It is worth the while I of the next author on the "evolution " of language to inquire what influence the typographical error has on change. It is a very natural mistake to print spire for spike, and in our experience we have to continually run our pencil through the printer's r. In like manner, the compositor is more familiar with scrubs than shrubs, and unless the proof reader is versed in technicalities, scrub is very likely to prevail. We were reminded by a recent article on the " Tropical Scrubs of Queensland," in The Scientific American, how often we meet with the same expression in the public prints; and even first class agricultural journals are just as likely to tell us of the spires of grass as of their spikes.