PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



In writing this little rudimentary work, which has 

 no higher aim than that of familiarizing the beginner 

 with the principal parts of plants and their manner 

 of growth, the author has endeavoured throughout 

 to keep in view the suggestion of the great botanist 

 whose words are quoted on the title-page. Not- 

 withstanding the importance of Botany in science, 

 art, and commerce, and the great value of at least 

 a general knowledge of its principles in a young 

 country like Australia, its practical alphabet is 

 surrounded by so many difficulties as to remove 

 it from the list of subjects ordinarily taught in our 

 Schools. This unfortunate circumstance is princi- 

 pally attributable to the fact that classical languages 

 have been employed in conferring botanical names. 

 Doubtless this was and is necessary for the higher 

 purposes of the science ; since Latin and Greek 

 form a common ground on which botanists of all 

 countries can meet in constructing an universal 



