206 FLO WEES AND FOLKS. 



only beginning to be understood; but its 

 bearing upon the study of what we call nat- 

 ural history would seem to be evident. My 

 own experience as a dabbler in botany and 

 ornithology has convinced me that the pur- 

 suit of such researches is not at all out of 

 the spirit of the familiar line, 



" The proper study of mankind is man," 



whatever the author of the line may have 

 himself intended by his apothegm. To be- 

 come acquainted with the peculiarities of 

 plants or birds is to increase one's know- 

 ledge of beings of his own sort. 



There is room, I think, for a treatise on 

 analogical botany, a study of the human 

 nature of plants. Thoroughly and sympa- 

 thetically done, the work would be both 

 surprising and edifying. It would give us 

 a better opinion of plants, and possibly a 

 poorer opinion of ourselves. Some whole- 

 some first lessons of this kind we have all 

 taken, as a matter of course. "We all do 

 fade as a leaf." "All flesh is grass, and all 

 the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the 

 field." There are no household words more 

 familiar than such texts. But the work of 



