yiil PREFACE, 
criminations, in the numberyjigurey Jituathn^ 
and proportion of parts, on which are laid 
the foundations of modern Botanical Science^ 
affociations and diftindtions, which are veil- 
ed from the untaught eye pf coramon ob- 
fervation, howfoever fenfible to the general 
beauties of Nature ! And hence, indepen- 
dently of its real and ultimate utility, from 
the acceffion of knowledge it brings to the 
Materia Medica, and by its general affiftance 
to the various arts and elegancies of life, the 
ftudy of the vegetable kingdom, has prov- 
ed, to numerous fpeculative and inquifitivp 
minds, the fource of much intelledlual en- 
joyment. 
This Science is, by many, confidered as 
of fo eafy attainment, that it is not unufual 
to affign the name of Botanift, to any man 
whpfe mepiory enables him to repeat the 
nomenclature of perhaps a few hundred 
plants 'y howfoever uninformed he may be, 
of thofe principles which entitle him, to the 
real n^me and charader ; With equal juf- 
tice might any man who knows the names 
pnly of the parts of a complex machine, 
^ifllfme to himfelf that fame which is due 
folely 
