PREFACE. xi 
I am by no means ambitious to excite an in- 
terest in the subjects of this work, by exaggerated 
accounts of virtues which do not belong to them. 
Much harm has been in medicine, by the partial 
representations of those, who, having a point to 
prove, have suppressed their unsuccessful experi- 
ments, and brought into view none but favorable 
facts. If, from a desire of avoiding error, I have 
not always been able to establish fully the charac- 
ter of a native vegetable, it will be recollected 
that many foreign drugs, which have been for 
centuries in use, have still an unsettled reputation 
as to their powers and modes of operating. 
—— 
The figures of the present yolume have been 
engraved and coloured from original drawings, 
made principally by myself. Dissections of the 
flower and fruit have been added to each for the 
use of botanical students. The subsequent por- 
tions of the work will be issued as rapidly as is 
consistent with their faithful execution. 
At the end will be added an appendix or sup- 
plement, containing such facts relative to the 
plants already published, as may haye come to 
light since their publication. 
