of water, in which a monoculus can live, and move, and swim. The same wisdom that ordained the revolution of the planets, was requisite to form the butterfly or gnat; for nothing short of infinite skill could have contrived the spiral trunk of the former, to suck up, as with a, syringe, the honey of the full-blown flower, or its elegant colourings, composed by an infinite number of minute variously-painted feathers, artfully arranged; and nothing less could have endowed it with instincts for depositing its eggs on plants, or in situations best adapted to secure the birth, and to furnish with food the embryo caterpillars. Why, then, should we depreciate any part of Nature's works, or cast an opprobrium on the study of any of its branches?" pp. 18, 19.

The proprietors of kitchen gardens might greatly profit from the following extract, on the genus Papilio; and, in general, we can assure the lovers of rural employments, that this portable and pleasing work will supply them with no small portion of truly

useful information.

"Amongst the butterflies, which are distinguished from moths by the antennæ or horns being knobbed at the extremity, and by their flying in the daytime, I know of none that are particularly beneficial; and none, except the common white butterfly, that has ever proved itself injurious. The green caterpillar with black spots, that is so common in kitchen gardens, and often commits great devastation amongst our cabbages, is the larva of the common white butterfly. Lime is sometimes scattered over the cabbages to destroy this noxious insect, but not without doing considerable injury to the plants. The only effectual remedy is to pick them off, by hand, and to destroy the butterflies at their first appearance, before they lay their eggs. The caterpillars are easily detected, and a child will be able in a few days to clear a pretty large garden of them. As poultry are fond of this kind of food, they may be brought, when gathered, into the poultry yard.

The common red butterfly is very numerous, and its larvæ very voracious; fortunately, however, they confine their ravages to a useless, and indeed noxious weed, the common nettle. The black hairy caterpillars, which you see sometimes almost covering the tops of nettles, are the larva of this red butterfly. Butterflies in general delight in sunny banks, shady lanes, and woodsides; some few frequent pastures and meadow land; but, although their caterpillars feed on leaves and herbage, they are seldom observably injurious." Vol. II. pp. 5, 6.

The ninth, tenth, and eleventh Essays are on Botany; and, after giving a very concise view of the Linnæan Classification, they treat, in a manner intitled to warm commendation, of the structure and economy of vegetables, and the application of botanical knowledge to purposes of practical utility. The following passages we select, as a specimen of the popular and useful subjects introduced in this division of the work.

"The last disease of corn, to be mentioned, is the spur. Only wheat and rye, I believe, are subject to it, and the former not frequently. The grain thus diseased puts out a long and hard horn, or spur, at its extremity; and

when

when broken, is found to contain a brownish bitter powder. It is poisonous both to man and cattle: poultry, fed with it, become convulsed and die; and bread, made with corn thus affected, produces giddiness, sometimes convulsions, and mortifications in the extremities. The causes, and of course the cure, of this malady, require investigation, nothing satisfactory being at present known concerning them.' pp. 139, 140.

"Besides the potatoe, there are several other plants whose roots contain a good deal of farina, or meal, and these may all be had recourse to for aliment. The arum, qr cuckow-pint, contains a large proportion; and although acrid in its fresh state, its farina is insipid and perfectly. innocent, when separated by pressure and washing in water. It forms as good starch as wheat or any of the grains, and ought certainly to be used as such in times of scarcity.

Salep is made from the roots of the orchis by drying and powdering them, after having rasped off the outer rind.

In South America grows a shrub called cassava, the root of which affords large quantities of farinaceous aliment. This, like some other farinaceous roots, contains a very acrid poison, which must be separated by expression; the pulp thus pressed and dried over a slow fire, is afterwards kneaded into bread, or boiled up into a wholesome and nutritious pottage. By working the pulp in the hand till a white cream appears on its surface, and then scraping this off into water, the farina is obtained by subsidence in a very fine state, which, when dried and concreted into grains, is well known by the name of tapioca.

The Indian arrow-root is another example of the farinaceous alimentary roots which contain at the same time a poisonous fluid. The root of the maranta arundinacea, scraped and pressed, and the pulp afterwards washed, affords this fine white mealy powder, which, from its containing so large a quantity of nutritious mucilage, is now properly preferred as a light diet for consumptive patients, and for all convalescents.

A plant very common in some parts of this country, known by the name of arrow-head (sagittaria sagittifolia), has a bulbous root, that ought to be more prized by us than it is at present. It contains a good deal of farina, which may easily be extracted, to be used as starch, or as flour. The root itself is good food for cattle. Although totally neglected by us, this same plant is cultivated in China, and supplies whole districts with food.

Sago is the medullary part, or pith, of a certain species of palm-tree which grows in Molucca and the other islands of the East Indies. When macerated in water it is made into cakes, and eaten by the inhabitants as bread. Made into grains in the same way as tapioca is prepared, it is imported into this country, and used as a restorative nutriment by convalescents. For delicate stomachs it should be strained after boiling, and the strained liquor boiled a second time, that the sago may be completely dissolved.' pp. 149-152.

The last Essay is on Mineralogy; it is short, but composed with the same evident ability as the foregoing parts of the work, Dr. S. gives a slight sketch of the Wernerian arrangement, and

sub

subjoins some geological observations, particularly on the conformity of established facts, in this branch of natural science, with the Mosaic history.

We are of opinion that this agreeable and useful performance might be expanded to double the size, with additional credit to the author, and advantage to the reader. Such a work is adapted to be peculiarly useful to young persons, by attracting their attention from the frivolous and pernicious objects which too commonly solicit it, and by forming and fixing a just and useful taste in scientific pursuits.

We have observed a small number of inaccuracies or oversights, but none of any particular importance, except these two be so considered. In p. 16. of vol. I. the worthy author has ascribed the atheistic principles of the ancient Epicureans, to the followers of Des Cartes. At p. 41. vol. II., we read that one species of Scolopendra is the glow-worm.' This is an error: for though the S. Electrica has the property, common to many insects, of exhibiting a phosphorescent appearance in the dark, the common glow-worm of this country, the Lampyris Noctiluca, is a Coleopterous insect.

6

Art. V. EПÈA ПTEPOENTA. Or, The Diversions of Purley. By John Horne Tooke.-concluded from p. 254.

IF our readers feel little disposition to accompany us to the

end of our progress through this desultory performance, we can assure them, that we are prompted to persevere by motives of duty, rather than of inclination. The former part, on its appearance seven years ago, obtained no mean celebrity; and it has since, and, even recently, received very respectable testimonials of approbation. Its high pretensions, its imposing aspect, and its intricate contexture, were adapted to dazzle, if not to illustrate; to confound, if not to convince. The abuse with which the author overwhelmed most of his grammatical precursors, and the contempt which he poured even on the objects at which they aimed, were but too likely to be mistaken, by many readers, for proofs of superior knowledge and genius. The publication of a second volume seemed, therefore, to render it incumbent on us, carefully to review the whole system, in order to appreciate its claims to public estimation. In this attempt we have endeavoured to guard against imbibing the spirit of the author: have passed over the mass of heterogeneous matter with which his volumes are encumbered; and have avoided touching on the political part of it, till its grammatical contents have sustained an unprejudiced investigation.

Having intimated the extent of learning that was requisite

for

for the task which Mr. H. T. has undertaken, adduced proofs of his incompetency to fulfil it, and detected the insuffici ency of those authorities to which alone he refers; we proceeded to a comparison of his plan with his discussion, in order to ascertain the utility of his researches for purposes of grammatical arrangement. We have, accordingly, attended him through his disquisitions on the Noun, the Adjective, and the Participle; most of these being included in that part of his work which has recently been published. In completing our process, we shall have less occasion for enlargement; as all the remaining parts of speech to which the author as yet has adverted, are comprised in his earlier volume. We shall therefore be very sparing of quotations; and shall only extend our criticisms to a few remarks, the extreme deficiency, or erroneous tendency, of which may render animadversion indispensable.

The ARTICLE presents a case immediately in point. This, our author acknowledges to be merely a substitute;' yet he maintains it to be necessary for the communication of our thoughts.' Part, I. p. 60. Former grammarians, indeed, have generally admitted, that the Latin language had no article: but Mr. H. T. informs us (p. 67.) that the Latin terminations, us, a, um, are no other than the Greek Article, os, n, ov. Some of our young readers will probably say, that the Greek Article is not os, n, ov, but o, ", ro: and we can neither deny the fact, nor vindicate the deviation. Elsewhere, however, Mr. H. T. remarks, that in nouns derived from Latin participles, we adopt the whole Latin word, omitting the sequent Latin article; because we use a precedent article of our own. Part II. p. 17. Hence we conjecture, that the author regards the Greek terminations os, n, or, as sequent articles. Yet here another difficulty arises: for many Greek and Latin nouns have other terminations; and if each of these is a sequent article, that part of speech is certainly a more plentiful commodity, than the author has intimated. The Greek definitive article, Mr. H. T. has not deigned o mention; neither has he explained what he means by the article. He bitterly upbraids Mr. Harris for writing unintelligibly on the subject: how unfortunate that our perspicacity in the detection of error is so rarely directed towards ourselves!

Let us not be understood to deny the existence of a sequent article the use of it is not peculiar to the Greek and Latin. The Swedes render the sense of any noun definitive, by attaching to it, as a termination, the same article, which, when detached and precedent, is indefinite. Thus, en konung, is a king; konungen, the king. If Mr. H. T. had known this circumstance, he would probably have adduced it in favour of his sequent article; but except he had better explained his assertion, it would be impossible for us to say what support it might have

derived

derived from this Scandinavian practice. The Greek, the MacsoGothic, and the Anglo-Saxon, had the definitive article, and no other; except whatever distinguishes a singular from a plural noun, is to be called an article. The want of a definitive article in the Latin, was a gross defect: and is likely to remain an unaccountable one, till the ground-work of that language (which we suspect to be neither Gothic nor Greek, but Sclavonic) can be fully ascertained.

All modern Teutonic languages have the definitive article: and all, except our own, use their first cardinal numeral as an indefinitive article. Some of them (the French and Portuguese for instance) have the advantage of being able to use it in the plural, as well as in the singular number. Our word an, signified in the Anglo-Saxon, the number one; but was not used in that language as an article. When it is followed by a word begining with a consonant, the n is dropped, euphonia gratia; as the French sink the n, of their article un, by rendering the vowel nasal, in that position. We apprehend that the use of an indefinite article was introduced into our language by the Norman conquest, notwithstanding a Saxon word was adopted for the purpose: and we would recommend this hint to Mr. H. T. as a clue by which he may probably trace to their real origin, many of the abbreviations, which he has cited from writers of the fourteenth and following centuries, though they are not to be found in the Gothic or the Anglo-Saxon. It may relieve him from the glaring absurdity of asserting, that they were so used in discourse,' at the same time that he does not know them to have been employed by Anglo-Saxon writers. Part I. p. 171. We give him credit, nevertheless, for his frank confession in this solitary instance; and only regret, that he did not acknowledge its general application to his etymologies from that language and the Gothic. No proof has he ever brought forward, that either Goths or Saxons used his abbreviations in the senses which he has assigned to them. The whole depends on his bare assertion, or his having no doubt,' that it was so: but we own ourselves unable to place so strong a confidence in his inferences, or in his testimony, as to be satisfied with either, when unsupported by a single witness among the crowd that might have been summoned on the cause.

The author has strangely coupled the Article and the INTERJECTION in the same chapter: but as he has not undertaken to shew that the latter is either noun or verb, we proceed with him, immediately, to the CONJUNCTION: especially as it affords a fair opportunity of trying the validity of his system, and of estimating the ineans of which he has availed himself for its support. To prove that conjunctions are merely obsolete nouns and verbs, he seems to have exerted, if not to have exhausted,

his