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far the greater number of the Algae render their pictorial representations, even as works of art, especially when executed in the style of those in Dr. Harvey's book, exceedingly ornamental, and must command the admiration of all, whether naturalists or not.

Leaving now the ocean and its vegetation, we will for a while accompany an active and enterprising naturalist to a part of the world hitherto comparatively little botanically explored. In less than eighteen months Dr. J. D. Hooker has reached the Himalayan range from Calcutta, explored several of its recesses, discovered a number of new plants, sent drawings and descriptions to England, where his father, Sir W. J. Hooker, as editor, and the Messrs. Reeve, as publishers, have made known the first result of the doctor's botanical mission, in a series of magnificent folio plates of ten new species of Rhododendron, native to the neighborhood of Darjeeling, in Sikkim-Himalayah mountains; a locality with much justice described by the author, at least, if we may judge from the noble plants here so splendidly figured, as the head-quarters of the genus in the Old World. From the following extracts, our readers will be able to form some idea of the magnificence of the scenery amid which the species depicted were collected.

"The mountain Sinchul, upon a spur of which, looking north, Darjeeling stands, attains an elevation of 9,000 feet, and to the west of it, next Nepal, rises another conspicuous mountain, Tonglo, reaching a height of 10,000 feet. Due north of Darjeeling, at a distance of only sixty miles, the horizon is bounded by the great snowy range, having for its principal feature the peak of Kinchin-junga, which has lately been ascertained to be 28,172 feet in elevation, the loftiest mountain yet known in the world. Dr. Hooker thus describes his first impressions of this scene'Much as I had heard and read of the magnificence and beauty of Himalayan scenery, my highest expectations have been surpassed! I arrived at Darjeeling on a rainy, misty day, which did not allow me to see ten yards in any direction, much less to descry the Snowy Range, distant sixty miles, in a straight line. Early next morning I caught my first view, and I literally held my breath in awe and admiration. Six or seven successive ranges of forest-clad mountains, as high as that whereon I stood, (8,000 feet,) intervened between me and a dazzling white pile of snow-clad mountains, among which the giant peak of Kin

chin-junga rose 20,000 feet above the lofty point from which I gazed! Owing to the clearness of the atmosphere, the snow appeared to my fancy but a few miles off, and the loftiest mountain at only a day's journey. The heavenward outline was projected against a pale-blue sky; while little detached patches of mist elung here and there

to the highest peaks, and were tinged golden yellow, or rosy red, by the rising sun, which touched these elevated points long ere it reached the lower position I occupied.

early morning. As the sun's rays dart into the "Such is the aspect of the Himalaya range at many valleys which lie between the snowy mountains and Darjeeling, the stagnant air contained in the low recesses becomes quickly heated; heavy masses of vapor-dense, white, and keenly defined, arise from the hollows, meet over the crests of the hills, cling to the forests on to the rarefied regions above-a phenomenon so their summits, enlarge, unite, and ascend rapidly suddenly developed that the consequent withdrawal from the spectator's gaze of the stupendous scenery beyond looks like the work of magic. Such is the region of the Indian Rhododendrons." Preface, p. 5.

The particular locality of this grand region, where several of the species were met with, is thus more particularly described:

"It was on the ascent of Tonglo, a mountain dodendrons in all their magnificence and luxurion the Nepalese frontier, that I beheld the Rho

ance.

dense and sub-tropical, mingling with ferns, At 7,000 feet, where the woods were still Pothos, peppers, and figs, the ground was strewed with the large lily-like flowers of Rhododendron Dalhousiæ,* dropping from the epiphytal plants on the enormous oaks overhead, and mixed with the egg-like flowers of a new Magnoliaceous tree, which fall before expanding, and diffuse a powerful aromatic odor, more strong, but far less sweet, than that of the Rhododendron. So conspicuous were these two blossoms, that my rude guide called out- Here are lilies and eggs, sir, growing out of the ground! No bad compariand chesnut, yet still in that of the alder, birch, Passing the region of tree-ferns, walnut large-leaved oak, (whose leaves are often eighteen inches long,) we enter that of the broad-spathed Arum, (which raises a crested head like that of the Cobra de Capel,) the Kadsura, Stauntonia, Convallaria, and many Rosacea. The paths are here much steeper, carried along narrow ridges or over broken masses of rock, which are scaled

son.

The

Two plates are devoted to the illustration of this fine plant; the first represents the entire shrub, which has a very straggling habit, is from six to eight feet high, and always grows upon the trunks of other trees, especially oaks and magnolias. The author calls it parasitical; but it is more probably merely an epiphyte, using the trunk as a support, without deriving any nutriment from it. second plate represents a branch of this tree, with a head of its noble flowers, each of which is about campanulate, white, with an occasional tinge of "3 or 4 inches long, and as broad at the mouth; rose; in size and color, and general shape, almost resembling that of the white Bourbon lily, (Lilium candidum,) and very fragrant." This and the other species will be splendid additions to our gardens and shrubberies.

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turn to the more humble, though not less interesting nor less beautiful, denizens of our own shores; which amply corroborate the statement that every district has a Flora of its own. Gladly would we cull, in his company, the plants of the salt-marsh, the muddy shore, or the chalky cliff-the curious horned poppy (Glaucium luteum) with its fugacious yellow petals, the blue-tinted seaeringo, (Eryngium maritimum,) the stocks, and asters, and "sea-lavender that lacks perfume," and the pretty little creeping pink-flowered Glaux maritima, and the purple arenarias-all which abound in such localities; though we must for the present confine our researches to the bleak, barren

by the aid of interwoven roots of trees. On these rocks grow Hymenophylla, a few Orchidea, Begonia, Cyrtandacreæ, Aroideæ of curious forms; the anomalous genus Streptolirion of Edgeworth, and various Cryptogamia; and the Rhododendron arboreum is first met with, its branches often loaded with pendulous mosses and lichens, especially Usnea and Borrera. Along the flat ridges, towards the top, the yew appears, with scattered trees of Rhododendron argenteum, succeeded by R. Campbelliæ. At the very summit, the majority of the wood consists of this last species, amongst which, and next in abundance, occurs the R. barbatum, with here and there, especially on the eastern slopes, R. Falconeri. Mixed with these are Pyri, Pruni, maples, barberries, and Azaleas, Olea, Ilex, Limonia, Hydrangea, several Caprifoliaceæ, Gaultheria, and Andromeda; the apple and the rose are most abundant. Staun-looking sand-downs: but barren as they tonia, with its glorious racemes of purple flowers, creeps over all; so do Kadsura and Ochna; whilst a currant, with erect racemes, grows epiphytally

on Rhododendron and on Pyrus.

"The habits of the Rhododendrons differ considerably, and, confined as I was to one favorable spot by a deluge of rain, I had ample time to observe four of them. R. Campbelliæ, the only one in full flower early in May, is the most prevalent, the ropes of my tent spanning an area between three of them. Some were a mass of scarlet blossom, displaying a sylvan scene of the most gorgeous description. Mr. Nightingale's Rhododendron-groves, I thought, may surpass these in form and luxuriance of foliage, or in outline of individual specimens; but for splendor of color those of the Himalaya can only be compared with the Butea frondosa of the plains. Many of their trunks spread from the centre thirty or forty feet every way, and together form a hemispherical mass, often forty yards across, and from twenty to fifty feet in height! The stems and branches of these aged trees, gnarled and rugged, the bark dark colored, and clothed with spongy moss, often bend down and touch the ground; the foliage is, moreover, scanty, dark green, and far from graceful; so that, notwithstanding the gorgeous coloring of the blossoms, the trees, when out of flower, like the fuchsias of Cape Horn, are the gloomy denizens of a most gloomy region."p. 13.

But we must leave this elevated region, with its gorgeous floral decorations, and, under the guidance of Dr. Harvey, again re

look, they sometimes yield to the industrious and keen-eyed botanist a far richer harvest than many a more promising locality; as our own well-stored vasculum has often testified. But our guide awaits us-and we accompany him.

"Sand-downs, where the herbage is close and thick," says Dr. Harvey, "have often a very gay Flora, composed of a great number of plants. The surface is generally carpeted with white clover, mixed with mosses, chiefly of the genus Tortula, and small, fine-leaved grasses, especially Nardus stricta, and some of the more wiry-leaved Festuca, with here and there the characteristic sand-reed (Ammophila arundinacia.) Such is the composition of the green sward which forms the groundwork of the piece. This is gaily ornamented with a profusion of the bright pink stars of centaury, (Erythraa,) several kinds of which are distinguished. These are diminutive gentians, with all the bitterness of foliage and brightness of flower peculiar to that family of plants. Among them may sometimes be seen their more ambitious brother the Chlora, with his golden eight-lobed there is limestone or chalk in the soil. Next we crown; but this is rarely found except where are attracted by different varieties of wild pansies (Viola tricolor and V. lutea,) some of them blue, others yellow, and others a mixture of these colors with creamy white. Then eye-bright, which, though diminutive, often indeed dwindled down to a pair or two of leaves and a pair of flowers, is still worthy both of its English name and the more sounding Greek Euphrasia. Milkwort (Polygala,) of three colors, white, blue, or red, abounds on such ground; as does also the singularly elegant Asperula cynanchica, whose hairlike stems, with narrow leaves in distant whorls, four-cleft flowers. This graceful little plant is of support a branching tuft of white or pink tubular, the same family as the madder (Rubia,) and the ladies' bedstraw, (Galium,) and is still more close

"At Embley, near Romsey, Hants, the seat of William Edward Nightingale, Esq., whose beautiful grounds boast of drives through what may really be called woods or groves of Rhododendrons, many of them self-sown." Miss Nightingale has supplied an interesting account of these fine trees, which were chiefly planted about thirty years ago; one of them is 150 feet in circumference and 20 feet high; several are 97 and 98 feet in circumference. These admeasurements of course refer to the gen-ly connected with a greater favorite than either, eral spread of the branches, not to the stems, one of which is, however, 25 feet high and 19 inches in circumference.

the woodruff (Asperula odorata.) Several small species of clover (Trifolium,) some of them rare, are scattered about. One of the prettiest of these,

though not rare, is T. arvense, or hare's-foot clover, a species with erect wiry stems, narrow leaves, and long cylindrical heads of flowers, clothed with soft silky hairs. These may be collected for the winter nosegay, the silky heads retaining their form and much of their color in drying. Several wild geraniums and stork's-bills (Erodium) abound-the long, finely-cut leaves of the latter being more beautiful than the comparatively insignificant flowers. The more bare patches of sand are frequently diversified with scattered tufts of a half-shrubby spurge, (Euphorbia Paralias,) one or two feet high, with erect stems, clothed with closely-set, oblong, somewhat fleshy leaves, and bearing an umbel of greenishyellow flowers. Like all the spurges, it contains abundance of an acrid milky juice, which flows when any part of the stem or leaf is wounded. Most of the spurges grow in similarly dry ground, in various parts of the world, and perhaps nowhere are they found of larger size, or of stranger forms, than in the burning sands of Africa. There the smooth stem, clothed with thin leaves, which marks our British kinds, is exchanged for a succulent stem, often destitute of leaves altogether; or having those organs converted into spines, or into lumpy bodies. The stem of some is columnar, rising into trees twenty to forty feet high, and bearing great naked branches, like arms of gigantic candelabra; that of others is globose, or melon-shaped, armed with spiny ribs and furrows; and others again have a multitude of snake-like stems issuing from the expanded crown of their roots. In others the root itself forms the reservoir, being as large as a turnip or a beet; while an annual vegetation of soft leaves and flower-stalks is all that rises above the surface of the ground. All these varieties of habit are obviously designed to enable these plants to endure the climate and soil for which they are destined. Nourishment in some is stored up in the leaves, in others in the stem; and in others in the root,

shrubs, not unlike our furze-bushes. It is singular to see such rigid and dry-looking sticks, yielding, in their season, flowers of the same structure and delicacy as the beautiful bind-weed of our hedges."--Sea-side Book, p. 211.

There is one plant, an especial favorite with us, a denizen of these sand-downs, which Dr. Harvey has omitted to mention. Long before we had the pleasure of seeing it growing, we had formed acquaintance with the great sharp sea-rush (Juncus acutus) in the pages of that delightful contribution to local botany, the Rev. G. E. Smith's "Catalogue of the Plants of South Kent." Well do we remember the delight of first seeing the tall tufts of the plant rising in solitary grandeur upon the barren sands; as well as the punishment inflicted by this, "the noblest of British species of the genus, and the most terrible," upon the unwary hand with which, unmindful of Mr. Smith's kindly warning, we hastily attempted to rob the 'plant of its well-guarded treasures-the large and highly-polished chesnut-colored capsules! But leaving these reminiscences, which, however, afford to the naturalist some of his greatest pleasures, we once more, and for the last time, accompany Dr. Harvey to the sea-side.

son.

"Grassy pastures near the sea are sometimes them over with flowers, bright in their brief seawell stored with small bulbous plants, which dot Early in spring, the vernal squill (Scilla verna,) and late in autumn the autumnal (Scilla autumnalis,) open their fairy stars of blue, on tiny scapes, an inch or two in height. These are common to many of our coasts. Another minute that they may have something to feed upon bulb, (Trichonema Columna,) the smallest Britthrough the burning days and dewless nights of ish species of the Iris family, occurs in one or two an African summer. Other plants contend with places on the south coast of England, where it the difficulties of their situation by other means. Thus, one of the most beautiful of our native longs to a genus whose species gradually infinds, perhaps, its most northern locality. It besand-hill plants, Convolvulus soldanella, sends crease in number, and in gay clothing, as you creeping stems under the surface of the sand in approach the sun, and which has its maximum at all directions, and these emit from the joints, or the Cape of Good Hope, where many sorts, with nodes, bundles of finely-divided hair-like roots, rich purple, golden, or milk-white flowers of large that penetrate the loose soil, and ramifying as they go along, are constantly forming mouths size, spangle the road-sides, or cover the barren ready to suck up every drop of water that pene- Several of the smaller Orchidea are found in simground near the sea with a many-colored sheet. trates the sand. Besides this provision of abun-ilar places, especially Orchis Morio, whose dark dant roots, its leaves, though less fleshy than in some plants, are so in some degree, and retain in their tissues moisture even in seasons of drought. Along the sandy shores of other countries, and throughout the tropics, are found species of Convolvulus related to our C. soldanella, and these support existence by means of a similar system of creeping underground stems and fibrous roots. But with the soil the habit is varied; thus, in the arid plains of Persia, where probably a stiffer soil may prevent the spreading of underground stems, there are species of Convolvulus forming thorny

purple flowers are among the first heralds of sumwhich scents the grass in the hottest months." mer, and lady's-tresses (Spiranthes æstivalis,*) -lb. p. 215.

But we must conclude before we have ex

Dr. Harvey intended to write Spiranthes autum*This we suspect to be a lapsus calami, and that nalis; since Sp. aestivalis is, so far as known, confined, in England at least, to a single locality in the New Forest, Hampshire, far from the sea.

hausted our subject; though that, indeed, were impossible-the subject is inexhaustible. Daily might we add to our knowledge of natural objects, and each day's addition would but open up fresh fields to our investigation. Plants and flowers attract by their loveliness, and charm with their external beauties; but, it is only when we become acquainted with their organization and their habit, that we can fully appreciate their claims to attention. In the words of Mr. Hunt,

"The form and color of a flower may excite

our admiration; but when we come to examine all the phenomena which combine to produce that piece of symmetry and that lovely hue-to learn the physiological arrangement of its structural parts-the chemical actions by which its woody fibre, and its juices are produced-and to investigate those laws by which is regulated the power to throw back the white sunbeam from its surface in colored rays-our admiration passes to the higher feeling of deep astonishment at the perfection of the processes, and of reverence for their great Designer. There are, indeed, 'tongues in trees;' but science alone can interpret their mysterious whispers, and in this consists its Poetry." L. G.

*

STATE EDUCATION IN AMERICA.

"IHE Americans have drawn a proper distinction between secular and religious instruction, confining the Church to its own duties, and leaving the schools free in the execution of theirs. They have not fallen into the ridiculous error of supposing that education is Godless' when it does not embrace theology. Education has both its secular and its religious elements. As men cannot agree as to the latter, let not the former, on which they are agreed, be prevented from expanding, by unnecessarily combining them. * Suppose that we had schools for teaching arithmetic and mathematics alone, would any sane man charge them with being godless because they confined themselves to the teaching of such simple truths as that two and two make four, and that the three angles of a triangle are together equal to two right angles? And what holds good of a branch of secular education holds good of it in its entirety. If mathematics can be taught without theology, so can reading and writing, grammar and geography; in short, every department of secular learning. This is the view which the Americans have generally taken of the subject, and they have shaped their course accordingly. They have left religion to fortify itself exclusively in the heart of man, whilst they have treated secu

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lar education as a matter which essentially concerned the State. Either the church is fit for the performance of its own duties, or it is not. If it is not, it is high time that it were remodelled; if it is, there is no reason why it should call upon the school to undertake a part of its work. The school might, with the same propriety, call upon the church to aid it in the work of secular instruction. They will both best acquit themselves of their responsibilities, when they are confined exclusively to their own spheres. In America they are so, and with the happiest results. The children of all denominations meet peaceably together, to learn the elements of a good ordinary education. Nobody dreams of their being rendered godless by the process. Their parents feel assured that, for their religious education, they can intrust them to the church and the Sundayschool. Who accuses the Americans of being an irreligious people? Nay, rather, who can deny to them, as a people, a pre-eminence in religious fervor and devotion? * * Taking each country as a whole, the religious sentiment is most extensively diffused, and more active in its operations in America than in Great Britain. And this in a country in which religion has been left to itself."-Mackay.

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But

THE undiscovered sources of the Nile will ever remain the most extraordinary instance of a geographical problem, which has frequently been on the point of solution only to be removed further off than ever. The inquiry concerning the sources of this beneficent and bounteous stream, to whose inundations whole nations have been from time immemorial indebted for their very being, dates from ante-historical times. The philosophers of Meroe, who first established the relation in point of time between the heliacal rising of the dog-star and the inundation of their sacred river, also undertook observations to determine the site of its sources. The same inquiry became an object with the greatest monarchs. It is said that Sesostris preferred the honor of such a discovery almost to all the victories he obtained. whether by this much-abused name Amunmai Rameses II., or Shishank of Bubastis is meant, is not made clear. When Alexander the Great arrived at the temple of Jupiter Ammon he made inquiries concerning the fountains of the Nile, even before he asked about his own descent from Jupiter. The priests are said to have given him directions for finding them, and the Macedonian employed natives of Ethiopia to make the search, but in vain. Ptolemy Philadelphus succeeded Alexander in his attempts to discover the source of the Nile; but he likewise proving unsuccessful, the task was next undertaken by Ptolemy Evergetes, the most powerful of the Greek princes who sat on the throne of Egypt. Cæsar had the same curiosity with other conquerors to visit the springs of the Nile, although his situation did not allow him to make any attempt for that purpose. Nero, however, was more active. He sent two centurions into Ethiopia, with orders to explore the unknown fountains of this river; but they returned without having accomplished their errand. They reported that, after having gone a long way, they came to immense lakes, of which nobody knew the end, nor could they ever hope to find it. Bruce denounced this report as a fiction, as

the Blue River, which he considered to be the Nile, forms no lakes throughout its course, excepting that of Tzana or Dembea, the limits of which are easily perceived. But we now know that the White Nile presents for a distance which comprises several degrees of latitude nothing but a continuation of inland lakes with islands, and so many tortuous streams as to lead to a confusion that may well have baffled early travellers. It is most probable, then, that Nero's expedition ascended the White Nile to a certain distance. But the attempts of the ancients met with the same uniform want of success, till Caput Nili quærere became a proverbial manner of denoting the impracticability of an undertaking; and the mystery was even made to assume a mythological character:

The frightened Nile ran off, and underground Concealed his head, nor can it yet be found. Ovid, ii., 296.

The first who in more modern times made an attempt to discover the sources of the Nile was a monk sent into Abyssinia, in the year 522, by Nonnosus, ambassador from the Emperor Justin. This monk is called Cosmas the Hermit, and likewise Indoplaustes, from his supposed travels into India. He, however, followed the course of the Tacazza, or north-westerly tributary to the Nile, and was thus led to Axum. Next was Peter Paez, also a missionary, of whose travels an account is given by Kircher. There is much reason to believe that Paez anticipated Bruce. That he may have written Sabala for Sacala, or have imperfectly described the exact number and size of the fountains, is of minor importance compared with the great facts established by him, and corroborated by Bruce, that these fountains are situated on the highest part of a valley, which resembles a great plain on every side surrounded by high mountains, in the west part of Gojam, and in the territory of the Agows. This, however, relates to the sources of the Blue River.

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