Xll PREFACE* 
per knowledge of its inhabitants. W e are 
surrounded on every side by plants of dif- 
ferent descriptions, and of different virtues ; 
scarcely any of the inhabitable part of the 
world is left without its verdant carpet, 
and few situations occur that do not afford 
plants of a higher order than grasses. From 
this extensive kingdom, so essentially ne- 
cessary to the support of animated nature, 
by far the greater part of the materia me- 
dica is derived, and daily improvements are 
still made in the practice of physic by dis- 
covering the virtues of plants. Among this 
vast and salutary multitude there are but 
few, comparatively, of a poisonous nature, 
and even some of these in the hands of the 
skilful physician are made subservient to the 
best of purposes. 
If we ascend to a higher class of beings, 
and contemplate the extensive range of the 
animal creation, we shall there find a host of 
objects which cannot fail to attract our at- 
tention. If we examine this multitude col- 
lectively, we shall perceive that the whole 
