ll PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
student, and his sentiments on the subject are well evinced 
in the following beautiful words :-— 
The desire which tends to know 
The works of God, thereby to glorify 
The great work-master, leads to no excess 
That reaches blame, but rather merits praise 
The more it seems excess. 
It is always desirable that some branch of Natural His- 
tory should be introduced into the education of the young, 
not only to relieve them from the less attractive studies now 
deemed so necessary, but to give a taste for amusements 
which improve the mind, and contribute to the health. 
The author may here repeat what she has mentioned in 
the work, that this treatise is not intended to teach the 
physiology of plants, with all the wonderful and interesting 
history of their structure, but solely to assist the student 
in taking the first step,—that of becoming familiar with the 
classification and the names of the common British plants, 
so that reference may be made without difficulty ‘to more 
