3io Dr. Prefloti to Mr. Ray. 



far lefs thofe that are yet undifcovered, or that Will 

 not be fubje£fc to change, or admit of Alteration ; for 

 I find by the few Obfervations that I made this Year, 

 that a Plant muft be viewed in all the Seafons of it 

 before one can venture to give a true and exaft Cha- 

 ra6ter of it : And it is not one fingle Obfervation that 

 is fufficient to conftitute the Chara£ter of a Plants for 

 that may efcape our Sight or Memory at one time, 

 which we may difcover at another. Befides a Plant ap- 

 pears under feveral Difguifes or Shapes before its 

 Fruit come to Maturity $ therefore it muft be from 

 repeated Obfervations in all the Seafons of it, for I 

 have found, that after having viewed a Plant with all 

 the Nicenefs and Exa&nefs imaginable at one Seafon, 

 yet on a fecond Review I have been obliged to alter 

 my Thoughts > for inftance, in the Herniaria. Nei- 

 ther is it to be thought that Botany alone is come 

 to that height of Perfe£tion, as to need no Help or 

 Corre&ion, or that it is lefs capable of Improvement 

 than other Sciences are 5 for how many new Species 

 have been difcover'd of late Years both in Eafi and 

 Wefi-Indies never known in the World before, and 

 how many lie hid to this Day. Has not Botany 

 made more Advances, and is more improved in out- 

 Days by the feveral learned Men and Writers thereof, 

 than for fome Ages paft ; and I think we owe no le(s 

 Obligation to the Revivers and Reftorers of Method, 

 than to the firft Inventor. Anatomy is a Science 

 which it's thought might have come to its height of 

 Perfection long ago, by the many and frequent Dif- 

 fe£Hons on human Bodies of learned and curious Men $ 

 and yet we find feveral Things have efcaped even the 

 Knife of the mod curious Difle&ors for fome Ages 

 paft, and are only difcover'd in our Days. So it is 

 as to Botany. 



Now, Sir, I fhall fubjoin a few of thefe Obferva- 

 tions that I have had Occafion to make: And firft 

 I begin with fome of thofe in the former Queries, 



where 



