INTRODUCTORY PREFACE. 



Before the different languages which are now common 

 among men were developed, various animate and inanimate 

 objects were made use of instead of words, for the purpose 

 of giving expression to thoughts. Animals, birds, and flowers 

 were emblems of individuals and their characteristics ; and 

 though sometimes erroneously assigned, they are yet very 

 generally adopted. 



Lions and foxes, eagles and hawks, and an almost endless 

 number of quadrupeds and fowls of the air, have been thus 

 applied and are still ; yet, since most of us are little familiar 

 with beasts and birds of prey, in these days of high civiliza- 

 tion, it is natural that we should make choice of objects which 

 are mixed up with our daily life, when we desire to give 

 expression to our opinions or feelings by means of symbols 

 rather than words. 



In the vegetable kingdom we find objects most suitable 

 for this purpose. VVe live in the midst of trees, and flowering 



