171 



DIVI BOTANICI; 



skktchks of botanists whose names are commrmorateu 

 in the appellations op plants, 



Article thb First. 



Immortality of Fame as well as of Existence has ever been an 

 object of intuitive aspiration in the Mind of IMan ; and it is this 

 fondly cherished solicitude for attaining an everlasting celebrity that 

 naturally assists in fostering motives to emulation in the exercise of 

 his moral and intellectual powers. 



With consciousness of possessing the innate sentiment which en- 

 courages an individual to hope that he himself may yet acquire an 

 enduring reputation, or with the benevolent aim of strengthening 

 in others the incentives to meritorious exertion, the Heads of Sects 

 and the Rulers of Nations have usually displayed a generous 

 promptitude to foster the desire of excellence by conferring the 

 meed of a superlative glory on the wisest and the best of their ad- 

 herents and compatriots, according to their estimate of worth and 

 their judgment of dignity. Hence, from this source, erewhile arose 

 the rite of Deification, whereby the primeval mythologists made 

 gods of their sages and heroes; and, in after-times, with an object 

 not essentially dissimilar, the process of producing saints began its 

 course, and the work continues to be designated a Canonization. 

 With a purer taste, however, and a sublimer gratitude, by devoting 

 the names of discoverers to things discovered, the Naturalists create 

 a more exalted renown for those enlightened Spirits who are fortu- 

 nate in contributing to the advancement of their disinterested and 

 truly philanthropical investigations. 



Natural History includes many fair systems within its extensive 

 domain : among the most fascinating of these, and the most inno- 

 cent, is Botany: and the method of honouring the distinguished im- 

 provers of this divine Science, by appi'opriating their names to be 

 appellations of Plants, is an object of virtuous competition, alike de- 

 sirable as a reward of the excellencies it immortalizes, and venera- 

 ble for tlie tendencies of its principle and the antiquity of its es- 

 tablishment. 



Tradition associates with History in perpetuating the beneficence 

 of those ancient Simplers who were thus rewarded for their success- 



VOL. VII., NO. XXI. z 



