£ FRUCTIFICATION OF THE CRYPTOGAM!,*!. 



vessels, and the strongly marked vital line, I find an ex- 

 tremely compressed formation, so delicate and fine, that it 

 is very difficult to comprehend its uses and capabilities. 

 Difficulties of But before I enter on the subject of the cryptogamian 



the study of plants, I must say a few words in vindication of an under- 

 time cryptoga- f , . . , 

 mia. taking, that may appear to many (considering the number 



of learned men that have written on the subject) so little 

 necessary. Linnaeus might be said to select all the difficul- 

 ties of botany, and unite them in one class. Yet, though 

 the various genera differ so much from each other, they 

 are certainly most properly arranged, since they carry strong 

 marks of internal resemblance ; of which, I doubt not, that 

 great master had a perfect knowledge. The very difficulties 

 of the study appear to have constituted part of the charm, 

 which has tempted such numbers to seek for, and try to 

 understand this class of plants. Hence we find so many 

 masters, who have dedicated their whole lives to the per- 

 fecting the knowledge of one single genus of the cryptoga- 

 mian plants. This being the case, tvill it not be construed 

 into extreme vanity in me, to select such a subject ? Yet 

 the plan I have formed cannot be complete without it; and 

 there is certainly one part, that has not yet been touched : 

 Few master* neither Gmelin, Dillenius, nor Stackhouse has dissected 

 f,ave dissected the interior of these plants. No master has proceeded far- 

 ther than selecting and describing them, and giving their 

 habitats : all which is so admirably shown in that incompara- 

 ble work, the joint labours of Dr. Smith and Mr. Sowerby. 

 This part therefore, "the dissection of the interior of plants," 

 1 may venture to appropriate ; and should I, in the review 

 I mean to take of the whole class, contradict the assertions 

 of any of the great men I have before mentioned ; it will, I 

 hope, be considered, that I only venture to do it from pos- 

 sessing more powerful means of magnifying than they did, 

 rendering the objects clear and luminous; which constant 

 study has taught me the means of doing with effect. 

 Importance of If the vital part of a plant was productive of no other 



•tie lino of consequence than that of marking its existence, I should 

 life in indenti- , ■ ' „ ', ^ -^ A. j.- i *. 



fyldg plants, not so continually have pressed it on the notice and atten- 

 tion of the public: but it is the centre from which every 

 other line must take its rise, it is the point which must cer- 

 tify 



rryptogarmrtn 

 plants 



