6 GENERAL REMARKS 



spontaneous movements at the slightest contact with an 

 extraneous body. 



In every countrv and among every people from time 

 immemorial the Leguminosse have played a most important 

 part. Do not we see Dioscorides, Galen, and Pliny speaking 

 of the cultivation of the green pea ? And did not Esau 

 exchange his birthright for a mess of lentils ? 



Ezekiel, David, and Samuel have described the existence 

 of the bean, and it was introduced into China 2,822 years 

 before the Christian era. 



The attention of mankind from the earliest times has 

 been directed to these valuable and remunerative plants. 

 Gradually, all those which have proved of profit have been 

 recorded, and at the present day the list of their names is an 

 exceedingly long one. 



In more recent times, scientists have not been content 

 merely to record and to cultivate these plants ; they have 

 studied their properties and their nature as well. Firstly, 

 they have been struck bv the phenomenon of the cultivation 

 of LeguminoScG enriching the soil in nitrogen instead of. 

 impoverishing it; they have realized all the capabilities such 

 plants may offer, and bv their researches have benefited the 

 world at large. These researches have resulted in the 

 regeneration of exhausted soils bv intensive cultivation ; the 

 rational cultivation of valuable species of timber ; the wise 

 employment of fodder in the feeding of cattle; the extended 

 use of inter-crops; the extraction of certain oils and the 

 extension of manifold industries which have enriched man 

 and facilitated his means of existence. 



We shall have occasion, in the course of this work, to 

 study more particularlv the chief species of this order of 

 plants. Within bounds so restricted as ours it is impossible 

 to mention all the existing Leguminos^. We shall be 

 obliged to limit ourselves to discussing those which man 

 has been able to turn to his advantage, and which are 

 distributed throughout the Tropics. 



