VI PREFACE. 



The former is a compendium of Linnaean learn- 

 ing, the latter a store of ingenious philosophy ; 

 but they were designed for philosophers, k and are 

 not calculated for every reader. Linneeus and his 

 scholars have generally written in Latin. They 

 addressed themselves to physicians, to anato- 

 mists, to philosophers, little thinking that their 

 science would ever be the amusing pursuit of the 

 young, the elegant and the refined, or they 

 would have treated the subject differently. It ap- 

 pears to me, therefore, that an introductory pub- 

 lication is still desirable in this country, on an 

 original plan, easy, comprehensive, and fit for 

 general use ; and such were the reasons which 

 ^rst prompted me to the undertaking. 



When, however, I had proceeded a consider- 

 able way in its execution, I found that such a 

 work might not only serve to reach the first out- 

 lines of the science, but thai it might prove a 

 vehicle for many observations, criticisms, and 

 communications, scarcely to be brought together 

 on any other plan ; nor did it appear any ob- 

 jection to the general use of the book, that, be- 

 sides its primary intention, it might be capable 

 of leading into the depths of botanical philoso- 

 phy, whether physiological, systematical, or cri- 



