PREFACE. 
Tuere is no language that speaks so powerfully to 
the mind as that of Nature. It is intelligible both to 
the young and to the old, to the ignorant and to the 
learned, to the lisping infant as well as to the hoary 
sage, to the uatutored savage of the forest as well as to 
the most favored votary of science. She speaks in 
accents of terror amidst the fury of the tempest; and 
her awful voice is heard amidst the stormy billows of 
the deep, and the roar of the foaming cataract. The 
mountains, with their snow-capped summits, proclaim 
her magnificence; and their sublime and romantic 
scenery speaks eloquently to the soul. The verdant 
meadows, the fields, teeming with the luxuriant fruits 
of Autumn, declare her richness and beauty, and in- 
spire universal delight and gratitude. But it is in the 
countless variety of her flowers that we see her sweet- 
est smiles, and it is through them that she conveys the 
