4 LETTER I. 



Names are, no doubt, necessary for the purpose of dis- 

 tin2:uishin(r one thinof from another ; but, as no one 

 would call that man a carpenter, who only knew the 

 names of all the instruments in a carpenter's chest of 

 tools, so neither can that person be considered a Bo- 

 tanist, whose knowledge is confined to the application 

 of a few hundred Latin names to flowers and weeds. 

 Were the latter the mark of a Botanist, then would 

 every gardener be so accounted, which would be a 

 great and grievous mistake. 



" J'ai toujours cru," said Rousseau, whom I would 

 at once have advised you to take as your guide, if 

 his inimitable Letters were not both incomplete and 

 obsolete, — "J'ai toujours cru qu'on pourrait etre un 

 tres grand Botaniste, sans connaitre une seule plante 

 par son nom," — and to a great extent he was right. 

 Only to apply their names to a few plants, is a poor 

 insipid study, scarcely worth the following ; but to 

 know the hidden structure of such curious objects, to 

 be acquainted with the singular manner in which the 

 various actions of their lives are performed, and to 

 learn by what certain signs their relationship, for 

 they have their relations like ourselves, is indicated, 

 is surely among the most rational and pleasing of 

 pursuits. 



It is only by acquiring a knowledge of the natural 

 svstem of Botany, that you can systematically provide 

 yourself with such information. If timid, or unin- 

 formed, or interested persons have alarmed you with 

 an account of the difficulties of this mode of study, 

 let me advise you to disbelieve them, and to give 



