[Footnote 39: "Not that I think there was more rain in the _earlier part of summer_ than the potato crop could absorb, for it is known to require a large supply of moisture in its growing state, in order to acquire a full development of all its parts. It was observable, however, that the rain increased as the season advanced, and after the potato plant had reached its full development. It is, therefore, probable that the increased moisture, which was not then wanted by the plant, would become excessive; and this moisture, along with the low temperature, may have produced such chemical change in the sap as to facilitate the putrefaction of the entire plant. As to the theories with respect to the presence of a fungus, or of insects, in the plant, I consider these as a mere exponent of the tendency to a state of putrefaction; such being the usual accompaniments of all vegetable and animal decay."] [Footnote 40: "I remember the wet seasons of 1816 and 1817. There was then no rot in the potato; but, during the whole of those rainy seasons, we had not the _continued cold_ weather which we have this year experienced."] INDEX TO VOL. LVIII. Account of a Visit to the Volcano of Kirauea, in the Island of Owhyhee, 591. Agriculture round Lucca, 619. Alas, for her! from the Russian of Púshkin, 141. Alpine scenery, sketches of, 704. American war, causes which fostered the, 721. Andes, description of the, 555. André Chenier, from the Russian of Púshkin, 154. Anti-corn-law League, strictures on the, 780. Apparitions, &c., letter to Eusebius on, 735. Armfelt, Count, 59. Arndt, notices of, 332, 333. Art, causes of the absence of taste for, 414. Avernus, lake, 489. Bacon, political essays of, 389. Baiæ, 488. Barclay de Tolly, from the Russian of Púshkin, 40. Baron von Stein, 328. Barri, Madame du, 730, 733. Bazars of Constantinople, the, 688. Beaumont, Sir George, 258, 262. Bell's Messenger, extract from, on the prices of grain, 779. Betterton's version of Chaucer, remarks on, 114. Bettina, sketch of the life, &c., of, 357. Biographical sketch of Frank Abney Hastings, 496. Black Shawl, the, from Púshkin, 37. Blanc, Mont, on the scenery of, 707. Blenheim, battle of, 18. Boas, Edward, sketches of Sweden, &c. by, 56. Bossuet's Universal History, characteristics of, 390. Bottetort, Lord, anecdote of, 724. Bowles, W. L., on the Dunciad, 251. Boyhood, a reminiscence of, by Delta, 408. Brabant, conquest of, by Marlborough, 665. Bread, causes of the present dearness of, 772. Bremer, Miss, the Swedish novelist, 62. Brentford election, the, 725. Brienz, scenery of the lake of, 705. British critics, North's specimens of the, --No. VI.--Supplement to Dryden on Chaucer, 114. --No. VI.--MacFlecnoe and the Dunciad, 229. --No. VIII.--Supplement to the same, 366. Bulwer's Last of the Barons, remarks on, 350, 353.