14 INTRODUCTION 



6. Finally, in its extended sense, Botany comprehends, also, 

 the knowledge of the relations of plants to the other depart- 

 ments of nature, particularly to mankind. The ultimate aim of 

 its researches is, the development of the boundless resources 

 of the vegetable kingdom for our sustenance, protection, and 

 enjoyment ; for the healing of our diseases, and the alleviation 

 of our wants and woes. 



7. This extensive department of Natural History, therefore, 

 justly claims a large share of the attention of every individual, 

 not only on account of the aid it affords to horticulture, to the 

 employments of rural life, and to the healing art, but also for the 

 intellectual and moral culture, xvhich, among other kindred 

 sciences, it is capable of imparting in an eminent degree. 



a. No science more effectually combines pleasure with improvement, than 

 Botany. It conducts the student into the fields and forests, amidst the verdure 

 of spring, and the bloom of summer; to the charming retreats of Nature, in 

 her wild luxuriance, or where she patiently smiles under the improving hand 

 of cultivation. It furnishes him with vigorous exercise, both of body and mind, 

 which is no less salutary than agreeable, and its subjects of investigation are all 

 such as are adapted to please the eye, refine the taste, and improve the heart. 



8. The natural world, by distinctions sufficiently obvious, is 

 divided into three great departments, commonly called the 

 MINERAL, VEGETABLE, and ANIMAL KINGDOMS. 



a. Vegetables, or plants, hold an intermediate position between animals and 

 minerals: while they are wanting in both the intelligence and instinct of the 

 former, they are endowed with a physical organization, and a living principle, 

 whereby they are remarkably distinguished above the latter; they constitute the 

 ultimate nourishment and support of the one, the vesture and ornament of the 

 other. 



9. A mineral is an inorganic mass of matter, that is, without 

 distinction of parts or organs. A stone, for example, may be 

 broken into any number of fragments, each of which will retain 

 all the essential characters of the original body, so that each 

 fragment will still be a stone. 



10. A plant is an organized body, endowed with vitality but 

 not with sensation, composed of distinct parts, each of which is 

 essential to the completeness of its being. A geranium is com- 

 posed of organs, which may be separated or subdivided indefi- 



