24 
INTRODUCTION TO BOTANY. 
of the facts and opinions recorded, clothed in 
the ordinary phraseology of the science. The 
"Introduction to Botany" under notice is one 
of the author's larger works, and professes to 
treat of the structure and physiology of plants; 
two branches of the subject perfectly distinct 
from Systematic Botany, which refers to clas- 
sification only. The present, which is the 
fourth edition, has received large accessions 
of new matter, so that the work, originally 
and through the former editions forming one 
moderately thick volume, has now grown into 
two. AVe shall run through these volumes, 
and cull here and there a passage, so as to 
give a general idea of the nature and merit of 
the work. 
In the introductory matter, while comparing 
the past and present state of the science, the 
learned author tells us that, " It now com- 
prehends a knowledge not only of the names 
and uses of plants, but of their external and 
internal organization, their anatomy and phy- 
siological phenomena : it involves the con- 
sideration of the plan upon which those mul- 
titudes of vegetable forms that clothe the 
earth have been created, of the combinations 
out of which, so many various organs have 
emanated, of the laws that regulate the dis- 
persion and location of species, and of the in- 
fluence exercised by climate upon their de- 
velopment ; and, lastly, from botany, as now 
understood in its most extensive signification, 
is inseparable, the knowledge of the various 
ways in which the laws of vegetable life are 
applicable to the augmentation of the luxuries 
and comforts, or to the diminution of the 
wants and miseries of mankind. It is by no 
means, as some suppose, a science for the* idle 
philosopher in his closet, nor is it merely an 
amusing accomplishment, as others appear to 
think ; on the contrary, its field is in the 
midst of meadows and gardens and forests, on 
the sides of mountains, and in the depth of 
mines— wherever vegetation still flourishes, 
or wherever it attests by its remains the ex- 
istence of a former world. It is the science 
which converts the useless or noxious weed 
into the nutritious vegetable ; which changes 
a bare volcanic rock into a green and fertile 
island ; and which enables the man of science, 
by the power it gives him of judging how far 
the productions of one climate are susceptible 
of cultivation in another, to guide the colonist 
in his enterprises, and to save him from all 
those errors and losses into which all such 
persons unacquainted with botany are liable 
to fall. This science, finally, it is, which 
teaches the physician how to discover in 
every region the medicines that are best 
adapted for the maladies prevalent in it ; and 
which, by furnishing him with a certain clue 
to the knowledge of the tribes in which par- 
ticular properties are or are not to be found, 
renders him as much at ease, alone and seem- 
ingly without resources, in a land of unknown 
herbs, as if he were in the midst of a maga- 
zine of drugs in some civilized country." — 
Pp. v. vi. 
Nor is this claiming too much importance 
for the science, which bears closely upon the 
comforts and concerns of every-day life, 
although, to a mere cursory observer, the 
connexion may not be at once apparent. The 
author continues — " The principles of such a 
science must necessarily be complicated, and, 
in certain branches, which have only for a 
short time occupied the attention of observers, 
or which depend upon obscure and ill-under- 
stood evidence, are less clearly defined than 
could be wished. To explain those principles, 
to adduce evidence by which their truth is 
supposed to be proved, or the reasoning upon 
which they are based, in cases where direct 
proof is unattainable ; to show the causes of 
errors now exploded, the insufficiency of the 
arguments by which doubtful theories are 
still defended, and, in fine, to draw a line 
between what is certain and what is doubtful, 
are some of the objects of this publication. * * * 
Another and not less important purpose has 
been to demonstrate, by a series of well con- 
nected proofs, that in no department of na- 
tural history are the simplicity and harmony 
that pervade the universe more strikingly 
manifest than in the vegetable kingdom, 
where the most varied forms are produced by 
the combination of a very small number of 
distinct organs, and the most important phe- 
nomena are distinctly explained by a few 
simple laws of life and structure." — P. vii. 
This latter allusion is to the much opposed 
and misrepresented doctrine of Morphology, 
which is fully upheld by all, or nearly all, 
the botanists of repute at the present time. 
Microscopical investigation has been chiefly 
instrumental in leading to this general recog- 
nition of the doctrine, the opposition to which, 
moreover, in cases where it was really offered 
from honest convictions of its error, must 
have originated in a misconception of the 
entire nature of the question, produced per- 
haps by a loose or imperfect enunciation of its 
import. 
We come now to the body of the work, the 
first section of which is devoted to the defi- 
nition of a plant, as distinguished from the 
animal kingdom on the one hand, and the 
mineral kingdom on the other. There might 
appear to be little difficulty in defining the 
animal and vegetable kingdoms of organized 
nature, but in truth it is not so. None of 
those external and apparent characters which 
a novice would at once fix upon, are found 
sufficient to separate them ; and the distinc- 
