ARCK. 



LIBRARY 



PREFACE. 



THE first edition of this treatise was published in the 

 year 1842, the fifth in 1857. Each edition has been in 

 good part rewritten, the present one entirely so, and the 

 compass of the work is now extended. More elementary 

 works than this, such as the author's First Lessons in 

 Botany (which contains all that is necessary to the prac- 

 tical study of systematic Phtenogamous Botany by means 

 of Manuals and local Floras), are best adapted to the 

 needs of the young beginner, and of those who do not 

 intend to study Botany comprehensively and thoroughly. 

 The present treatise is intended to serve as a text-book for 

 the higher and completer instruction. To secure the 

 requisite fulness of treatment of the whole range of sub- 

 jects, it has been decided to divide the work into distinct 

 volumes, each a treatise by itself, which may be indepen- 

 dently used, while the whole will compose a comprehensive 

 botanical course. This volume, on the Structural and 

 Morphological Botany of Phgenogamous Plants, properly 

 comes first. It should thoroughly equip a botanist for the 

 scientific prosecution of Systematic Botany, and furnish 

 needful preparation to those who proceed to the study of 

 Vegetable Physiology and Anatomy, and to the wide and 

 varied department of Cryptogamic Botany. 



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