PEEFACE. NEW YORK 

 BOTANfCAt 



The principal design of the author in the preparation of the 

 present volume was, to furnish a comprehensive, and, at the same 

 time, a practical guide, to the Properties and Uses of Plants, a 

 part of Botany which, in the majority of manuals, is but very 

 briefly alluded to. He hopes that in this respect the present 

 manual may serve as an introduction to works devoted particu- 

 larly to Materia Medica and Economic Botany, and thus form a 

 text-book of especial value to medical and pharmaceutical 

 students ; as well as a work of reference generally, for those 

 engaged in commercial pursuits who have daily to make use of 

 substances derived from the vegetable kingdom. 



Another prominent motive of the author was, to furnish the 

 pupils attending his lectures with a class-book, in which the 

 subjects treated of should be arranged, as far as possible, in the 

 same order as followed by him in the lectures themselves. 

 It may be noticed that this order differs in several respects from 

 that commonly followed, but long experience as a teacher has 

 convinced him that it is the most desirable one to be followed 

 by the student. Great pains have been taken in all departments 

 to bring the difi'erent subjects treated of down to the present 

 state of science; and much care has been exercised in condens- 

 ing the very numerous details bearing upon each department, 

 and in an-anging them for systematic study. 



The author makes no claims for this work to be regarded as 

 a co^pktejtra^ti^tpjfon the different departments of Botany; it is 



