MANUAL OF BOTANY. 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
THE various bodies which are situated on the surface of the 
earth, or combined so as to form its substance, are naturally 
arranged, both by the common observer and scientific investi- 
gator, in three great divisions, called, respectively, the Animal, 
Vegetable, and Mineral Kingdoms; and as those comprised in the 
two former are possessed of life, they form the Organic creation ; 
while those of the latter, not being endowed with life, constitute 
the Inorganic creation. It is our province in this work to treat 
of the lower members of the organic world, called Plants or Vege- 
tables. The science which has this for its object is termed 
Botany, from the Greek word Sordvy signifying an herb or grass. 
DEPARTMENTS OF Botany.—Botany in its extended sense 
embraces everything that has reference to plants either in a 
living or fossil state. It investigates their nature ; their in- 
ternal structure ; their outward forms ; the laws by which they 
are enabled to grow and propagate themselves; and their 
relations to one another, and to the other bodies by which they 
are surrounded. As a science, therefore, it is of vast extent, 
and one which requires for its successful prosecution the most 
careful and systematic study. It may be divided into the 
following departments :—1. Morphological Botany, or the Com- 
parative Anatomy of Plants: this comprises everything which 
relates to the outward forms of plants and their various parts 
or organs. 2. Structural Botany: this treats of plants and 
their organs in reference to their internal structure, including 
the description of elementary structure, or Vegetable Histology. 
3. Physiological Botany : this comprises the study of plants, and 
their organs, in a state of life or action. 4. Systematic Botany : 
this considers plants in their relations to one another, and com- 
prehends a knowledge of the principles upon which they are 
described, and of their arrangement and classification. 5. Geo- 
graphical Botany is that department which explains the laws 
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