as a Study for young People, 1 29 



is scattered abroad by thousands, unnoticed and unseen ! 

 See the long feathery seed-vessels of the willow-herb; exa- 

 mine with what completeness is formed each separate floret of 

 the many that compose the daisy. The daisy, which people 

 call a flower, — a flower? every daisy is in itself a bouquet; 

 a bunch of differing flowers, white and yellow 1 Lay under 

 the microscope the flower of the forget-me-not; the silken 

 stamens of the black mullein ; the tiny blossoms of the knot- 

 grass ; the leaves of the mountain St. John's-wort, and of the 

 perforated St. John's- wort, — its petals, too, edged on one side 

 with purple beads. Look but at the receptacle of the ^m- 

 mon dandelion ; thus magnified, it exhibits beauty well worth 

 the seeking. ■ '•' 



It is a notion with many, and one that I the better under-' 

 stand from having once partaken of it, that the study of 

 botany detracts from our pleasure in the beauty of flowers. 

 There is in flowers something of a poetic character, pleasure- 

 able and imaginative, which we fear to destroy by associations 

 so mechanical as classes, orders, genera, petals, stamens, &c. 

 The fear is groundless : we should rather look upon these 

 systematic niceties as a foreign grammar, which opens new 

 stores of poetry hitherto unintelligible to us. The mystery 

 that lies in the heart and first cause of every thing, still 

 remains the same, let us know as much as we can. 



One great drawback to the study of botany has been the 

 practice of writing botanical works altogether in the Latin 

 tongue ; but this is rather an ideal than a real obstacle ; 

 since, though such works are necessarily closed to those who 

 do not understand that language, there are many English 

 works on the subject ; quite sufficient to enable an English- 

 man to become a very good botanist. For a long period, in- 

 deed, science was carefully secured from the consideration of 

 females by its locks of Latin ; and, though the absurd preju- 

 dices against female education have, in a great measure, 

 yielded to the progress of the times, yet that language, not 

 being generally studied by ladies, still has power to scare 

 them from an attempt, of which it leads them to overrate the 

 difficulties ; and the sex is considerably indebted to some 

 naturalists of the present day, who have, as far as possible, 

 anglicised the terms of science, and simplified the subjects 

 of which they have treated. 



Let any one who is fond of flowers make the experiment ; 

 it may be made at very little expense ; any of the English 

 Introductions to Botany, Smith's English Flbra^ and a botani- 

 cal microscope, will suffice for the commencement. I should 

 Vol. L -- No. 2. k 



