BOTANY. No. I. INTRODUCTION. Is the 12th verse of the first chapter of Genesis, the Hebrew original informs us that the earth brought forth the sprouting herbage of each plant, seeding seed after its kind, which the Septuagint renders by saying that the earth produced the herbage of a plant, sowing seed after its genus and after its affinity. To divide plants into genera by fixing upon some characteristic mark of distinction, and to collect these genera in groups or orders according to their affinity, or, in plainer terms, their points of mutual resemblance, are the principal objects and business of a systematic botanist. The characteristic marks in question must be sought for in the seed, or in those parts which immediately minister to its production. These parts, taken together, are known under the general denomination of a flower, but in various instances, as in the case of mosses, lichens, sea-weed, &c., though they are subservient to the defence and preservation of the seed, yet they have not the most distant similitude in appearance to the divisions of a blossom. It is an established maxim of botany, invariably followed by those who have and are contributing to enlarge the boundaries of this science, that the tokens of discrimination are to be looked for among the organs which provide a lodgement and decoration for the seed, whether they be accessible to the unassisted eye, or whether the aid of a magnifier is necessary for their investigation. stance in the structure of its flower or fruit, which leads us to look for it in some corner or division of a natural order, and the description of it is presently found. The science may appear intricate and abstruse at first, but the pains taken at the beginning, have the twofold advantage of saving us from disappointed toil afterwards, and of giving quickness to the eye by directing the judgment. Those are not to be listened to who would check the career of improvement, either by displaying the difficulties of new systems, or by antiquated encomiums upon those that are old. In the Weekly Visitor we propose briefly to state the leading characters of an order or family of plants; to describe the principal genera, or members, of that family; and to endeavour, with all the variety of illustration our limits will permit, to give the student a perspicuous idea of an order. The objects of study shall be such as are generally within reach, and will either be familiar to the reader, or be pointed out to him by such characters that he cannot fail to recognise them. He must not expect entertainment in the bare reading of technical characters, he must seek for that in examining recent specimens. It will be our business to point out the road to a genuine acquaintance with the organization, the peculiarities of form, and the connecting links of resemblance which obtain among vegetables; and by explaining each term just before we use it, to save the reader the uninteresting toil of an elementary course of preparation. To say, While the student of vegetable nature All the wisdom which created beings continued to look for primary notes of possess, apart from that which is made distinction between one plant and another known to them by express revelation from in the stem or leaves, the history of plants God, is derived from a contemplation of was merely a collection of unconnected the works of the Almighty Creator. The statements. But when botanists began to rudiments and first beginnings of the vastudy them in reference to their fructifica- rious arts which contribute to the sustention, or mode of bearing seed or fruit, ance and adornment of life, had no other what had once been little more than a dis-original than those lessons which men jointed narration of facts, soon assumed those symptoms of connexion and regularity which belong to a science. There was not merely knowledge of things, but the method of acquiring fresh knowledge, and of delivering it to others. Before the invention of any system, when we had found a plant, with the name and properties of which we wished to be made acquainted, we might open a portly folio, with the happy peradventure, that we might be obliged to read the volume quite through, before we met with a description of the plant which we held in our hand. But now, after examining a plant, we soon discover some circum learn from the observations of the laws and too inconsiderable for God, amidst the infinitude of his works, to feel a special interest in our welfare; that he is too highly exalted to take pleasure in our love and duty, or to be offended at our disobedience. But Wisdom, addressing us from her seat amidst the objects of vegetable nature, tells us how unlike to the image which unbelief draws of the Deity, is that portraiture set before us in every little plant that enlivens the solitary and waste places of the earth. Each one of them bears its individual and appropriate testimony to the infinite length and breadth of that kind and gracious care which is extended over all the works of God. Provision is not only made for its growth, and the increase of its kind, but a certain measure and allotment of beauty is bestowed upon it, not detected perhaps by the common observer, but recognised and understood by the experienced eye of a botanist. In this study, as well as in all the Divine dispensations, "The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein." Psa. cxi. 2. Botany we shall define to be that science which directs the intellectual faculties to discern, to account for, and to appreciate, that order, symmetry, and grace, which our beneficent Creator has displayed in his vegetable kingdom of nature. When our minds are rightly affected, the pursuits and researches to which this science prompts, have a tendency to produce the reflection, that if God hath not considered it beneath the dignity of his character to impress such things as little flowers, and what some call" dull incurious weeds," with marks of wisdom, goodness, and care, it cannot be inconsistent with the exalted nature of his attributes, to make the interests and concerns of man the matters of his cognizance, the subjects of his most intimate and gracious regard. REST NOT IN HEARING ONLY. L. lesson out of God's word; they may hear ministers set forth the character of God as revealed in scripture: they may go farther; they may gain a correct theoretic knowledge of the only plan of salvation, so as to be able to talk of it fluently, and to argue for it vehemently; and yet, they may never have felt the power of the divine word, been humbled by it in heart, and been brought to repent truly before God. Religion may be with them the business of the ear which hears, and of the tongue which talks,not yet of the heart which feels, and of the soul which falls prostrate in selfabasement before the God who gave it. My brethren, examine your own selves. Let each think, Has all my religion and knowledge of God been but the hearing of the ear? Have I, like the Samaritans, been worshipping I know not what? like the Athenians, been building an altar to the unknown God? Have I talked of repentance, yet never repented? of faith, yet never believed? of good works, yet never performed one work from the only motives which God approves as good? If so, surely something, yea, much more is still needful to my soul.-Hambleton. SIMPLICITY. ALL the works of God are admirable, whether we consider them in reference to the wisdom of their contrivance, or the beneficence displayed in their ends. But notwithstanding the wisdom and benignity which meets us, and excites our wonder at every step we advance in the kingdoms of nature or of grace, there is nothing more remarkable than the simplicity of the means by which God is pleased to accomplish his purposes. Examples of the simplicity of wisdom are ever at hand. The exhalations and clouds, which water and refresh the earth, rise and descend through the agency of heat alone. All the winds, from the gentle zephyr that plays upon the water at eventide, to the hurricane that uproots the sturdiest trees, and sweeps away the laboured monuments of man, are produced by one and the same cause, heat. Even that singular phenomenon, the water-spout, may be ascribed in some measure, if not altogether, to some modi In many ways, in public and in private, you may have heard much of God by the hearing of the ear. Grievously as God is forgotten in the world, much as many called christians are ashamed of Jesus Christ, especially of his cross and of all the peculiar doctrines of his gos-fication in the agency of heat; for it is pel, yet I am not obliged to suppose, that worldly-minded persons never hear any thing of God by the hearing of the On the contrary, they may hear much. They may hear lesson after ear. sometimes attended with an extraordinary depression of temperature, as the writer once experienced in the southern Pacific. To turn our eyes from the sublimer objects of nature to those that seem less assuming, we see the honey-suckle twining | problem, to find what should be the nature round the neighbouring shrubs, simply through the action of heat upon the sides exposed to its influence, just as a sheet of paper bends when held to the fire. As one of the most familiar instances of simplicity of contrivance, we might cite the aspen. Had it been proposed as a of a leaf that would quiver in the lightest possible agitation of the air, it could not have been more clearly solved than by the mere inspection of the leaf and its leaf-stalk. If the aspen leaf A were held up in the hand so that its edges pointed north and south, the edges of the stalk would point east and west; but in B, the leaf of the elm, both the leaf and the stalk would point in the same direction; or, as commonly explained, the plane or level of the leaf is exactly perpendicular to the plane of the footstalk. These instances, with a countless multitude of others which might be drawn from all quarters of creation, suggest to us the wisdom and propriety of making simplicity the reigning principle of our lives. Our plans should be simple; the means selected for carrying them into execution simple; the whole bent and tenour of our conduct in prosecuting them simple. The student in literature or science will find that his proficiency is comprehensive and well founded, in proportion to the simplicity of the methods pursued. The christian whose heart is longing for a solution of some difficulties, or a right apprehension of things hard to be understood, will find them in patient and simple study of the word of God: and the man who desires to be saved from the punishment of hell, and inherit the kingdom of heaven, must cast away the complexities of all other systems, and rely alone on the simplicity which there is in Christ. Happy the hearts that "in simplicity and godly sincerity, by the grace of God, have their conversation in the world." 2 Cor. i. 12. INSECTS.-No. XXX. (Remarkable Showers.) It is remarkable that when insects pass from the pupa state and become perfect, they always discharge some substance. In the case of several moths, it is whitish, or of an orange colour; while in that of many butterflies, where their numbers have been considerable, the appearance of a shower of blood has been produced; and by this fact, those bloody showers, recorded by historians as preternatural, and considered where they happened as fearful prognostics of impending evils, are stripped of their terrors, and reduced to the class of events which happen in the common course of nature. That insects are the cause of these showers is, indeed, no recent discovery; for it is stated by Sleidan, that in the year 1553, a vast multitude of butterflies swarmed through a great part of Germany, and sprinkled plants, leaves, buildings, clothes, and men, with bloody drops, as if it had rained blood. But the most interesting account of an event of this kind is given by Reaumur, from whom we learn, that in the beginning of July, 1608, the suburbs of Aix, and a considerable extent of country round it, were covered with what appeared to be a shower of blood. We may conceive the amazement of the populace at such a discovery, the alarm of the citizens, and the grave reasonings of the learned. All agreed, however, in attributing this appearance to the powers of darkness, and in regarding it as the precursor of some tremendous calamity. On this occasion, fear and prejudice would have taken deep root, and they might have produced fatal effects on some weak minds, had not M. Peirese, a celebrated philosopher of that place, paid attention to insects. A chrysalis, preserved in his cabinet, explained to him the cause of this mysterious shower; for, hearing a fluttering, which apprized him that the creature had arrived at its perfect state, he opened the box in which it was kept, when the insect flew out, leaving behind it a red spot; and on comparing it with the spots of the bloody shower, he found they were alike. At the same time he observed there was a prodigious quantity of butterflies flying about, and the drops of the miraculous rain, as it was supposed, were not to be found on the tiles, nor even on the upper surface of the stones, but chiefly in cavities, and places where rain could not easily come. Thus did this enlightened and judicious observer dispel the ignorant fears and terrors which had been caused by a natural phe nomenon. It may be well to show that a similar effect has been produced in other cases. A gardener was once thrown into great consternation by digging up what he conceived to be the effect of witchcraft, portending some terrible misfortune. By the advice of the parish priest, he even took a journey from Rouen to Paris, to show what he had found to his master; but he, happily, was wiser than his man, and proceeded with him to an eminent naturalist. He pronounced the objects which had excited so much alarm, the curious cases of the leaf-cutter bees; and while the gardener stood aghast at his temerity, pointed out the grubs they contained, and thus sent him back with a light heart, relieved from his ignorant apprehensions. These need not, however, excite our wonder, when it has been gravely affirmed that every oakgall contains either a fly, a spider, or a worm, and that the first foretells war, the second pestilence, and the third famine! In Sweden, the peasants consider the grub of the cockchafer as furnishing an unfailing prognostic, whether the ensuing winter will be mild or severe. If the animal have a bluish hue, they affirm it will be mild; but, on the contrary, if it be white, the weather will be severe; and so far do they carry this as to foretell, that if the anterior part be white, and the posterior blue, the cold will be most severe at the beginning of the winter. A little knowledge would show them, that this circumstance of the creature having a bluish hue, arises from its being replete with food. Every one has heard of what is called "the death-watch," and of the superstitious notion, that in whatever house its drum is heard, one of the family will die before the end of the year. These terrors, in particular instances, where they lay hold of weak minds, especially of sick or hypochondriac persons, may actually | cause the event which is supposed to be prognosticated. And yet how easily might they be told that their fears were vain, and that this heart-sickening tick is caused by a small beetle which lives in timber, and is merely a call to its companion! In closing this paper on the red showers produced by insects, we are reminded of the crimson snow of the Alpine and Arctic regions, which has recently excited so much inquiry. Some have thought it of vegetable origin, and others, that it stands as a distinct genus on the very limits of the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Baron Wrangel mentions that a substance grow ing on limestone rocks was easily detached when placed under water, and that in three days it was converted into animated globules, like infusory animalcules, which swarm about, and were preyed upon by other infusoria. It is, however, conjectured by the Rev. W. Scoresby, that the red colour of the snow may be traced to the same cause as the orange-coloured ice of the polar seas, which arises from innumerable minute animals, similar to the Berve globulosa of Lamarck. It is about the size of a pin's head, transparent, and marked with twelve brownish patches of dots. In olive-green sea-water, he estimated 110,592 of these in a cubic foot. A singular analogy to the case first stated is mentioned by Mr. Thomas Nicholson, who, with two other gentlemen, made an excursion, in 1821, to Sowallick Point, near Bushman's Island, in Prince Regent's Bay. "The summit of the hill," he says, " forming the point, is covered with huge masses of granite, whilst the side, which forms a gentle declivity towards the bay, was covered with crimson snow. It was evident, at first view, that this colour was imparted to the snow by a substance lying on the surface. This substance lay scattered here and there in small masses, bearing some resemblance to powdered cochineal, surrounded by a lighter shade, which was produced by the colouring matter being partly dissolved and diffused by the melting snow. During this examination, our hats and upper garments were observed to be daubed with a substance of a similar red colour, and a moment's reflection convinced us that this was discharged by the little insects, myriads o. which were continually flying over our heads, having their nests among the loose masses of granite." To these insects Mr. Nicholson therefore attributes the red snow; but though he accounts for the phenomenon in the place There is one conclusion, which has often been forced upon us, namely, that under similar circumstances, experience will teach the same lesson, whether the pupil be a Roman or a Sandwich islander. It imports little, therefore, as matter of history, whether our ancestors fell upon this mode of facilitating the casting up of accounts, or whether they owe it to the Romans. Every thing has two sides: the weary traveller, in quest of a lodging, might fairly greet the appearance of this little token of invitation; but the man, who could find a welcome at home, would interpret it as saying, that nothing is there to be disposed of, not even the common courtesy of a smile, but for the consideration of money. EAGLES IN VAN DIEMAN'S LAND. Society of Friends, who has been several JAMES BACKHOUSE, a minister of the years on a visit to Van Dieman's Land, gives the following account of the ferocity of the eagle : We have often inquired, in times past, the reason and meaning of the little partycoloured squares upon the door-posts of "mine hostess," but were never indulged with an explanation. It has happened to this practice as to many other traditions, men adopt them as a part of the patrimony which their forefathers have left them, without ever knowing why, or caring wherefore. The reader will easily apprehend its intent, however, when we say that it is the representation or picture of a board which was used by retail dealers, in early times, for the convenience of reckoning up their monies at night. We will suppose, for the sake of exemplification, that upon a red square, guineas were placed; upon an orange one, half-guineas; upon a yellow one, crowns; and so onward in a descending formed us that she had witnessed the fero"A lady, on a visit at New Norfolk, inseries, through the seven prismatic colours of the rainbow; it is easy to see that the city of the Van Dieman's Land eagle; she business of counting would be rendered for some distance, and obliged to run to was one day chased by one of these birds more easy and less liable to mistake by this her house for shelter from it. A similar contrivance. There seems to be no mystery involved in the matter, but what is occurrence happened to a lady on Macunfolded in this short illustration. After quarrie plains. A couple of them have the lapse of a little time, the chequered of Richard Barker told us, that one day been known to attack a horse. The wife board became the emblem of calculation; she observed a horse galloping backwards as we see, for instance, in the cloth upon and forwards, whilst two eagles were chasthe large table in the Court of the Ex-ing it; one driving it in one direction, and chequer, which takes cognizance of all the other in another: at length the horse matters relating to the revenue. The cloth seems to indicate that the questions argued head; she immediately called some of the fell, and one of them pounced upon its there are chiefly concerned in the reckonings of money. It was afterwards used men, who drove off the ravenous birds; as a sign of an inn, or hostlery, where the poor beast soon regained its feet, and victuals were sold, or strangers lodged and entertained; where, in plainness, goods and accommodation were exchanged for money. To this day we apply the term "counter" to a bench or table, whereon goods are served, and money taken and counted, which formerly denoted little square pieces of wood, or stones, employed to assist the memory in calculation, and corresponded to what the clown, in "Winter's Tale," calls his counters. We were reminded of this subject by observing that a writer, in describing the objects of Pompeii, has added a note of admiration to the recital of the fact, that chequers were painted upon the door-posts of what is believed to be an inn, and still remain for the instruction of the curious. was thus delivered from destruction." A COURTIER ON SERIOUSNESS. WHILE We laugh, my friends, all things are serious around us. God is serious, who exercises such patience towards us; Christ is serious, who shed his blood for us; the Holy Ghost is serious, who strives against the obstinacy of our hearts. The scriptures are serious in all they say. All that are in heaven and hell are serious. May man then trifle, whose doom is settling every moment?-Sir Francis Walsingham. Price d. each, or in Monthly Parts, containing Five JOHN DAVIS, 56, Paternoster Row, London. Numbers in a Cover, 3d. W. TYLER, Printer. 4, Ivy Lane, St. Paul's. |