lb STUDIES OF NATURE. 



what Boerhaave, his illuftrious Editor, fays of his 

 laborious refearches : 



Inciibuit qtiippe huic labor i ab anno 1696, ttfque in 

 Mariium 1722; toto qiiidem tanti decurju temporis in 

 eo occupatus Jemper^ nullum prateriens unquaniy ciijus 

 plantas hand excuteret, angulum : vias, agros, valles, 

 monies, borios, nemora-tjiagna, paludes^Jîiimina, ripas, 

 fojjas, puteos, undequaque Injirans. Contigit ergo, 

 crebro, ut detegeret maximi qua Toiirnefortii inten- 

 tijfimos oculos effugerant *. (Preface to the Botani- 

 con Parijienjey page 3 and 4.) 



Sebajîian le Vaillant, accordingly, employed no 

 lefs than twenty-fix whole years, in his own coun- 

 try, and with the affiflance of his pupils, in com- 

 pleting his botanical defcription of the plants of a 

 fevv fquare leagues ; whereas the perfons who pre- 

 tend to give us the Botany of many foreign coun- 



* He devoted his whole attention to this laborious under- 

 taking, from the year 1696 to March 1722. During a period 

 of fuch length, he was conftantly and unweariedly employed in 

 it, never paffing by the fmallefl corner without examining what 

 plants it contained. With the eye of an Obferver, he pried into 

 every place, the roads, fields, vailles, mountains, gardens, forefts, 

 pools, morafles, rivers, their banks, ditches, wells : hence he 

 had, frequently, the good fortune, to difcover many things 

 which efcaped even the eager eyes of the great Tournefort. 



tries, 



