PREFACE. 



M 



ANY books hayc been written upon the same 

 subject with this, but if one of them had 

 treated it in the same manner, this would haVe been 

 rendered unnecessary, and would never have employ- 

 ed the attention of its author. 



It is his opinion, that the true end of science ia 

 Mse ; and in tliis view, the present work has been 

 undertaken. It appears to him a matter of more 

 consequence, and a 8ubjeet of more satisfaction, 

 to have discovered the virtues of one herb unknown 

 tefore, than to have disposed into their proper 

 classes sixteen thousand ; nay, so far will a sense 

 of utility get the better of the pride of mere 

 curiosity, that he should suppose this a thing 

 preferable to be said of him, to the having dis- 

 covered some unknown species ; to having picked 

 from the bottom of some pond an undescribed con- 

 ferva ; or to having fetched, from the most remote 

 parts of the world, a kind of tree moss^ with heads 



larger than those at home. 



It grieves a man of public spirit and humanity^ 

 to see those things which are the means alone of 

 the advantages of mankind studied, while in thread 

 that advantage itself is forgotton. And in this 

 view he will regard a Culpepper as a more 

 respectable person than a Linnaeus or a Dille- 



^NIUS. 



That Botany is an useful study is plain ; bt- 



a*^ 



