NuttalVs Introduction to Botany. 99 



preceded it, the consequences might be very serious ; and I 

 for one, will not, if invited, consent to ascend, unless one of 

 the horses be assigned to me, and he be of the Hypogryf 

 breed. 



Art. XV. — Notice of an Introduction to Systematic and 

 Physiological Botany ; by Thomas Nuttall, A. M., F. 

 L. S. &c. 8vo. pp. 360. Cambridge : Hilliard & Brown. 



(Communicated.) 



The present work forms a happy exception to those Intro- 

 ductory Treatises upon different subjects, which are the off- 

 spring of avarice, or of the pride of authorship. 



That, certainly, is a false opinion, which supposes a mere 

 knowledge of books is adequate to the production of a 

 useful elementary work upon any science which relates 

 to sensible objects ; as we have sufficient evidence in vari- 

 ous treatises upon different branches of Natural History. 

 He, alone, who has arrived at a thorough and practical 

 knowledge of a science, is capable of assisting others to 

 attain eminence ; — he it is, who understands all the diffi- 

 culties which are to be encountered, and the way to over- 

 come them, and all others, who have the temerity to make 

 this attempt must fail. If a person whose knowledge of a sci- 

 ence is derived from books alone, attempt a treatise upon it, 

 for the assistance of beginners, what is his prospect of suc- 

 cess ? In treating of distinctive characters, by what means 

 is he to decide upon their relative value ? Experience has 

 never taught him the fallacy of some, and the value of others. 

 How shall he determine upon a judicious classification, when 

 he does not know in what individuality consists, or what 

 constitutes affinity among different individuals ? and how will 

 he acquit himself in that most difficult part of his subject — 

 physiography ? That a treatise, therefore, from such an au- 

 thor should be adapted to the wants of a tyro, is as little to 

 be looked for, as that a man can teach what he never knew ; 

 and, indeed, this is the very absurdity that such an author 

 proposes to himself, since he attempts to qualify others to 

 recognise and classify objects, whose characters he, himself, 

 has never learned. Books, of themselves, can never teach the 

 sciences that relate to natural objects ; practice and a famili- 

 arity with the objects themselves, can alone effect this. Such 



