328 A SKETCH OF THE BOTANY OF 



Berwick, and at the time of the publication of the above work, 

 was a surgeon in the army, in which service he is now a Deputy- 

 Inspector of Hospitals. His name is familiar to the naturalists 

 of this country as the author of a very interesting and original 

 work in British Zoology * ; but his catalogue of plants is not en- 

 titled to much praise. In 'it there are enumerated 466 phseno- 

 gamous species ; but in this number there are included several 

 varieties, and one or two plants which grow in places situated 

 beyond our limits. Of the Cryptogamia there are only 98 species, 

 and as Mr T. acknowledges he had not paid much attention to 

 this intricate tribe, even those few cannot be safely admitted into 

 any future catalogue without re-examination -J-. How far I have 

 succeeded in supplying the deficiencies of this catalogue, and in 

 presenting to botanists a correct view of the phytography of Ber- 

 wickshire and North Durham, it will be for future researches to 

 determine. In the mean time professional duties require that I 

 should retire from the field, in which, a few years ago, there was 

 scarcely another to glean, but where now several votaries of Bo- 

 tany pursue the same studies, and whose zeal in them, if not ori - 

 ginated, I have reason to believe, has been kept alive and stimu- 

 lated on by my exertions. I feel well assured that they will 

 never repent they were bred in this way of study ; but to prevent 

 disappointment, I am anxious to press it upon them that the va- 

 lue of their adopted science consists neither in its application to 

 medicine, nor to agriculture, nor to domestic economy, although 

 I esteem it of some little use to those arts, but in its moral agen- 

 cy in those wholesome influences on the heart and mind, which 

 such a pursuit, not necessarily I admit, but yet almost necessa- 

 rily, begets and cherishes.' Were we indeed to estimate the value 

 of a science by its tendency to promote personal happiness, Bo- 

 tany would, I think, merit a higher place in the scale of liberal 

 studies than is generally allowed it ; but to reap the pleasures 

 arid advantages a general and superficial knowledge of it will not 



* Zoological Illustrations, 8vo. 



\ I purposely omit from this list of authors on our botany, Mr WINCH'S Essay 

 on the Geographical Distribution of Plants through the Counties of Northumber- 

 land, Cumberland, and Durham," because it gives no further information relative 

 to our immediate district than is contained in the Guide, of which he was the prin- 

 cipal author. The Essay has been deservedly popular, and has reached a second 

 edition a better evidence of its merit than any critical panegyric. 



