INTRODUCTION* vii 



they arc dazzled with the splendour of the ca 

 and the beauty of the appendages, but look 

 no further, because they know not where to 

 look. The artist, while he enjoys the exter- 

 nal covering-, looks into the interior, and as 

 he regards the movements and learns their 

 various uses, he is struck with admiration at 

 the ingenuity of the mechanism. The bota- 

 nist has the same delight when he looks into 

 the blossoms of flowers ; for he there beholds 

 the wonderful works of the Almighty with 

 amazement — there he sees movements and 

 regulations, with which all the combined 

 ingenuity of man cannot compare. 



We may learn even from profane history 

 how much the study of vegetable nature in- 

 duces the mind to its proper sense of grati- 

 tude, and how much it created in the breasts 

 of the heathens themselves a veneration and 

 religious awe for the Author of all things : 

 for although they were not blessed with a 

 knowledge of pure religion, they had too 

 much good sense to suppose that vegetation 

 was a matter of chance; and they there- 

 fore attributed each gift of nature to some 



