The cheap newspaper thus becomes a most powerful instrument for
nursing the popular mind; and, if we consider how essential it is,
where there are free institutions, that the bulk of the people should
be enlightened, we must see what a great public end is to be served by
this simple means. A place in the apparatus is, we think, rightly
claimed by the small local newspaper, as a kind of A B C, or _first
form_, where the young and untutored mind may be entered by way of
preparation for higher studies.
THE VEGETATION OF EUROPE.
The publication of the volume, the title of which appears below,[3] is
to be regarded as additional evidence that the tendency of science in
the present day is towards wider and more comprehensive
generalisations. Many readers who may be more or less familiar with
certain species or even families of plants, will hardly have prepared
themselves for a view of the phytology of a quarter of the globe, such
as is given in outline in the interesting work now before us. The
subject is one that has been largely investigated within the past
twenty years, as may be seen in the records of the British
Association, in the transactions of learned societies, and in the
writings of numerous observers on the continent. Attempt after attempt
has been made to explain the causes of the variations and effects of
climate, their influence on vegetation, the appearance of certain
floras in localities where they might be least expected, and to
separate the natural and regular from the accidental.
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