Vi PRELIMINARY DISCOURSES. 



any one, endowed with the common attributes of humanity, to 

 avoid being something of a Naturalist. One of the earliest indica- 

 tions of Intellect, consists in the perception, and discrimination, of 

 the beings and objects subjected to its cognizance. In proportion 

 as the mind is expanded, and its faculties disciplined, so are its 

 powers of discrimination augmented. Natural Science or that 

 knowledge which enables us to ascertain, to distinguish, and to 

 arrange, or classify created beings is emphatically a science of 

 observation; and no study has a happier tendency to induce habits 

 of attention, and accuracy in noticing the characteristic features of 

 objects. No one is less likely to be misled by vulgar prejudices, or 

 to be made the dupe of imposture, than the careful observer, and 

 intelligent student, of Nature. Habitual scrutiny renders him 

 acute in detecting error, and discovering truth, while it makes 

 him cautious in receiving marvellous statements unsupported by 

 credible testimony. 



While his faculties are thus improved by a salutary discipline, 

 his taste is no less gratified by the pleasures of the study : and, of 

 all the inanimate products of creation, there is none more agreeable 

 to contemplate, than those which constitute the Vegetable Kingdom. 

 Destined, by the wisdom of a bountiful Providence, for the susten- 

 ance of a higher order of creatures, they have, at the same time, 

 teen admirably adapted to the purpose of adorning the surface of 

 the earth, and charging with fragrance the atmosphere which 

 surrounds it. Occupying an intermediate position, between minerals 

 and animals, they afford us the means of investigating the wonders 

 of organic life, without the infliction of torture, or the necessity of 

 witnessing the sufferings which attend such researches in sensitive 

 beings. Hence, the study of the vegetable creation has ever been 

 a favorite pursuit with gentle minds. There is a calm delight in the 

 contemplation of Plants and Flowers, which is never felt and can 

 never be appreciated by those who find their chief gratification in 

 the turmoils and commotions of the animal world. The disposition 

 of man derives much of its character from association, and external 

 impressions; and it is, doubtless, partly owing to the bland in- 

 fluences of a rural life, that enlightened agricultural communities are 

 less prone to those cruel excesses, which so often disturb the arti- 

 ficial and struggling society of crowded cities. If such be the 

 tranquilizing tendency of a simple residence among the Vegetable 

 tribes, how propitious to the growth of the gentler virtues must 

 be the pursuits of the Botanist, who may be said almost without a 

 figure to hold daily converse with some of the loveliest works of 



