INTRODUCTION. 3 



have formed ; and whether we look at the green leaves, the 

 mossy calyx, the beautifully arranged crimson petals of the 

 corolla, or are refreshed by its fragrant perfume, sweet as Sa- 

 bean odours, there must be a lack of taste if we do not admire 

 it, and a want of something better than taste if we do not 

 acknowledge it as a kind gift of God to man. He drove us 

 from Paradise when it was polluted by sin, but he has per- 

 mitted some of the sweets of Eden to follow us ; and by 

 giving us the true Rose of Sharon and Lily of the Valley, 

 he seeks to melt our hard hearts, and to win us back to a 

 heavenly Paradise, where the flowers never wither, and where 

 the sun of glory and blessedness never goes down. 



Beautiful as seaweeds are, we felt, as we have said, in 

 studying and describing them, that they were less interesting 

 because they were destitute of sentient life. We are glad 

 that we have now mounted a step higher in the order of 

 nature, and that we are now to treat of creatures that grow, 

 and live, and feel. The name Zoophyte, however, would 

 seem to imply that it is only one remove, or rather, only 

 half-removed from inanimate nature, the Greek words from 

 which the term is derived signifying a living plant. But 

 this name was given to it when its nature was imperfectly 

 understood ; and it still retains the name, though it is now 



