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The study of Botany recommended, 



[Oct. 



VIII. — The Study of Botany recommended, together with a Prospectus of 

 Dr. Zenker's Plant® Indices. — By the Reverend Bernhard Schmid. 



An universal diffusion of the knowledge of Botany is highly desir- 

 able, not only on account of the many important discoveries which by 

 its means may still be made in economical and medicinal respects, but 

 even more so on account of the benefits which our minds derive from 

 the pursuit of this study. It is well known that men, whose minds 

 were abundantly enriched with the stores of knowledge, and with the 

 means of mental enjoyment, as Rousseau and Sir William Jones, 

 acquired and successfully cultivated this science in their advanced age, 

 and (the former particularly) obtained thereby relief and consolation 

 which he did not find any where else ; — " for," (says a noble-minded 

 and elegant writer on Botany), " what occupation is more able than the 

 contemplation of Divine Wisdom in the beautiful economy of Nature, 

 to deliver the soul from the feverish agitation of worldly pursuits, and 

 to soothe a wounded spirit? The man who loves Botany for its own 

 sake, knows not the feelings of envy, jealousy and rivalship, nor is he 

 dependent for happiness on situations and scenes that favour their 

 growth. He would find himself neither solitary nor desolate, had he 

 no other companion than a " mountain-daisy," that " modest crimson- 

 tipped flower," so sweetly sung by one of Nature's own poets. The 

 humblest weed or moss will ever afford him something to examine or 

 to illustrate, and a great deal to admire. Introduce him to the magni- 

 ficence of a tropical fore t, the enamelled meadows of the Alps, the 

 wonders of New Holland, or even to the dwarfish plants of Lapland or 

 Terra del Fuego, and his thoughts will not dwell much upon riches or 

 literary honours, things that 



" Play round the head, but come net near the hea!rt." 



And double delight and benefit will the study of the book of nature 

 afford to him, who knows already the true fountain of peace and hap- 

 piness, and who loves and studies with equal care the book of Revela- 

 tion ; for he finds that they illustrate each other mutually, and that the 

 study of the one gives continually new zest to the study of the other. 



And if Botany is useful and suited to adults, it is perhaps still more 

 so to children and youths; — and Sir James Edward Smith (the writer 

 just cited), in his Introduction to Botany states that in Sweden, 

 where Natural History is generally introduced in schools as a branch 

 of education, its beneficial effects are evident, as (according to his de„ 

 claration) " there are no people with more acute or better regulated 

 minds than the Swedes." 



Views like these have induced the writer of this paper to devote % 



