PREFACE. 



mentary facts of Botany are so simple that their 

 study can be commenced in early childhood, and 

 so numerous as to sustain a prolonged course of 

 observation. From the most rudimentary facts the 

 pupil may proceed gradually to the more complex ; 

 from the concrete to the abstract ; from observation 

 to the truths resting upon observation, in a natural 

 order of ascent, as required by the laws of mental 

 growth. The means are thus furnished for organ- 

 izing object-teaching into a systematic method, so that 

 it may be pursued continuously through a course of 

 successively higher and more comprehensive exercises. 

 Carried out in this way, Botany is capable of doing 

 for the observing powers of the mind what mathe- 

 matics does for its reasoning powers. 



Moreover, accuracy of observation requires accu- 

 racy of description ; precision of thought implies pre- 

 cision in the use of language. Here, again, Botany 

 has superior advantages. Its vocabulary is more 

 copious, precise, and well settled, than that of any 

 other of the natural sciences ; it is thus unrivalled in 

 the scope it offers for the cultivation of the descrip- 

 tive powers. 



On purely mental grounds, therefore, and as a 

 means of attaining the most needed of educational 

 reforms, Botany has a claim to be admitted as a 

 fourth fundamental branch of common-school study ; 

 and the hope of contributing something to this end 



