HERBARIUM. 383 



multitude of books filled with descriptions and figures 

 of plants, and however ample or perfect such may be, 

 they can teach no more than their authors observed ; 

 but when we have the works of Nature before us, we 

 can investigate them for ourselves, pursuing any train 

 of inquiry to its utmost extent, nor are we liable to be 

 misled by the errors or misconceptions of others. A 

 good practical botanist must be educated among the 

 wild scenes of nature, while a finished theoretical one 

 requires the additional assistance of gardens and books, 

 to which must be superadded the frequent use of a 

 good herbarium. When plants are well dried, the 

 original forms and positions of even their minutest 

 parts, though not their colours, may at any time be 

 restored by immersion in hot water. By this means 

 the productions of the most distant and various coun- 

 tries, such as no garden could possibly supply, are 

 brought together at once under our eyes, at any season 

 of the year. If these be assisted with drawings and 

 descriptions, nothing less than an actual survey of the 

 whole vegetable world in a state of nature, could 

 excel such a store of information. 



Some persons recommend the preservation of speci- 

 mens in weak spirits of wine, and this mode is by far 

 the most eligible for such as are very juicy. But it 

 totally destroys their colours, and often renders their 

 parts less fit for examination than the above-mentioned 

 mode. It is besides incommodious for frequent study, 



