PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF THE AUSTRALIAN FLORA. 127 



under the shadow ot Lebanon, it abounded in streams, 

 streamlets, and rivers ; the last then navigable for some 

 distance froiu the sea, by reason of the (ireaterfloio of xvater 

 caused bi) the j^^'i^neval forests which in those days clothed 

 the neighbouring mountains. The plantation of forests will 

 no doubt exercise an influence in many Avays, and especially 

 in reference to the Flora ; but probably the process of irriga- 

 tion, which in another half century will be carried on in the 

 arid and sterile regions of the West, is desthied to produce 

 still greater changes. Irrigation was much practised by the 

 ancient nations, and the ruins of former works still exist in 

 parts of the East to testify to its utility. What was done in 

 Egypt, Persia, and India, may therefore be done in Australia, 

 and the means of subsistence for the population may be 

 indefinitely increased. It is calculated that the extent of 

 irrigated land in the Valley of the Po may be about 1,600,000 

 acres, and the increase of rental thus caused £830,000. 

 Such irrigation, not to speak of the immense advantages in 

 a commercial and financial point of view, must have had great 

 intluence on the vegetation of Southern Europe, and it is not 

 too much to expect that a periodical Avatering of the land 

 and the formation of extensive lakes in the dry parts of 

 Australia would cause many an elegant shrub or useful 

 herbaceous plant to flourish where now only harsh and 

 unpalatable species occm". 



Whilst dwelhng on the Flora of the future it is only 

 reasonable to expect that the uses of many plants only par- 

 tially known will be more appreciated than they are at 

 present, and that many articles of vegetable origin, which 

 are now imported at considerable expense, will be found to 

 exist in Australia. This may be especially true of medicinal 

 plants. The country abounds in sucli species, and numerous 

 kinds, which hereafter may find a place in the Fharrnacopreia, 

 are but imperfectly known by the settlers. The Medical 

 Botany of Australia affords a fine field for the inquiries of the 

 specialist, and so a similar region of investigation remains 

 for those whose tastes may lead them to the study of 

 Cryptogamic Botany. What Harvey has done for Austra- 

 lian Algee is a noble contribution to the knowledge of 

 Marine Beauties, and it is to be hoped, that in the botany of 

 the future, thousands of minute species in the lower king- 

 doms of Nature may find a local habitation and a name in 

 the Flora of Australia. 



Other subjects in connection with the progress of botany 



