In one of the former " Small Books" some 

 insight has been afforded into the wonderful 

 chemistry perpetually going on, in the vegetable 

 as well as in the animal department of the great 

 laboratory of nature. It is the object of the 

 present little treatise to give a general idea of 

 the structure, nourishment, and reproduction of 

 the plants themselves ; of Vegetable Physiology 

 in short, and although the compass of this 

 work is too small to admit of much technical 

 detail, it is hoped that enough information may 

 be conveyed to increase the interest with which 

 its readers will henceforth view the vegetable 

 world around them, and to excite a wish in those 

 who may have leisure to pursue the subject at 

 some future day. 



The following Treatise makes no pretension 

 to originality, being a compilation chiefly from 

 the works of M. de Candolle, Alphonse de Can- 



dolle, sometimes almost literally translated, 



Professor Lindley, &c. carefully put together with 

 a view to afford an enlarged idea of the general 

 nature of the subject, and to justify the assertion 

 of the first named physiologist, that from the 

 apparently humble functions of vegetable life, we 

 may raise our thoughts to the contemplation of 



