PREFACE. 



A FTER the many elementary works on Botany 

 which have appeared in various languages, any 

 new attempt of the same kind may, at first sight, 

 seem unnecessary. But when we consider the ra- 

 pid progress of the science within a few years, in 

 the acquisition and determination of new plants,, 

 and especially the discoveries and improvements 

 in vegetable physiology : when we reflect on the 

 views with which those fundamental works of 

 Linnaeus, the basis of all following ones, were 

 composed, and to whom they were addressed, 

 we must be aware of their unfitness for purposes 

 of general and popular utility, and that some- 

 thing else is wanting. If we examine the mass 

 of introductory books on botany in this light, we 

 shall find them in some cases too elaborate and 

 intricate, in others too obscure and imperfect : 

 they are also deficient in that very pleasing and 

 instructive part of botany the anatomy and phy- 

 siology of plants. There are indeed works, such 

 as Rose's Elemen ts of Botany, and Darwin's P//?/- 

 toloma, with which no such faults can be found. 



