BOTANY 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTION 



IN our daily life we have no difficulty in distinguishing 

 plants from animals, and we are also seldom in doubt 

 as to the difference between a life-containing and an 

 inorganic thing. It is true, of course, that at the ex- 

 treme limits of the series, among the very simplest 

 forms, it is sometimes difficult to separate plants and 

 animals ; but in most cases there can be no doubt as to 

 which of the two great classes any thing or any creature 

 belongs. 



All the life in the world is embraced in one or other of 

 the two great classes of Plants and Animals. Out- 

 wardly they appear so different from each other, but, 

 as we shall see, they have a wonderful unity in the funda- 

 mentals of their structure. The science of the study 

 of life is called Biology, but in these days, when so much 

 detail has been accumulated and stored in books, it 

 is no longer possible for one mind to grasp the whole 

 subject. It has been divided into the two natural 

 divisions of Botany, the study of the plants, and 

 Zoology, the study of animals. 



It happens that man is an animal, consequently the 

 scientific study of his body should be the work of the 



