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CRITICAL NOTICES.
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Untitled Article
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Critical Notices.
CRITICAL NOTICES .
Untitled Article
Art . I . —The Botanical Miscellany . By W . J . Hooker , LL . D . F . R . L . and A . S . Part I . London . 1828 The Botanical Miscellany is a work , the design of which is sufficiently indicated by its title , and which is conducted by the learned and accomplished Professor of Botany in the University of
Glasgow . Among various instructive articles contained in the first number is a very pleasant narrative of a Botanical Visit to England in 1824 , written by Dr . Schultes , a Bavarian Professor , in the form of a letter to the celebrated naturalist , Count Sternberg . We notice the work for the sake of transcribing the following passages , which relate to a distinguished
individual , known and honoured by many of our readers , and which may be Still more generally interesting by shewing the difference in the spirit of the English and German Universities , in regard to exclusion on account of religious faith . It may be observed , too , that Dr . Schultes is an inhabitant of a part of Germany which is almost entirely Catholic .
From Harwich , where he landed , the Professor travelled directly to Norwich . < c Sir James E . Smith / ' says he , " to Whom we made this pilgrimage , had just returned home from the country , and was on the point of again visiting his friends , when we called on him at his beautiful huiise . Our joy was great at finding this most respectable man so far recovered from the severe illness which
had threatened his life , as to be again enabled to devote his leisure hours to the amabilis scientia . He was then employed in revising some printed sheets of the third edition of his Introduction to the Study of Botany . Sir J . K . Smith displayed to us the treasures of his
collection ( in reality the only one of its kind ) with a courtesy and kindness which aie peculiar to great aud welleducated men ; and which , in this truly noble person , aie heightened by such charms of gentleness and affability as cannot fail to attract to him most forcibly even such individuals us have but once
enjoyed the privilege of his society . " P . 50 . —• ' The few hours which Sir James Smith ' s kindness induced him to devote to me , though he was ready prepared to . set oif on a journey to join his Smithiay
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( a , lady of rare talents , ) passed away like a moment of time ; just as the sweetest periods of life seem to fleet upou the swiftest wings . I have rarely beheld a more noble countenance ; one indicative of such candour , simplicity , and kindness , united with so much clearness of intellect , as that of Sir J . E . Smith ; and the expression of his features will never be obliterated from my memory . "—P .
55 . Professor Schultes gives the following history of Sir J . E . Smith's attempt to be appointed Reader of Botany in the University of Cambridge ; an attempt which he made from no sordid or selfish motives , but from a love of what he would have
joined with Schultes in denominating the lovely science , and from a generous and patriotic desire of making a breach in that wall of partition which now separates the University of Cambridge from all except the members of one large sect . " The present Professor of Botany at Cambridge , Mr . Thomas Martyn , having been for many years prevented from
lecturing by illness , confided his office of Professor , in so far as it was the foundation of Walker , to the most eminent botanist in England , the President of the Linnaean Society , Sir J . E . Smith . Most of the members of the University were well pleased with this choice , inasmuch as it advanced the celebrity of the High School at Cambridge . In compliance with
the desire of Martyn , Smith sacrificed his leisure , went to Cambridge , and there proposed to renew the Lectures on Botany , which for many years had been discontinued . But the Pro-Rector of this University , Mr . Monk , formally laid an interdict on the Knight and President of the Limiacan Society , Sir J . E . Smith , prohibiting him from ascending the rostrum , because he was—a Dissenter !—that is , a Christian of a different persuasion from Mr . Monk .
What would be said of a German University which , for such a reason , should exclude so distinguished an individual as Smith ? Had Cambridge been now in the situation of France , groaning under the rod of such an obscure fanatic as the Bishop of Hermopolis ; or had Sir James , in any of his publications , or in any part of his conduct , shewn the least truce of irrcligion , —then the University would have been justified in this procedure ; but not only have all the works of Smith
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1829, page 860, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2579/page/44/
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