ON THE STUDY OF BOTANY IN CONNECTION WITH PHARMACY. 155 
as to the gradual progress of knowledge among all classes of the community, 
much has been done to drive away this degrading idea, and we may now fairly 
look forward to the time when an unscientific pharmaceutist will no longer be 
found. 
We now proceed to treat of the advantages to be derived from the study of 
botany, as a recreation from the arduous duties of your profession. Recrea¬ 
tion ! I think I hear the hard-worked and too closely confined pharmaceutist 
exclaim, pray what time have I for recreation? But surely there are but 
few, if any, who, do not have certain periods of relaxation; and to such, 
•what study is capable of affording so much that is pleasing and invigora¬ 
ting as that of botany? Who is there that is not attracted by the sight of 
a beautiful flower? And if the mere sight of a beautiful plant is thus calcu¬ 
lated to excite our attention and to please our senses, how much more will 
it do so, if we examine its marvellous structure, study its functions, learu 
its history, and ascertain the part it plays in the grand scale of creation ! Is 
not such a pursuit eminently calculated to prove a recreation at once agree¬ 
able and purifying to our natures ? And such a study is within the reach of 
us all, although in varying degrees. Thus, the pharmaceutist, whose business 
is fixed even in the densest parts of our crowded cities, will find much to in¬ 
terest him, for it has been truly said that, “ however much the sun may be ob¬ 
scured from your abode, still some forms of vegetable life will be put forth; 
and though by comparison the rose or the lily may superlatively excel chickweed 
or groundsel, yet there is no plant, however insignificant, however common, 
which has not its own peculiar beauties and charms ; and which would not be 
esteemed as a marvel of design, if others more beautiful were absent from the 
comparison.” But the opportunities afforded to the pharmaceutist will be in¬ 
creased a hundredfold, when residing in, or when his vacations lead him into 
the country, “ for the study of botany can nowhere be so well prosecuted as 
w r hen remote from cities and the busy haunts of men.” To the country phar¬ 
maceutist, therefore, the advantages to be derived from its study as a recreation, 
are more manifest, for to him the stores of nature are fully exposed, for in no 
season of the year will he be unable to pursue it; for there is none in which he 
will not be able to find something worthy of his attention ; for each brings 
with it its own particular plants. Thus, in the winter months and early spring, 
many cryptogamic plants are in full maturity ; as the spring advances, he will 
find plants coming into flower of exquisite beauty and delicious odour, “ sweet 
harbingers of the approaching summer,” as well as others, which although fre¬ 
quently insignificant in appearance, yet will in after seasons yield fruits of 
great service to all. As the summer advances he will see vegetation in all 
its luxuriance, and as month succeeds to month, he will find each developing its 
respective beauties and thus affording him a ceaseless source of study and gra¬ 
tification. As autumn succeeds to summer, he will see again new races of 
plants springing into flower, whilst at the same time those of the preceding 
seasons have now matured their fruits, which are frequently of inestimable value 
to man. No season of the year, therefore, is without its interest to the botanist. 
He who takes up the study of botany as a recreation, has to wait for no parti¬ 
cular periods, as the 12th of August, the 1st of September, or the 1st of 
October, to pursue it; but he will find that each month brings with it its cwn 
peculiar pleasures. 
Whilst the pursuit of botany may be thus shown to be a most agreeable 
recreation, it is, at the same time, a most healthful one, leading us, as it does, 
into the fields and gardens to breathe the pure air of heaven, removing us at 
the same time from all those contaminating pursuits which weaken the body 
and debase the mind, giving, also, an increased iuterest to our walks and rides, 
and furnishing us with a series of most agreeable associations. What associa- 
