S^rown Owl 



LETTER XL. 



To the same. 



rW2:/, 1778. 



EAR 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 effi- 

 cacious herbs, should promote their cultivation, and graft 



