"(€ 935 ) 
XV. A Botanical History ef the Genus Tofieldia. By Sir James 
Edward Smith, M.D. F.R.S. P. L.S. 
Read January 21, 1817. 
NorwirusrANDING the assiduous labours of so many acute 
and learned men in the field of Botany for three centuries past, 
much still remains to be done in the mere determination of spe- 
cies. All our care and watchfulness are still requisite, to keep 
the science clear of confusion, even in the history and discrimi- 
nation of Europæan plants. No accurate and scientific student 
will find any want of employment, or of well-deserved credit, in 
the exclusive cultivation of this field. The more familiar the 
plants, the less carefully have they, often, been studied, and the 
more numerous their synonyms, the greater is the chance of ac- 
cumulated and intricate mistakes. ‘Those who are competent to 
devote themselves to this branch of scientific inquiry, will wisely 
avoid all loss of time about matters of opinion, concerning which, 
men more learned and experienced than themselves have differed, 
but which are in general sufficiently settled for all practical uses, 
though they might be debated upon for ever, ‘without any incon- 
trovertible conclusion. Such are many of the genera in dispute 
between Linnæus and other authors; in alluding to which, I by 
no means wish to deter young botanists from the study of genera, 
one of the most instructive that they can pursue. But to learn 
and to teach are very different things. I cannot too often pro 
test against those more tempting roads to immortality, gratuitous 
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