1 INTRODUCTION. 



blance is limited to certain flowers. No one will assert it 

 of the white Lily, of the toad-like speckled Stapelia, or of 

 the magic Queen of the Night. Still less will the parallel 

 hold good for the whole vegetable kingdom. Rather does 

 this make the most varied impression on the human sense, 

 according to the manifold shapes in which it presents itself ; 

 but ever one so difficult to repel, that scarcely can the 

 rudest of mankind altogether avoid it. Like all nature, 

 the vegetable world is to us a hieroglyphic of the Eternal ; 

 in the material fashionings do we seek and find the 

 indication of a spiritual existence. Well might we here 

 look for a special study of these matters, the ^Esthetics of 

 Plants (xn), which should contemplate them in their 

 relation to the human spirit. But, alas ! we have none. 

 A few fragmentary indications must supply its place. 



This will suffice to show the chain which binds the 

 contents of the separate Lectures into a settled whole ; it is 

 necessary, however, to add a few words respecting the garb 

 in which the Lectures appear before the public. " Fine 

 feathers make fine birds," it is said ; and so why should 

 not a fine book make fine Lectures ? In point of fact, this 

 is not altogether a jest ; to a certain extent, it is unpleasant 

 earnest. These treatises were not written for the reading, 

 absent public, but for the hearing and seeing audience. 

 All could be made lively and attractive to those present, by 

 living illustrations, demonstrations under the microscope 

 and the exhibition of abundance of pictures. These adorn- 

 ments may have given the essays an interest in the eyes of 

 favouring friends, which led them to desire their publica- 

 tion. The charm thus upheld, where one has all the facts 

 before one's eyes, and, following the exposition, feels as if 

 deducing the conclusions of science itself from observation ; 

 this charm necessarily disappears when such a treatise is 



