INTRODUCTION. XIX 



and picturesque, and to this device they 

 naturally resorted. Thus the leaf of the 

 tree elder (Sambucus nigra) is said to be 

 like that of the walnut, while the leaves of 

 the dwarf elder (Sambucus ebulus) are like 

 those of the almond. 



So when children sally forth in the 

 spring to gather the early flowers, if the 

 mother tells them of some plant to them 

 unknown, as the Moschatel (Adoxa Mos- 

 chatellina), the first enquiry is, What is it 

 like? and the explanation which follows 

 will be drawn entirely from familiar plants, 

 and will richly illustrate the nature of the 

 first sources of botanical description. The 

 description being thus comparative, there 

 naturally arose a group of standards of 

 reference, as it were official referees, a 

 kind of magistracy among the plants. The 

 beginner's first business was to become 

 familiar with these, and in this contrivance 

 we may recognise the rudiments of a 

 scientific method. 



Of Description other than comparative 

 I have met with little. I remember only 

 one example which is such as to exclude 



