VJ 



PREFACE. 



his main o1jec!: is to rouse attention to so interesting a sul ject, an3 

 thereby create a spirit ot enquiry. To attain this purpose, no mode 

 ot" jiuhlication can be better calculated than that ot distinct numbers 

 at distant intervals; and, to afford every opportunity of" communicar 

 tion, either for improvem.ent or correction, the articles to be contain- 

 ed in each succeeding number, vviih occasional oueries, will be enu- 

 merated on the cover of the one previously published. 



Should the attempt, thus ushered before the public, be \vell sup 

 ported, it is not easy to antiei|)ate the benefical consequences that 

 mav arise therefrom; and it is presumed that no one will be so selfish 

 as to conceal fi'om his fellow-creatures any useful information, con- 

 ( erniu';? the plants of this island, while so ready a channel is open 

 for its conveyance. No o!)ject can be more laudable than that of 

 contributing towards the improvement of the human understanding, 

 or of extending the common stock of useful knowledge, and thereby 

 iucreaiing the general comforts ot mankind. 



Of all the branches of science none is of more importance or of 

 more universal utility, none more pleasing to the student, than bota- 

 ny-,* and none where the materials of study are so easily procured ; 



for 



, * 'Mr. Smilh, the prcsidont of the Linnrnn Society, very justly observes, in his Introduction to 

 Botany, that to medical grnlleimn a knowledge ot that scirnce is indisiKnsaldy mcissary, and 

 siiould form an essential part of tluir cducalion. The loUowing relation, <Mracied Ironi Ciirlis' 

 Lectures on Botany, evinces the necessity, and cannot be too gm. rally known; it was conuuu- 

 nicaled to Mr. Curtis, by Mr. Lowe, suryrijn at Preston, in the foUov. iu^ woids: 



" On Thursday the 3lh ot June. Mr. I'r. ckletoii, a healihy strong man, about thirty-five years 



of a?e, a publican in the town, eat a handful of fools pai-sley, with nearly the same qunntity of 



young leltuce, about one o'clock at noon ; in about ten minutes he was all' cted with a [>ain and 



iicirdness in his stomach and bowels, atieuded with a rumbling. lie walked out into the fielils, 



but 



