DEFINITION OF BOTANY. Q 



1st, The physiology of plants, or a knowledge of the 

 structure and functions of their different parts ; 2dly, 

 Tlie systematical arrangement and denomination of 

 their several kinds ; and 3dly, Their oeconomical or 

 medical properties. All these ohjects should he kept 

 in view by an intelligent botanist. The two first are 

 of essential service to each other, and the last is only 

 to be pursued, with any certainty, by such as are versed 

 in the other two. The present publication is intended 

 to explain the fundamental principles of them all, with 

 as much practical illustration as may be necessary for 

 those who wish to become well acquainted with this 

 delightful science. Botany has one advantage over 

 many other useful and necessary studies, that even its 

 first beginnings are pleasing and profitable, though 

 pursued to ever so small an extent ; the objects with 

 which it is conversant are in themselves charming, and 

 they become doubly so to those who contemplate them 

 with the additional sense, as it were, which science 

 gives ; the pursuit of these objects is an exercise no 

 less healthful to the body, than the observation of their 

 laws and characters is to the mind. 



In studying the functions of the Vegetable frame, 

 we must constantly remember that it is not merely a 

 collection of tubes or vessels holding different fluids, 

 but that it is endowed-with life, and consequently able 

 not only to imbibe particular fluids, but to alter their 

 nature according to certain laws, that is, to form pecu- 

 liar secretions. This is the exclusive property of a 



