INTRODUCTION. 
LECTURE I. 
Importance of System. — Advantages to be derived from the 
Study of Botany. 
The universe consists of matter and mind. By the faculties 
of mind with which God lias endowed us, we are able to exam- 
ine into the properties of the material objects by which we arc 
surrounded. 
If we had no sciences, nature would present exactly the same 
phenomena as at present. The heavenly bodies would move 
with equal regularity, and preserve the same relative situations, 
although no system of Astronomy had been formed. The laws 
of gravity and of motion, would operate in the same manner as 
at present, if we had no such science as Natural Philosophy. 
The affinities of substances for each other remain now as they 
were before the science of Chemistry existed. It is an impor- 
tant truth, and one which cannot be too much impressed upon 
the mind, in all scientific investigations, that no systems of man 
can change the laws and operations of Nature ; though by sys- 
tems we are enabled to gain a knowledge of these laws and 
relations. 
The Deity has not only placed before us an almost infinite 
variety of objects, but has given to our minds the power of 
reducing them into classes, so as to form beautiful and regular 
systems, by which we can comprehend, under a few terms, this 
vast number of individual things, which, without system, would 
present to our bewildered minds a confused and indiscriminate 
mass. This power of the mind, so important in classification, 
is that of discovering resemblances. We perceive two objects, 
we have an idea of their resemblance, and we give a common 
name to both ; other similar objects are then referred to the 
same class, or receive the same name. A child sees a flower 
which he is told is a rose ; he sees another resembling it, and 
By the faculties of the mind we explain the properties of matter. — Hu- 
man science cannot alter the laws of nature. — Power of the mind to form 
classes. 
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