TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 



IN producing this work of Professor Schleiden in an English dress, 

 I feel that the reputation of the Author and the Work alike render 

 any apology unnecessary ; but I am conscious that I owe some 

 explanation to the Public, both as to the manner of the trans- 

 lation and the delay in its appearance. 



The second German edition of this Work, of which the present 

 volume is a translation, was accompanied with a Methodological 

 Introduction, intended as a development of those general principles 

 of science, which are derived from a study of the observing mind, 

 and the observed external nature. As the discussion of these 

 general principles occupies a considerable space in the original, and 

 it was deemed desirable not to increase the bulk of the present 

 Work, this Introduction has been omitted. In its place I have, 

 however, inserted a short summary of these observations, as they 

 have been given by the Author himself in his "Grundriss der 

 Botanik," which work consists of the text of the present volume 

 without the explanatory comments. This summary is given in the 

 four first paragraphs of the present translation.* In the original 

 Introduction a considerable portion is occupied with the description 

 of the microscope, and its application to scientific researches ; as 

 the observations of the Author seem to me to be judicious, and 

 we have none of precisely the same kind in our own language, and 

 especially as this book may fall into the hands of students who 

 are not acquainted with the powers or the manner of using this 

 instrument, I have thought it right to reproduce this portion of 

 the Introduction, f 



With the exception of those parts of the Introduction referred 

 to, and in not more than two or three instances, of matters in 

 the notes that were not deemed relevant to the translation, nothing 

 has been omitted in the present Work. 



* As general introductions on the principles involved in scientific inquiry, we have 

 in our own language two admirable works, Sir John Herschell's " Discourse on the 

 Study of Natural Philosophy," and Professor Whewell's " Philosophy of the Inductive 

 Sciences." 



t Appendix D. 



