MAXITAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 381 



PART II. 



PHYTOLOGY. 



THE NATURAL FAMILIES OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM, ARBANGEB 

 ACCORDING TO THEIR ORGANIZATION. 



The extreme importance of the Vegetable King- 

 dom to mankind, the great beauty of some of its 

 members, the graceful proportions, or the singular 

 construction of others, have rendered it an object 

 of engrossing attention from very remote times. As 

 knowledge spread and civilization increased, the 

 rude acquaintance possessed by early races with 

 useful fruits and herbs, gradually increased into a 

 special study for ancient sages and philosophers. 

 Among the Greeks it was pursued by Hippocrates 

 and Aristotle, by Theophrastus and Dioscorides, and 

 in the western world it ranked among the scientific 

 acquirements of the elder Pliny. Nor was it 

 deemed unworthy of the attention of the wisest of 

 men, for it is recorded in Sacred writ that Solo- 

 mon, King of Israel, spoke of trees, from the cedar- 

 tree upon Lebanon, unto the hyssop that sprung 

 out of the wall. Nearer our own times it num.- 



