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cuttings which bear fruit in the first year. It is thus de scribed :

The Burr-knott Apple tree is uncommonly productive. My trees never miss bearing, not being so liable to blight in inclement seasons, as other varieties. The fruit is large, its tints resembling the Ribston Pippin, and about its size. For culinary uses, it is not inferior to the choicest Codlin, and a much better keeper. The tree is not liable to canker, owing, I am persuaded, to its not putting out a tap-root, but spreading its numerous fibres from the knob horizontally, and following the richness of the soil.'

On the Cultivation of Crocuses, with a short Account of the dif ferent Species known at present. By A. H. Haworth, Esq. F.L.S. and H.S. &c.-The author here furnishes an account of the mode of raising the crocus from seed, as well as a botanical description of this genus of plants, with 13 distinct varieties. A beautiful coloured plate is added, exhibiting the Crocus stellaris.

On the Horticultural Management of the Sweet or Spanish Chesnut-Tree. By the Right Honourable Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. &c.-The object of this paper is to recommend the grafting of the Spanish chesnut. The nuts thus produced, though smaller than the imported fruit, are beyond comparison

sweeter.

On the proper Construction of Hot-bed Frames. By T. A. Knight, Esq. &c.-It is here recommended, instead of making the back of the frame higher than the front, to place the hot-bed on an inclined plane of earth, elevated about 15 degrees; to make the surface of the dung and mould parallel with it; and to adapt the frame, with equal sides, to the surface of the bed. By these means, expence and labour are. saved, and the plants throughout the frame are equidistant from the glass. Mr. K. also describes a mode of forwarding grapes, by bending their branches from the wall into a frame over a hot-bed.

A short Account of a new Apple, called the Dornton Pippin. By the same. This new apple is offered as an humble imitation of the Golden Pippin, its male parent, being formed (as Mr. K. tells us) by introducing the pollen of this variety into the blossom of an apple, most generally known by the name of the Orange Pippin! The Downton Pippin is reported to be exuberantly productive.

On the Forcing-Houses of the Romans, with a List of Fruits cultivated by them, now in our Gardens. By the Right Honourable Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. &c.-In this very curious communication, even the attention of the classical reader will be

excited.

excited. Sir Joseph Banks acknowleges that he is indebted to Mr. A. Knight for the information, which he acquired from the perusal of Martial, (vid. lib. viii. 14 and 68.) that the Romans enjoyed the luxury of Forcing-Houses: but this hint being given, Pliny of course was searched, and farther light was thrown on the subject. It appears that the article, with which these houses were glazed, if the term may be used, was Talk, or what we call Muscovy glass (Lapis Specularis); and that the glazier, or person who fitted the panes, was called Specularius. The fruits cultivated at Rome in the time of Pliny were Almonds, Apples, Apricots, Cherries, Chesnuts, Figs, Medlars, Mulberries, Nuts, Pears, Plumbs, Quinces, Services, Strawberries, Vines, and Walnuts. On this last article the Right Honourable author indulges a little wit; observing that in the golden age, when man lived on acorns, the Gods lived upon Walnuts, hence the name Juglans, Jovis Glans? Having adverted to the Forcing-houses of the antients, and to the Hot-houses of the moderns, Sir Joseph intimates the improvements of which the latter are susceptible, and promises that the next generation shall enjoy horticultural blessings to which, at present, even the luxurious among us are strangers.

The next generation will no doubt erect Hot-houses of much larger dimensions than those to which we have hitherto confined ourselves, such as are capable of raising trees of considerable size; they will also instead of heating them with flues, such as we use, and which waste in the walls that conceal them, more than half of the warmth they receive from the fires that heat them, use naked tubes of metal filled with steam instead of smoke. Gardeners will then be enabled to admit a proper proportion of air to the trees in the season of flowering, and as we already are aware of the use of bees in our cherry houses to distribute the pollen where wind cannot be admitted to disperse it, and of shaking the trees when in full bloom, to put the pollen in motion, they will find no difficulty in setting the shyest kinds of fruits.

'It does not require the gift of prophecy to foretell, that ere long the Aki and the Avocado pear of the West Indies, the Flat Peach, the Mandarine Orange, and the Litchi of China, the Mango, the Mangostan and the Durion of the East Indies, and possibly other valuable fruits, will be frequent at the tables of opulent persons; and some of them perhaps in less than half a century, be offered for sale on every market day at Covent Garden?'

On the Management of the Onion. By T. A. Knight, Esq. &c. We are told that Mr. K. sows the seed of the Spanish or Portugal Onion, in the spring, under the shade of a fruit tree in a poor soil ; and that the bulbs, which do not exceed the size of a large pea, are taken up in autumn, and planted out in the succeeding spring at equal distances. Onions have been

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raised,

raised, in this way, which often exceed five inches in dia.

meter.

An improved Method of cultivating the Alpine Strawberry. By the same. This process consists of sowing the seed of the Alpine Strawberry on a moderate hot-bed in the beginning of April, and removing the plants, as soon as they have acquired sufficient strength, to beds in the open ground. They will begin to blossom after midsummer, and afford an abundant late autumnal crop. Mr. K. thinks that this Strawberry ought always to be treated as an annual plant.

Observations on the Form of Hot-houses. By the Rev. Thomas Wilkinson. Mr. W. shews, on mathematical principles, that the inclination of the roof should 34°. A diagram is subjoined.

On some new varieties of the Peach. By T. A. Knight, Esq. &c. In the experiments here detailed, the object of the author was to obtain hardy early varieties; and he is encouraged to hope, even from the results of his present trials, that, in successive generations, the Peach-tree may be so hardened as to be naturalized to our climate.

We have thus distinctly, though briefly, noticed each paper in the Transactions of this recently-formed Society. Sir Joseph Banks, more than once, applies to it the epithet useful; and from these specimens it will be seen that it is an institution of some promise. It may be a means of stimulating exertions in this department of art; and by recording and diffusing the knowlege of hints which might otherwise have been lost, it may tend to render our gardens more beautiful, more various, and more productive. Under such an impression, we do not feel ourselves disposed to apologize for the length of this article; nor to withhold the expression of our hopes that the society will proceed with zeal in the prosecution of their researches.

ART. VII. Observations on Madness and Melancholy; including practical Remarks on those Diseases; together with Cases, and an Account of the morbid Appearances on Dissection. By John Haslam, late of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and Apothecary to Bethlem Hos pital. 2d Edition, considerably enlarged. 8vo. pp. 345. 95 Boards. Callow. 1809.

THIS

HIS treatise was originally published about eleven years ago, and was noticed by us in one of our former volumes

• Vol. 29. N. S. p. 344.

but

but the present edition contains so much new matter, that we regard it as intitled to make its appearance a second time before our readers. Mr. Haslam formerly proposed a definition of insanity, to which we took the liberty of objecting, and we are happy to find that it is now withdrawn. He has also refrained from substituting any other in its place, and we think that he has done wisely; since it is certain that no definition, which has yet been proposed, has been found to attain the object of a definition; i. e. to give, in a few words, a description which shall include every mode of the thing defined, while it excludes every other object. This difficulty seems, at first view, not easy to explain; for we agree with the author that, notwithstanding the contrariety of sentiment that has prevailed concerning the precise meaning of the word madness, medical practitioners have been sufficiently reconciled as to the thing itself; so that when they have seen an insane person, however opposite their definitions, they have readily coincided that the patient was mad.' Mr. Haslam's conclusion is probably correct; that the thing itself is, generally speaking, sufficiently plain and intelligible; but that the term which represents the thing is obscure.' This sentiment he elucidates at some length, by critically examining the derivation and original import of the several terms which are now used to designate the different forms of insanity; and by shewing that, as applied to this disease, they are used metaphorically or analogically, and are, of course, liable to those inaccuracies which always attach to such modes of expression. So far we coincide with Mr. Haslam but we cannot give our entire assent to a metaphysical speculation in which he afterward indulges himself. After having stated it as his opinion, that the human mind does not possess all the powers and faculties with which the pride of man has thought proper to invest it,' (an opinion which is probably correct,) he proceeds to the length, if we do not mistake his meaning, of denying to the mind any powers or faculties. His ground for this conclusion we shall give in his own words:

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If mind were actually capable of the operations attributed to it, and possessed of these powers, it would necessarily have been able to create a language expressive of these powers and operations. But the fact is otherwise. The language, which characterizes mind and its operations, has been borrowed from external objects; for mind has no language peculiar to itself.'

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The answer to this argument appears to us most obvious that, in the original formation of all languages, those things would first acquire names, which were the objects of the external senses; and it would not be until society had ad

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vanced

vanced to a state of considerable refinement, that man would have leisure to attend or give names to his internal feelings. At length, however, this state would arrive; and he would be obliged either to invent terms, or to borrow from the external world such words as seemed to bear some kind of analogical resemblance to what was passing within him. In all instances, the latter is the more easy and natural process; and so it was found on the present occasion. This circumstance has led us to the use of metaphorical terms in many cases, in which we have almost lost sight of the original source whence the metaphor was derived; and when we come to apply these terms to express any train of complicated events, we are frequently involved in obscurity. It would carry us too far to follow the author through all his attempts to shew the corporeal origin, if we may so call it, of many of the terms which are now almost exclusively applied to mental phænomena. Many of them are sufficiently obvious, and must be allowed to be just; but, though we should admit that association is derived from the operation of matching or assorting together similar or connected objects, and that reasoning in most languages strictly implies numeration, reckoning, and proportion,' yet we do not see how this can in any repect tend to prove that the mind is not possessed of the faculties of association and of reasoning.

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To the practical part of his work, Mr. Haslam has added several new cases, and has by them still farther confirmed the fact which he formerly announced, that madness has always been connected with disease of the brain and of its meinbrane.' This we regard as a very important physiological discovery, and such as must eventually throw light on the treatment of insanity, though at present it does not appear that any practical advantage has been derived from it. Indeed, while we feel our obligation to Mr. H. for having ascertained the fact so clearly, we must observe that he has not perhaps made all the use of it which might have been expected from him. We may also remark that, considering the great opportunities for information which he possessed, we might have hoped that he would have attempted to investigate, with more accuracy than he has employed, the relative state of the different parts of the brain in the several varieties of the disease. It would have been satisfactory to have learned from him what had been the result of his inquiries on this point, even although they had been fruitless.

Perhaps no circumstance connected with insanity should more excite our interest than its causes; since, in proportion as its cure is difficult or uncertain, we should studiously avoid

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