14 
INTRODUCTION. 
concerns^ it is indispensable to the success of the one, and to the com- 
fort of those interested in the other. The very logical and system- 
atic arrangement which prevails in Botanical science, has, without 
doubt, a tendency to induce in the mind the habit and love of order ; 
which, when once established, will operate even in the minutest con- 
cerns. Whoever traces this system through its various connexions, 
by a gradual progress from individual plants to general classes, until 
the whole vegetable world seems brought into one point of view, and 
then descends in the same methodical manner, from generals to par- 
ticulars, must acquire a habit of arrangement, and a perception of 
order, which is the true practical logic. 
The study of Botany seems peculiarly adapted to females ; the ob- 
jects of its investigation are beautiful and delicate ; its pursuits, lead- 
ing to exercise in the open air, are conducive to health and cheer- 
fulness. It is not a sedentary study which can be acquired in the 
library, but the objects of the science are scattered over the surface 
of the earth, along the banks of the winding brooks, on the borders 
of precipices, the sides of mountains, and the depths of the forest. 
A knowledge of Botany is necessary to the medical profession. 
Our Almighty Benefactor, in bestowing upon us the vegetable tribes, 
has not only provided a source of refined enjoyment in the contem- 
plation of their beautiful forms and colours ; in their fragrance, by 
which, in their peculiar language, they seem to hold secret commun- 
ion with our minds ; He has not only given them for our food and 
clothing, but with kind, parental care, has, in them, provided powers 
to counteract and remove the diseases to which mankind are subject. 
For many ages plants were the only medicines known, or used ; but 
modern discoveries in Chemistry, by forming compounds of previ- 
ously existing elements, have, in some degree, superseded their use. 
Although the science of medicine has received much additional hght 
from Chemistry, it may perhaps in modern days have occupied the 
attention of medical men too exclusively ; inducing them to toil in 
their laboratories to form those combinations which nature has done, 
much more perfectly, in the plants which they pass unheeded. It is 
probable that the medicinal productions of the animal and mineral 
kingdoms, bear but a small proportion to those of the vegetable. 
When our forefathers came to this country, they found the natives 
in possession of much medical knowledge of plants. Having no rem- 
edies prepared by scientific skill, the Indians were led, by necessity, 
to the use of those which nature offered them : and, by experience 
and observation, they had arrived at many valuable conclusions as 
to the qualities of plants. Their mode of life, leading them to pene- 
trate the shades of the forest, and to climb the mountain precipices, 
naturally associated them much with the vegetable world. The In- 
dian woman, the patient sharer in these excursions, was led to look 
for such plants as she might use for the diseases of her family. Each 
new and curious plant, though not viewed by her with the eye of a 
botanist, was regarded with scrutinizing attention ; the colour, taste, 
and smell, were carefully remarked, as indications of its properties. 
But the discoveries and observations of the Indians have perished with 
themselves ; having had no system for the classification or description 
of plants, nor any written language by which such a system might 
have been conveyed to others, no other vestige remains than uncer- 
tain tradition, of their knowledge of the medicinal qualities of plants. 
The study of Botany is practical logic — Proper for females — Necessary to the med- 
ical profession— Experience of the Indians with respect to plants — Medicinal virtues 
of plants, _ 
