OF VEGETABLES. 



209 



familiar acquaintance. A striking instance of this may be 

 found in the celebrated Kotzebue's narrative of his banish- 

 ment to Siberia, in the course of which he discovered a 

 plant vv'hich attracted in a high degree his admiration, and 

 which he has described at great length, as one of the most 

 beautiful flowers he had ever met with. A very moderate 

 acquaintance with botanical science would however have in- 

 formed him, that this plant was already known to most parts 

 of Europe ; and the only doubt which remains is, as to the 

 particular species of the plant, a doubt which his description 

 does not after all enable us to clear up. 



The natural history of animals, though in many respects 

 more interesting than botany to man as an animated being, 

 and more striking in some of the phenomena which it dis- 

 plays, yet, in other points, is less pleasing to a tender and 

 delicate mind. In botany all is elegance and delight. No 

 painful experiments are to be made. Its pleasures spring up 

 under our feet, and, as we pursue them, reward us with 

 health and setene satisfaction. None but the most foolish 

 or depraved could derive any thing from it but what is beau 

 tiful, or pollute its lovely scenery with unamiable or unhal- 

 lowed images. Those who do so, either from corrupt taste 

 or malicious design, can be compared only to the fiend en- 

 tering into the garden of Eden. 



Questions. — 1. How have naturalists arranged vegetables? 2. 

 Give the illustration. 3. What are the foundations of the Linnasan 

 Classes i* — Orders ? 4. What does a genus include .'' 5. A Species ? 

 6. What remark has been made to the prejudice of the study of bota- 

 ny .'' 7. What is said to obviate this objection .'' 8. What is related 

 of Kotzebue .'' 9. What is said of botany as compared with the natural 

 history of animals .'' 10. What are the names of the twenty-four 

 classes .-* 11. Of the orders of the first thirteen classes ? 12. Give an 

 example of the divisions of classes, orders, &c. 13. How is the spe- 

 cies of a plant distinguished ? (For answers to the four last questions, 

 see Appendix.) 14. Look at Engr. VH. and describe the parts of the 

 flower and fruit of the geranium. 

 18* 



