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Xifc Ibietorv of a jfenu 



By (the late) J. W. Fisher. 



IN commencing the study of any branch of natural science, we 

 are confronted with two difficulties which must be overcome 

 if the student would make any progress ; these are, technical 

 phraseology and classification. The tendency of the present day 

 is, perhaps, to give undue prominence to the one and almost to 

 obliterate the other. A moment's consideration, however, will 

 show that both are necessary, in due proportion, to a clear and 

 intelligent comprehension of the several facts which form the 

 subject of investigation. 



Without an appropriate nomenclature, the definition of form, 

 structure, and properties would become a matter of insuperable 

 difficulty, and involve the use of so many words and phrases that 

 it would be almost impossible to follow the complicated sentences 

 which would be thus rendered necessary. Hence, every branch 

 of science has its own special technicalities, which, however useful 

 and indeed necessary to the student, are often peculiarly perplex- 

 ing to the non-scientific reader; while, if the practice is carried to 

 excess, as in some modern text-books, the memory becomes 

 burdened with hard words rather than stored with useful facts. 

 Bearing in mind that the present paper is not intended as a strictly 

 scientific treatise, but rather as a po[)ular digest of the interesting 

 phenomena presented in the life-history of a Fern, an attempt will 

 be made to dispense, as far as possible, with technical phraseology 

 wherever simpler language may be made available for the intelli- 

 gent exposition of the facts presented to the mind. 



Equally necessary is a system of classification which will 

 enable us to concentrate our field of view, arrange our facts, and 

 localise the phenomena under consideration. We are all familiar 

 with the general classification of material objects into Animal, 

 'Vegetable, and Mineral. Even in this broad generalisation, how- 

 ever, we must not expect to find a distinct line marking the 

 differentiation of these great classes, for although there may be 

 little difficulty in defining a horse as an animal, a cabbage as a 

 vegetable, and a piece of rock as a mineral, there are border- 



