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548 THE DESIC^ C». y. t TREATISE 



calyx or calice, in the receptacle, two long, four long from 

 one base, from two or many bases, with anthers connect- 

 ed, on the pistils, in two flowers, in two distinct plants, 

 mixed, concealed, or the like, will answer every pur- 

 pose of discrimination ; but I do not offer this as a 

 perfect substitute for the words, which I condemn. 

 The allegory of sexes &nd nuptials, even if it were com- 

 plete, ought, I think, to be discarded, as unbecoming 

 the gravity of men, who, while they search for truth, 

 can have no business to inflame their imaginations ; 

 and, while they profess to give descriptions, have no- 

 thing to do with metaphors. Few passages in Aloisia, 

 the most impudent book ever composed by man, are 

 more wantonly indecent than the hundred- forty-sixth 

 number of the Botanical Philosophy, and the broad 

 comment of its grave author, who dares, like Oc la- 

 vim in his epigram, to speak with Roman simplicity ; 

 nor can the Linncean description of the Arum, and 

 many other plants, be read in English without excit- 

 ing ideas which the occasion does not require. Hence 

 it is that no well-born and well-educated woman can 

 be advised to amuse herself with botany as it is now 

 explained, though a more elegant and delightful study, 

 or one more likely to assist and embellish other fe- 

 male accomplishments, could not possibly be recom- 

 mended. 



When the Sanscrit names of the Indian plants have 

 been correctly written in a large paper-book, one page 

 being appropriated to each, the fresh plants themselves, 

 procured in their respective seasons, must be concisely, 

 but accurately, classed and described; after which 

 their several uses in medicine, diet, or manufactures, 

 may be collected with the assistance of Hindu physi- 

 cians, from the medical books in Sanscrit, and their 

 accounts either disapproved or established by repeated 

 experiments, as fast as they can be made with exact- 

 ness. 



