INTRODUCTION. 3 



meutiou Schweegrichen, AVeber, Molir, Bridel, Schimper and 

 others, and in our own countiy, Smith, Hooker, AYalker- 

 Arnott, Greville, Wilson, with many more, to whose pub- 

 lished works we shall frequently have occasion to refer. 



Our purpose is now to examine briefly the claims that 

 the Mosses have on our attention, whether we regard 

 them as objects of study, as bearing on their use in the 

 economy of nature, or as ministering to the physical wants 

 and comforts of the animal kingdom, including man him- 

 self. We presume there are none of our readers who will 

 think, in this enlightened age, that because objects are small 

 they are on that account unworthy of study and investiga- 

 tion. Other^^dse, as has been remarked, "the horse is supe- 

 rior to its rider ;" and one of old, Solomon, the wise king 

 of Israel, has set us an example in this very particular, by 

 being conversant with the " hyssop" on the wall, which by 

 Hasselquist is regarded as a minute moss still found on the 

 walls of Jerusalem. We know, in the animal kingdom, and 

 some departments of the vegetable, how important the mean- 

 est and most insignificant beings are in the operations of na- 

 ture, and assuredly in this respect the Mosses yield to none. 



" ' Tis Nature's livery o'er the globe 

 'Where'er her wonders range ;" 



