HISTORY OF BOTANY. 3 



in which we find Noah represented as " a husbandman, bavin? 

 planted a vineyard and drank of the wine ;" and the last stage, to the 

 time in which we find the Ishmaelites remarked, as " trafficking in 

 spicery, and balm, and myrrh, which they carried down from Gilead 

 to Egypt in the days of Joseph." 



6. Up to the latter period in the rise of this science, 

 it does not appear that plants were studied with any 

 system or idea of botanical language, yet it cannot be 

 doubted, that some considerable progress had been 

 already made in botanical remark, from the necessity 

 of discriminating, by some striking and peculiar cha- 

 racter, such plants as were possessed of properties con- 

 vertible to the use of man. 



For as man was surrounded with such a diversity of plants, vary- 

 ing in form, in magnitude, in colour, and in odour, in every way 

 calculated to delight the senses and to administer to his wants it is 

 but reasonable to suppose, that the umbrageous tree under which 



which charmed his eye, and the fruit which allured and pleased his 

 appetite, must have been natural circumstances to call forth a pecu- 

 liar language, for distinguishing one plant from another. 



7. That a natural languge must have been the result 

 of necessity and convenience, is very certain ; for without 

 it, our ancestors could only have passively admired or 

 valued the boundless gifts of nature. 



If such characteristic marks had not been assigned to the different 

 plants and their productions, it is very true, our forefathers would 

 have been constantly open to the danger of destroying life, or 

 injuring their health, by inadvertently partaking of deleterious vege- 

 tables, but by a simple, and, as it were, an instinctive dialect, they 

 readily secured themselves from harm, and were capable of judging 

 and employing the succeeding blessings of the seasons, to their 

 necessary comfort and support. 



