REVIEW.

Otago Witness, Issue 919, 10 July 1869, Page 3

REVIEW.

THE NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE.

Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, Vol. 1, 1868. Edited and published under the authority of the Board of Governors of the Institute, by J. Hector, M.D., F.R.S.

During the year 1867 an attempt was made in Wellington to revive a society which had been formed in the early days of tho colony under the auspices of Sir George Grey, having the name of the New Zealand Institute. The proposal was received with some enthusiasm, and ultimately led to results unexpected by its promoters. A Society under the old name was formed, but, shortly afterwards, through the influence of Dr Hector and others, an Act of Assembly was passed, incorporating, and slightly endowing, a true New Zealand Institute, and the resuscitated Society adopted the name of the Wellington Philosophical Sooiety. Under the provisions of the Act referred to, this and other kindred Societies have since been affiliated to the New Zealand Institute.

As no Society connected with the Institute exists in Dunedin, and as it has been announced that steps are shortly to bo taken for the formation of such a Society, it may not be amiss, before proceeding with the special object of this paper, to state shortly the naturo of the institution which has been thus founded to promote (to use the words of the Act itself) " the general study and cultivation of the various branches and departments of Art, Science, Literature, and Philosophy." The Institute consists of a Board of Governors, togothor with the members of all such local sooioties as may be incorporated with it in accordance with its Bye-laws. The Colonial Museum and Laboratory at Wellington, and tho Library which is being formed in connection with them, are placed permanently undor tho control of tho Board of Governors. Under the stylo of Director of the Institute, tho appointment hold by Dr Hector as Colonial Geologist, has boon permanently provided for. An endowment of LSOO por annum for the general purposes of tho Institute is also aooured oy the Act. It is furthor provided that tho auintanco of tho Director of tho Institute (or, wo presume, of his doputios) shall, undor certain conditions, be acoorded to local sociotieo affiliated to the Institute, in the formation and amuigomont of any museum or laboratory thoy may establish. Tho conditions of incorporation with tho Institute aro— that tho affiliated Society shall consist of not lent than twentyfive members, and that they shall sub* soribo on tho aggregate at least fifty pounds a year for too promotion of art or soionoo, or othor branches of knowledge,

ff^hioh' sum.-either^ bne.TtnWj'must, b& eyqted,<fco>the support of , some .local;mu- ; scum or<jttbrary,\ or, if preferred, on eisixth,, may „0© .towards i.the funds of the museum, and library already established at Wellington. , There are as yet only four societies with the Institute.- Two of; these, the Auckland Institute and the Philosophical Institute, oi Canterbury, have been in existence for some time past. The Wellington Philosophical Society is that out of which the Institute may be said to have sprung. The only association which can be said to have been hitherto created entirely under its auspices' is che WestlanS Naturalists' and Acclimatisation Society. There can be very little doubt, however, that the publication, of " tho "interesting volume before ub will lead to the formation of ! many such societies. The benefits conferred .by the Institute, cannot be better summed up than in the following words of Sir George Bowen, which we quote from his inaugural address :—": — " Co-opera-tion is the secret of success in all scientific pursuits ; and the Ne> Zealand Institute, while leaving its affiliated Societies unfettered in the performance of their separate functions, will publish their chief transactions on a uniform plan, thereby concentrating the information collected by local observers throughout the country, and providing for the preservation, in a permanent and accessible form, of the results of their labours." It should be remembered too, that the scope of the Institute Is far wider than might be inferred from the phrase " scientific pursuits" used by His Excellency on this occasion. " Art, Science, Literature, and Philosophy," include all that serves towards the culture and progress of the human race ; and it is a source of congratulation that no narrower aims have been accepted for this Institution. The necessity that existed for such a means of gathering together tho information which is constantly being collected in various parts of the colony, is forcibly brought before the mind by the perusal of this first volume of Transactions. In giving, as we propose to do, some account of the contents of this volume, we shall have on more than one occasion to point to discrepancies in opinion or in statements of presumed facts, on the part of naturalists in different parts of the colony, for which no remedy, except the annual publication of the results of observation in each locality, could be devised. In this manner the Institute will do much to encourage and stimulate, and at the same time to instruct, the votaries of Science and Natural History who are already to be found in the colony. But its most important function will probably lie in the influence it will bring to bear upon those who have not hitherto been disposed towards the humanizing studies which it is its duty to foster and promote. More especially will it, in this sense, be eminently useful to the young people of this colony, for whom are wanting the advantages and the .thousand incentives towards culture, which surround thoao of their own age in the old-world centres of civilisation.

Before proceeding to examine the contents of the first volume of the Transactions of the Institute, it is right to state that fully one-half of it is occupied with the fruit of an earlier effort ; one in which some amongst ourselves may claim to have taken the prominent share. Amongst other projects of the Commissioners of the Exhibition of 18G6, one was the publication of a series of essays upon New Zealand, its people, and its fauna and flora. This project broke down, we believe, partly through laok of funds, partly because some of the promised essays were never completed. Five of these ossaya were, howover, printed some timo ago ; and tho General Government having undertaken to bring out the remainder at its own cost, they have been incorporated with the Transactions of tho New Zealand Institute. They undoubtedly form the most important and interesting part of the volume : and wero it not that their authors are now all members of the Institute, wo should be inclined to accuse the Board of Governors of putting forth their own volume in borrowed plumes. Tho desirability of tho course adopted may bo questioned from another point of viow. Theso essays give a character to tho first volume of Transactions which thoso of future years aro hardly likely to sustain. Nothing damps the ardour of young associations so much as a damaging comparison of their second year's work with thbt of tho first, Howover, wo do not desire to cavil-— tho book is much more acceptable with the ossays than it would have been without them. We accept them as a gift through the Institute, if not from it, and in another issue wo shall treat thorn as part and parcol of the Transactions themselves.

Including tho Exhibition Essayista, about thirty gentlemen have contributed to tho content* of this volume. Wo need hardly *ay, however, that the Urgtsr and mow important contribution* are th«

work! pf onty a few ?of jthese) TheJooietiee affiliated to the Institute, though, an we ihayestated, twofof ' them have been in existence for some time, can hardly be said as yet to have begun to work in anything like a systematic manner, to fulfil the functions they have voluntarily assumed. There is as yet, amongst them an evident want of cohesion, and of a directing hand. One of the most important objects sought in the incorporation i of the Institute was the correction of this state of things. It should be one of the chief objects of a local society to collect and systematise information in regard to everything connected with the district in which its members reside. This is pre-eminently true in regard to the natural history of the colony. Because a few eminent men have preceded them, or aro , still, engaged in the work, it should not be supposed that there is little or nothing, left for the humbler votaries of science to effect. In this . field of knowledge, the . object of each local society should be, first,' to bring together the information which has already been acquired ; and then, to make a systematic endeavour to , supplement this, year by year, by well directed investigations. The record of their proceedings in future years will be interesting and useful, exactly in proportion to the distinctness with which this principle of action is kept in view, and the energy with which it is carried out by individual members. New forms of life are continually being brought to light, and specific descriptions of these for the information of the whole world of naturalists, however uninteresting to the general reader, will form the really valuable part of the transactions of the Institute. It will indeed be for these only that the publications of the Institute will possess any importance beyond the limits of the colony, or any permanent value even to ourselves. These remarks, too, apply equally to the case of other branches of knowledge. The great object to be held in view in the publication of these transactions, Bhould be the preservation for future reference, and for the use of others, of every item of information communicated to the Institute. Whether from lack of some of the information that would have been desirable, or from an error of judgment, the editor of the present volume does not appear to have succeeded, so well as we could have wished, in giving this character to the work. Many matters are merely mentioned, or imperfectly explained, in regard to which fuller statements or descriptions would have been desirable. On the other hand, there is quite enough matter in the volume that might very well have been omitted to have left room for what we conceive to be lacking, without increasing the size of the book. The favourite sciences of Botany and Geology occupy a prominent position in the Transactions. Of zoological information wo have little beyond Mr Buller's essay on the birds of New Zealand, and his review of a critique upon it by a German naturalist. Of physical science and its handmaid mathematics there is little or nothing, it having been found impossible to print two valuable papers by Captain Hutton, which would have fallen within this department, for want of type necessary to reproduce the algebraical formula by which his results were worked out. Chemistry is equally slightly represented. Two of the essays are devoted to the ethnology of the Maori race. Art, literature, and philosophy, though nominally part of the programme of the Institute, make no ahow in its Transactions. A lecture, however, on "The Nature of Art," which gave great pleasure to those who were so fortunate as to have tho privilege of listening to it, was givon at one of tho meetings of tho Institute, by Mr J. E. Fitzgerald. This is stated by the editor to be " reserved," and will, wo presume, be published noxt year. Its insertion would, we think, have been judicious. It would have proved interesting to many whoso tastes do not lead them to the study of any branch of science, and it would have been an oarnest to the publio of tho promise that tho Institute shall be something more and something higher than a moroly soioutitio aoaociation.

Wo propose, in endeavouring to doscribo tho contents of the various papers and essays boforo us, to group thorn togother {in a somewhat similar ordor to that in wh ich wo havo justj ust rof owed to thorn. We give prccodonco to tho botanical papors, not bocauso we think with tho author of ono of thorn, that his favourite study is the "queonof natural soionoe," but bocauso of thoir intrinsic importance Tho botany «f Kew Zealand nas reooivod a largo amount of attention at the handa of raou in every way qualified to do justioo to their subject. Already, under tho auspioos of tho Government of the colony, a valuable handbook of the New Zealand flora has been prepared by Dr J. D. Hoolcor, and published at a prico to bring it within the roach of most lovers of the loienoo, ThU solenoo too U undoubtedly tho moit popular of any of U*o bmicho*

of natural history, for reasons which we need not here attempt to; trace. ; < V, „ Ib was intended, we believe, that the Exhibition series ; should include essays upon the botany of each of the islands of New Zealand. Ostensibly, this project has been carried out. Mr Colenso has contributed an exhaustive account of the botany, geographic and economic, of the North Island, but no one' being found able to undertake a similar task for the Middle Island, three admirable papers by Sir David Monro, Mr Travers, and Mr Buchanan, have been combined for the purpose, to which Dr Hector has since added an important explanatory preface. Several good papers on botanical subjects are also to be found amongst the proceedings of the Institute and affiliated societies. There is also a pleasant and useful j essay by Mr Ludlam, of Wellington, on the - cultivation and acclimatisation of trees and plants, a subject in regard to which he appears to be an indefatigable enthusiast. Mr Colenso, after a burst of preliminary exclamations, apostrophes, and enquiries, the relevance of some of which to his subject we do not pretend to be able to discern, buckles to his task like a man thoroughly in love with and master of it. Under the head of Geographic Botany he compares ihe general aspect of the flora of the North Island with that of other countries, and goes minutely into the distribution of plants on. the island itself. He adopts two distinct divisions, by areas corresponding in, a general way to the degrees of latitude, and by zones of altitude above the sea-level. The reader who is not himself a botanist, can hardly appreciate at their proper measure the industry and wide range of information which the learned essayist has brought to bear upon this part of his subject. It is hardly to be wondered at that no one was found able to do the like for the Middle Island. There ia indeed much to be done before the task would be practicable, and at the date of the Exhibition much of the research, the results of which are now available, had yet to be undertaken. The tentative essays which we have in this volume, have paved the way, and we hope that an early volume of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute will present us with the desideratum.

Even in the carefully compiled exposition of the flora of the North Island which Mr Colenso has here given us, we note some of those errors arising from the absence of any facilities for the interchange of information to which we alluded when speaking of the advantages likely to be conferred by the Institute in bringing together the results of independent researches. Whilst in one of the other essays, written at the same date, we find Mr Travers speaking of the Tawa as common in the warm wooded valleys of the province of Nelson, Mr Colonso claims the genus to which it belongs* as exclusively a North Island ono. In another list of plants peculiar to the North Island, given by the latter, we notice a very considerable sprinkling— more than ten per cent, of the whole — which had been found so far south as our own province before the date at which he was writing. Of these many are common here, and the majority by no means scarce. Singularly enough, the first three that catch the eye bear (in common, wo may say, with a vast array of other Now Zealand plants) the name of the author of this essay, t There is another matter upon which the author lays a good deal of Btress, in regard to which it is probable that wider information may tend to modify his viows. We allude to what he calls " strikingly local plants, hitherto only found in oiic small spot." Tins peculiarly local distribution or rather isolation, Mr Colenso bolioves to bo "a characteristic feature in tho botany of Now Zealand ;" adding, in tho peculiar stylo of sententious emptiness which disfigures too nuch of his essay, " ono which, if hereafter proved to be real, will bo wonhy of doep consideration, as to the why such should be." Further reooaroh, or perhaps the tabulating of results of resoaroh already effected, will, we havo no doubt, deprive this supf)Oßod featuro in tho botany of Now Zoaand ot any protonsions to being characteristic. Suoh things as have attracted Mr Colonso's attention occur in every botanical region, and though often to be accounted for by tho peculiarities of soil or aapeot, equally often bailie tho ingenuity of tho most skilful naturalist to find a roason for thorn. That Mr Colenso should hnvo boon led to tho beliof that Now Zoaland was peculiarly tho scouo of such phenomena, wo are, for the present, inolinod to attribute to the unavoidable scantiness of his information as to what had already been obsorvod by othor naturalist*. A largo number of tho plant* which ho oaUloguos in support of his theory, appear to have boon gathered duriug an excursion on the Uuahine range, and had already boon found in

• jymdaphtui. t Pittotporum Cobmoi, A rUtoUUa OoUntoi, and Melrotidtrot CoUnaH

:',VarioWsS^sio*^^^ , at least, o^the^thewM^^n^^*!' Kinlf^ibeenA^uaidfJinlttherr'par^s^ofth^ North Island. *We have nothih^' to> olfr' i jeotf to his .Beuigf unacquainted with these faots,j since the means* bif informing Hmf < self dldiridt ■exist. ' But we ; do -btijeot^to his unwarrantable generalisation from the few, facts which he had himself 'discovered;, :»nd<toUhel tenderness !v with ; which' he appears to olingi to thi» child of'his imagination: A little reflection^might have enabled him to steer clear of such a barren speculation. Because Corjyrosmarepena and Catabrosa aAvtwrctka have as yet only been found on the highest peaks of the Rua^bines and on the desolate shores of Campbell's Island, are we jump to the conclusion that there is some peculiarity about vegetable life in New Zealand, not found elsewhere, which occasions' such local isolation of species ? Rather we should remember how few intervening situations suitable to the growth of such shrubs and grasses can as yet have been fully ex> ■olored. ■ ;

In reviewing Darwin's statement that "New Zealand in its endemic plants is much more closely related to Australia, the nearest' main land, than to any other region," we think Mr Oolenso has been more fortunate than in the speculation to which we have been referring. Every addition to bur knowledge of the subject leads more and more to the conclusion that the flora of New Zealand in its general peculiarities is rather a remnant of that which may, at some very distant geological date, have prevailed over a continental area now occupied by the Southern Pacific. His conclusion that we must accept a "Southern Botanical insular region, of which New Zealand is probably about the existing centre," is a fair deduction from the facts he surveys, and does not in any way clash with the hypothesis to whu* h we refer. In the concluding portion of his essay, which treats of the Economio Botany of the North Island, Mr Colenso ably sums up the researches of many years. This chapter is of peculiar value, and it may be accounted a fortunate circumstance that the results of his observations have thus been given to the world. That portion of it which describes the plants used as food and for other purposes by the Maori of former days, and the manner in which they were prepared or otherwise dealt with by the Natives before the white man came among them, forirs an admirable supplement to the purely Ethnological KBsays which conclude the volume. From this part of his work we should be tempted to extract, did our space permit. It is full of curious information, the opportunity of collecting which will necessarily be denied to future naturalists, and on the Bubjeot of whioh it treats, it must become the standard of reference for future writers.

Turning to the essay on the botany of the Middle Island, the mind is suddenly diverted from the immediate subject in hand by the remarkable beauty of that portion of it contributed by Sir David Monro. We need hardly say that there is, in the majority of the papers before us, little pretention to Btyle. Here, however, without pretension, we have so near an approach to perfection in this particular that every reader mnst be struck by it. The contrast, on passing from the peculiar and unfortunate style of the essay we have just beon considering, is in the highest decree pleasant We are sure that no one, however little interested in the subject matter, will fail to spend a delightful half hour, if he will follow the writer through the forests and up the mountain sides of Nelson and Marlborough, whilst he discourses on the varied aspoots of nature whioh there He around him. Nor ia the contrast merely with the mediocrity of other contributors to tho Transactions that enables him to command ouradmiration for this beautiful Essay. Beside it, the clear incisive stylo of the Editor, and the flowing periods of His Excellency's inaugural address, appear equally tame. Sir David Monro does not approach his task in the manner of tho writer we have just been reviewing. His treatment of tho subject is almost entirely in general terms, and all that mass of detail whioh will render the Essay of Mr Oolenso so valuable to the student is omitted. In this respect Mr Travers, in his comparison between the Flora of Canterbury and that of tho northern portion of tho island, has to a groat extent, followed him, Both those Essiys aw», however, highly interesting in thomsolves, and Cull of information. They will, wo hope, in some early volume of tho Transactions, be supplemonlod by thoao catalogues of local flora which are required by tho botsnioal student, ana which it should bo one of tho first cares of tho Directors of tho Now ZoaUad Tni stitnto to obtatn from ovory part of tho colony. Mr Buohanan's "Skotoh of tho Botany of OUgo" is written upon moro •cicntiflc principles, and is an admirablo paper. A oomploto lilt of the flowonng plant* which bad Txxm found to tho pro* tinoouptotho date of tho Stt&y i*»p*

as wett to illtistr^ in the ? ' body > b'£ ■ titit, Eosajr afvtbthe pecu-; liar geographical distribution of- plants within* the^province;' ' Mr l! Bu6lianan con'-s aiders that the; 1 eastern* v atid '. -W-eHtern 1 bb|-tanicai'-rejgiotfa^of l Otago are 'clearly divided- by-the^urde of *the river Cluthfc ." Although one 'or iwo genera," he says, "push outposts acrpSß' the boundary^ it' can be distinctly traced from the 'Wanaka lake to the Nuggets, on the line of the river. " The paper which 1 Dr Hector has ' contributed as a preface to these Essays on Middle Island Botany, is chiefly occupied with this Subject, into which he enters still more fully than Mr Buchanan has done. Dr Hector defines an ; eastern, a western, and a central district, distinguished alike by climate and by peculiarities of vegetation. The western portion of the province is peculiarly wet; and this^ taken in connection . with .its geological characteristics', may well account for the peculiarities of its flora. Its lofty mountain ranges, however, discharge the moist south-west winds of their vapors, and from the line of the Clutha river, until we approach the eastern coast, we find an arid region. Of the eastern region, Dr Hector saya— "The mixed bush of the east coast presents a marked difference from that of 'the west ; on the whole, the timber is better grown and of larger size, and there is a much greater variety of pines." Mr Buchanan gives a long list of plants which acquire their maximum growth on this coast. In making this comparison he refers not merely to other parts of the province, but to all parts of New Zealand where the speoies in question are found ; "no where," he adds, in New Zealand can so large a representation of certain genera be found as on Mount Oargillnear Dunedin ; as two instances of this — fourteen Bpeciel of hymenophyllnm ferns out of fifteen known in New Zealand have been collected there, and thirteen species of Hookeria moss out of sixteen species known in New Zealand*

The botanical papers, which are printed in tho body of the transactions, are among the best in the volume, being full of information on the particular subjects with which they deal. Mr Kirk, of Auckland, contributes two papers, one on the plants observed during a visit to the country north of Auckland, and the other on the botany of the two Barrier Islands at the mouth of the Hauraki Gulf. To the latter in appended a lengthy catalogue of the plants collected. At the third meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society, a paper was read by Mr Travers on " Hybridization with reference to variation in plants," and another by Mr Buchanan on " Variation in jtfew Zealand Flora." Only the first of these ispublished, Mr Buchanan's being stated to be " reserved," a circumstance which will, we have no doubt, cause as much disappointment to others as it has done to ourselves.

The attention of Mr Travers waa drawn to the subject of his paper by a letter from Dr Hooker, in which that learned botanist suggested the probability that the extraordinary degree of variation which characterises almost all species of the wide spread genus Veronica might be caused by natural hybridization. In hie communication to the Wellington Philo* Bophioal Society Mr Travers explains the grounds on which he concluded against this hypothesis. His conclusions are founded upon certain theoretical views, but the argument from the actual circumstances in which the variations alluded to by Dr Hooker actually take place, support in a very convincing manner the results of his deductive reasoning. The paper hardly admits of condensation, and we must content ourselves with a quotation which will exhibit pretty clearly tho line of his argument. After stating that the Veronicas which affect exclusively high or low levels vary very little indeed m their mono prominent charaoters,h© proceeds :— "It Is only in the intermediate zone amongst the innumerable gullies and valleys whioh occur in mountain districts" (presenting of course innumerable varieties of soil and aspect), "that any great number of varieties are found." From careful observation* on plants affecting these situations he concludes that tho variations which ore so puzzling to the botanist may be accounted for by "tho fact that w© have condonaod within the narrow area of tho Middle Island a varioty of geological, and of resulting climatal and other physical conditions, only to bo found in an immensely wider area elsewhere, and that honoe all the observed variotios may in a great measure be assigned to the modifying influenoet of varying external causes." His goneral conclusion is, that except under domostlcation, hybridization is not an offieient agent in producing permanent changes of struoture, An Interesting nooount of a botanical expedition to the Chatham Islands, made by Mr H. H. Tr*Ytt» in 1864, It loolodod

insUtutebfOa^t^biiry^Miß^B^AS* ibyhlsVftoheir^ol;^ . Phonhiititi tenfy4&&<ify nbtmthXtaldiiig, allthathaslJeenßMd on this Bubject since its'dat&V' may stillib&read with B)?ofitwb^ those ihtferested*hi the; devdopienient' X)f >whdt mustherekftiir he* ono of our mb^t<imporUnt*iridustries: -given 1 from a paper on the ' pr^aratibfl Native' Flax>"^ read»bef6re 'the; Aucklandj Institute by' Dr Paroh'aa:' The'ebiiversar, tion which fdllbWed^'thetea'din^ of 'this paper is also pretty fully reported; 1 > l