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CHAP. IX. 



PREPARATION AND USE OF AN HERBARIUM, OR HORTUS 

 SICCUS. 



A he advantages of preserving specimens of plants, as far as it can 

 be done, for examinations at all times and seasons, is abundantly 

 obvious. Notwithstanding the multitude of books filled with de- 

 scriptions and figures of plants, and however ample or perfect such 

 may be, they can teach no more than their authors observed j but 

 when we have the works of Nature before us, we can investigate 

 them for ourselves, pursuing any train of inquiry to its utmost ex- 

 tent, nor are we liable to be misled by the errors or misconceptions 

 of others. A good practical botanist must be educated among the 

 wild scenes of nature; while a finished theoretical one requires the 

 additional assistance of gardens and books, to which must be super- 

 added the frequent use of a good herbarium. When plants are 

 well dried, the original forms and positions of even their minutest 

 parts, though not their colours, may at any time be restored by 

 immersion in hot water. By this means, the productions of the 

 most distant and various countries, such as no garden could possibly 

 supply, are brought together at once under our eyes, at any season 

 of the year. If these be assisted with drawings and descriptions, 

 nothing less than an actual survey of the whole vegetable world, in 

 a state of nature, could excel such a store of information. 



Some persons recommend the preservation of specimens in weak 

 spirits of wine, and this mode is by far the most eligible for such as 

 are very juicy. But it totally destroys their colours, and often ren- 

 ders their parts less fit for examination than the above-mentioned 

 mode. It is besides incommodious for frequent study, and a very 

 expensive and bulky way of making an herbarium. 



The greater part of plants dry with facility between the leaves 



vol. v. Y 



