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CHAPTER II. 



DEFINITION or NATURAL HISTORY, AND 

 PARTICULARLY BOTANY. — OF THE GE- 

 NERAL TEXTURE OF PLANTS. 



Natural History properly signifies that 

 study by which we learn to distinguish from 

 one another the natural bodies, whether Ani- 

 mal, Vegetable or Mineral, around us; to dis- 

 cover as much as possible their nature and pro-^ 

 perties, and especially their natural depen- 

 dence on each other in the general scale of 

 beings. In a more extensive sense it may 

 be said to teach their secondary properties, 

 or the various uses to which they have been, 

 or may be, converted, in the service of man- 

 kind or of other animals ; inasmuch as an ac-r 

 quaintance with their natural qualities is our 

 only sure guide to a knowledge of their arti- 

 ficial uses. But as this definition would in- 



