From Henry P. Sarlwell, M.D., of Pennyan, N. Y. 



After a thorough examination of Wood's Class-Book of Botany, I 

 have no hesitation in pronouncing it superior to any work now in use 

 as a text-book, and every way better adapted to the use of beginners. 

 The analytical tables are a great improvement, and will very much as- 

 sist the student in the analysis of plants. The union also of Physiolo- 

 gical and Practical Botany will be duly appreciated by the botanical 

 student. I have compared many of Mr. Wood's descriptions with the 

 plants, and find them uncommonly correct. I shall take pleasure in 

 recommending the work, as a text-book, in all our schools where the 

 science is taught. HENRY P. SARTWELL, M.D. 



From President Hitchcock, of Amherst College. 



I have examined with a good deal of interest, Mr. Wood's Class- 

 Book of Botany ; and I am glad to find that it comes nearer what 

 seems to me to be wanted in most of our Colleges and Academies, than 

 any work with which I am acquainted. But what will render Mr. 

 Wood's work peculiarly acceptable to a large portion of students, is, 

 that while he has given a condensed summary of structural and physio- 

 logical botany, he has added descriptions of all the native and most of 

 the cultivated plants of the United States north of the latitude of 

 Washington, D. C, and thus rendered it unnecessary for the scholar 

 to obtain two separate works. And though this may seem to some to 

 be truckling to a penny-wise system of economy in the study of science, 

 yet with a large proportion of students in the country, the alternative 

 lies between adopting it and not studying plants at all. The work of 

 Mr. Wood appears to me extremely well adapted to most of our Col- 

 leges and Academies. His tables of Analysis appear to me to be an 

 improvement upon the analogous tables presented by Lindiey in his 

 Ladies' Botany ; and they must afford much assistance to the beginner. 



EDWARD HITCHCOCK, 



President of Amherst College. 

 From Dr. Gould, Boston. 



I have examined the " Class-Book of Botany," by Alphonso Wood, 

 and think it well designed and well executed. The elementary portion 

 is brief but comprehensive, conforming to the latest discoveries in vege- 

 table physiology, and well illustrated by wood-cuts. The definitions 

 are perspicuous and well arranged. The classification according to the 

 Natural System is accompanied by ingenious synoptical tables, leading 

 to the discovery of the genera under their Natural Orders. It professes 

 to give also a Flora of the Northern United States; and so far as I can 

 judge, the catalogue of plants is very complete, and the descriptions of 

 them seem sufficiently accurate and minute, so as to leave little else to 

 be desired by the student of Botany. Combining, as it does, so good a 

 digest of elementary and descriptive botany lor the region, in so small 

 a space, it appears to me worthy of high commendation, and destined to 

 extensive use. AUGUSTUS A. GOULD. 



From the American Journal of Arts and Sciences. 



This work is constructed on the Natural System, and has been a great 

 desideratum for several years. \{s element.s oC Botanical Science con- 

 tain a faithful, clear and definite view of the principles taught by De 

 CandoUe, Lindiey, Gray, Torrey, &c., the Classes, Orders and Genera 

 are all founded on the same authorities, and its descriptions of speci- 

 mens, comprising all the plants of New England, tlie Middle and West- 



