PREFACE TO THE FRENCH EDITION. 



When, after several years of observation and public 

 instruction, I decided to publish my Theorie EUmentaire 

 de la Botanique,* I wished to set forth generally the 

 logical principles which, it appeared to me, ought to 

 serve as the basis of the study of organized beings ; and 

 to make known, at the same time, my opinions with 

 regard to Botany. I was well aware how much was 

 necessary for the complete understanding of the doc- 

 trines I wished to establish, for the application of them 

 in a more detailed manner to the different parts [of the 

 science, and especially to the description of ihe organs 

 and families of plants. It is in order to attain a part of 

 this object that I now present to naturalists a new work, 

 which may be considered as the second part of this un- 

 dertaking, viz. " Vegetable Organography ; or the Ana- 

 lytical Description of the Organs of Plants ;" which I 

 have presented in a much abridged manner in the 

 elementary principles which form part of the Flore 

 Frangaise, and which I have since elucidated in more 

 than twenty public courses of lectures. 



* This work was first printed at Montpellier, in 1813, and I gave a 

 second edition at Paris in 1819 ; and it has been translated into German, 

 and accompanied with Notes by M. Koemer, imder the title of Theoretische 

 ^nfrangsgrunde der Boianik; Zurich, 2 vols. 12mo, 1814. Afterwards M. 

 Sprengel published under the title of ji. P. De CandoUe's und K. Sprengel's 

 Grundzuge dcr Wissenschafftlichen Pflanxenkunde zu Vorlesungen ; 1 vol. 

 8vo. Leipzig, 1820 ; — a work, which, it is true, is an extractor translation 

 of some parts of my Theorie, but which is so changed by the intermixture 

 of other ideas, that I am obliged (seeing that the title bears my name) to 

 declare that this work, and its English translation, are perfect strangers to 

 me, and do not represent my opinions. 



