AS RELATED TO WEALTH. 99 



should have known nothing but for the special study 

 of this science of Botany ! There have been brought 

 out those general laws of classification by which 

 the general properties of plants are inferred from 

 their structure, so that we can, as it were, read the 

 labels at a glance which nature has affixed to them, 

 inviting us to enjoy or warning us to beware. The 

 history of this science shows that much of the labor 

 bestowed upon it was simply to classify and name. 

 System after system if some of the earlier attempts 

 could be called systems has been thrown aside ; 

 and to a casual observer the labor seems to have 

 been lost at least so far as wealth is concerned. 

 This is but a superficial view. Those old pioneers 

 were groping toward the true goal their progress 

 helped on those who came after, their mistakes 

 warned them ; they added one after another to the 

 list of useful plants. The work commenced by 

 them has kept its steady course, till now we can 

 hope for but little more in classification, except on 

 some isolated points, or in the minutiae of the de- 

 tails. It remains to perfect local floras to name 

 those plants that may be discovered to turn the at- 



