PREFACE. 



• 



IN . the vegetable world, the at- 

 tentive obferver of nature hath 

 for his contemplation a fcene, which 

 is large and greatly varied. The 

 mountain, the valley, the field, and 

 the foreft, produce their peculiar 

 plants ; yet each of thefe fiiuations 

 bears fuch as are of qualities oppofite 

 to thofe of others that arife from 

 the fame fpot of earth. United in 

 the place from whence they derive 

 their nourifhment, there is all ima- 

 ginable diftance between their qua- 

 lities : and whilfl: fome ad v/ieh a 

 kind influence upon the human 

 frame, others undermine the fecret 

 fupports of life. From the healing 

 to the de(\ru(3:ive, there are many 

 '^ degrees in the fcale ; yet numerous 

 A3 as 



