world when Man propagated his species by hermaphrodite genetion? This was the idea of Plato, and Dr. Darwin shrinks not from the inference. (See Note to Temple of Nature, cant. 2,1. 120. Addit. Notes on Spontan. Vital. on the reproduction: see also Zoon. vol. I. sect. xxxix. 4. 8.) But according to this theory, we must not stop here: reproduction by hermaphrodite sexuality is the third chain of the link: ages and ages must have rolled away before he had arrived at this stage of perfection. For the juvenility of the world, therefore, we must go back to its infancy, and from its infancy to its very birth: did Man, then, once propagate his species by solitary reproduction, by mutilation, by division, by offsets? and was his origin the spontaneous production of crganic particles, uniting with each other in consequence of certain inherent and essential appetencies and propensities? Is Dr. Darwin prepared to allow this inference too? He shall speak for himself: "But it may appear too bold, in the present state of our knowledge on this subject, [reproduction] to suppose that all vegetables and animals now existing were originally derived from the smallest microscopic ones formed by spontaneous vitality; and that they have by innumerable reproductions during innumerable centuries of time, gradually acquired the size, strength and excellence of form and faculties, which they now possess; and that such amazing powers were originally impressed on matter and spirit by the Great Parent of Parents! Cause of Causes! Ens Entium!"

One question only remains to be asked, and to that the answer has this moment been given: how came these organic particles endued with such wondrous appetencies and propensities? "Such amazing powers were originally impressed on matter and spirit by the Great Parent of Parents! Cause of Causes! Ens Entium!"

BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF THE LATE DR. DARWIN.

Continued from page 388.

In the biographical sketch of a man, the incidents of whose private life are intrinsically unimportant, and acquire an interest only from the literary lustre which adorns his character, it may not be irrelevant to risk a few remarks on the nature of those claims from which his ce lebrity is derived.

There are three points of view in which the literary character of Dr. Darwin most obviously presents itself:....First, As a Medical Philosopher.... Secondly, as a Philosophical Agricultor....And thirdly, As a Poet.

I. The pretensions of Dr. Darwin to high rank as a MEDICAL PHILOSOPHER will, of course, bottom themselves in the merits, numerous and solid as they are, of the great work which he gave to the world in the year 1794. In whichever point of view the ZOONOMIA shall be considered, whether as a mere repository of curious natural and medical facts, or as a scheme and system of pathological and physiological disquisition, is probably matter of trifling import, so far as the reputation of its author is concerned. By either mode of appretiation it is, unquestionably, a noble effort of human labour or of human wit.

In a work, indeed, so varied, so complicated, so extensive, it is an easy task, and requiring no extraordinary powers of perception, to discover many lapses in the design and execution; but when we call to mindthe vastness of the whole fabric, the bold originality of the plan upon which it is constructed, the curious nature and beautiful arrangement of the materials which compose it, the elegance of all its ornamental, and the solidity of very many of its useful parts, we cannot hesitate to assign to its contriver the merit of uncommon taste, unconimon perse. verence, and uncommon skill.

To justify the panegyric which we have now ventured to pronounce, it may seem reasonable to expect that we should present to our readers an analysis of the system invented by Dr. Darwin, in order" to reduce the facts belonging to ANIMAL LIFE into classes, orders, genera, and species; and, by comparing them with each other, to unravel the theory of diseases." Such, however, is the extent of, and so diversified are the topics embraced by, his plan, that barely to enumerate the respective titles of the several sections into which it is broken, would be greatly to exceed the comparatively scanty limits within which, by the nature of our arrrangement, we are of necessity confined. To the work itself we must and do appeal for our justification, confident, that although its illustrious author may have sometimes erred from excess of ingenuity, that however he may have been occasionally blinded by too great a love of system, the ZOONOMIA will ever be considered as a production of transcendant merit.

Thy work is done! Nor Folly's active rage,

Nor Envy's self, shall blot the golden page;

Time shall admire....his mellowing

touch employ, And mend the immortal tablet, not destroy.

II. As a PHILOSOPHICAL AGRICULTOR Dr. Darwin must ever be entitled to the highest consideration in order to profit by the multitudinous experiments of Hales, Grew, Malpighi, Bonnet, Du Hamel, Buffon, Spallanzani, Priestly, &c. collected in the Phytologia, it is not necessary to take possession of the air built theory of vegetation which is there constructed, and securely inhabit it as an edifice whose solidity is equal to its elegance. Whether the analogy is in fact so close between the parts and functions of animal and vegetable beings;....whether the anatomy of

the one so strictly corresponds with that of the other, as to induce a belief that the latter are in reality an inferior order of the former, possessed of a brain, uterus, muscles, and complete nervous system, is an inquiry, which, however curious, must surely be subordinate, otherwise than as it may possibly lead to a more successful culture of those vegetable products which immediately or remotely are essential to the subsistence of man. And this does not always appear to be the case:....whether the ascent of sap is owing to capillary attraction, facilitated by an expansion of the gaseous fluids, or to certain irritative motions of the absorbents.... whether the spiral vessels of a vine are,in fact, the bronchia of Malpighi and Grew, or the nurture bearing absorbents of Darwin....whether the motions of the Dionæa Muscipula, the Mimosa, the Hedysarum gyrans, &c. are the exercise of a muscular power, or the effect of some external excitement acting onan irritable organ....whether as the leaves of vegetables are supposed to serve them as lungs, so the corol or petals of a flower are to be considered as a pulmonary organ belonging to the "amatorial parts," the anthers, and the stigmas....and whether the leaves of both are furnished with a venous and arterial apparatus, the one distribtued over the upper surface, exposing its contents under a thin moist pellicle to the action of the light and air; the other receiving them thus oxygenated, and conducting them on the under surface to the leaf-bud in the one case, and to the anthers and stigmas in the other....these, and many other similar questions, however curious in themselves, and whatever physiological skill and delicate analogies may be displayed in the investigation of them, must, as before observed, be ever considered as subordinate in comparison with those grand and indisputable discoveries which the application of chemistry to agriculture has brought to light.

Comparatively speaking, therefore, a small portion only of the Phytologia is devoted to that fanciful system of vegetable physiology, in the illustration of which Dr. Darwin has displayed such a wantonness of conjecture, and apparently such a waste of ingenuity.

The second part of the Phytologia treats on the economy of vegetation: the first section is a very elaborate and interesting one on the growth of seeds, buds, and bulbs; in which a curious analogy, interspersed with much useful matter, is instituted between animal and vegetatable propagation. A very important chapter succeeds on " Manures:" this subject had already been treated by Mr. Kirwin, and the Earl of Dundonald, in a very masterly manner, but was not exhausted. The question which Dr. Darwin first asks himself is.... What is the food of vegetables? The embryon plant in the seed or fruit is surrounded with saccharine, mucilaginous, and oily materials, like the animal fœtus in the egg or uterus, which it absorbs and converts into nutriment; the embryon buds in deciduous trees are supplied with a saccharine, mucilaginous juice by the roots or sap-wood of their parent trees. Adult plants, having no stomach enabling them to decompose by a chemical process either animal or vegetable substances, must wait for the decomposition which is continually going on in those soils and climates, and those seasons of the year which are most friendly to vegetation. For the purpose of supplying adult vegetables with a larger portion of nourishment than they could obtain without our assistance, the philosophical agricultor first considers what kinds of matter are most prevaleht, or most necesssary in their composition: secondly, what of these substances they can absorb without previous decomposition: and lastly, how to expedite that process when it becomes necessary. A valuable section succeeds on draining and watering lands: here

some useful hints are thrown out for detecting the situation of springs, and for conveying away the water from those plains and morasses where there is no obvious channel for its escape: the benefits of flooding land are enlarged on; some necessary cautions introduced respecting the process, and suggestions made for the extension of the practice, not only by taking advantage of the natural falls of brooks and springs, and by occasionally damming them up to supply higher situations, but by the use of various machinery.

A section on the aeration and pulverization of the soil succeds, in which the uses of fallowing are phis losophically estimated, and the management of the wheat-crop enlarged on. The transplantation of wheat is here recommended in a very unqualified manner; we have ourselves tried it, on a scale of between four and five acres, with complete success.

The succeding section treats on Light, Heat, and Electricity: under the last of these three heads one cannot but smile at the " profitable application of electricity" which is intimated to the gardener or the agricultor: as the oxygen or hydrogen gasses may exist in the summer atmosphere in a state of mixture, but not of combination, and as the electric spark or flash of lightning may combine them and produce water instantaneously, “it is probable that in dry seasons the erection of numerous metallic points on the surface of the ground, but a few feet high, might in the night time, contribute to precipitate the dew by facilitating the passage of electricity from the air into the earth; and that an erection of such points higher in the air, by means of wires wrapped round tall rods, like angle rods, or elevated on buildings, might frequently precipitate showers from the higher parts of the atmosphere." An interesting and valuable section on the diseases of plants, concludes the second part: these diseases are divided into

those which appear to originate from internal causes, those from the external elements, and those from the nidification or depredations of insects: to which is added, the destruction by vermin. Under the third head is given a very curious account of the aphis, together with various methods for destroying it; and the ingenious one is suggested of propagating its greatest enemy, the larva of the aphidivorous fly, and thus devouring one insect by the means of another.

The third part of the Phytologia, on agriculture and horticulture, is divided into six sections: the first treats on the production of fruits; in which the four methods are enlarged on of procuring fruit trees for the purposes of horticulture by seeds, by root-suckers, by planted scions, and ingrafted scions: the author next proceeds to shew how a tree may be necessitated to increase the number of flower buds, in preference to its leaf-buds. The means of perfecting, enlarging, and preserving fruit are then severally insisted on. The important subject of the production of seeds occupies the next section; in which rules are laid down for producing them early, and in great quantity....for ripening them....for generating the best kinds....for collecting good seeds and determining their good ness....for the preservation of seeds, and for sowing them advantageously. The two next sections treat one on the production of roots and barks, and the other on the production of leaves and wood: and the last contains a plan for disposing part of the vegetable system of Linnæus into more natural classes and orders. The plan here suggested, of adopting the situations, proportions or forms, with or without the numbers of the sexual organs, as criterions of the order and classes, is well worthy the attention of botanists. While the number of stamina and pistilla are subject to variation, both from luxuriant and deficient growth, implicit confidence cannot be placed on that

alone, as indicative either of an order or class. As the proportions and figures and purposes of the stamina and pistilla are immutable, Dr. Darwin imagines they would form a preferable standard, both for classical and ordinal arrangment.

But it is time that we should consider Dr. Darwin in his third character, namely as a POET. Dr. Darwin lately said to a friend, that in his poetical works his great aim was to present an object to meet the eye, and that he was not anxious to touch the heart. A more severe criticism could scarcely have been pronounced; there is, notwithstanding, a justness in the remark, which is not to be disputed, and we are happy that himself has relieved us from the pain of making it. It must be observed, however, in mitigation of the censure, that a Didactic Poem, and as such we must consider the "Botanic Garden," is rather addressed to the understanding than the heart: it is not to be expected that we should be fired at the description of an ardent stamen, or melt with sympathy at a languishing pistillum; where the author's own feelings were excited, he fails not to touch a corresponding chord. If an imagination of unri valled richness....a felicity of allusion to whatever can throw lastre on his subject....to ancient mythology and modern dicoveries....to the works of nature and of art; if these are some of the essentials of poetry, Dr. Darwin may certainly claim them as his own. No man, perhaps, was ever happier in the selection and composition of his epithets, had a more imperial command of words, or could elucidate with such accuracy and elegance the most complex and intricate machinery.

Who but Dr. Darwin would have thought of describing a procelainmanufactory in verse; the enormous powers and curious construction of a steam-engine; the delicate mechanism of a watch; and the infinite complexity of a cotton-mill? These and many similar descrip

tions to be found in the "Botanic Garden," are inimitable in their way; and that they do not " touch the heart," is attributable to the subject, and not to the poet: the sweet simple music of an old Scotch air is infinitely more affecting than the rapid complex movements of a modern concerto:....but a vagrant minstril could compose the melody of the one, though it requires the scientific hand of a master to combine the various harmony of the other.

After all, we are quite ready to acknowledge that Dr. Darwin is not a poet who stands very high in our estimation; the ear is fascinated and seduced by the mellifluence of his numbers, but there is a harlotry in his embellishments which is to us unchaste. His cadences are not sufficiently varied for a poem of such length as the "Botanic Garden;" indeed there is an evident mechanism in the construction of his lines which it is by no means pleasant to detect; one half of the verse is frequently a perfect equipoise to the other. We are even so fastidious and delicate as to be cloyed with the uniform sweetness of his vercification: the current of Dr. Darwin's poetry is unruffled and serene; its surface smooth and polished;....Still as the sea ere winds were taught to blow;" but oftentimes we would gladly transport ourselves to where

The rich stream of music winds

along,.

Deep, majestic, smooth, and strong.' Dr. Darwin is particularly happy in some of his minor effusions: the beautiful little song "to May," is exquisitely finished; and it would be difficult to find thirty lines in the "Botanic Garden," to rival in dignity and pathos the "Address to Swilcar's Oak," introduced in the Phytologia, XVIII. 2. 16.

There is a noble and indignant eloquence poured forth in the translation of a few lines from the eighth satire of Juvenal, (Stemmata quid faciunt, &c. See Zoon. Vol. II. class iii. 1. 2.) which seems to

flow immediately from the heart. These, (particularly the two last) and some detached passages in the "Botanic Garden," possess a chasteness and simplicity of colouring, the want of which can never be compensated by the temporary lustre of any varnish: it is this artificial gloss, the too svish use of this deceitful varnish, which displeases us with the poetry of Dr. Darwin. As a prose writer, Dr. Darwin was incorrect; his grammatical errors are numerous. He was even deficient in orthography: his faults in spelling were sometimes corrected by his son the attorney. He gave early evidence of a poetical genius and a philosophical turn of mind: whilst he held the appointment of Lord Exeter's scholarship, he distinguished himself by his poetical exercises, and acquired an uncommon facility in the composition of them. In the year 1758, he published in vol. L. of the Philosophical Transactions, "An attempt to confute the opinion of Henry Earl, concerning the ascent of vapour;" and "An account of the cure of a periodical hæmoptoe, by keeping the patient awake." This was followed by "Experiments on Animal Fluids in the exhausted Receiver."

Dr. Darwin printed in the Derby Mercury, an elegy written at Matlock, and addressed to Mrs. Darwin: another piece was inserted in the same paper, occasioned by the appearance of a most fatal distemper amongst horned cattle, at Calke, near Derby. It consisted of instructions to give an immediate stop to its rapid and alarming progress. A third article was written on occasion of the earthquake, which several years ago was felt at Derby, and in the surrounding country. In the year 1782, the Botanical Society of Litchfield published a translation of Linnæus's Systema Vegetabilium, the execution of which was principally confided to Dr. Darwin, one of its two principal members. The Doctor's other works have already