PREFACE. XV 



far be pursued without rewarding the student 

 by exciting them. 



Rousseau, a great judge of the human heart 

 and observer of human manners, has remarked, 

 that " when science is transplanted from the 

 mountains and woods into cities and worldly so- 

 ciety, it loses its genuine charms, and becomes 

 a source of envy, jealousy and rivalship/' This 

 is still more true if it be cultivated as a mere 

 source of emolument. But the man who loves 

 botany for its own sake knows no such feelings, 

 nor is he dependent for happiness on situations 

 or scenes that favour their growth. He would 

 find himself neither solitary nor desolate, had 

 he no other companion than a " mountain 

 daisy,'' that " modest crimson-tipped flower," 

 so sweetly sung by one of Nature's own poets. 

 The humblest weed or moss will ever afford 

 him something to examine or to illustrate, and 

 a great deal to admire. Introduce him to the 

 magnificence of a tropical forest, the enamelled 

 meadows of the Alps, or the Monders of New 

 Holland, and his thoughts will not dwell much 

 upon riches or literary honours, things that 



'• Play round the head, but come not near the heart.'* 



One idea is indeed worthy to mix in the pure 



