INTRODUCTORY PREFACE. 
ee a 
om Tue author of the § following work has long seen, and with. 
regret, the want of something like a general, systematic trea- 
tise upon the different branches appertaining to medicine, 
on a plan adapted to the peculiar profession of Botanic Phy- 
sicians ; and he has looked anxiously for some one, more com- 
petent to the task, to undertake it. But as yet, no work of the — 
nature of the one proposed, even professedly, has appeared, | 
that Iam aware of. Many boas, indeed, have bean written = 
upon botany ; but they have chiefly been either a s scientifi’sc = 
sification of plants, unconnected with their medicinal) I roper-~ J 
ties ; or, mere fugitive treatises upon the medical qualities and 5 
uses of particular plants, which, though very useful as far as s 
they go, were not intended by their authors as a general guide 
for the practice of physic. Impelled, then, by the necessity of _ 
~ awork, such as is proposed above, the author has attempted 2y 
in the following pages, to supply it: how far he has succeed- — 
ed, others will determine. This, however, he can confident- ee 
dy. assure the members of the Botanic Profession, that in his _ 
hands the treatment of diseases recommended has proved ~ 
eminently successful ; and it would be but a poor compliment 
to his Botanic Brethren to suppose that in their hands it would 2 = 
not be equally efficacious. 
It will not be denied, that the depressed and almost out- _ 
_ lawed condition under which Botanic Practitioners have 
. bored in modern times, is in a great measure owii 
defisoney. of a g cebsinnsiels vomprehensire § 
