h. A. 'CM 



EURMA, ITS TEOPLE AND PRODUCTIONS. 



BOTANY. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



IX a work professinp; to follow a natural arrangement, commencing -n-ith the lowest 

 forms of life and terminatini; with the highest, it might at first sight seem as 

 though Botany should precede Zoology ; hut in reality this is not so, as the two sister 

 kingdoms occupy more of a twin relationship to each other than a merely sequential 

 one, and it has heen observed touching this parallelism:' "Hence the ingenious 

 comparison of the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms to two trees, of which the tops are 

 far ajjart, while their roots interlace ; or to two cones, the tops of which are occupied 

 by the most perfect beings, while the juxtaposed bases are represented by a com- 

 mingling of inferior organisms"; or, in the words of Linnaeus, "!Xatura soeiat plantas 

 et animalia ; hoc faciendo, non connectit perfoctissimas plantas cum animalibus 

 niaximc! imperfectis, scd imperfecta animalia ct impcrfectas plantas consociat. Xaturaj 

 regna conjunguutur in minimis." The above sentence is the verdict of science. 



The more popular view is of course that the world was first clothed with 

 vegetation, thereby becoming fitted for the support of animal life. This is the view 

 set forth in the impressive record of Creation attributed to Moses, and of which the 

 following paraphrase by Vincent Bourne is worth (juoting for the delectation of 

 the classical reader : — 



" Obductas scd adhuc cclabant Kipiora terras. 

 Omnia poutus erant, jiissit cum cedere tluetus 

 Omni[)otens Opifex, undisque immensa profunda 

 I'orix^xit : jussic subito, velut agmine facto, 

 Conglomerantur aqua>, madidum caput cxerit undis 

 Fundus, et in valles liinc so submittit apertas, 

 Aerios illinc tollens ad sidera montes. 

 Inclusus soevit minitanti murmurc pontus 

 Attollit(iuc iras, et montes volvit acpuirum. 

 Frustra! perpetuas Xaturas providus anctor 

 Opposuit moles, atque insuperabile littus. 

 Scd s])arsim latis errabant fiumina campis, 

 Manabant gelidi vario sinuamine fontes, 

 * Dulci per pronas trepidantes murmure ripas; 



No sitiens terra informes aperiret hiatus, 

 Nc sterilis foret, atque iguavoD campus arena). 



' Descriptive and Analvtical Botanv, by Lo llaout and Decaisuc, p. 984. Translated by Mrs. 

 ii? Hooker, and edited by J. U. Hooker, C.Ii. 



