264 royle's manual of materia medic a, etc. 
Botany is slighted ; more especially in this country, where it is 
not a portion of the regular course of instruction. Certainly it 
is not to be attributed to any defect in the branch itself, which is 
both attractive and serviceable. The department of Materia Me- 
dica without it would be defective; and every treatise]which pre- 
tends to scientific precision has more or less reference to it. 
If we take up a Dispensary, or work like the present, and turn 
to the account of vegetable substances, a large portion will be 
found devoted to the description of plants from which they are 
derived, in language strictly technical. To one unacquainted 
with the key, which is a comprehension of the botanical al- 
phabet, or in other words the elementary principles of the branch, 
this portion of the very text books of Materia Medica must re- 
main sealed, a dead letter, to be read only by the initiated ; 
the yearning to unravel which could be easily/gratified by a 
small degree of preliminary botanical information. 
It may be thought, however, to be a mere accessory, 
more ornamental than useful. To this we would reply, 
that the physician and pharmaceutist have each, under cir- 
cumstances of difficulty, to apply to the botanist to extricate 
him from his dilemma, as for instance in the substitution of 
one substance for another, adulterations, &c. Materia Me- 
dica has in a great measure been advanced to its] present 
state by the researches of botanists, and improvement would 
be greatly restricted without its aid. To study it then is 
not only important, but essential to one j thoroughly edu- 
cated. The present age is one of teaching by illustration; 
lecturers no longer endeavour to impress the mind with in- 
comprehensible, dry details, when by proper demonstration, 
information can be easily and certainly communicated, and 
in the study of this science, of the advantages of which we 
are strongly convinced, facilities in the way of improvement 
are becoming more numerous. A medical botany by Dr. 
Griffith is now in press, a work much required in the United 
States, and other publications are promised. In the work 
now under consideration, the illustrations which far exceed 
