100 NATURAL HISTORY 



tention more generally to vegetable physiology, to 

 the unfolding of their uses. This will follow neces- 

 sarily when the preliminary work is done of collect- 

 ing and naming. This has been fast progressing by 

 the study and labors of those old Botanists, whom 

 we are apt to think of as remarkable for their zeal 

 alone. 



Enough of each kingdom is accessible to men for 

 the supply of their wants in a primitive, simple state 

 of society. Those portions they have had longer 

 than we can tell. But w T hen science commences, its 

 first work is to classify and give names. When this 

 is done, the nature of the things is more carefully 

 studied for new principles of classification, or to 

 confirm the old. This very process brings out the 

 useful properties of some, and. the noxious char- 

 acter of others. And when this work is completed, 

 the possible new uses are the regular, almost the 

 necessary, subject of study. To that point we are 

 fast coming in the study of the vegetable kingdom. 



The triumphs of this study thus far, and its pro- 

 phetic achievements, are graphically given by the 

 poet: 



