10 Introduction. 



of the wonders of these creations up to the great Being whose 

 hand in them all is so evident. 



Inferior to no study in interest of this kind, that of Botany 

 is peculiarly favorable to the pursuit of the inquirer, from the 

 readiness and ease with which the objects of its investigation 

 may be procured. Every flower and every leaf, the tiniest 

 grass, the most neglected lichen, may form a theme for lofty 

 contemplation. The eye of the botanist may become endued 

 with a sort of second sight It may discern in the commonest 

 things of the earth wonders which are not found in the most 

 gorgeous palaces. It may perceive in the most ordinary 

 works of Nature an exquisiteness of design, an elaborateness 

 of execution, an adaptedness of means to the end proposed, 

 which are looked for in vain in the most exalted plans of hu- 

 man genius. And more, the true student of nature, too often 

 care-worn and oppressed by the toil and disappointments of 

 his harsher human existence, may forget all in the separate life, 

 in which, among all these wonders, he may become soothed 

 and consoled. There is to him more than "a pleasure in the 

 pathless woods," more than " a rapture on the lonely shore,*' 

 and he needs the impulse of neither misanthropy nor satiety, 

 to become in such scenes a wiser, a happier, and a better man. 



It is in the spirit of these reflections that we approach the 

 task before us, confident of our success in inspiring our readers 

 as we proceed, with something like a similar feeling. 



J. Vy. \y» 



