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colic, and diarrhea have alfo occurred in fome instances. Among infants, cholera infantum and patuffis continue to prevail; the former has re-appeared in many cafes, where it had been removed in the earlier part of the season, and in form has affumed the character of dysentery.

Notwithstanding the long bills of mortality, which have been prefented to the publick, we feel authorised to remark, that the diseases of this feafon have very rarely proved fatal, where medical affiftance has been obtained in their early stages.

Editors' Notes.

From the author of the "Science of Sanctity" we have received an "address" to the Reviewers, intended as a reply to the review of his book in our last number, and introduced by the following alarming epistle, which is enough to make stouter hearts than ours to tremble.

"Messieurs Editors,

"You are respectfully requested to publish in your Anthology for the month of September, the following address to the Gentlemen Reviewers, by the Author of the "Science of Sanctity," in defence of that original production which they have wantonly and unmercifully handled and mangled, in your August Anthol ogy under the pretence and name of reviewing it. Your refusal or neglect, as soon as known, will necessitate him, in compliance with the first law of nature, self defence, immediately to publish the same, with proper additional Strictures, which may eventually, though by no means his design, operate to the discredit, and detriment of your excellent work, and to the obstruction of the future utility of the particular branch of reviewing, which answers a very good purpose when conducted with candour, and skill, by men of science and critical ability. "I am, Gentlemen, with proper consideration "Your well wisher,

"THOS. FESSENDEN. "Walpole, Sept. 16, 1855.”

Now we think that our readers, and Mr. Fessenden himself, will acquit us of unfairness in not inserting his reply, when we assure them that its length alone would justify us in the re. fusal. We should not be faithful to the interests of our small publication, if we consented to fill eight pages with the clamours of an incensed author, and upon the subject of a work unknown to many and uninteresting to most of our readers. If Mr. S. should be so cruel as to publish his strictures in any form, which would bring them regularly under our cognizance, we shall be happy to pay them all proper attention; but if in any other form, we have only to

recommend it to those, who may chance to read the review, or the strictures, to open for thet satisfaction, and read, if they can, the "Science of Sanctity."

We must apologize to our readers for the omission of the reviews of the histories of New England, which were promised in our last. They were prepared for insertion, and actually sent to the press, but the unforeseen length of the reviews of the Historical Collections and Story's Pleadings, together with the general pressure of materials, have compelled us to postpone them to the next number. It is one of our principles never without necessity to divide any article. If what we write is ever read with pleasure, and we have vanity enough to believe that the Anthology is not always read altogether without interest, the effect is diminished when it is divided.

The

To the writers of the Literary Wanderer we owe our thanks for the kindness and punctuality with which they have contributed their extr tions to the support of the Anthology. failure of every preceding attempt to support a miscellany in New England has been ascribed to the number of periodical Essays, with which they were filled. The observation seems judicious, and it only remains then for us to decide between the Literary Wanderer and the Remarker. With the usual partiality, and perhaps with the usual blindness of parents, we have decided in favour of our own of-pring. They will allow us therefore very gratefully to bid them farewel.

a

In the number for October we hope to offer life of Dr. Bentley, reviews of Adams's, and Morse and Parish's Histories, of the Salem Sa lust, of Linn's Powers of Genius, &c. &c.

It is not a new request of ours, that authors, who wish that their works should be reviewed, would send copies of them to sur publishers. When this is done, we willingly engage either to review or return them; when it is not done, especially by authors who are near Bosten, we shall be governed entirely by our own convenience in the choice of the books that we review.

We cannot take leave of the Author of the Poem, the publication of which we have now closed, without giving him our thanks, and expressing our hopes that his first offering so the Anthology will not be his last. All who read "Seduction" will join with us in thinking, that it is the offspring of a man of talents and taste, who has given his days and nights to the study of the most perfect masters of the English lyre.

ERRATA-Page 449, first column, 12th line from bottom, for Hispalla" readHispula." P. 450, 2 col. 11 1. from top, for sublimed r, and sublimed."

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MONTHLY ANTHOLOGY,

FOR

OCTOBER, 1805.

I

BOTANIST.

HAVE always thought it possi ble to be a very great botanist, Says the celebrated Rosseau, with out knowing so much as one plant by name.* Yet he he exhorts his pupil to pass from his closet to the gardens and fields, to study the sacred scriptures of nature, instead of books written by men. This famous Genevan had doubtless seen persons, who bestowed all their attention on the nomenclature and classification of vegetables, and thought themselves botanists. The celebrated J. Huntert knew not the names of every individual in the armies of Britain, nor the discriminating marks of each company in each and every regiment; he nevertheless knew most accurately the anatomy and physiology of every individual.

One universal language should be adopted by botanists, and it is important that it should be well understood; but it is absurd to make this the primary object. If the study of plants do not lead to a knowledge of their uses in rural economy, and their medicinal virtues, the attention to the aspect

See J. J. Rosseau's "Letters on the Elements of Botany," translated by Martyn. + Surgeon-General of the British army. Vol. II. No. 10. Rrr

No. 12.

and names of plants is of very little importance to the publick. Before the Spanish Goths overran Mexico, Montezuma transplanted from the woods and fields into his royal garden; and it was the business of his physicians to study out and announce the medicinal virtues of his vast collection. Would it not be well, if the philosophers of the north should imitate the wise example of these more than half-civilized philosophers of the south?

The first step towards perfecting the science of Botany in New England is to transplant the vegetables from our woods, bogs, fields, and, if possible, marshes into one Garden; and then attempt the naturalization of tropical and other exoticks. We must not expect to have a garden, in which every plant of every country will prosper,or even grow. To effect this, a garden should be planted on a mountain, directly under the equator, and gradually sloping to the height of more than two miles above the level of There every plant of the ocean. every climate would grow.

While Paris, Madrid, Upsal, Oxford, Leyden, Montpellier, and Padua had flourishing botanical

gardens, London, so celebrated in the annals of science, had within it no publick one to boast of, until about 1780; and even then it was began and conducted by a private individual, without any property to carry it on, excepting what arose from his daily practice in physick and surgery, and even this practice was finally sacrificed to his ruling passion, botany. The person of whom we speak is WILLIAM CURTIS, author of the Flora Londinensis, and Botanick Magazine. As the writer of these essays was, during several years, a witness of the unwearied exertions of his friend and teacher, he conceives it may be serviceable and agreeable at this period to give some account of the founder of the botanical garden near London, together with a description of it.

Soon after Mr. Curtis* became enamoured with botany, a large share of lucrative practice devolved upon him by the death of an old preceptor and partner. He then began to publish a description of all the plants in and about London, in large folio, elegantly designed, and coloured after nature. Not merely the expense of this great work, but the attention it demanded, alarmed the friends of Curtis. Even the cious and benevolent Fothergill, "the friend of mankind and of merit," checked the flowings of his accustomed bounty, lest he should be accessary to the ruin of his young friend, already too much disposed to quit the practice of physick to follow inchanting

saga

Mr. Curtis was a practitioner of physick and surgery, but never had a medical degree; of course not the title of Doctor; a distinction afgidly adhered to in London.

FLORA. regard for the same

Fothergill had a great Curtis, and, being of religious persuasion, would have left nothing undone for advancing, what he conceived, his true interest, which he beheved to be, that of following with undivided attention the practice of physick. Often, on receiving the splendid numbers of the Flora Londinensis, has the BOTANIST heard the venerable Fothergill exclaim," these plates I view with more pain than pleasure. They will ruin the author, by diverting him from his lucrative practice, and plunging him into expense, beyond what any but a man of independent fortune can sustain. The load is too heavy for this young man, and it will break his back." But Fothergill, though possessed of the "perspicax oculus" in a preeminent degree, did not then see, that the mild and silent Curtis was indued with the persevering spirit of Linnæus. He little thought, that this meek and quiet man would finally effect all that he meditated; and that to the Flore Londinensis he would add the Monthly Botanick Magazine, and to both a botanical garden! Deep enthusiasm is seldom accompanied with great ardour of expression. Under a mild and playful disposition William Curtis was animated with a persevering spirit, that, in a different walk of life, might have wearied out the patience of a Xenophon, and discour aged Hannibal himself. It has been said, that Curtis composed his Botanical Magazine, as Dr. Johnson did his Ramblers; the one to support him under the ar duous work of his Dictionary, and the other of his Flora.

THE BOTANIST.

The King, Queen, and most of the Nobility were subscribers to the Flora Londinensis; it is how ever remarkable, that when Curtis began his Botanick Garden, altho' he was presented with many scarce and valuable plants from the royal gardens at Kew, as well as from those of the Earl of Bute at Sutton, the Dutchess of Portland at Bulstrade, from Dr. Fothergill's at Upton, and from Dr, Pitcairn's at Islington, yet he never received any pecuniary assistance towards carrying on his botanick garden. In 1783 the number of subscribers to this institution did not amount to more When Curtis 'died than forty. (in July, 1799) a general regret, it is said, was felt from the throne to the bookseller's shop, that the author of the Flora Londinensis and the founder of the London Botanick Garden had never experienced royal patronage, nor national bounty.

His first essay towards a botanick garden was at Lambeth Marsh, near the Magdalen Hospital, St. George's Fields; but he found the situation of the spot he had chosen inconvenient; for although from its position it appeared peculiarly favourable for the growth of aquatick and bog plants, yet this was accompanied by many disadvantages, for which this fortunate peculiarity did not present an adequate compensation. He therefore determined to move; and here follow the reasons as detailed by himself:

"I had long observed, with the most pointed regret, that I had an enemy to contend with in Lambeth Marsh, which neither time nor ingenuity, nor industry

could vanquish; and that was the
smoke of London; which, except
when the wind blew from the
south, constantly enveloped my
plants, and shedding its baneful
influence over them, destroyed
many; and, in a greater or less
degree, proved injurious to most
of them, especially the Alpine
In addition to this grand
ones.
obstacle, I had to contend with
many smaller ones, which be
came formidable when combined,
such as the obscurity of the sit-
uation, the badness of the roads
leading to it, with the effluvia of
surrounding ditches, at times
highly offensive.

"Nevertheless, when I reflected on the sums I had expended, when I surveyed the trees, the shrubs, and the hedges which I had planted, now become ornamental in themselves, and affording shelter to my plants, such of those inconveniences, as I could not have remedied I should have borne with patience, and continued my garden under all its inconveniences, had not my landlord exacted terms for the renewal of my lease, too extravagant to be complied with.

"Disappointed, but not disheartened, I resolved to attempt its re-establishment elsewhere: I looked over the list of those who had patronised my former attempts, and finding that the majority of my subscribers resided to the westward of the city, I fixed on a spot at Brompton, with the advantage at least of some experience in the cultivation of plants; and here I have witnessed a pleasure I had long wished for that of seeing plants grow in perfect health and vigour.

"That I have good grounds also to expect that my labours will be crowned with success, the list of those persons, who have honoured my garden with their subscriptions the first year of its formation, affords me the most pleasing proof. Indeed, while vegetables shall constitute a part of our food, and there is a necessity to distinguish wholesome from poisonous ones-while medicines for the cure of our diseases shall be drawn from the vegetable kingdom-while agriculture, the grand source of the wealth and strength of all nations, shall be capable of being improved by a closer attention to our native plants-while botany shall be studied as an instructive science, or as an object of rational amusement; or, while the beauties of nature shall have power to charm, so long a garden, on the plan of the one I am endeavouring to establish, will, I humbly presume, meet with the support of the publick."

Nor was Mr. Curtis mistaken. His plants acquired fresh health and vigour from a more congenial position; the number of his subscribers increased every year, while his own reputation, which had been augmented by his lectures and his publications, extended not only to the remotest parts of his native island, but throughout many parts of Europe. In this enviable situation, with a fair prospect of wealth and fame opening before him, this excellent botanist was suddenly snatched from his family, his friends, and the publick, on the 11th of July, 1799.

On this melancholy occasion, the establishment devolved solely

on Mr. William Salisbury, first his assistant, and afterwards his partner. Possessing youth, ardour, and activity, he has added to the bounds of the botanical garden, increased the library, multiplied the specimens of plants, built a house for his own residence on the spot, and seems anxious to adapt the establishment for the use and accommodation both of publick societies and private individuals.

The botanick garden is situate at Queen's Elm, in the road to Fulham, exactly one mile and a half from Hyde Park Corner, and about three quarters of a mile from Brompton. The site must be allowed to have been well chosen, for the grounds lie open to the south and west, except where the plantations are intended to exclude the sun, while the north east wind, by being impregnated with the ignited air of the capital, loses much of its sharpness, and becomes far less pernicious, than it would otherwise be to such plants as require a bland and genial climate. The extent is about three acres and a half, including the ground occupied by the hothouse, green-houses, and library; and seven acres more, immediately adjoining, and now in the occupation of the proprietor, can at any time be included.

The arrangement is strictly Linnæan; and every tree, shrub, and plant, is labelled so as to afford the advantage of an easy reference to the correspondent numbers in the catalogue.

On approaching, from the Fulham road, the stranger perceives a door, situate nearly in the middle of the plantation; and, on

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