days. Syrup of cabbage-bark : to any quantity of the above decoction add a double portion of sugar, and 
make a syrup ; this will retain its virtues for many years. The extract is prepared by evaporating a strong 
decoction in balneo mariee to the proper consistence. 
The powder may be taken in doses of from thirty to forty grains, the syrup from three to four table 
spoonfuls, and the extract from three to four grains. 
Off. — The Bark. 
Off. Pp. — Decoctum Geoffroyse Inermis, E. 
“It is necessary,” says Mr. Turner, “ that we should have right notions of the system on which our 
earth has been framed, and of the plan and purposes of all its departments, in order to perceive what the 
Divine mind has intended by our terrestrial creation, and thereby to judge more soundly on the great com- 
ponent whole. This knowledge will assist us to appreciate His ends and operations in the course of nature 
which He has established, and in the direction and application of His providential economy to ourselves, as 
well as to our inferior fellow-creatures. The more fully we know and the more justly we think on the 
vegetable and animal kingdoms, we shall be the better prepared to comprehend thfe principles and the his- 
tory of His dealings with the human race. This world is manifestly not our world only. We are linked in 
it with innumerable fellow-beings, of very varying kinds and qualities. They are co-tenants with us of our 
common earth. We cannot live in it without their association and services. Relations, therefore, subsist 
unceasingly between us, which cannot be destroyed without destruction to ourselves ; and from this view of 
the real state of things, it is an object of great intellectual interest and importance to become acquainted 
with the most material phenomena of these classes of animated nature, however dissimilar and subordinate 
they seem to be to our more gifted order. Do not, therefore, think me tedious if I particularize a few facts 
on this curious subject. 
From all the circumstances thus far enumerated, we may infer — 
That the Vegetable classes have been created upon a system of progressive improvability — and also of 
an indefinite productiveness, which can be increased to the utmost extent of any probable human demands 
upon it. 
That the application of human skill, care and diligence to educe these beneficial results, has been made 
the condition of their appearing ; but that these valuable qualities will never be exerted in vain on this 
interesting order of beings. 
That human welfare and comfort have been a principal object of the Creator in designing and producing 
His vegetable world, though it has been also made subservient to animal subsistence ; and that these are 
peculiarly connected with the cultivation of it. Animal food leads to the animal habits of hunting and pas- 
turage ; both of which, though pleasing as occasional employments, yet when made the character and chief 
pursuits of a tribe or nation, tend to animalize our nature and arrest our social progress. Ancient Scythia, 
and the modern Tartars and Arabs, and North American Indians, are commentaries on this principle. Agri- 
culture and gardening, and their consequential occupations, accustom the human mind to the quiet, patient, 
contented, domestic, social and civilizing habits, on which human happiness and improvement mainly 
depend. 
The vegetable kingdom, in its varied flowers, foliage, stems and graceful and delicate expansions ; in its 
playful branches and gentle movements, and in its multiplied fruits and useful products of numerous sorts 
and of universal application, display a peculiar goodness, liberality and kindness in the Divine mind towards 
His human race — a desire to please, to interest and to amuse us with the most innocent, continual, acces- 
sible, and gratifying enjoyments. For, plants peculiarly address themselves to three of our most used 
senses — the taste, the smell, and the sight ; while the ear is also soothed by the whispering of the branches, 
and the touch by the softness of the verdant and floral foliage, and of most of the fruits. We see that the 
consolidated wood supplies us with numerous conveniencies of private and public use ; and from plants has 
arisen that most needful and comfortable of all things beyond the limits of the torrid zone — the grateful 
warmth and use of our domestic fires. Even in this respect we may perceive that there has been a bene- 
volent foresight and provision specially exerted, in order that this daily comfort might continue to accrue to 
us, after our diffusing population should have levelled the forests which supplied the fuel. Buried in the 
earth just deep enough to remain unknown till wanted, that primeval vegetation, which was overwhelmed 
and uprooted by the deluge, has during its long sepulture become converted into bituminous coal, sufficient 
to yield us fire for all our purposes, though every wood should be consumed, and mankind last for more 
ages than they are likely to continue. In this beneficial supply of a mineral so invaluable, we have an in- 
stance of a great destruction directed by a prospective benevolence, to prepare and produce for a future age, 
one of the kindest additions to human comfort. What a demonstration of the most deliberate goodness 
presiding amid the most awful displeasure.” 
I 
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