. IV. p. 16. Pterigynandrum. H. Caps. oblonga. Perift. fimplex, dentibus fedecim, vel trigintaduobus, erectis. Fl. axillares. P. fciuroides, caule repente ramofo: ramis fimpliciufculis incur vis; foliis ovatis ftriatis; operculo conico. DILL. t. 41. f. 54. Fiffidens fciuroides. H. Dicranum fciuroides. Swartz. Rami pollicares et ultra, rarò divifi, teretes, erecti, ficcitate, arcuato-incurvi; folia luteo-viridia, ovata, brevitèr acuminata, enervia, fed ftriis plurimis, nervos mentientibus, præfertim, apices verfus, inftructa, madore erecto-patula, ficcitate appreffa, et interdum fubfecunda, perichætialia albefcentia, longa, lanceolatofubulata, enervia, appreffa; pedicelli fub-unguiculares, perichtium vix fuperantes; capfulæ elliptica, atro-rufæ, erectæ, læves; operculum breve, conicum, obtufiufculum; calyptra alba, lævis. -P. julacea, et trichomitrio affine: ab hoc, calyptrâ lævi, ab illo, foliorum formâ et ftriis, ab utroque, operculo conico dignofcitur. -Mirum profectò hanc plantam inter Dicrana, quorum nulli affinis, hactenus relictam, et a nemine Pierogoniis, quibus liquidò attinet, effe affociatam. Quoad periftomium, fi icon in Hedw. Fund. II. t. 7. f. 46. accuratè depingatur, ambigere quidem videtur, fed in exemplari, quod nunc fub lente observo, dentes ad bafin ufque dividuntur; hinc, licet eorum numerus duplò major fit quam in reliquis, omnino fit Pterogonium, generifque characterem in hoc mutare fuftinui." P. P. 32. There is a good Index; and the plates are diftin&ly defcribed fubfequent table; but there is no plate reprefenting this genus. It gives us much fatisfaction to announce fo very elegant a fpecimen of botanical fcience, from researches made on the western fide of St. George's Channel. Recte in Schraderi diario obfervavit dot. Sprengel, hoc genus, quod a floribus axillaribus nomen ducit, non PTEROGONIUM, fed MASCHALANTHUS nominari debere." ART. ART. VII. [A] Syftem of Mineralogy, comprehending Oryclognofie, Geognofe, Mineralogical Chemistry, Mineralogical Geography, and Economical Mineralogy. By Robert Jamefon, Regius Profeffor of Natural History, &c. Vol. I. 8vo. 607 pp. with Plates. 145. Conftable and Co. Edinburgh; Longman and Co. London. 1804. THE HE aspect which mineralogy has of late affumed, under the aufpices of Werner, has, we confefs, never perfectly pleafed us. We have always confidered that author rather in the light of a geologift, than as a mineralogift, properly fo called. The fame which attended Linnæus, on account of the improvements he introduced into botany, feems to us to have misled the Freyberg profeffor. The merit of Linnæus, however, confifts more in the accurate difcrimination of the various fpecies of plants, by means of the language he adopted, than in his fyftematical arrangement of them. But, as the language and the arrangement are the parts in which Linnæus differs most from his predeceffors, Werner has paid his principal attention to them, and, by imitating him in thofe refpects, has hoped to enjoy the fame degree of fame as Linnæus. To the difcrimination of the fpecies, the point of the greatest confequence, Werner has been lefs attentive; and his fyftem, in this respect, is far, very far, inferior to that of many of his predeceffors; nor will it admit of the leaft comparison with thofe of his contemporary fyftematifts. It was the great object of Linnæus, to introduce such terms as fhould render figures, or a reference to other plants, unneceffary; and to make it poffible for ftudents to identify the plants of a country, without any other previous knowledge, than that of the fignification of a certain number of well-chofen terms, of the moft fimple nature. That the "external characters" of Werner are not fufficient to difcriminate minerals, we have (notwithstanding the pofitive affertions of him and his admirers) a tacit confeffion, by their conftantly adding the chemical and other intrinfic characters. That Werner himfelf is conscious that his terms are not fufficiently characteris tic, is shown, not only by the acknowledgment of fome of his fcholars, that mineralogy cannot be learned by books, but alfo by the corroborating circumftance of his not finifhing the tranflation of Cronstedt's mineralogy, which he began many years ago, in the firft heat of his imaginary improvement of the fcience; as well as by his having fince chiefly confined U u himfelf himself to lecturing on his own collection of minerals; from which mode of inftruction, none but thofe who compofe the circle of his auditors can be perfect maflers of his fyftem. It is to thefe difciples that we owe the principal details refpecting his method; but feveral of them have wandered, in fome refpects, from their mafter, and, however deficient in that genius which Werner undoubtedly poffeffes, have proposed various alterations. Schmeiffer and Kirwan have already made English mineralogifts acquainted, in fome degree, with the method of Werner; but the chemical bent of their mind, and still more the defire of contracting the characters of the fpecies, caufed them to depart widely from the original fyftem, and mode of delivery; fo that ftudents defirous of acquiring this knowledge, were obliged to feek it in the writings of the German mineralogifts, until Brochant very lately gave to the world an account of Werner's fyftem in the French language. Among thefe German mineralogifts, Emmerling ftands foremoft; the bookfellers of that country having pitched upon him to perform the office of the priests at Delphi, to gather up, and to give a confiftent body to the oracular effata of the Freyberg profeffor. No one could be better fuited to the task: devoid of every idea of his own, he ran no chance of depart ing from the dogmas of his mafter; and his fubfervient pen contrived, by the help of fupplements and other appendages, to dilate the fubject to the exact quantum which his employers judged the market would bear. His work, however, is esteemed the pureft reprefentation of Werner's doctrine; but, alas, the mutability of human attachments! Karften, who ftands at the head of the chemical mineralogifls of Germany, having, in his mineralogical tables, conftantly referred to Emmerling Lehrbuch der mineralogie, for the detail of the defcription of minerals, the latter, won by this flattering attention, has deferted his former mafter; and, in his late fupplement, has new moulded the fyftem of Werner, according to the plan of Karften. Brochant's Elemens de mineralogie, from their language be ing better known than the German, and from the agreeable manner in which they are written, have been eagerly received. In them, the doctrines of Werner appear to the utmost poffible advantage, being related with impartiality and candour: at the fame time, in an Appendix, is added an account of all the new minerals which have been lately difcovered; fo that this work forms the most complete treatife which has yet appeared on the Wernerian plan. That Profeffor Jamefon did not merely tranflate this work, is probably to be attributed to the fymptoms of herefy which appear in it. Brochant's principal object object was to give his countrymen an idea of the German. fchool of mineralogy; in fo doing he has, as became an exact hiftorian, mentioned the feveral alterations which Widenman, Napioni, and others, have endeavoured to introduce into the method of Werner. Profeffor Jamefon calls thefe alterations, "vague indefinite things, that how how little the framers of them have understood the Wernerian method". A ftill heavier charge against Brochant is, that he has dared to fuggeft an idea, that the mathematical invefligations of Haiy might be neceffary to add clearnefs to the German "picture" of calcareous fpar; but Profeffor Jamefon informs us (p. 496) that. "however amufing the minute measurements of Hauy may be, they are of little or no ufe to the orycognoft, they cannot therefore find a place in this work". Brochant might well think the "picture" of calcareous fpar wanted explanation, for Profeffor Jamefon himfelf feems to allow it, as he has drawn up a new defcription; with what fuccefs we will not pretend to fay, for we believe the comprehenfive mind of the Stagyrite himfelf would have fhrunk from the tafk of endcavouring to underfland a definition which occupies feven octavo pages. As calcareous fpar is only a fubdivifion of the fubdivifion of a fpecies, what idea can be formed of the fpecies in the aggregate? It (limestone) takes up 29 pages; upwards of one half of this is occupied by the characters of the feveral fubfpecies and kinds, all of which must be united, if fuch a thing be poffible, before an idea of the fpecies can be attained. The difficulties therefore which lie in the way of a ftudent, who should make the almoft hopeless attempt of acquiring a knowledge of mineralogy by the writings of the Wernerian fchool alone, may cafily be conceived. In the method of Werner, there is no fixed principle, by which the fpecies are determined. To fpeak the language of the other parts of natural hiftory, they are ufually formed on the habits of the minerals: a moft fallacious guide, and long fince relinquished by the beft informed naturalifts. Linnæus, Cronstedt, Wallerius, and many others, had already endeavoured to introduce more certain methods; fill more lately, Romé Delifle, and afterwards Haüy, have, by their cryftallographic labours, very much advanced this defirable object. Hauy, from the accurate manner in which he has difcrimi-" nated the fpecies, and exhibited their characteristic differences, as well as from the brilliancy of his theory refpecting cryftallization, may be confidered as a formidable opponent of Werner's doctrine; and it is perfectly amufing to behold the vain and futile attempts of Profeffor Jamefon to depreciate the fyftem of the former. So blindly is the author devoted to the Freyberg U u 2 school, |