reference to this translation hj tlie meritorious author or by the 

 l^harmaceutic Society of Victoria, which more particularly through 

 its President, Jos. Bosisto, Esq., M.P., and its Hon. Secretary, 

 C. E,. Blackett, Esq., promoted the issue of this English 

 edition. The delay, which ai'bse in the publication, has had how- 

 ever one advantage; it is this, that I was enabled to supplement 

 the original work with many additional notes on new and well 

 authenticated phyto-chemic data, which transpired during the 

 last few years, some claiming local originality here. These addi- 

 tions, for which I myself must take the responsibility, are distin- 

 guished by the marks of parenthesis, and have met with Dr. 

 Wittstein's approbation. The "Zeitschrift des allgemeinen cester- 

 re/chischen Äjjotheker-Vereins " was one of the main-sources of the 

 additional data, obtained for this translation. Moreover, in one 

 respect I have effected alterations in the original, for which the 

 author's concession was also obtained ; they consist in my re- writ- 

 ing the two chapters on the systematic names and arrangement of 

 all the plants, to chemical substances of which allusion is made in 

 the work. Researches on extended material, even since Professor 

 WiTTSTEiN issued his volume, have not only modified in many cases 

 the systematic limits of the orders, genera and species of these 

 l)lants, but have also shed light on the origin of many medicinal and 

 other vegetable substances, coming within the scope of this work, 

 and formerly more or less involved in obscurity. Furthermore, I 

 have preferred in the enumerative chapter of plants a systematic 

 arrangement to an alphabetic sequence, and for this I have 

 adopted the Candollean (or reversed Jussieuan) system, Avith such 

 a change, as enabled me to distribute the monochlamydeous orders 

 (Coniferse and Cycadese excepted) among the other dicotyledonous 

 ordinal groups, according to their greatest mutual affinities. 

 The atomic formulas have been left unaltered, as given in the 

 original ; but a tabular exposition is appended, demonstrating the 

 symbols of molecules according to the modern doctrine, adopted in 

 most of the recent chemical works. Added are also as new 

 for convenience tabular comparisons of English with metric 

 weights and measures; furthermore, comparative tables of 



