PREFACE. XVII 
for our indigenous produce. The rea- 
son of this I will explain. Having 
been enabled by the Dublin Society 
to make some excursions in search 
of plants, through the different parts 
of the kingdom, I got possession of 
many of their Irish names. Upon 
looking over these names some time 
after, and seeing the confused, irre- 
gular manner in which they stood, 
when compared with the Linnean 
method, I thought from the language 
there could be a regular system 
formed. ‘This I for some time kept 
in view. I then collected many of 
their old Irish names from such books, 
ancient and modern, as I could pro- 
cure. Some time after a book fell 
into my hands, the work of a Gen- 
tleman, an enlightened member of 
society, whose name will be ever 
held in veneration by the lovers of 
Gaelic, and to whom Ireland is in- 
oi debted 
