a ^tolerable botanist has been made by these works, and 

 still more collectors, ever upon the alert to assemble the 

 curious and new objects of their pursuit, that they may 

 behold them a part of the general history of nature, and 

 be taught their story, and while they themselves become 

 the means of having a value stamped upon things which 

 had none before. A plant, for instance, that is to remain 

 unknown to its possessor except by the fugitive blossom or 

 till the owner becomes a botanist, is valueless and escapes 

 attention; while by the publications to which we allude, 

 the pursuits and expenses of the collector and the florist, 

 otherwise lost and useless, are i*endered - important to 

 knowledge, are made to enlarge the sphere of its activity,- 

 as well as to contribute to the amount of its treasures. It is 

 not much above thirty years that a work of this kind ap- 

 peared amongst us, and the diffusion of a taste for the 

 study of nature has, to our certain knowledge and obser- 

 vation, at least kept pace with that appearance. Formerly 

 the rarest vegetable bloomed for its master alone, or per- 

 haps to the desert air ; now a blossom no Sooner expands 

 than its representative is spread, not only over this country, 

 but in a short period reaches the abode of every Botanist, 

 even of him who dwells at the foot of Mount Caucasus, 

 and makes an addition to the general fund of literature, 

 while it brings in contact the learned and lovers of this 

 science in every region. 



The reference to a figure enables the inhabitant of Pe- 

 tersburgh and Vienna to acquire the plant he wishes to pos- 

 sess from the nurseryman in London ; while a name with- 

 out a figure had long proved a source of irreme(tiable 

 confusion and imposition between the two. 



The more costly works, published by the assistance of 

 the continental governments, are useful only to the rich 

 and to the student who has access to their libraries ; to the 

 bulk of mankind they are unknown and of no avail. To 

 detect a species, in the general enumerations of plants, 

 is only within the power of one already versed in this 

 science ; to others these works are unfathomable. 



The vulgar complaint of the use of technical or bard 

 terms is inconsiderate : botany, as an accurate study, Ife 

 the sister departments of natural history, is compairativi^ 

 a new branch of knowledge. Parts are now spoken of j and. 

 brought within the sphere of observation, that were neitiier 



