INTEODUCTOET EEMAEKS. XV 



culture has of late attracted mucli attention, and the chemistry 

 of plants has been carefully examined by Liebig, Mulder, and 

 Johnston. The consideration of the phenomena connected with 

 germination and the nutrition of plants has led to important 

 conclusions as to sowing, draining, ploughing, the rotation of 

 crops, and the use of manures. 



The relation which Botany bears to Medicine has often been 

 misunderstood. The medical student is apt to suppose that all 

 he is to acquire by his botanical pursuits is a knowledge of the 

 names and orders of medicinal plants. The object of the connec- 

 tion between scientific and mere professional studies is here lost 

 sight of. It ought ever to be borne in mind by the medical man, 

 that the use of the collateral sciences, as they are termed, is not 

 only to give him a great amount of general information, which 

 will be of value to him in his after career, but to train his mind 

 to that kind of research which is essential to the student of 

 medicine, and to impart to it a tone and a vigour which will be 

 of the highest moment in all his future investigations. What 

 can be more necessary for a medical man than the power of 

 making accurate observations, and of forming correct distinctions 

 and diagnoses 1 These are the qualities which are brought into 

 constant exercise in the prosecution of the botanical investigations 

 to which the student ought to turn his attention, as preliminary 

 to the study of practical medicine. In the prosecution of his 

 physiological researches, it is of the highest importance that the 

 medical man should be conversant with the phenomena exhibited 

 by plants. For no one can be reckoned a scientific physiologist 

 who does not embrace within the range of his inquiries all classes 

 of animated beings ; and the more extended his views, the more 

 certain and comprehensive will be his generalisations. 



To those who prosecute science for amusement, Botany pre- 

 sents many points of interest and attraction. Though , relating 

 to living and organised beings, the prosecution of it calls for no 

 painful experiments nor forbidding dissections. It adds pleasure 

 to every walk, affords an endless source of gratification, and it 

 can be rendered available alike in the closet and in the field. 

 The prosecution of it combines healthful and spirit-stirring recrea^ 



