INTRODUCTION. 
Tue subjects treated of in this work are ar- 
ranged with the view of attracting rather than 
fatiguing the mind of the student or reader. 
Hence I have dispensed, as far as possible, 
with the more concise methods and quotations 
from authority consulted which is to be found 
in the average text-book. 
I make no claim to originality. I have merely 
gleaned from the standard authors the material 
which I have thus arranged in what I hope 
will prove an attractive form, giving the sim- 
plest terms compatible with the botanical, med- 
ical, and physiological description of plants 
and animals, with the origin, name, order, 
class, habit, adulterant, constituents, prepar- 
ation, medical effects and dose. I have also 
_ inserted, for the better comprehension of the 
student and reader, tables showing the two 
systems of botany, as also a list of natural or- 
ders used in this work. 
This book is not expected to supply the place 
of the larger works on the same subject. It is 
merely intended to simplify the labors of the 
student, or prove an easy reference for those to 
whom the subject matter is already familiar. 
