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    POPULAR SCIENCE . Orr " a Circle of the Sciences : Organic Nature , Vols . II . and III . Houlston and Stoneman . One of the rare achievements in Literature is the exposition of a science in terms intelligible to the uninstrneted , without any sacrifice of science . Works written down , to popular ignorance are common enough , and mostl y proceed from writers almost as ignorant as the public they pretend to enlighten ; but works proceeding from the fulness of knowledge , and popular , because knowledge has given mastery , clear , because mastery of the subject enables the writers to escape from technical forms , and translate into the vernacular the language used by the initiated , are necessarily rare , for such knowledge and such expository power are Tare . In the course of our duty we have repeatedly had occasion to examine and report on scientific treatises addressed to

    the public , and we cannot at present recal a single example of such success as Dr . Edward Smith has achieved in the little treatise on Botany , which forms half a volume of the two named at the head of this article . " We heartily recommend it as an admirable introduction to that delightful study . It is simple in arrangement , clear , systematic , sufficiently full , and yet brief . Dr . Smith is a master of the art of exposition . He sets down enough to make the student clearly understand the principles of the science , and he does not overload the memory and confuse the exposition with too many details . He writes an introduction , not an exhaustive treatise . The anatomy and physiology of plants are clearly expounded ; and many suggestive details respecting the commercial uses of plants and their products , follow the exposition of each point . After presenting a concise yet satisfactory exposition of the

    structure and functions of plants , he proceeds to the classification of plants ; and teaches the student how to identify any plant he may meet with . Three hundred and eighty diagrams , many of them , quite new , illustrate the text . We have said enough to put . the reader in possession of what Dr . Smith has attempted , aridrhow he has executed it . We have read every word of his treatise , and . have nothing bnt praise to bestow on his execution . There are , indeed , some points on which we cannot agree with Dr . Smith , but these belong more to general Biology than to Botany . - Thus Dr . Smith , in- his section on the faphides , or needle-crystals found in plants , says , < f Phosphate of lime is found abundantly in the bones of the animal body , but not in the precise form iii which we observe it in r aphides We have no instance of oxalate of lime crystals in the body ; but they are

    not unfrequently met with m the urine of persons both in apparent health and in disease , so that it has been inferred that they have been introduced with the food . " MM . Robin and Verdeil , in their Traits de Chimie Anatcmique , notice oxalate of lime as a constituent principle , and conceive it probable that it is formed in the animal , although its presence as always transitory , except in disease . Elsewaerej speaking of the silicious substances found in plants . Dr . Smith says , " It must be clearly understood that this substance constitutes no part of vegetable structure ;' in this he follows but . the common mistake of supposing that the inorganic substances are not constituent elements of organic

    beings ; but surely a little reflection will suffice to show "that elements which are invariably found in an organism , and without which the organism would not be what it is , must be constituents . The bones of an animal , the skull of an animal , and the silicious coating of a grass , cannot be separated , and leave these organisms perfect . It does not affect the question to say the inorganic substances are merely deposited in the organism , and not themselves assuming any form of organisation . There they are , and are constituents , which we may compare to the deposition of mi transformed vegetable substance in . the animal body , forming an integral part of its tissue , shown to be probable in these columns three weeks ago , apropos of the Leaf-insect and caterpillar ? , „

    A great reformation is needed in Biology . The old ideas have been displaced by the discoveries every year widening our conceptions ; and a new systeinatization of principles becomes necessary . Dr . Smith , for example , following the qhlidea , argues that "if analogies are truly founded upon function and not upon structure , we must admit , &c . "—If , indeed ! But to found analogies upon function would be to make havoc with all philosophy . On such a plan we might declare that the little masses of animated jelly which move by putting forth prolongations of their own substance , and retracting them again into the general mass ( the rhizopoda ) have leys , no less than the mammaiUa have ; we must declare that the infusoria have stomachs , and the polypus arms . The analogies in these cases are simply analogies of function , but they are < mite incompetent to such determinations , as the one employed by Dr . Smith in this passage : — " It ia the fashion , to state that endogens-have no bark , since none is separable from the wood , and that the cuticle is simply the hardened exposed cells of the stem , with the ends of bundles of woody

    fibre intermixed . If analogies arc truly founded upon function , and not upon structure , we must admit that there is a cuticle ov external protective covering to « ndogcnous stems , " , Observe , the question is , Have endogenous trees any bark ? By bark a specific structure is meant ; and to prove that the structure is present , Botanists argue that tlic function is present ; which is like saying that the rhizopqda must have leys because they have the means of progression . It ia this error of concluding the existence of an organ from the presence of a function , which lms made comparative anatomists declare that those animals , in whom no nervous system enn be detected , nevertheless , have the nervous matter in what ( hey gratuitously called a " diffused stito . " No ! analogies of function are analogies of function simply , analogies of structure are analogies of structure . If the reader should ask , how it ia that inasmuch as function implies organ , tUc analogy ol function may not be used to determine the existence of an organ ? the answer is , that biologists arc very loose and inaccurate in their employment of the

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    his exquisite powers of expression . " We thank him for this , and we also thank him heartily for sustaining the cause of direct thoug ht and honest serae * against the modern German school of philosophy with its " subjective , and ¦ " objective / ' its weary fulness of words , and its utter emptiness of meaning . To give , however , anything like a satisfactory account , in detail , of the various subjects treated of in this volume , is impossible -within the limits of a single notice . We beg our readers to go at once to the book . Not one of them but will get good from it—not one of them but will rise from it with the highest opinion of the abilities of the man who has written it , even in the passages where he may most shock their prejudices and ways of thought . We have referred already to the wealth of noble ideas scattered throughout these pages , and to the rare beauty , power , and eloquence of the language in

    relation to a passage in which he classifies painters ( Chapter III . Section V ) on a principle , as it seems to us , of the most lamentably mistaken sort . But after reading these last glorious sentences over again , we cannot find it in our hearts to dispute with the man who wrote them . " We began this brief and imperfect notice in a friendly rather than a critical spirit—so let us end it . Mr . Ruskin has helped us to find a new joy in all our field-walks for the future . Let others part disputatiously with him , we will part admiringly and gratefully .

    -which they are clothed . Here is a specimen passage , on true greatness in the painter , which ought to be read and remembered everywhere : — We cannot say that si' painter is great because he paints boldly , or paints delicately ; because he generalises or particularises ; because he loves detail , or because he disdains it . He is great if , by any of these means , he has laid open noble truths , or aroused noble emotions . It does not matter whether" he paint the petal of a rose , or the oliasms of a precipice , so that Love and Admiration attend him as he labours , and wait for ever upon , his work . It do « s not matter whether he- toil for months upon a fewfinches of his canvas , or cover a palace front with colour in a day , so only fchat it be with a solemn purpose that he has filled his heart with patience , or urged his band to haste . And it does not matter whether he seek for Jus subjects among peasants or nobles , among- the heroic or the s i mple , in counts or in fields , so only that he behold all things with a thirst

    for ; beauty , and a hatred of meanness and vice . There are , indeed , certain methods of representation which are usually adopted by the most active minds , and certain characters of subject usually deBghted in by tiie noblest hearts ; but it&qi ^ ppssi ^^^ manner of painting without sharing the activity of mind ; , and to imitate the choice of . subject without possessing the n ] ii ) U ^ ty of Bpint i '^ biile , on the other hand , it is altogether impossible to foretell on-yyliat strange objects the strength of a great man will sometimes be concentrated , or "by what s-trange means he ^ wilL sometimes express himself . So that ¦ truearitieism of art ^ neyer can consist ia . the' mere application of rules ; it can Jje just only : when it is founded , on quick sympathy -with the innumerable instincts ^ and changeful efforts of human nature , chastened and guided by ' ^ phiaaging love of all things that God has created to be beautiful , and pronpui ^ ced t » be goodi :

    j Hfere is andtherpar ^ graphj admirable for its far-sighted truth , on the interesting and difficult subject of the instinct for colour among savage JMrfions-: * - — . , ; ¦ ' ¦ ;¦ : ¦ : . - ¦ : ¦; . , : " ¦ . -. .. ' - .. ¦¦ ¦ ¦ ' . '¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ And this is the reason for the somewitat singular , but v « ty palpable truth , that th ^ Chinese , and Indians , and other semi-civilised nations ., can coleur better than we do ; and that an Hhdiari slia ^ l and China vase are still , ; rn invention of colour , ininiitaoleby us . It is their 'gloricras ignorance of all lules ^ that does it ; the pare and true instilacfcs have play , and do their , work—instincts so subtle , that thteleasb Tvarping oi > compi-easion breaks or Hunts them ; arid the moment we begin teaeaingpeop ) l e any rules about colour , and make tlem do this or thatwe

    , crushtthe instinct generally for ever . Hence , hitherto , it has been an actual necessity ; , in ord ^ rio obtain power of colouring , that a nation should be half-JBavage { everybody could colour in the twelfth arid thirteenth cerjturies ; but we y ?« re riiled and legalised into grey' in the fifteenth—only a little salt simplicity of ; their sea natures at Venice still keeping their precious , shell-fishy purpleness and ' -power ; and nowthatisgotie ; and nobody can colour anywb ere , except the Hindoos ahd Chinese : but that need not be , and will not "be Oolong ; for in AUttle while , people -willfind out their mistake , and give up talking about rules of colour ; and then everybody will colour again , aa easily aa they now-talkj i ¦ ¦ - ¦ ¦• • ¦ . -.. ' ¦ ' ¦¦ ¦ - ¦ .

    K- ^* tc ? ™ ltla » let us give a passage on " Grass , " which for purity and ^ aii ^ of thought language been surpassed by no writer—equalled but by very few , living or dead , in England , or out of it : ¦—Consider what we owe merely to the meadow grass , ta the covering of the dark ground by that glorious enamel , by the companies of those soft , and countless aud peaceful spears . The fields I Follow but forth for a little time the thoughts of all that we ought to recognise in those words . All spring and summer is in them , —tie walks hy silent , scented paths , —the rests in noonday heat , —the ioy ° f ,. 1 * r s aTid flo ^ s ^ the powe r of alt shepherd life and , meditation , —the life of sunMt ^ upbuLtlib '^ rld , falling in emerald streaks , and falling ' in soft bl «« vfB ^ mm it Have struck the dark

    mnao 3 < mre ^ mm upon mould , or scorchiuc duet ^ pastures b ^ ide-itae i pacing brooks , —soft banks and knolls of lowly hills -rrwmy slopes of « down Werlooked by . the blue line of lifted sea . —crisp lawns oUldun ^ wi th earl y dewy oi > smooth > in evenin g ( warmth of barred sunshine dinted ^ y . iWPP'y . feet , anHlsofteningfin their fell thesound of loving voicos : all these are 8 ?^» Md W thps ^ e simple . A jrords ; and these are nqt all . We may not measure to 1 ? yjH VPi dePth ( ° 1 ** V heavenly giftin our own land ; though still , m wo think " jWff !* * * infinite of * that meadow sweetness , Shakspero ' s peouliar iov ¦ wtfufcWopen on iis more and more , yet we have it but in part . Go out ^ J jxV * Pj" ?!? I ? ® ' among the meadows that slope from the ahores of ^ Swiss laltes'io the itoots of their lower mountaias . Theae , minprled with the tall « r getttiana and the ' white narcissus , the grass m-owa deoo and fi-oe : a » r ! ™

    you * oiiow the winding mountain paths , beneath arching boughs all veiled and dim"Wjth blossom , —paths' that for ever droop and rise over the green banks : and mounds ^ weeping down , in ^ scented undulation , ateep to the blue water , studded hereand . there ^ fcll new -mown he « . pe , fiUingall the air with fainter sweetness — *^ > jW ; i * OLWwde thejiiglior hills , where the waves of evoiiiisting Rreen roll ftW 3 * v into . th ^ iK long inlota among the shadows of the nines ; and % -0 may ^ , WPa ) atlast know , the xneaning of those quiet words of the 147 th Psalm " He m ^ T gr £ ^ 0 t ftnd 1 S on ] y tho biiglxtor aud gayor for tho hoat-Wehad ap ^ lit ^ . two on which to dispute with Mr . Rusldn-especially in

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    184 T H E LEAD E R . LNo , 30 g , Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 23, 1856, page 184, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2129/page/16/