VI 



which afford the greater part of society but 

 little information, particularly those who 

 have not enjoyed the advantage of a classi- 

 cal education, as Botany is not yet divested 

 of it's Latin garments, although there is no 

 reason why it should continue to be shackled 

 in a dead language, when our own is so co- 

 pious and so rapidly becoming the dialect 

 of one half of the world. The ancients 

 wrote their botanical and medicinal works 

 in the language of their respective countries, 

 whilst the writings of the moderns on these 

 subjects are so disguised in ancient lan- 

 guage, that few but professors thoroughly 

 understand them, thus depriving those whom 

 they intended to enlighten from obtaining 

 information. For many centuries, the pro- 

 fession of the law was worded in a foreign 

 tongue, and the prayers of the church were 

 offered to the Almighty in a language little 

 understood except by the clergy. These 

 inconveniences have been remedied, and 

 the Author hopes to see Medicine and 

 Botany also dispossessed of their foreign 



