PREFACE. vii 



have treated the subject differently. It 

 appears to me, therefore, that an intro- 

 ductory publication is still desirable in 

 this country, on an original plan, easy, 

 comprehensive, and fit for general use, 

 and such were the reasons which first 

 prompted me to the undertaking. 



When, however, I had proceeded a con- 

 siderable way in its execution, I found 

 that such a work might not only serve to 

 teach the first outlines of the science, but 

 that it might prove a vehicle for many ob- 

 servations, criticisms, and communications, 

 scarcely to be brought together on any 

 other plan; nor did it appear any objection 

 to the general use of the book, that, be- 

 sides its primary intention, it might be ca- 

 pable of leading into the depths of bota- 

 nical philosophy, whether physiological, 

 systematical, or critical, any student who 

 should be desirous of proceeding so far. 

 A volume of this size can indeed be but 



