INTRODUCTION. 
17 
change of seasons, liberally provides for the 
support of man — Nature presents her vegetable 
hieroglyphics in the most marked and perma¬ 
nent characters. The contemplation of the 
starry canopy of heaven is calculated to inspire 
every reflecting mind with the sublimest ideas 
of immortality. When the attractions of all 
transitory objects are veiled in the gloom of 
night — when, amidst the stillness of Nature, 
the voice of God resounds in the rustling of the 
trees and the murmuring of the swelling billows 
—the soul seems to wing its way towards the 
realms of eternity, and the virtuous mind is 
impressed with a deeper consciousness of its 
moral dignity. This trait in the human mind 
is typified in the vegetation of the East, by a 
tree, to which the Turks, Arabians, Persians, 
and Malays give various names, and which we 
distinguish by the appellation of the Sorrow¬ 
ful Tree, (Nyctanthes arbor tristis, L.) In 
form it is like the cherry tree ; but it is of much 
larger size. Its flowers, which resemble the 
orange blossom, are white, with a reddish tint 
at the bottom of the calyx, and their perfume 
is like that of the evening primrose. This tree 
C 2 
