FOREWORD 21 



and enthralling to a tiny child so long as its 

 mother's back is turned! 



Perhaps the old definitions have helped to 

 surround the subject with gloom. A well- 

 known dictionary, published in 1861, gives the 

 following enchanting explanation of the word : 

 "Herbarium, a collection of dried plants or 

 their more important botanical parts. (Usu- 

 ally flattened and glued on sheets of paper.) " 

 It is of course correct, yet how woefully unat- 

 tractive it sounds! It is surely enough to 

 scare away all desire for such gloomy posses- 

 sions ! I suggest the following as an alterna- 

 tive: "A collection of plants preserved by 

 pressure and the absorption of moisture, and 

 afterwards so mounted upon card or paper as 

 to show their natural grace and beauty and 

 general mode of growth." 



This of course describes the collection as it 

 should be. 



I must admit that the very word " herba- 

 rium" sounds prosaic, and that the terms 

 "dried plants" and "specimens" are abso- 

 lutely devoid of poetry. That is just the pity 

 of it all, for flowers and poetry should be in- 



