yL preface of the TRANSLATORS. 



circumftance of conftrudllon and arrangement, with 

 induftry and fagacity almoft pecuhar to himfelf, wc 

 have tranflated it, as far as might be, page for page, 

 and line for Une : have accurately attended to his 

 mode of punduation, and have introduced the ajftro- 

 nomic charadiers with all the numerous capital and 

 italic types, which are ufed in the original. 



As LiNNEUS formed numerous diminutive 2ind co^^ 

 pound words from the latin and greek languages, we 

 have endeavoured to confl:ru(ft correfpondent ones 

 from the engliih ; it were impoffible otherwife to equal 

 the concifenefs and pr^ecifion of the original. We 

 have attempted to compofe the former, fo as to be 

 eafily familiarifed to an englifli ear, and intelligible 

 to the latin botanift j as leaf leaflet^ ftalk, Jlalklety 

 valve vahelety tooth tootblety fpathe fpathelet, tube 

 tubelet, crown coronet y calyx calycle -y of fuch dimi- 

 nutives the words tablet, circlet, bracelet, ringlet, 

 rivulet, icicle, particle, are examples in daily ufe. 

 Some of the common diminutive adjectives of the la- 

 tin, and thofe formed by the prepofition Juby whofe 

 correfpondent word in englifli would not allow of the 

 termination //7;, were found more difficult to manage 

 without periphrafcs, as fubramofus thinly -branched. 

 Where they were evidently derived from the latin lan- 

 guage, we have fometimes retained the particle fub. 



We come now to thofe numerous compomid iDords 

 conftruded by our author in fo artful a manner, as to 

 depidlure fuch a variety of forms, of leaves, fruits, 

 flowers, ftems, feeds, as no language was before ever 

 made to defcribe. He has taken words expreffive of 

 well-known figures, as the words oblong and eggy and 

 by compounding thefe has given a form between them 



both 



