PREFACE. XI 



habitual sentiment of our minds, is to have laid the 

 foundation of every thing which is rehgious. The world 

 thenceforth becomes a temple, and life itself one continued 

 act of adoration '.'* 



In conclusion, I beg to offer my sincere acknowledg- 

 ments to those friends who have encouraged the publica- 

 tion of this work, and to express my obligations to Pro- 

 fessor Daubeny, for a specimen of a Botanico-Geological 



' " It is difficult to conceive that any man of taste or curiosity 

 should despise the examination of that part of the creation, which 

 meets his eye continually under the most beauteous and graceful 

 forms, which administers innumerable supplies to his various 

 wants, and abounds with the most admirable proofs of the wisdom 

 and goodness of the Supreme Beixg. The physiological and the 

 systematical part of Botany have each their advantages. The 

 former is the best introduction to a knowledge of organised 

 nature, exhibiting the first and plainest links of that vast chain 

 which connects all living substances ; the latter affords the most 

 perfect specimen of classification, so that all that the Dialectic 

 Art teaches respecting genus and species in general propositions. 

 Botany demonstrates in a far more pleasant and intelligible way 

 by actual examples. This study, besides the useful and agreeable 

 exercise of the understanding, is adapted to infuse the purest 

 tastes, prepares a fund of never-failing delight for every rural walk, 

 and often forms a bond of union among cultivated and amiable 

 minds: and if Religion ought to enter into the scheme of a well- 

 conducted education ; — if Natural Religion is the foundation of a 

 just and enhghtened faith in Divine Revelation ; — then Botany 

 may assume a still more dignified rank among the sciences ; for 

 certainly there is no branch of natural knowledge which affords 

 proofs so clear, so accessible, so abundant and various, so striking 

 and interesting and attractive, of the existence, attributes, and 

 providence of the Great First Cause." — James Yates, F.L.S. 



