PREFACE. 



After the many elementary works on 

 Botany which have appeared in various 

 languages, any new attempt of the same 

 kind may, at first sight, seem unnecessary. 

 But when we consider the rapid progress 

 of the science within a few years, in the 

 acquisition and determination of new 

 plants, and especially the discoveries and 

 improvements in vegetable physiology ; 

 when we reflect on the views with which 

 those fundamental works of Linnaeus, the 

 basis of all following ones, were com- 

 posed, and to whom they were addressed, 

 we must be aware of their unfitness for 

 purposes of general and popular utility^ 



