OCR Text |
Show Vl The P R E F A C E. Where fome of his generical charaElers have contradiEled a part of. tbe claf!ical ones, I have reconciled them ; and, where fome new difcovered, or before not accurately examined, Jpecies has deviated from a part of the ejlablijhed dijlinElion ~~the genus, I have made no fcruple of making that conform to nature. Of this kind will be found all the variations made, in this Work, from that excellent Writer's method; for the rejl, every one who under.ftands him, or any of the botanijls of reputation, who have written jince the eflablijhment of his method, wilt meet with no dijjiculties in this point. This, however, regards only the . more abjlrufe and dry part of the Work: the defcriptions of plants, which are all the generality of the world regards, have never fallen in his way. The di.fficulty of comprijing a General Hijlory of Plants, in the compafs of fo fmall a volume as this was engaged to be, mujl have appeared very great to evety one, who is at all acquainted with the nature of the JubjeEl. 'Ihe method by which it has been executed is no other, than the cautious avoiding of repetitions, and the neceffary redu8'ion of the J uppqfed number of Jpecies. As to the firj} article, the clajfical and generical charatlers oJ a plrl1# are always underflood to make a part of the drfcription of the Jpecies; and theje are Jo conjiderable a part, that little more is in reality 1zecejfary to 6e added to. them, than the jize of the plant, and of it's fever a! parts ; the form of the leaves, and the colour of the flowers. After J uccinEt defcriptions of this kind, of three or four Jpecies of each genus, and thoft as diflinEl and different in their general form,·as could be chqfen, the others can hardly be mijlaken on a bare recital of .their nmrtes, which always conv ry their principal, or more obvious, dijlinElions. I could have wijhed to have made the names, under which I have mentioned thife legitimate[y fpecific ones, as has been done irt regard to thqfe which are defcribed, and where a fynonymon of another author is given; but, where one name only could be given, it was neceJ!ary to give that by which the plant is now known in our own fields or gardens. The number of plants, as thry fland in the generality of authors, 1s not left than fix teen thoufand; but this has been, in great part, o·wing to the common error of mijlaking varieties for Jpecies : I have, by flparating thefe, fo Jar as I could with any degree of certainty, t educed the number of known plants to little more than eleven thoujmzd; .and I am well a./Jured, that future obflrvation will y~t very conjiderably lejfen that n,umber. I have Juppofed the reader lefs acquainted with botany at his Jirfl entering on this work, and have therefore been more large and exprifs, both .in the charaEiers and difcriptions of the fu!JjeEls; as he becomes more accu. ftomed The P It E F A C E. .. Vll cu.(lomed to the terms, and f amiliar!fed to the diflinElions of plants, be wtll find the charaElers more JuccinEl, and the difcriptions jhorter. The Pfates, though of a very limited number, will be found to contain eve1~y thzng 7tece.J!a~y to the underjland£ng botany, as a }cience: the three or fo~tr firjl explazn to the rye all the terms zifed in the couife of the Work. and zn the others there will be found one plant of every c!Cffs, and anum~ ber of :he flowers of ~b~ more jingular among the other genera compr!fed under zt. The defcrzptwns are to be brought in to the aJ!ijlance of theje as the charaElers ar~ to that of the difcriptions; and in this method, ever' part qf the Wo~k b~zng fubjervient to every other part of it, I am not afrafJ to a.Jfert, that zt wt!l Jo far anfwer it's purpoJed end, that a man of 'ud _ ment, who has not fludied botany before, will, by means of it alone, witho~t the a.lftjlance of a?lj' other work, be able to find the clafs genus and jj · of any plant he meets with in a perfeE! jlate, and to c~l/ it / it' prpeczes name. " s roper L_ef: than thi~ I jh~uld be forry to have arrived at; more I would 110t be . ambttzous of domg, zn a volume of this jize. [ b ] A GEN E- |