14 INTRODUCTION. 



concerns, it is indispensable to the success of the one, and to the com- 

 fort of those interested in the other. The veiy logical and system- 

 atic arrangement which prevails in Botanical science, has, without 

 doubt, a tendency to induce in the mind the habit and love of order ; 

 which, when once established, will operate even in the minutest con- 

 cerns. Whoever traces this system through its various connexions, 

 by a gradual progress from individual plants to general classes, until 

 the whole vegetable world seems brought into one point of view, and 

 then descends in the same mf^thodical manner, from generals to par- 

 ticulars, must acquire a habit of arrangement, and a perception of 

 order, which is the true practical logic. 



The study of Botany seems pecuUarly adapted to females ; the ob- 

 jects of its investigation are beautiful and delicate ; its pursuits, lead- 

 ing to exercise in the open air, are conducive to health and cheer- 

 fiilness. It is not a sedentary study which can be acquired in the 

 library, but the objects of the science are scattered over the surface 

 of the earth, along the banks of the winding brooks, on the borders 

 of precipices, thesides of mountains, and the depths of the forest. 



A knowledge of Botany is necessary to the medical profession. 

 Our Almighty Benefactor, in bestowing upon us the vegetable ti'ibes, 

 has not only provided a source of refined enjoyment in the contem- 

 plation of their beautiful forms and colours ; in their fragrance, by 

 which, in their pecuUar language, they seem to hold secret commun- 

 ion with our minds ; He has not only given them for our food and 

 clothing, but with kind, parental care, has, in them, provided powers 

 to counteract and remove the diseases to which mankind are subject. 

 For many ages plants were the only medicines known, or used ; but 

 modern discoveries in Chemistry, by forming compounds of previ- 

 ously existing elements, have, in some degree, superseded their use. 

 Although the science of medicine has received much additional hght 

 from Chemistry, it may perhaps in modern days have occupied the 

 attention of medical men too exclusively; inducing them to toil in 

 their laboratories to form those combinations which nature has done, 

 much more perfectly, in the plants which they pass unheeded. It is 

 probable that the medicinal productions of the animal and mineral 

 kingdoms, bear but a small proportion to those of the vegetable. 



When our forefathers came to this coxmtry, they found the natives 

 in possession of much medical knowledge of plants. Having no rem- 

 edies prepared by scientific skill, the Indians were led, by necessity, 

 to the use of those which nature offered them : and, by experience 

 and observation, they had arriv'ed at many valuable conclusions as 

 to the qualities of plants. Their mode of life, leading them to pene- 

 trate the shades of the forest, and to climb the mountain precipices, 

 naturally associated them much with the vegetable world. The In- 

 dian woman, the patient sharer in these excursions, was led to look 

 for such plants as she might use for the diseases of her family. Each 

 new and curious plant, though not viewed by her with the eye of a 

 botanist, was regarded with scrutinizing attention ; the colour, taste, 

 and smell, were carefully remarked, as indications of its properties. 

 But the discoveries and observations of the Indians have perished with 

 themselves ; having had no system for the classification or description 

 of plants, nor any written language by which such a system might 

 have been conveyed to others, no other vestige remains than uncer- 

 tain tradition, of their knowledge of the medicinal qualities of plants. 



The study of Botany is practical logic — Proper for females — Necessary to the med- 

 ical profession— Experience of the Indians with respect to plants — Med.icinal virtues 

 nf plants. 



