i. MOSS. 25 



call them names afterwards. I hope only for a contemp- 

 tuous heaping of coals on my head by correction of my 

 errors from them ; in some cases, my scientific friends 

 will, I know, give me forgiving aid ; but, for many 

 reasons, I am forced first to print the imperfect state- 

 ment, as I can independently shape it; for if once I 

 asked for, or received help, every thought would be frost- 

 bitten into timid expression, and every sentence broken by 

 apology. I should have to write a dozen of letters before 

 I could print a line, and the line, at last, would be only 

 like a bit of any other botanical book trustworthy, it 

 might be, perhaps; but certainly unreadable. Whereas 

 now, it will rather put things more forcibly in the reader's 

 mind to have them retouched and corrected as we go on ; 

 and our natural and honest mistakes will often be sugges- 

 tive of things we could not have discovered but by wan- 

 dering. 



On these guarded conditions, then, I proceed to study, 

 with my reader, the first general laws of vegetable form. 

 2 



