DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. l67 



furnishing an account of the manner and time in which plants 

 were first introduced into the gardens. The Hm'tus Kewen- 

 sis, and Sweefs Hortus suhurhamis, are particularly distin- 

 guished by the first of these excellencies, as is Linna'us's 

 Hortus CUffortianus, by carefully chosen synonymes, and 

 Gouan's Hortus Monspelknsis, by uncommonly useful ac- 

 counts of the structure and other external peculiarities of 

 plants. 



Plates of rare or new plants, which are reared in gardens, 

 are expensive undertakings. We justly admire the work- 

 manship and wealth displayed by the English, in the Hortus 

 Eltliamensis, in the Botanisfs Repository, the Paradisus 

 Londinensis, Botanical Magazine, Botanical Register, and 

 such like works; and of the French, in the Jar din de Cels, 

 and de la Malmaison. Even Germany may boast of its 

 Hortus Vindobonensis, Schonhrunnensis, and Berolineiisis, 

 although all these works, on account of their high price, can 

 be useful but to a few. 



IX. Plates of Plants. 



263. 

 Good plates of plants are among the best means of pro- 

 moting the progress of botany. When they represent the 

 form of the plant according to nature, and especially when 

 they develope the characters of the genus and species, even 

 to their minutest parts, they fulfil all that can be required, 

 especially when no such expence is laid out on them as ren- 

 ders their price too high. The fathers of botany, in the six- 

 teenth century, set an excellent example in this respect. Lo- 

 beUus, Clusius, Fox, and the Bauhins, used wood cuts, 

 mingled with the text, which gave very correct representa- 

 tions, at least of the general aspect of plants. Conrad Ges- 

 ner and Fabius Columna first used copperplates, which often 

 gave the characters of plants in a masterly manner. Morison 

 and Plukenet, in very small room, gave an extraordinary 

 iiumber of figures of very rare platits ; and Dillenius reached 



