APPENDIX. 
181 
any proof ? If there be any truth in the saying, 
“ Deus nil frustra fecit.” God did not make the 
light of heaven for a Chancellor of the Exche- 
quer to give or withhold at his will and pleasure. 
It would be quite as lawful and just for the 
rulers of a kingdom to attempt to raise a revenue 
by poisoning the air that we breathe, or the food 
that we eat, as by interfering with the full and 
free enjoyment of Heaven’s first-born and most 
precious gift. Some future Gibbon in his t( His- 
tory of the Decline and Fall of the British Em- 
pire,” in enumerating the causes of such decline 
might well place in a prominent rank the pro- 
found ignorance of its legislators upon subjects of 
the most vital importance to the well-being of 
the community. Believe me to be, my dear Sir, 
yours very truly, N. B. Ward. 
To Dr. Southwood Smith. 
(K) 
Royal Gardens, Kew, April 4 th , 1851. 
My dear Sir, 
You pay me the compliment to ask my 
opinion on your “ Wardian Cases,” but their 
value has been so long tested, not only in this 
country, but really and truly all over the world, 
that I have only to say what every one interested 
in the progress of botany and horticulture can 
