PREFACE. 



NUMEROUS works on the elementary principles of 

 Botany, and many of them very excellent pro- 

 ductions, have been published, both in this coun- 

 try and on the continent, within the last twenty 

 years: and, by pointing out the mode of inves- 

 tigating the laws of vegetable life, have done 

 much to remove an objection to the study of Bo- 

 tanical science, which had long prevailed, " that 

 " it is a pursuit that amuses the fancy and ex- 

 " ercises the memory, without improving the mind 

 " or advancing any real knowledge *." Under 

 these circumstances, the publication of a new 

 work on this subject may require some apology; 

 and it was not my intention to have placed the fol- 

 lowing Lectures before the public, had I not ac- 

 cidentally met with a manuscript copy of them, 



* White** Nat. Hist, of Sclborne, 8vo. London, 1822, vol. 

 ii. p. 38. 



