50 Uniform Nomenclature of Fruits. 



ever conceived the idea of supplying it. Charity, it must be 

 said, impels us to attribute this omission to accident and 

 oversight, rather than to any deliberate intention. Such 

 intention seems, moreover, to a degree incompatible with the 

 disclosures every where contained in- the subsequent pages of 

 the work. This branch of the subject cannot, however, be 

 dismissed until something further be said, for the benefit of 

 those who blindly follow their ''one idea" wherever it may 

 lead. 



He who writes for the learned, upon any subject, will find 

 his labor very much abridged in its extent and scope ; but he 

 will, at the same time, find the difficulties to be encountered 

 very much enhanced by the necessity he has imposed upon 

 himself, of communicating only that which is new. What 

 others, who have preceded him in the same field, have fully 

 treated of, is a common fund already in the possession of 

 those for whom he writes. If he would add to it, it must 

 be from his own peculiar resources. He cannot contribute 

 what is already there. He is limited to those facts, in his 

 experience, which have escaped the observation of others — 

 which they have lacked the means, the opportunity, or the 

 ability of discovering; to shedding greater light upon that 

 which they have failed sufficiently to elucidate ; to demon- 

 strating that to be true which before had only been surmised 

 as probable, and the converse thereof; to demonstrating that 

 to be groundless which before had been advanced as true. 

 Such an one aspires to be an author, and his work must be 

 original. He cannot attain the character by merely drawing 

 from the writings of others, however useful, as a compila- 

 tion, his work might be ; nor however different the arrange- 

 ment and superior the style and language employed, if the 

 facts and opinions be the same. 



Let the inquiry be but made : How much has the author 

 added that is new? how much contributed to what before 

 was known from his own peculiar resources? and it will be 

 seen at once, that whatever claims may be set up for The 

 Fruits and Fruit Trees of America., it is not purely an origi- 

 nal work. Its author never could have regarded it as such. 

 Useful, undoubtedly, it has been, and will continue to be. 

 This meed of praise has been already freely awarded it. 



