suffer, are fully balanced by disadvantages peculiar to the men; and that the melioration of their condition and the elevation of their character, depends upon moral and social causes, operating through the whole mass of society. We are sensible that the present system of female education requires radical reform; that more uniform méthods, and more definite objects are necessary to produce the best results; that the ornamental parts of education should not be neglected, but be even more laboriously and scientifically pursued than at present; that talents, various knowledge, and liberal views are requisite in teachers; that discipline, manners, and certain connexions make only part of their qualifications; and that taste, accuracy, and philosophical ar rangement, should be considered indispensable in instruction. And we could wish to see this most important business

of life freed from the shackles of adventitious opinion, and private judgment; and regulated by the most enlightened We and disinterested influence alone. know that the true destiny of women, like that of all rational beings, is to cultivate all their faculties; and that the more completely this is done, the more capable they are of adorning and enjoy. ing all the relations of domestic life; and are fully of opinion, that "If women are devoid of knowledge, destitute of an elegant education, and literary taste, they are a nuisance and not an ornament to society; they introduce only slander, and insipid gaiety, which effectually banishes sensible men from their society, and reduces the assemblies of the drawing-room to young men who have nothing to do, and young women who have nothing to say." R. E.

ANOTHER work on the general botany of the United States, has made its appearance under the above title, and we perceive with much satisfaction that it is superior in many respects to any other yet published on either side of the Atlantic ocean. Michaux's and Pursh's Floras, although professedly intended to illustrate the species rather than the genera of plants, were at the time of their publication, each a synopsis of the genera actually known by their authors; but the discoveries and improvements made since in American botany, have left much to add to their labours. Muhlenberg's Catalogue was also intended as a generic manual of the plants of North-America; but it is in a peculiarly concise shape, not always well calculated for practice. Rich's Genera of the Plants of the United States was merely a compilation, and not grounded on actual observations. Eaton's Botany of the Northern States, and

Elliot's Botany of the Southern ones, were calculated merely as local works. A good work on all the genera of the United States, was therefore a desirable acquisition, and it is such a labour that Mr. Nuttall has attempted. How far he has succeeded in fulfilling our expectation will be the subject of our inquiry. Impartially devoted to the cause of science, and the progress of knowledge, we shall endeavour to notice with due praise what Mr. Nuttall has done, and if we find that a portion of his labours is not calculated to aid those objects, we shall not hesitate to censure, and to point out those parts that we may conceive to be erroneous in themselves, or likely to lead into

error.

On perusal of this interesting work, we were in the first instance peculiarly pleased by the neatness of its execution, its appropriate plan, convenient shape, and cheap price; qualities seldom united

in modern scientific labours, which are 100 often swelled by pride into thick quartos, at the expense of the purchaser, without any material advantage. These qualifications, united to the adoption of the English language, and the vulgar Linnæan system, throughout the work, will probably entitle it to the character of a popular manual. The author informs us in his preface, that it was in deference to public opinion that he adopted them; but we regret that such a deference was carried too far; as it has obliged him to change altogether the plan which he would otherwise have pursued in the classification of our plants. Mr. Nuttall is a zealous admirer of natural affinities; he has in some instances added much to our knowledge of the peculiar affinities of some genera, and he evinces a partiality for the beautiful results of an inquiry into the philosophy of botany. He might therefore have greatly increased the value of his work, by displaying in it the series of natural order, and families already detected in the United States, and bringing a knowledge of them to a level with the understanding of students and amateurs; but he has preferred the convenience of the sexual system, because it is generally taught, as yet,among us, and its false bases are more easily recorded in the memory of common readers. We forbear to enlarge on this subject, else we might have too much to say; but we cannot dismiss it without remarking that if every writer should follow this example, no improve ment would ever be adopted in science, and knowledge would remain stationary. We are greatly surprised to find the following passage in Mr. N.'s preface. "The great plan of natural affinities, sublime and extensive, eludes the arrogance of solitary individuals, and requires the concert of every botanist, and the exploration of every country towards its completion." If every attempt to collect the knowledge acquired by the exertions of observers, is to be styled an arrogant attempt, when natural affinities and the improvement of botany is the ultimate object, then the first botanists of this age VOL. IV.-No. 11.

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cannot escape the imputation of arrogance, which is now cast on them by Mr. N.; and Linnæus, Adanson, Necker, Scopoli, Jussieu, Decandolle, Robert Brown, Cassini, Rafinesque, &c. who have all laboured, or are yet labouring, to give us a complete plan of natural orders, must be considered as arrogant writers! Happily no enlightened botanists will assent to this assertion, and we wish it may have escaped Mr. N. inadvertently rather than consciously.

We perceive that this work is very far from deserving the title of a mere compilation, like so many of its kind; but is the result of the practical observations of the author since 1809.

We may therefore deem it a valuable addition to botanical knowledge, whenever the author has had an opportunity to observe the genera and species he mentions; but this has not always been the case, and in such an extensive country as ours could hardly be expected. Mr. N. has been a great traveller, as every practical botanist ought to be; he has visited particularly the region watered by the Missouri, and has ascended that noble stream as far as the Mandans. His discoveries in that quarter are recorded in this work; some of them had been communicated to, and published by Pursh, in his Flora; but they now appear in a more correct form. We regret, however, that Mr. N. takes so little notice of Mr. Bradbury, who visited the same river at the same time, and made also many interesting discoveries, several of which have been published by Pursh, and some are now described by Mr. N., and we are acquainted with many more, unnoticed by either of them, and totally new. Most of the new Missouri plants of Mr. N. had also been collected by Mr. Bradbury; but this fact is unnoticed in this work, while it ought to have been recorded, in justice to Mr. Bradbury's zealous exertions and modest merit.

Our author evinces in some instances a striking neglect of the labours of some previous writers, which were evidently within his plan. He has, for instance,

Besides all the new genera of the Flora of Louisiana, Rafinesque, and this journal, to the number of nearly one hundred ! Respecting these it may, perhaps, be proper to state, that they cannot have escaped the notice of the author; we are, therefore, at a loss to conceive why they have been neglected. At all events, the fact stamps a character of imperfection and illiberality on the otherwise valuable work before us, and its value, as a general manuel of our genera, is thereby greatly diminished. The Flora of Louisiana was published by Robin, in 1807; and a translation in English and Latin, wherein all the new genera and species it contains are exactly named and characterized, was published in New-York in 1817. That work is therefore a necessary supplement to this. The European genera Acanthus, Peucedanum, and Aretia. were introduced, for the first time, in that Flora as American; and the tropical genera Chrysophyllum, Lantana, and Cassine, as natives also of the United States. About thirty-two new genera and ten sub-genera were established in the same Flora, which are in vain looked for in Nuttall's work, and among them the genera Arnoglossum, Bradburya, Darwinia, Diototheca, Diplonyx, Dysosmon, Karpaton, Lascadium, Mnesiteon, Onosuris, &c. deserved particular attention. We find besides these a previous genus Enslenia different from the second Enslenia of Nutall, a genus Hicorius identic with the Carya of Nuttall, &c. !

new genera, some of which Mr. Nuttall bas adopted, but with different names : we refer particularly to our review of Pursh's Flora, and may quote for instance our Odostemun, called since by Nuttall Mahonia! our Toxylon, the Maclura, N! our Lepargyrea, called Sheperdia! our Ceranthera, called Androcera ! &c. We assert, and any candid botanist will assent, that the honour of establishing and naming new genera and species belongs to those who first have the sagacity to observe or detect them, and the ability to give them the first good names; priority of publication deciding in case of any equivocal circumstances. It is under such evident rules and acknowledged principles that we lay claim to the genera, of which we have hinted the propriety, and for which we have proposed good names. We shall consider, in future, whoever shall attempt to deprive us of our discoveries and previous names, by disguising our genera under different names, as plagiarists, and treat them as such, exposing their unwarrantable conduct to the public at large, and the literary community in particular; unless we have satisfactory evidence that the authors of such attempts were totally unable to acquire a previous knowledge of our labours; in which case we shall expect that they may be willing to retract such posterior names, coming in conflict with ours, as soon as they may become acquainted with them; but, if they should refuse it, or neglect it when apprised of their errors, we shall deem ourselves at liberty to expose them in the only light that such a conduct deserves.

The following genera are those to which we now lay claim, as having been proposed in our former reviews of botanical works, or established in our various papers: Trisiola. Lepargyrea. Amphicarpon. Nemopanthus. Pachistima.

Polanisia. Aplostemon. Bigelowia.

Dimesia. Polathera. Toxylon. Ademarium.