ISOf Considerations on Botany^ 



add, perhaps, a little tin case * , in which to bring home 

 and to preserve the plants, until they can be examined at 

 leisure. Oh, what delight does the young botanist experience, 

 when he first ascertains a plant by his own observation of its 

 natural characters ! With what interest is every new flower 

 added to his store of knowledge ! and when more advanced, 

 and the common plants of the neighbourhood have become 

 familiar, how welcome is the sight of a plant that he does not 

 know ! What ecstasy, if it be a rare one ! What consciousness 

 of wealth in adding to the daily increasing herbarium ! I 

 speaSt of the herbarium as a thing of course : for every young 

 botanist, whose love of flowers is genuine, will be earnest to 

 preserve specimens of the plants he examines; to serve, at 

 once, as trophies and memorials. 



I am the more zealous in my desire to extend a taste 

 for this delightful science, from my confidence in its favour- 

 able tendencies. I look upon botany as a study calculated 

 to improve both the mind and the body : it accustoms us to 

 arrange our ideas ; fixes our attention upon objects the most 

 worthy of contemplation, and the best fitted to excite our 

 admiration and gratitude ; gives an inexpressible charm to 

 our rural walks ; and, while it lures us abroad, and tempts 

 us to take a greater portion of exercise, it gives us health as 

 well as occupation and amusement. " The study of English 

 botany," says Dr. Aikin, " caused several summers to glide 

 away with me, in more pure and active delight, than almost 

 any other single object ever afforded me. It rendered every 

 walk and ride interesting, and converted the plodding rounds 

 of business into excursions of pleasure." f 



Most persons extend their affections, more or less, beyond 

 their own species : men love horses and dogs ; some have 

 taken delight in pet bears or tigers ; ladies keep rabbits, 

 squirrels, silkworms, birds, &c. None of these playthings 

 affords so much amusement as flowers, with equal innocence. 

 It may seem very startling to question the innocence of such 

 pursuits ; but what would be our opinions on the subject, 

 could we, for a moment, fancy ourselves in the place of any 

 one of these imprisoned favourites ? Is it by choice that the 

 giddy squirrel has forsaken the trees in which he used to 

 frolic ? Does he prefer the confinement of his cage ; or, is 



* Called by botanists a vdsculmn, but more readily obtained by the title 

 of a sajidwich-box ; being precisely the same thing, and the latter name 

 being more'familiar to the tinman. 



^ Memoirs of Dr. Aikin, vol. i. p. 36. , 



