List of the Flants of Chile. 65 



daily becoming more important, must submit itsell' to the rules of 

 sound philosophy and experience. A knowledge of our own ve- 

 getable productions is in many respects valuable. Agriculture, com- 

 merce, medicine, and the arts, receive a large contribution, from 

 the science of botany, which offers at the same time, real utility and 

 an inexhaustible source of pleasure. 



I formerly promised you my remarks on the botany of this country 

 over which I have been travelling for a year. I here offer the result 

 of my observations, made in a small space it is true, and they may 

 therefore be supposed to have only a local interest ; but knowledge 

 is always valuable and is not restricted in its applications. Two ob- 

 jects have particularly engaged my attention. Fii st — The natural pro- 

 ductions of the soil. Second — The means of investigation and the 

 products which may be obtained by different kinds of cuUure. My 

 avocations oblige me to limit myself for the present to the first point, 

 reserving the second for another opportunity. 



Till lately the territory of Chile has not been explored, with a view 

 to its botany. Besides some vegetables common to neighboring na- 

 tions, this country embraces a great number of new and interesting ob- 

 jects. The labors of Feuillee, Frezier, and above all those of Molina, 

 although imperfect with respect to the epoch in which they were under- 

 taken, alone, give an idea of the richness of this soil. The loss of the 

 ship Pedro de Alcantara, which occured in 1786 deprived Europe of 

 the beautiful collection of the celebrated botanists Ruiz, Pavon and 

 Dombey. The science is reduced to a very imperfect and limited 

 knowledge obtained through the means of travellers that accidentaly 

 visit the coast and seldom the interior. The learned botanists Cav- 

 anilles, Lagasca, Hooker, Lindley, De Candolle, Schlechtendal and 

 some others have published the description of some new species 

 which they have received. Miers, in his voyage to Chile has publish- 

 ed the names of those plants which he himself collected. If it were 

 possible to unite in a body all this information, correcting and aug- 

 menting it by new investigations, there is no doubt but it would be of 

 great service to the science and to the inhabitants. But an under- 

 taking of the kind is not within the power of one individual. Govern- 

 ment alone can favor its execution by supplying every thing neces- 

 sary to him, who is capable of undertaking so painful a task. 



Visiting the space comprehended between Valparaiso, Rancagua 

 and San Fernando, I have observed that the vegetation bears consid- 

 erable resemblance to that of the south of Europe and particularly to 



Vol. XIX.—No. 1, 9 



