200 CLASS CRYPTOGAM! A. 



into I tx- natural world we are continually led to exclaim, '• the wny.i 

 of the Almighty are unsearchable, and past finding out !" 



After what has been remarked upon the difficulty of analyzing 

 these plants, the young pupil will not be likely to exjiect too much 

 from attempts to investigate them. It is well fov mankind that there 

 are philosophers, whom the enthusiasm of scientific pursuits will lead 

 to spend years, even a whole life, in searching into the fructification 

 of a moss, or mushroom, or in examining into the natural history of 

 a gnat or spider;* as thus, discoveries are continually brought for- 

 ward, which add to the general stock of knowledge. This is a kind 

 of martyrdom in the cause of science, to which but few seem called 

 by the powerful impulses of their own minds. Females, in particu- 

 lar, are not expected to enter into the recesses of the temple of sci- 

 ence ; it is but of late that they have been encouraged to approach 

 even to its portals, and to venture a glance upon the mysteries 

 within. 



We have now completed our view of the vegetable world, accord- 

 ing to the order in which the different tribes of plants have presented 

 themselves. As we followed in the train of classification, we have 

 endeavoured to notice the most conspicuous genera, and to trace 

 their natural relations while considering their artificial arrangement. 



In many cases, departing from the plan of general remarks, \\-e 

 have traced the natural history of some one genus, believing this 

 method more likely to make a permanent impression, than merely 

 general views. In reading the history of nations, we often feel less 

 interested in the fate of a whole people, than in that of some promi- 

 nent individual ; the mind presented with general ideas only, has no 

 opportunity of forming images, which are but an aggregate of par- 

 ticulars. It is in natural as in civil history, — general remarks upon, 

 the beauty and utility of the vegetable world, or the curious struc- 

 ture of plants, make but slight imi)ressions. But by contemplating 

 the peculiarities of some one tribe, genus, or species, the mind 

 seizes upon something definite, and reason, imagination, and feeling 

 are easily awakened ; thus the impression made is permanent. When 

 you now look back upon the view you have taken of the vegetable 

 world, and consider what impressions are most lively in your minds, 

 you will probably find them to be respecting some peculiarities of 

 individual plants. Of this tendency of the mind we should avail our- 

 seh'^s by connecting these particular impressions with facts which 

 lead to general principles. Narrow indeed would be our mental 

 vision, were it confined to single unconnected observations, laid up 

 indiscriminately in the storehouse of thought; but our minds, not by 

 our own will, but by a faculty received directly from our Creator, 

 instinctively generalize and arrange their mass of single observa- 

 tions ; and we, with scarcely an effort, perform that operation in 

 the world of thought within us, which the great Linnaeus effected in 

 the vegetable kingdom. 



* I have been gravely assured by a naturalist of distinction, that the study of spi- 

 ders is one of the most elegant and delightful of all pursuits. 



Enthusiasm of some naturalists— View of classification completed— Tendency of 

 the mind to generalize. 



