V1U PREFACE. 



bled to state, that the want of a Botanic Garden, under his direc- 

 tion, will no longer afford any obstacle to the rapid advancement 

 of this Flora. At the solicitation of the author, the Managers of the 

 Philadelphia Aims-House-Infirmary, have, during the past summer, 

 placed under his direction, a piece of ground within the enclosure of 

 the walls of that institution, every way calculated for a Botanic Gar- 

 den, which in a year or two will do honour to their liberality and 

 public spirit ; be an important addition to the numerous medical ad- 

 vantages of that great institution, and a public ornament to the city. 

 It is intended to convert the whole of the ground south of the build- 

 ing and within the enclosure of its walls, of late years devoted to culi- 

 nary cultivation, to the purposes of a botanic establishment; and it is 

 expected by the close of the present season, that green and hot houses 

 will be in a state of readiness to receive the exotics, for the purchase 

 of which ample means are at the command of the managers of that in- 

 stitution, arising out of the « Medical Fund." This fund is distinct from 

 the public funds which are levied to support the paupers. It is pro- 

 duced by the high repute of the Infirmary as a clinical school, inviting 

 a numerous and annually increasing train of pupils to attend the prac- 

 tice of the house, and avail themselves of the clinical instruction of its 

 physicians, surgeons, and accoucheurs. The Medical Board of that in- 

 stitution, is composed of professional men of liberal and enlightened 

 education, who appreciate the value of Botany in a course of medical 

 education; and, fortunately for the languishing interests of that 

 -cience, in the school in which the author holds the Botanical Pro- 



