this form they absorb the carbon they require, and need not, therefore, to extract it from the air as carbonic acid. They deviate, therefore, from the vegetable rule in this respect also; and as their nutrition is like that of animals, so is their respiration or action upon the atmosphere like that of animals; they absorb pure oxygen, and return it to the air combined with carbon, in the form of carbonic acid. On the other hand, the curious zoophyte, the Frustulia salina, which was before mentioned, presents a remarkable instance of an animal acting upon the atmosphere after the manner of a plant; the observation of its giving off pure oxygen gas being that which led to the analysis of its tissues, the results of which we noticed.

Some few other points of comparison or contrast between the animal and vegetable kingdoms might be gathered, but the subject has already extended to a greater length than we originally anticipated, and has included those particulars which would best serve to afford an exact definition, could such really be made out. On the contrary, our review of these particulars serves only to establish our original statement, that no exact limitations can be laid down as the boundaries of these kingdoms; that the charac ters of the one are imitated by beings belonging to the other; as the son of Sirach hath said, All things are double, one against another; and he hath made nothing imperfect.'

Species alone are exactly defined in nature. All groups, including several of these, arranged together for systematic purposes, insensibly glide into each other; in the words of Linnæus, Natura non facit saltus.

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Our illustrations, we think, have fully established this with regard to the primary and most comprehensive groups, nically styled kingdoms; between which, if in any case, exact demarcations might have been expected to appear. But so far we have advanced to little more than the introductory matter of the work before us. Dismissing all consideration of animal life, we had intended now to bring under review the primary_subdivisions of the Vegetable Kingdom,' according to Dr. Lindley's systematic classification. This would again illustrate and confirm the truth of the principle. We should find Cryptogamic plants passing into Phanerogamic, by various intermediate forms; thus Fungi, shading into Endogens through the anomalous Rhizanths; and Ferns approaching Exogens through Cycadaceæ. And extending our observation to extinct species, we should find the fossil Calamites presenting a close external resemblance to recent Equisetaceae, and yet pos sessing the wood and bark of Exogens; and fossil Lepidodendra presenting the central pith and medullary sheath, and the fistular

passages in its cortical integument, of a corniferous Exogen, though combined with the cellular stem, the dichotomous ramification, and the general appearance of gigantic Lycopodia. Or, considering merely the two principal types of structure amongst Phanerogamic plants, we should have found that Exogens passed into Endogens through the Dictyogens, a term by which Dr. Lindley designates his fifth class, derived from the reticulate venation of the leaves of these plants, in which respect, as well as in the structure of the stem, they approach to the character of Exogens; whilst in the ternary type upon which the flowers are constructed, and more especially in the monocotyledonous structure of their seeds, they resemble Endogens.

Particulars of this nature, had our space permitted, would have afforded matter for interesting contemplation; interesting, not merely to the man of science, or as items in the stock of general information, but likewise to the student of divine philosophy, as affording a long chain of decisive evidence of that unity of plan prevailing throughout the works of creation, the operation of one Mind pervading all matter and all space, and infinitely endowed with attributes of wisdom and benevolence.

The more we study the works of the Creator,' says Sir J. E. Smith, the more wisdom, beauty, and harmony become manifest, even to our limited apprehensions; and while we admire, it is 'impossible not to adore.'

Soft roll your incense, herbs, and fruits, and flowers,
In mingled clouds to Him, whose sun exalts,

Whose breath perfumes you, and whose pencil paints.'

Dr. Lindley's Vegetable Kingdom may be regarded as a new edition of his former work, The Natural System of Botany,' only much enlarged, illustrated by numerous wood engravings, and presenting such modifications in the views of the author as have taken place during the interval between the publication of these works. These modifications are very considerable, both in classification and arrangement. The former work commences with the class of Exogens, and descends gradually to the lowest cellular Cryptogamic plants; the present work commences at the bottom of the scale, and ascends through the various orders and classes to Exogens, which are regarded as the class of vegetables

of the highest development and most perfect organization. The division into classes, the most comprehensive groups, differ considerably in the two works: in the former, we have five-Exogens, Gymnosperms, Endogens, Rhizanths, and Acrogens; in the present work we have seven, which are as follows, beginning from the opposite extreme-Thullogens, Acrogens, Rhizogens, Endogens, Dictyogens, Gymnogens, Exogens. The groups, or alliances, into which these classes are themselves divided, likewise differ very much in these two works; characters esteemed of primary importance in establishing these alliances in the one case, being allowed merely a secondary value in the other. In the still further subdivision into orders, much greater coincidence, of course, presents itself; a large proportion of these being recognised alike by all modern systematists.

That Dr. Lindley finds reason to alter and modify his views of the true affinities of plants, as observation and study afford him enlarged and clearer views of the real nature of their more essential characters, can form no ground of objection against his works, but is the necessary consequence of persevering observations by an original and candid mind, in any branch of natural history.

'In fact, there is no such thing as stability in these matters. Consistency is but another name for obstinacy. Every science is in a state of progression, and, of all others, the sciences of observation most so. The author cannot regard perseverance in error commendable, for the sake of what is idly called consistency; he would rather see false views corrected, as the proof of their error arises.'

To pretend to set forth a system which shall claim the merit of perfection, or as being the nearest possible approximation to perfection, would be an absurdity, both because our knowledge is at the best incomplete, and is constantly gaining fresh acces sions; and because the plan observed in the creation of living beings may be represented in many ways; and although the order of nature is itself settled and invariable, yet human descriptions of it will vary with the mind of the describer.'

No doubt what Dr. Lindley has now published as the most natural arrangement of plants which he can devise, will prove no more permanent than other systems which have gone before it; we are of opinion, however, that it is the closest representation which has yet been given of the system upon which Nature has really proceeded in the development of her various forms, from the isolated cell of almost imperceptible minuteness to the lofty oak tree of the forest.

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ART. VIII.-The Lands of the Bible visited and described, in an extensive Journey, undertaken with special reference to the Promotion of Biblical Research, and the Advancement of the Cause of Philanthropy. By JOHN WILSON, D.D., F.R.S., Honorary President of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Member of the Editorial Committee of the Asiatic Section of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquities at Copenhagen, Missionary of the Free Church of Scotland, &c. &c. With Maps and Illustrations. 2 vols. 8vo. Edinburgh. 1847.

HISTORY begins in Ancient Asia. On that soil the human mind presents its first development. Science, learning, policy, religion all have their beginnings from that source. The civilization of Africa has an impress of its own; that of Europe is still more distinct; but, in both cases, the good has come by migration, and its origin has been oriental. To be unacquainted with early Asiatic history is to be ignorant as to the first bubblings of that marvellous stream of intelligence and onwardness, which has been ever in movement, and which is now diffusing itself more and more equally over the four quarters of the world.

Asia stretches so far north as to embrace wide unpeopled regions of everlasting ice and snow, and so far south as to send her peninsulas, which in themselves are almost continents, far within the tropics, nearly touching the equator. Viewed in its depth or width, it embraces more than half the old world. Europe is not more than a fourth of its size, while, in respect to variety, fertility, and beauty, the surface of Europe, and even that of Africa, cannot be brought into comparison with the pretensions of the greater, we may almost call it the parent, continent. The fairest and richest provinces of Asia are in the same latitude with the Mediterranean, and it is only as men diverge from those regions, to others more northward or southward, that they become materially inconvenienced either by cold or heat. The entire continent is naturally divided into three departments. Two grand chains of mountains, and at something like equal distances from each other, cross its territory, from west to east. The Tauric chain takes its rise near the shores of the Mediterranean, in Asia Minor, and extends, like a mighty wall of separation, eastward, as far as the desert of Cobi, and the walls of China. The Áltaic chain takes its rise northward of the Caspian, and sends its main line in the same direction. Northern Asia lies north of the Altaic mountains, and in a line with Russia; Central Asia lies between the two chains of mountains just named, and in a line with Germany; while Southern

Asia, the seat of all the old Asiatic empires, is, as we have stated, in the same latitude with Asia Minor and the Mediterranean. This grand division by mountains is further subdivided by rivers. In Southern Asia, by the Tigris, the Euphrates, and the Indus; in Central Asia, by the Oxus and Jaxartes; and in Northern Asia, by the Irtish, the Lena, and the Yenesei; the last named,little known to Europeans,-send their flood of waters, without ceasing, into the unexplored solitudes of the Arctic Sea.

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We touch on these peculiarities in the geography of Ancient Asia because they are intimately connected with the general history of that quarter of the globe. Northern Asia, indeed, can hardly be said to have a history. But Central Asia, with its wide table lands, has been the hive of population to the Eastthe territory from which the Mongolians and Tartars, in later time, and the shepherd kings,' in earlier time, have come down like a flood on the corrupt civilization of the south, setting up new empires, to become as corrupt, in their turn, as their predecessors, and to be crushed, in their turn, by new insurgent hordes, from the same pastoral regions. Such, in fact, has been the perpetual round of Asiatic history. Its empires have all commenced in comparative rudeness, have become corrupt as the means of indulgence have multiplied, and have fallen under the shock of ruder and less effeminate assailants. Three stages have seemed to embrace their destiny-from barbarism to corruptness, from corruptness to decay.

But from the regions where human greatness has been at once so gorgeous and so unstable, influences have proceeded of a nature to produce the strongest and the most permanent impression on the condition of humanity. In those regions we find the Lands of the Bible,' and by that fact alone a charm is thrown over Asiatic history, that cannot be said to belong to any other. The volumes before us abound with much that should be inte resting to the scholar and the historian, but with more that will find its way readily to the imagination and the heart of the Christian. Dr. Wilson, compelled by a much impaired state of health to leave, for a while, the scene of his missionary labours in India, has endeavoured to render his voyage and journey to Britain as conducive as possible to the interests of religion and humanity. The result is before us in the present publicationon the claims of which the author himself shall be allowed to speak.

I respectfully claim a place for my work, from certain classes of readers at least, because of the extent of the journey which it narrates, and the objects which it was designed to subserve; because part of the land and ocean over which it is my wish to conduct my reader, has