1 86 WHITE 



LETTER XL 



SELBORNE, June 2nd, 1778. 



DEAR SIR, The standing objection to botany has always 

 been that it is a pursuit that amuses the fancy and exercises 

 the memory, without improving the mind or advancing any 

 real knowledge ; and, where the science is carried no farther 

 than a mere systematic classification, the charge is but too true. 

 But the botanist that is desirous of wiping off this aspersion 

 should be by no means content with a list of names ; he should 

 study plants philosophically, should investigate the laws of 

 vegetation, should examine the powers and virtues of effica- 

 cious herbs, should promote their cultivation, and graft the 

 gardener, the planter, and the husbandman, on the phytolo- 

 gist. Not that system is by any means to be thrown aside ; 

 without system the field of nature would be a pathless wil- 

 derness ; but system should be subservient to, not the main 

 object of, pursuit. 



Vegetation is highly worthy of our attention ; and in itself 

 is of the utmost consequence to mankind, and productive of 

 many of the greatest comforts and elegances of life. To 

 plants we owe timber, bread, beer, honey, wine, oil, linen, 

 cotton, etc., what not only strengthens our hearts, and exhila- 

 rates our spirits, but what secures us from inclemencies of 

 weather and adorns our persons. Man, in his true state of 

 nature, seems to be subsisted by spontaneous vegetation ; in 

 middle climes, where grasses prevail, he mixes some animal 

 food with the produce of the field and garden ; and it is tow- 

 ards the polar extremes only that, like his kindred bears and 

 wolves, he gorges himself with flesh alone, and is driven to 

 what hunger has never been known to compel the very beasts, 

 to prey on his own species. 1 



The productions of vegetation have had a vast influence on 

 the commerce of nations, and have been the great promoters 

 of navigation, as may be seen in the articles of sugar, tea, 

 tobacco, opium, ginseng, betel, paper, etc. As every climate 

 has its peculiar produce, our natural wants bring on a mutual 

 intercourse ; so that by means of trade each distinct part is 



