Ixvi I N T R O D U C T I O K. 



" But, perhaps, no part of knowledge has been fo great 

 " a gainer by the late voyages, as that of botany. We 

 «' are told* that, at leaft, twelve hundred new plants have 

 ♦' been added to the known fyftem; and that very con- 

 " fiderable additions have been made to every other branch 

 " of natural hiflory, by the great fkill and induftry of Sir 

 *' Jofeph Banks, and the other gentlemen t who have accom- 

 *' panied Captain Cook for that purpofe." 



To our naval officers in general, or to their learned afTo- 

 ciates in the expeditions, all the foregoing improvements of 

 knowledge may be traced ; but there is one very fingular 

 improvement indeed, flill behind, for which, as we are [o\e]y 

 indebted to Captain Cook, let us ilate it in his own words ; 

 «' Whatever may be the public judgment about other mat- 

 " ters, it is with real fatisfa(5tion, and without claiming any 

 " merit bat that of attention to my duty, that I can con- 

 " elude this account wi[h an obfervation, which facts en- 

 " able me to make, that our having difcovered the poffibi- 

 *' lity of preferving health amongft a numerous fliip's com- 

 *' pany, for fuch a length of time, in fuch varieties of cli- 

 *' mate, and amidft. fuch continued hardfhips and fatigues,, 

 " will make this voyage remarkable, in the opinion of 

 " every benevolent perfon, when the difputes about a South- 

 " ern continent fhall have ceafed to engage the attention* 

 " and to divide the judgment of philofophers ij;." 



* See Dr. Shepherd's Preface, as above, 



f Dr. Solande'-, Dr. Forfter and his fon, and Dr. Sparman. Dr. Forfter has 

 given us a fpeclmen of the botanical difcoveries of his voyage in the Cbara"c7-es Ge- 

 7!eru»i Plantarum, &c. and much curious philofophical matter is contained in his 

 Obfervations made in a Voyage round the World. Dr. Sparman alfo, on his return to 

 Sweden, favoured us with a publication, in which he expatiates on the advantages 

 accruing to natural hiitory, to agronomy, geography, general phyfics, and naviga- 

 tion, from our South Sea voyages.. 



X Cook's Voyage, Vol. ii. p. 203. 



5. But 



