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THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE DATE
INDICATED BELOW AND IS SUB-
JECT TO AN OVERDUE FINE AS
POSTED AT THE CIRCULATION
DESK.
THE
BOTANIST.
BEING
THE BOTANICAL PART
OF A
COURSE OF LECTURES
ON
NATURAL HISTORY,
delivered in the university at Cambridge,
together with a
DISCOURSE
ON
THE PRINCIPLE OF VITALITY.
BY BENJAMIN WATERHOUSE, M. D.
fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences ; — of the Philosoph-
ical Society of Philadelphia ; and of Bath ami of Manchester in England ;
Fellow of the Medical Society, London ; — of the Academy of Arts
and Sciences, Belles Lettres, Inscriptions, and Commerce, Mar-
seilles ; and of the National Medical School of France : and
Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic in the
University of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
BOSTON :
ISHED BY JOSEPH T. BUCKTNGHO ;
WINTER-STREET.
1811.
DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, to wit:
District Clerk's Office.
BE it remembered, that on the third day of July, A. D. 1811, and ia
the thirty fifth year of the Independence of the United States of America,
Benjamin Waterhouse of the said district has deposited in this office the
title of a book, the right whereof he claims as author, in the words follow-
ing, to wit :
" The Botanist. Being the Botanical Part of a Course of Lectures on
Natural History, delivered in the University at Cambridge. Together
with a Discourse on the Principle of Vitality. By Benjamin Waterhouse,
M. D. Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences ; of the Phi-
losophical Society of Philadelphia; and of Bath and of Manchester in Eng-
land ; Fellow of the Medical Society, London ; of the Academy of Arts
and Sciences, Belle Lettres, Inscriptions, and Commerce, Marseilles ; and
of the National Medical School of France : and Professor of the Theory
and Practice of Physic in the University of Cambridge, Massachusetts."
In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, intitled,
" an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of
maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, dur-
ing the times therein mentioned ;" and also to an act, intitled, " an act sup-
plementary to an act, entitled, an act for the encouragement of learning,
by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and pro-
prietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned ; and extending
the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving and etching histor-
ical and other prints."
WILLIAM. S. SHAW,
Clerk of the District of Massachusetts
QK4'7
THESE ESSAYS ARE DEDICATED TO
JOHN ADAMS, LL. D.
PRESIDENT OF THE MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL
SOCIETY : AND
PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF VISITORS OF THE MAS-
SACHUSETTS PROFESSORSHIP OF NATURAL HISTO-
RY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE :
AND
PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS
AND SCIENCES : AND LATE
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA.
AS A TOKEN OF GRATITUDE FOR HIS EARLY RECOMMEN-
DATION OF NATURAL HISTORY TO HIS COUNTRY-
MEN, AS EXPRESSED BY HIS ABLE PEN
IN THE CONSTITUTION OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS:*
AND AS A MARK OF THAT ESTEEM AND RESPECT FOR HIS
CHARACTER, SOCIAL, DOMESTIC, LITERARY, AND PO-
LITICAL, LONG ENTERTAINED FOR HIM BY
THE AUTHOR.
Cambridge, July, 1811.
* See chap. V. sec. 2.
ADVERTISEMENT.
The Essays, entitled the "Botanist," which
are here collected in one volume, appeared first in
the Monthly Anthology, printed in Boston in the
summer of 1804 ; and were continued, from time
to time, in a series of numbers, down to 1808.
Their appearance was occasioned by the following
circumstances : the gentleman who commenced the
Monthly Anthology in 1803, had been a medical
pupil, under the particular instruction of the au-
thor, and made frequent applications to be allowed
to publish, in his new work, certain portions of the
Lectures on Natural History, which had been giv-
en in the University of Cambridge ever since the
year 1788 ; and which this editor of the Anthology,
and some other pupils, had preserved in their notes.
The author, not being willing to trust entirely to
their discretion in the selection, nor to their par-
tiality in the phraseology, made, in the. year follow-
VI
ing, a selection for himself, from the botanical part
of his lectures. His individual wish was to com-
mence the selection from the Mineralogical part of
the course ; and so pass on to the Vegetable, and
close with the Animal kingdom ; but he relinquished
it, on the suggestion that mineralogy would be less
popular than botany ; and therefore less adapted to
such a monthly magazine of knowledge and plea-
sure, as the Anthology was meant to be ; and less
likely to attract the attention and patronage of read-
ers of both sexes,
The author was biassed by another, and a strong-
er reason, in favour of botany. There had never
been any lectures on Natural History in the United
States prior to the course referred to. Neither
had Botany nor Mineralogy been publickly taught
in any part of the Union anterior to the year 1788 ;
excepting, indeed, a short course of twelve lectures,
on Natural History in general, given by the author
in the college at Providence, in the years, 1786 and
1787 ; he being, at the same time, Professor of the
Theory and Practice of Physic in the University
at Cambridge.
After the Lectures on Natural History had been
given at Cambridge, four or five years, they began
to excite some curiosity beyond the walls of the
Vll
college ; and, in a year or two more, several gentle-
men of opulence and literary influence in the gov-
ernment of the University, came to the resolution
of laying a foundation for a Professorship of Bota-
ny and Entomology ; to which they determined to
annex an extensive Botanical Garden. Rejoiced at
a prospect of seeing accomplished, by a rich asso-
ciation, what he had long anxiously, and alone,
endeavoured in vain to effect, the author of these
essays did every thing in his power to forward the
design. The business began, and progressed with
a zeal bordering on enthusiasm. Besides a sub-
scription of between thirty and forty thousand dol-
lars, the Legislature of the Commonwealth gave
two townships of land towards maintaining a Pro-
fessorship of Natural History, and for a Botanical
Garden at Cambridge. But the author saw, that
amidst all this ardour, scarcely one in ten of the
subscribers knew exactly what they were subscrib-
ing for. Very few of them knew what a Botanical
Garden was, or rather what its objects and ends
were ; yet with a general and indistinct idea, that
the knowledge of plants and insects would be of
vast benefit to the community, they subscribed to
the scheme with a generosity characteristic of New-
England merchants.
viii
Under a serious impression, that the Massachu
setts public needed more information on the sub-
ject of Natural History in general ; and on Botany,
and Botanical Gardens in particular, the author was
induced to accommodate these extracts from his
lectures to that desirable end ; at the same time,
that he gratified the editors of the work in which
they appeared. It was a delicate task, as those
most forward in that business, must, at this time,
be sensible.
The author has no reason to be much dissatisfied
with the reception of these essays by the public ;
and still less of their reception by a succession of
editors of the Monthly Anthology and Boston Re-
view.
From what has been said, the trans- atlantic disci-
ples ofLiNNJEus will see the reason, and therefore
excuse the popular dress, in which Botany, that
beautiful handmaid of Medicine, has been introduc-
ed to the inhabitants of a region, characteristically
called by the English a century ago, The Wil-
derness.
Cambridge, July 4, 1811.
PREFACE,
There are few people of education who have
not a pretty accurate idea of what is meant by the
terms Astronomy, or Chemistry ; but there are not
many among us, who have a satisfactory idea of
the term Natural History. If when puzzled
they recur to the meaning of words, they learn,
that Natural History is a treasure of the mind kept
by memory ; whereas most people conceive it to
be merely a knowledge of those criteria by which
we are enabled to distinguish, at first sight, one nat-
ural body from another ; and therefore instead of
an history, is frequently a mere description of a fix-
ed and permanent substance : and if they consult
those splendid and costly books, in which the gra-
phic art almost equals nature, they still wonder
why those pictures are called histories, since they
do not express those alterations and successive
2
x PREFACE.
changes, which the earth, and all that it produces
undergoes ; and which alone would entitle them to
the name of histories. In recurring again to books,
they find that histories are either civil, or natural ;
that civil history records the works and acts of
men ; and they thence infer that Natural history
records the works and acts of nature ; but that
which is ordinarily understood by the term Natural
History, leaves the acts of nature out of the quest-
ion ; and circumscribes the knowledge to the sight
alone. The enquirer is still at a loss what ideas to
annex to the term Nature. When he is told
that by the word Nature, we mean the energy of
God, seen in the various productions that replenish
and adorn the world, he is silenced, but not satisfied.
In the course of the last year, when the Lectures
on Natural History, as well as the Medical Lec-
tures, which were heretofore given at this Univer-
sity, were all transferred to Boston, Natural Histo-
ry became a subject of general conversation among
characters of the first rank, and of both sexes.
The general expression of those who attended the
lectures was sufficient to excite a suspicion in the
author, that the public had but inadequate ideas of
that science which is denominated Natural History ;
seeing that men of the first rate talents and educa-
PREFACE. xi
tion had no fixed and determinate ideas on the sub-
ject. To be able to pronounce, at first sight, the
name of each mineral, to distinguish one genus of
plants from another, and to discriminate stuffed
animals in a museum, were, it seems, enough to
entitle a man to be considered a Natural Histo-
rian ; when, at the same time, he perhaps knew
nothing of the anatomy of a seed, and of its grad-
ual development into a perfect plant and flower,
producing again a seed, or epitome of its parent,
capable of generating its kind forever.
That profound Natural Historian C. Bonnet of
Geneva exclaims, " what ought we to think of those
boasted Nomenclators, or of that which they pre-
sume to give us for the System of Nature ? It is
like a scholar undertaking to compile an index to a
large folio volume, of which he has only read the
title, and first pages. I do not mean to censure the
writers of Dictionaries : they endeavour to reduce
our knowledge to order ; but I affirm, that consid-
ered simply, they will never make any great discov-
eries. I should have a greater esteem for a good
treatise on a single insect, than for a whole insecto-
logical dictionary : because definitions and divis-
ions are not history ; and people too easily per-
suade themselves that they understand history, when.
iii PREFACE.
they only know in the gross the persons it consists
of." Our classes and genera will be often put out
of course by new beings, which we know not where
to fix, because we suffer ourselves to be too hasty
in making distributions."
The objects in nature are "like the colours of the
rainbow, of which the dullest eye can perceive the
varieties, while the keenest cannot catch the precise
point, at which every separate tint is parted from
its neighbouring hue."*
Nature, coeval with matter, never ceases to
operate ; but then she occupies whole ages, in
some of her works, while man remains too short a
time on earth to observe and to record them. Eve-
ry thing that he sees has been more than once han-
dled by Nature. This globe has been penetrated
by fire, and covered and acted upon by water ;
and great changes have been the result. Thus, in
smaller things, a piece of wood having been chang-
ed by fire into charcoal, passes from thence through
various changes of refinement and excellency, till,
at length it becomes a concrete of elementary fire
and light, in the form and qualities of a diamond.
He who traces and records these things is indeed a
Natural Historian : so is he, who knowing the an-
* Adams, p. 2S8, vol. M.
PREFACE. xiii
atomy of an egg, is able to trace its evolutions into
a perfect animal, and thence through all its succes-
sive stages to its acme, or perfection ; and so in
like manner, of a vegetable from a seed.
Is there not then a distinction, in the very nature
of things, between a mere describer of what Ad-
dison calls " the shell of the world," and " the
world of life ?" There appears to be as much dif-
ference between the nomenclator of a museum of
natural bodies, and a natural historian, that is an
historiographer of the economy of nature, as there
is between the mere anatomist, or dissector of the
human body, and its physiologist.
Passing from Natural History in general to one
of its branches, may we not ask if the like confined
notion of Botany does not prevail ? To know the
name of a plant, and to be able to ascertain its place
in the Linnsan system, is, in the opinion of many,
to be a botanist ; although such a person may be
entirely unacquainted with its anatomy, or organic
structure, and ignorant of its peculiar, or medicinal
qualities ; as well as of the nature of its food, and
the means of its nourishment ; yet these are the
things which principally govern its nature.
It is of importance however that one universal
language should be adopted by botanists ; but it i<*
siv PREFACE.
wrong to make that, and classification the primary
object. Agreeably to this doctrine is the sentiment
of the famous Rosseau, who, in his Letters on the
Elements of Botany, says, " I have always thought
it possible to be a very great botanist, without know-
ing so much as one plant by name."
The author has been desirous of giving the
young gentlemen in this University a more enlarged
view of Natural History in general, and of Botany
in particular, than what has commonly been taken
of them. Whether the Botanist has contributed
to enlarge the sphere of their vision, is not for him
to determine. He by no means considers himself
a master in the science. Physic is his profession ;
and Natural History his amusement. During a
residence of several years in the family of the cele-
brated Dr. Fothergill in London, he acquired there
a taste for the works of nature ; but has endeav-
oured to follow the advice of his venerable kinsman,
" never to suffer Natural History to supersede
Medicine ; but to regard it only as an agreeable
adjunct to the healing art."
THE EOTANIST.
N°. I.
Cambridge, June, 1804.
As Natural History is a subject that has
excited some attention for more than a dozen years
past at the University in this place ; and as that
branch of it denominated Botany has lately become
a topic of conversation, and likely to become more
so, we have thought that it would conduce to good,
if we laid before the public a few essays on this
pleasant department of nature.
Natural History, taken in its greatest extent, is,
perhaps the most delightful of all the Sciences. It
fills the mind with the greatest variety of ideas ; and
has this encouraging circumstance annexed to
it, that no closeness of inspection, or keenness of in-
vestigation ever brings weariness, or disgust : for
in studying it, gratification and appetite are perpetu-
ally interchanging. The study of Nature, like the
contemplations of religion, is " forever rising with
the rising mind." Nature opens to genius that im-
Library
N, C. State College
1G THE BOTANIST.
mense horizon, in which to the end of time, it may
exercise its strength, and at every step behold the
boundary receding to a greater 'distance I No mind
is so capacious but is filled full, and often more than
full ; for the contemplations of Nature sometimes
overwhelm the mind with undiscerning amazement !
If Natural History forms, as Lord Bacon says,
the basis of all the sciences, it is certainly a study of
the first importance to our youth. It is of more
importance than even Natural Philosophy, which
only aims to teach those quiescent forms of Nature,
which all bodies indiscriminately possess, as exten-
sion, figure, durability, and vis inertia ; whereas the
Natural Historian describes and aims to explain the
growing, or living state of organized bodies, as well
as their structure after life has departed.
When the Lectures on Natural History commen-
ced at this University, it was found that our youth
had scarcely any idea of what was meant by Natu-
ral History ; and even now, men of education have
an inadequate idea of what is comprehended under
that term. It is not, as they conceive merely, a dry
description of that which strikes the eye only of the
spectator. The Natural Historian is led to explore
the origin, or primordium of organized bodies ; and
to trace their gradual development to a perfect plant,
or animal ; and to expatiate on their accretion, or
growth up to their destined magnitude ; and from
thence to their dissolution. The Naturalist treats
not only of matter, as an elementary constituent in
composite substances, which appertains in common
THE BOTANIST. 17
to all bodies, but he is compelled to investigate also
that efficient cause, or moving principle which asso-
ciates these elements ; and which employs them
when associated, according to their various and pe-
culiar characters. Within this wide view of Nature,
its historian discovers, or imagines that he discovers
a division of things, which he calls the Three
Kingdoms of Nature, namely- —the Mineral, the
Vegetable, and the Animal. One of them only at-
tracts our attention, at this time, viz. the Vegetable.
We wish to give to the term Botany a wider
scope than is generally allowed to it. We would
define Botany to be that branch of Natural History
which teaches the anatomy, physiology, and econo-
my of vegetables.
Some of the leading principles of this charming
science we mean to extend through a series of
monthly essays ; but in an order a little different
from that found in books. We shall give our doc-
trine a dress partaking more of the popular, than of
the scientific garb ; as much of the former, as not
to disguise this beautiful handmaid of Medicine ;
and yet not so divested of the latter, as to displease
the eye of the most rigid disciple of the Linnsean
school. We avow Linv^eus to be our lawful
chief; and his Philosophia Botanica our rallying
point and standard. In acknowledging him our
teacher and leader in the field of Botany, we wish
to refer the learned reader to his admirable writings
for the reasons of tnis our attachment.
18 THE BOTANIST.
Whoever casts his eyes on the surface of the earth,
at this season* will see that it is covered and adorn-
ed with a beautiful green carpet of vegetables, which
carpet is spread anew every year. If after viewing,
and admiring its agreeable effect, and after reflecting
on its annual renovation, the student of nature should
take the pains of examining any individual plant, of
which this carpet is composed, he will find that the
stem, or trunk of each vegetable is not like a lump
of clay, or piece of dough ; but that it has an inter-
nal adjustment, arrangement, or disposition of its
matter into tubes and vessels, which is called for
that reason, organization. If he view the plant
through a microscope, he will discover in it different
orders of vessels, like those of an animal ; and should
he submit it to a careful and nice anatomical inves-
tigation, he will be convinced that a plant possesses
a vascular system. If he compares it with those
things which belong to the other two kingdoms, he
will see that a plant occupies a middle space between
animals and minerals. On still closer examination
he will find that it partakes of the nature of both. If
he pluck it up by the roots, he perceives that its ap-
pearance is directly changed, for it loses its turges-
cency, colour and specific odour : or in other words,
it fades, wilts and dies, and is finally decomposed.
Hence the inquirer learns that a growing plant is
not only a regularly organized body, possessing a
vascular system, but is, while attached to the ground
by its roots, a living one. That this view of a plant
* June.
THE BOTANIST. 19
is agreeable to truth may be inferred from consult-
in the best authors on Botany : thus the illustrious
Boerhaave defines a plant to be a hydraulic body,
containing vessels, replete with different juices, by
means of which it derives the matter of its nutri-
ment and growth ; to which he might have added,
possessing the power of producing its kind forever
by seed.
Although agriculture and gardening are of
prime importance to civilized man, they have con-
tinued to be only arts, consisting of detached facts,
and vague opinions, without a true history to con-
nect them. And the first step towards giving Bot-
any the stability of a science is to submit a plant to
anatomical investigation, as we do animals ; that
being, says Dr. A. Hunter, the only rational meth-
od of arriving at any certainty concerning the laws
of the vegetable economy; and without it, agricul-
ture, that useful, important, and honourable profes-
sion, must ever remain a vague and uncertain study.
In teaching Botany, different authors have adopted
different plans. Some begin with a description of
the leaf; then of the stem ; next the flower; after-
wards the fruit, strictly so called, and lastly the seed.
Others commence with the flower, then they des-
cribe the fruit and seed conjunctly, and lastly the
root. We shall pursue a different order. We shall
begin with describing a seed ; after demonstrating
its structure, we shall show that every seed contains,
under several membranes, the future plant in minia-
ture. There we may see by the help of a micro-
20 THE BOTANIST.
scope, that the embryo plant has, not only a little
radicle, which is hereafter to become the root, but
also two diminutive leaves, which hereafter become
the herb. We shall then endeavour to show how
the embryo plant, when placed in a due degree of
moisture, and a just degree of heat, and at such a
proper depth in the ground, as not to exclude it from
the vivifying influence of the air, gradually unfolds
itself; the radicle extending itself into a root, which
attaches itself to the earth, and the little leaf aspir-
ing into a stem. We shall show how the foetal plant
is supported by that part of the seed, which answers
to the albumen^ or white of an egg, until it is able
to appear above ground, when this temporary nutri-
tive part drops off and decays, leaving the plant, in
future, to grow, and to flourish, by imbibing solid
nourishment from its mother earth ; and by inspir-
ing vital air ; and by inhaling the celestial light.
Delightful as Natural History really is, the study
of it is not here recommended to amuse the idle, or
gratify the fanciful. We Americans dwell in an
agricultural country ; and agriculture is the sure and
certain support of a nation. It gives to a country
the only riches that it can call its own. Tacitus says,
that the Romans were several times reduced nearly
to famine, by depending on Egypt and Africa for
grain ; instead of relying on the prolific vigour of
their own Italian soil : and thus, says this celebrated
historian, were the lives of the Roman people com-
mitted to the caprice of the winds and waves. If
commerce bind the world together in a golden chain,
THE BOTANIST. 21
that chain is frequently broken by the wars of men,
and by the wars of the elements; while agriculture
gives us the staff of life, and the chief support of our
independence.
Commerce is congenial to all of us who sojourn
near »;he sea ; and is indeed the grand source of
wealth, comfort and power ; but with riches, com-
merce, coo often, imports effeminating luxuries ;
whereas agriculture is an athletic task, kindly im-
posed upon man, by a beneficent Creator, as the
best means of preserving his health and his innocence.
Now the ground- work of this salutiferous and hon-
orable profession is the science of Botany, in the
enlarged sense, which we have given to this branch
of Natural History.
It may perhaps be said that this branch of knowl-
edge has not been neglected among us ; and that the
seeds of it, at least, were sown, sixteen years since,
at Cambridge.* — Be it so — Their growth has nev-
ertheless been slow. Whether this has been owing
to the soil, or the cultivator, we leave to the investi-
gation of others ; observing only, that a private in-
• At a Meeting of the President and Fellows of Harvard College,
April 29, 1 788,
Voted, that Dr Waterhouse deliver annually a course of Lectures on
Natural History to such students as shall obtain permission, under the
hands of their Parents or Guardians to attend ; for each of which stu-
dents he shall receive one Guinea, to be charged in their quarter bill*.
JOSEPH WILLARD, President.
This Vote concurred by the Overseers, May 8, 1 788.
S. HOWARD, Secretary.
The history of the progress and termination of these Lectures at Cam-
bridge will soon be given to the public.
22 THE BOTANIST.
dividual, however cordially disposed to rear the
" Nemorale Templum" can do but little without
the assistance, support and co-operation of the eon-
stituied Jautoi^es of science and of governme nt.
A clergyman of Scotland, the Rev. Charles Cor-
diner, in a splendid work on " ancient monuments
" and singular subjects of Natural History, in North
" Britain," speaking of the Marischal College of
Aberdeen, remarks, that " it is a good proposal, now
in agitation to add Lectures on Agriculture and Bot-
any to the general course of education. That the
former, if understood on scientific principles, would
be of high importance to the improvement of the
country. Botany is intimately connected with agri-
culture and medicine : knowledge of that must prove
of great consequence to all who are to spend their
lives in the country. The general body of the cler-
gy, as well as the proprietors of landed estates, are
therefore particularly interested in the success of
these studies. Besides, the sons of farmers, by the
easy terms on which attendance at the college is ob-
tained, can easily acquire that useful instruction,
which might prepare their minds for a more judi-
cious application of their industry and talents. The
more general diffusion of knowledge, and of the ex-
perience from whence it is derived, must confer su-
perior advantages on youth, in all the different walks
of life. The prosperity of a commercial city is even
promoted by such a seminary."
Lord Kaimes, long since, advocated a similar
©pinion; and recommended that the subjects of
THE BOTANIST. 23
Natural History should be treated in Lectures in a
general way, mixed with reasonings. The mere
narrative of detached facts, and concise description
of a plant, animal or mineral, is indeed as tedious
to the aspiring youth as it is useless. It is the
qualities and economy of the plant ; the instincts,
powers and faculties of the animal ; and the virtues
and uses of the mineral that constitute that code of
knowledge which is so useful and ornamental to ev-
cry gentleman in his pabs..ge through life. Instead
of trammelling the minds of young people, and
cramping inquiry by engaging in disputes about
classifications and systems, so called, let us rather
study the accordance, relationship, and conformity,
which the different objects bear to one another, and
to ourselves. The construction of the Temple is
impeded by disputes about the ladders and the scaf-
folds.
Some complain that the science of Botany is in-
cumbered, and overloaded with technical terms. Our
great master Linnaeus wrote in Latin. Sometimes
he gives generic names compounded of two entire
Latin words ; but he uses commonly, such com-
pound words in the Greek language, as are more
expressive as well as more beautiful. Beginners are
sometimes daunted by this terrific style. They
are apt to conclude that good sense has not fair play
when thus oppressed by hard words. They do not
perhaps know that Lin.vjeus has simplified the bo-
tanical langu ige of '";i:> predecessors. Before his day,
we had Hydrophyllocarpodemiron, and StacJiynrpo-
S& THE BOTANIST.
gophora.* To convey botanical descriptions in a
plain, simple, yet intelligible language to the merely
English reader is a difficulty still to be encountered*
There is another difficulty of a more delicate nature.
The sexual system of Botany is founded on a dis-
covery that there is in vegetables, as in animals, a
distinction of sexes. But there are those who think
that Linnjeus has drawn the analogy too close, and
continued it too long. The analogy between the
structure and functions of the higher class of ani-
mals and vegetables is remote ; but the analogy be-
tween the higher order of vegetables and those out-
skirts of animated nature, the Vermes, and Insects,
is closer than is commonly known.
The botanical phraseology sometimes embarrasses
the teacher. We hope however to parry this diffi-
culty, if not entirely surmount it. In our next num-
ber we shall give the anatomy of a seed; and also
treat of thejbod of plants.
* See Boerhaave.
Library
N. C. State College
THE BOTANIST.
N°. II.
Qmne -vlvum ex ovo ; per consequent etiam vegetalilia ; quorum Semina esse OV£
itcet eorum Finis, sob ok m parentibus conformem pmducens.
Linnjeus, Philos. B.itanica.
Every living thing derives its origin from an Egg, and consequently
vegetables, whose seeds are Eggs : this appears, by their producing off-
spring, similar to the parent plant.
In describing a Plant, we shall adopt a different
order, from that commonly pursued by botanists.
We deem it more agreeable to the laws of botanic-
al philosophy, to begin with the description of a seed;
and to trace its gradual development into a perfect
plant, producing seed again, than to reverse this
procedure, as is commonly done, by treating of the
seed last.
A seed of a plant and an egg of a bird are so
analogous in their structure and economy, that we
may, without impropriety, use the same term for
either. By a seed then we mean an organized pan icle,
produced by a plant, or animal, from which new
plants, and new animals are generated. All seeds of
plants and all eggs of animals have essentially the
same structure, and the same mode of development.
A perfect, or fecundated hen's egg is an organiz-
ed body, pervaded by vessels, and endowed with that
humble portion of life, or capability of living, which,
in the scale of vitality, we denote by the term excita-
bility ; and is replete with a moveable frmd, and in-
4
2S THE BOTANIST.
closing, under divers membranes, the animal in min-
iature. The egg-shell is almost entirely filled with a
glutinous substance, laid up for the nourishment of the
foetal animal : the one is called the albumen, or white ;
the other vitellus, or yolk. In the latter is the cica-
tricula, or punctum vita, whieh is about the size of
the seed of the vetch, or small pea, and has a consid-
erable resemblance to the pupil of the eye. It is in
this spot that the first palpitation, or signs of life ap-
pear, in consequence of the application of heat.
If the egg be kept in a certain degree of warmth,
whether by the natural heat of the parent animal,
or by art, as in stoves, it occasions an increased ac-
tion of that vis vita, or living power, which every
organized body, susceptible of stimulus, naturally
possesses ; and which, being a momentary disten-
tion of the smallest vessels, is similar to a blush ; or
rather that state of them, which immediately pre-
cedes the slightest inflammation. Motion thus be-
gun, the vessels, surrounding and pervading the
punctum vita, expand ; and the embryo appears
spontaneously to unfold itself, until by slow de-
grees, it develops, like a flower, and becomes a per-
fect animal, capable of producing a similar €gg.
Now every seed of a plant is, in like manner, an
organized body, endowed with vessels, and contains,
under several membranes, the plant in miniature ;
which seed requires a due portion of moisture,
and a just degree of heat for exciting the dormant
vegetative life, which distending gradually the ves-
sels, expands the several membranes, and develops
THE BOTANIST. 27
the plant. The embryo plant lies in a sleeping state,
though alive ; but exerts not its life, until it is put
in proper circumstances, which proper circumstan-
ces are moisture, heat, and some exposure to the
influence of the air.
Every seed of a vegetable, and every egg of an an-
imal hitherto examined, are in structure essentially
the same. To grow, that is, to nourish itself, by
changing a foreign matter into its own substance, and
to continue its kind, is the end and aim of every liv-
ing organized body. Let us examine the seed of
a vegetable, that we may see how far such a body is
adapted to effect these important purposes. The
Windsor bean, or, as we call it in this country, the
English-bean, from its size and shape, affords us the
fairest example. If, when such a bean is fully ripe,
you cut through its membranes lengthwise, in the
direction of the eye, hilum, or little scar, it will nat-
urally separate into halves. Simple maceration
will have the same effect without cutting. These
smooth and equal parts of the bean are called seed-
lobes by gardeners, and cotyledons by botanists. Of
those seeds, that we use for food, they form the more
farinaceous or nutritive part : thus in wheat, rye,
and Indian-corn, they form the meal, while the in-
vesting membranes form the bran.
The most important part oi the seed is the em-
bryo ; and the most important part of the embryo
is the corculum, or little heart, punctum viiae, or
speck of life ; because at this point in the hen's tgg
the first pulsation ©f life is discovered ; but in the
28 THE BOTANIST.
seed of a plant, there is no palpable motion. The
whole seminal apparatus, contained within the ex-
ternal membrane of the bean, and which corres-
ponds with the albumen, and vitellus, in the bird's
egg, conspires, when acted upon by heat, to elicit
the latent spark of vegetative life ; and to nourish af-
terwards the unborn plant.
When the miniature plant is separated from the
seed lobes, we can easily discern the leaf which is
called the plumula, or that part which is hereafter
to become the herb of the bean ; and likewise the
rostellum, or radicle, which creeping downwards be-
comes the root. The cotyledons, or lobes of the bean
taken collectively, without any discrimination of al-
bumen, or vitellus, appear through a microscope, to
be of a glandular structure ; and to have a regular
system of vessels, resembling the placental veins
in quadrupeds ; and to run together, like them, in a
few trunks, precisely at that point of the lobe, where
the embryo grows to the cotyledons.*
Botanists define cotyledons to be the lateral, bibu-
lous, perishable lobes or placenta of the seed, des-
tined to nou ish the corculum, and then to foil off.
Now these lobes, afford a nutritive juice, resem-
bli ig milk, for the sustenance of the unborn plant:
but when the tender vegetable is so far advanced
as to merit the name of an infantile plant, these
evanescent lobes are converted into a pair of thick
seed-leaves, which compose a shield of defence, un-
til the plant has fairly and firmly taken root in the
* See Grew's Anatomy of Plants, plate 79. 80. 81. & 83.
THE BOTANTST. f»
earth ; then these two protecting leaves drop off and
decay. And now the little, erect plant, depends,
like the just born infant, on a nexv principle for its
future existence.
From what has been said, it is apparent, that
when a hen's-egg is alive, it is fit to be eaten ; but
if killed, whether by too much heat, or by too great
cold, or by violent concussion, or by being sat upon
by the bird, and then abandoned, it soon becomes
rotten. So in like manner a seed, though kept sev-
eral years, is not a dead substance, like a pebble or
a pearl ; but is a body regularly organized, and ar-
ranged harmoniously into a system of vessels, glands,
and membranes ; and it is moreover, like a pro-
lific €gg, alive, or at least, in a state, or fitness to be
acted upon by certain external agents, which agents
are fire, air, and water.
Some seeds will retain the vegetative life a great
number of years. Indian corn has vegetated after
keeping it upwards of seventy years. We neglected
to mention, that there was a small quantity of vital air
in a sack, bladder, or partition, at the big end of every
bird's es;^ ; and we presume, that there is a portion
of the same kind of fluid in every seed ; or it may
be oxygen in a concentrated state, which is afterwards
combined with caloric in the process of incubation.
It appears also, that the most important, nay the essen-
tial part of that organized body denominated a seed,
is the embryo ; for it is that part alone which grows
into a new plant, beginning again a new progeny.
It likewise appears, that all the other parts of the seed
SO THE BOTANIST.
are subservient to this ; and that they arc employed
chiefly in converting the farina, or mealy substance
of the seed into a lactescent fluid, which is conveyed
by the lactiferous vessels to the embryo for its nour-
rishment, which, like the infantile animal, is supplied
ivith milk, until it can stand alone in the ground.
Although nature has established a marked uni-
formity in the internal structure of seeds, she never-
theless displays an astonishing vai iety in their exter-
nal appearance. Neither mathematician nor painter
can ever convey adequate ideas of their different
shapes, and variegated colours. Some shine like sil-
ver, and some like gold ; whilst others appear like
little balls of fire. It is remarkable that seeds are
seldom of the same colour with the flower, which
produced them. Seeds of a deep green are rare ;
blue still more uncommon.
Beside the essential parts of a seed already describ-
ed, there are certain accessory parts, which, whilst
they add to the beauty of the seeds, serve important
purposes in their migration : such, for example, are
the feathery crowns, or aigrettes, which serve as
wings to waft them to a distance, as we see in the
Dandelion* Lettuce, and Thistle. Who, walking
the fields, has not observed,
Wide o'er the tbhtly lawn, as swells the breeze,
A whit'ning shower of vegetable down
Amu6ive float ? Thomson.
If seeds are diversified in shape and colour, they
vary as remarkably in their size. One thousand and
* Called by the country people "clock"
THE BOTANIST. 31
twelve seeds of the tobacco plant weigh but a sin-
gle grain, while a single cocoa-nut weighs several
pounds. The Ferns differ from other plants in having
their seeds in the leaves. They are very small, and
when inclosed in the seed vessel, they all together
form a round ball with a notched band or rim of a
beautiful structure. They have some resemblance
to the fingers shut up, or clenched so as to form the
fist ; and when the seeds are quite ripe and dry,
they become very elastic ; in which state the seed
vessel bursts open, not unlike the suddenly throw-
ing open of the fingers, in changing their position
from the clenched fist to that of the open palm.
This sudden action throws the seed to a considera-
ble distance ; and then we see the two hemispheres*
which composed the ball, in the situation of two
empty cups. This is well expressed by an engrave
ing in Swammerdairi* s book of Nature.
THE BOTANIST.
N°. III.
Natural things which are common, are disre-
gaided because they are common; while rare and
monstrous productions are gazed at with idle curios-
ity and stupid admiration. What is more common
than seed or grain ? Yet how few give themselves
the exertion of inquiring; what a seed really is 1 If a
52 THE BOTANIST.
seed, or grain answer the whole purpose for which the
farmer supposes it was created, that of fattening his
cattle, and feeding his family, he neither searches
into its curious structure, nor inquires into its phys-
iology. Nor is this to be wondered at. But that
the Lawyer, the Physician, and the Minister of re-
ligion should go on through life as most of them do,
without once stopping to inquire into the laws by
which the acorn becomes an oak, is to the Botanist
surprizing ! There are few little things in nature
more worthy of attention than a seed. It is a system,
or complete whole, wrought up into a narrow com-
pass, retaining a living principle. By system we
mean a combination of many things reduced to reg-
ular dependence and co-operation. If we contem-
plate closely the vegetative life and growth in a
seed, our admiration will increase at every view, so
that our baffled reason will be compelled to seek a
solution of its difficulties in a Power anterior to
Water — Air — Fire — or Light. Some of the wise
antients were so impressed with the philosophy of
the egg, or seed, that they taught that the mundane
system itself sprung from an tgg, hatched by JVox.
It is only organized bodies that are capable of
growth. Every organized body grows ; and beside
them none. There are accretions among minerals;
and concretions and crystallizations without end ;
but these do not rise up to our idea of growth,,
which implies matter organized into vessels, con-
taining a moveable succus, or juice, operated upon
THE BOTANIST. 35
by a very gentle heat ; whereas the changes wrought
in the mineral kingdom, are commonly by a very
violent one. If we knew how a single fibre grew,
we could tell how the whole plant or animal grows ;
for the bodies of both of them are only assemblages
of fibres differently formed and combined. Growth
always operates by nutrition ; and nutrition incor-
porates into the fibre, external matter, or matter ta-
ken in, ab extra, and this process always requires
heat. Now all bodies in nature are imbued, sur-
rounded, and penetrated, in every way by fire, or
rather caloric, which is a better and and more expres-
sive term for that all powerful agent which trans-
forms solids into fluids, and fluids into vapour.
Although heat, or caloric, which is the fluid mat-
ter of heat, expands the egg and causes it to grow-
up into a living animal : and although it agitates
and gently unfolds the plant, causing it to grow from
an acorn up to the magnificent oak, yet this query
arises naturally in the mind of the young student of
nature, what is the pabulum, or matter, which adds to
the bulk, and increases, to a certain size, the vege-
table and the animal ? For it is evident that heat
only causes an absorption of a fortign matter. Nu-
trition, or growth implies life ; but in some vegeta-
bles, this life is so low in the scale of vitality as to be
almost down to where Nature has marked her degree
of o.
That an animal receives its pabulum or matter of
nourishment and increase from without, is known to
to every one from the irresistible calls of hunger, and
34- THE BOTANIST.
the destruction that follows famine. But that Plants
were nourished, and sustained by food, in nearly the
same way, has not been so generally understood.
The animal has a warm receptacle, or stomach, of
about 98 degrees of heat, with a due quantity of
moisture and a peculiar compound motion ; where-
as the plant has no such receptacle, nor any other
stomach than the cold earth, which is about 53 degrees
of Fahrenheit. The possession of a stomach lays the
discriminating line between the animal and vegeta-
ble kingdom. All other distinctions fail us.
Besides air and water, to which we may add fire,
animals stand in need of aliment, or food taken by
the mouth, digested by the stomach, forming there
a milky liquor, called chyle. The constituent parts
of the chyle of quadrupeds and birds, as well as most
other animals are, -water — sugar — mucilage — oil —
carbon — phosphorus, and calcareous earth. The
constituent parts of the sap-juice, which is the chyle
of vegetables, is, in like manner, water — sugar — mu-
cilage — oil — carbon — phosphorus, and calcareous
earth.* Now sap-juice, or the chyle of vegetables,
is absorbed from the earth, by the roots, which have
a peculiar structure, adapting them to that opera-
tion ; and from this juice, farther elaborated, re-
fined and exalted, is formed the various fluids in the
stem, leaf, flower, fruit and seed Some plants can
extract, or compose these nutritive substances from
* Calcareous earths are marie of all sorts, limestone, chalk, plaster of
Paris, and all earths, formed from the bodies of animals, especially the
shells of fish. Fordycr,
THE BOTANIST. 35
Water, and apparently from the air alone. We how-
ever find by repeated experiments, that there are cer-
tain substances, which contribute more to the pro-
duction of this vegetable chyle than others. Let us
then inquire what these materials are, that afford the
food of plants ? The subject is not merely cu-
rious, but of high importance to our country ; for
if we can ascertain the appropriate aliment or food
of any particular family of our most useful vegeta-
bles, we shall be able to increase their size with as
much certainty as a farmer fattens his cattle by giv-
ing them corn.
It is known from experiment,* that a plant will
grow in sand alone moistened with water, purified
by distillation from all earthy particles, and in the
purest air.
But a plant will grow better in a mixture of sand
and clay, in which the tenacity is adapted to the
pushing power of its roots, than in sand alone ; and
it will grow better still, if a proper quantity of water
be applied. But with both these advantages it will
not flourish so well as in a rich soil.
If a plant be put in a proper mixture of sand and
clay, and duly supplied with water, it will grow
better than in the same mixture, exposed to the
hazards of the weather, and the chances of being too
mcist or too dry ; but it will grow still better in a
rich soil. There is, therefore, in a rich soil, some-
thing independent of texture, or the retention of
water, which contributes to the flourishing- of plants.
" See Fordyce'j Elements of Agriculture and Vegetation.
3d THE BOTANIST.
From observing the fertility after the ground was
divided by the plough, some have imagined that the
earth was the food of plants. To this opinion suc-
ceeded another equally erroneous, that water was
their aliment, when in fact it is only the vehicle of
their nourishment.
The upper stratum of earth, or garden mould,
contains some articles that are soluble in water, and
some that are not. Those which are insoluble in
water arc, acording to Fordyce, sand, clay, calca-
reous earth, magnesia, oxydes of alum, earth of me-
tals, particularly of iron. These cannot enter the ves-
sels of the roots of plants ; but they may contribute to
the production of substances which are soluble in
water, and that may enter them.
Substances found in this black garden mould,
that are soluble in water, are, says the same author,
mucilage, nitrous ammoniac, nitrous selenites, com-
mon ammoniac, and fixed ammoniac. We find all
these salts in the juice of vegetables; a proof that
they pass into the plant along with the water.
From numerous well conducted experiments, it
appears that a mucilage, produced by the decom-
position of vegetable and animal recrements, consti-
tutes the food, or aliment of plants. This mucilage
is formed from stable manure ; from rain water pu-
trefied, from dew, as well as from dead animals, and
vegetables. But mucilaginous juices are of two
kinds ; one, when dissolved in water, forms a sort
of jelly, and is an immediate aliment ; the other
THE BOTANIST. 37
forms a gummy, or rather saccharine liquid, and must
putrefy before it can become a proper food or ma-
nure.*
To reconcile the doctrine, taught by some, that
salt is the active principle in manures, it should be
remembered that putrefaction has two stages ; that
the first converts animal and vegetable substances
into a mucilage ; and the second converts that muci-
Lge into one or more species of salt.*
As mucilaginous substances were known to invig-
orate roots, by affording them good nourishment, it
was natural for agriculturalists, not enlightened by
chemistry, to infer that steeping seeds in mucilagi-
nous, or oleaginous liquors would increase their pow-
ers of vegetation ; especially if a portion of nitre,
common salt, and lime were added. This opin-
ion prevailed among the antients, as we learn from
Pliny ; and is also recommended by Lord Bacon. f
A belief in the efficacy of the fructifying liquors still
prevails in many parts of Europe, notwithstanding
Duhamel in France, and Dr. A. Hunter in England,
have exposed their futility.
Dr. Hunter assures us, that he sprouted all kinds
of grain in a variety of " steeps" so called in En-
gland ; and always found, that the radicle and germ
of the embryo plant never appeared so healthy, as
when sprouted by pure water. He tells us that he
constantly observed that steeps containing nitre, sea-
* See Count Gyllenborg's, and also Fordyce's Elements of Agriculture,
f Sylra SylvATum, art. «(frkratita t>f gurinir.ttior. .
38 THE BOTANIST.
salt, and lime rendered the radicle and genu yellow
and sickly. He then steeped a variety of seed in
broth, as coming nearer the nature of the mucilage
beforementioned, and, at the same time, put an equal
number of the seeds in pure water. The result was,
that the radicle and germ, produced by the broth,
were weaker, and less healthy than those sprouted
by simple water. Here the scientific agriculturalists
have been led from the path of truth and nature, by
following some erroneous notions of the Physicians,
who conceive, that if they give their weak, emaciat-
ed, hectic patients milk, broth, or jellies, they will
pass as such into the blood vessels, without giving
any labour or trouble to the debilitated organs of
digestion ; not considering that milk, for example,
is first hardened in the stomach, by the coagulating
property of its internal coat, into a curd, and then
gradually digested, and, in a degree animalized, be-
fore it enters the blood vessels ; and these messes
occasion more trouble to the stomach than a piece
of beef. The milk which nourishes the embryo
plant, is as far distant from the steeps used by Dr.
Hunter, as eggs and milk are from the animalized
lymph in the blood vessels. The same philosophi-
cal Physician proves that the opinion is erroneous
which is entertained by some gardeners and farm-
ers, that small thin grain may be so impregnated by
steeps, as to make them equal, in vegetative force,
to the largest. He found, by repeated experiments,
that the largest and plumpest seeds, from the same
THE BOTANIST. 39
heap, were superior in goodness to the small, thin
ones, though steeped ever so carefully.
If what we have said of the office of the seed-lobes,
in our last number, be just, that the farina, or meal
of which they are composed, is converted into milk ;
that it serves to nourish the infantile plant until its
roots are large enough to imbibe mucilaginous food
from the earth, it follows, that the vegetative pow-
ers of seed will be in proportion to the quantity of
their mealy substance. If so, then it will remain an
established truth, that plump seeds, placed at a just
depth, in a good soil, and at a proper season, will
never disappoint the gardener.
From the preceding doctrine it also follows, that
Has: food of plants, or manures, are of two kinds : the
one adds nourishment to the soil ; such as all ani-
mal, and other putrescible substances, from which
a mucilage is formed : the other gives no nourish-
ment to the soil ; but forces it, by agitating and
preparing the nourishment already there. Hence
we see how substances, of opposite natures, con-
tribute to the growth of vegetables ; — putrescent an-
imal substances on one hand ; and lime, marie, and
plaster of Paris on the other.
THE BOTANIST.
N°. IV.
Every thing generated by nature, or made by
art, is generated or made out of something else ;
and this something else is called its substance, or
matter. But there can be no change of one thing
into another, where the two changing beings do not
participate the same matter. Hence were there not
a congeniality between the food and the plant, and
the food and the animal, these two organized bodies
could not be nourished ; but the material imbibed,
would operate as a medicine, instead of being assim-
ilated as an aliment.
Whoever attends closely to the operations of na-
ture will be convinced, that every recent production,
whether vegetable or animal, that daily occurs, is not
absolutely a fresh creation, an evocation, or calling
of something out of nothing ; for that is impossible.
u Ex nihilo nihil jit." What then is it? 'Tis a
change, or mutation of something which before ex-
isted. Every thing around us is in motion. No
terrestrial thing is stationary. On every earthly
thing mutability is written ; and substances of every
kind, either immediately, or intermediately pass into
one another ; and reciprocal deaths, dissolutions and
digestions support, by turns, all substances out of
each other.*
* See Aristotle'6 Phys. and Harris's Philos. Arrangments.
THE BOTANIST. 41
We have said that every living thing, or organ-
ized being derives its origin from an egg, or seed :
and this doctrine may be extended beyond the ob-
jects of sight. When the Supreme Creator,
says the eloquent Count Buffon, formed the first in-
dividuals of each species of vegetables and animals,
he gave a certain degree of animation to what has
been called " the dust of the earth;" by infusing in-
to it a greater, or smaller quantity of living organic
particles., or seeds, which infinitessimally small
seeds, or particles are indestructible, and common
to every organized being. These particles, or origi-
jial seeds, pass from body to body, and are equally
the cause of life, nutrition and growth. When an
organized body dies, the organic particles survive ;
for death has no power over them ; but they circu-
late through the universe ; pass into other beings,
producing life and nourishment. A growing vege-
table receives these invisible seeds, or organic par-
ticles from the earth, from water, and from the air ;
and their reception perfects the plant. A quadru-
ped receives the plant into its stomach for food ;
when its digestive powers destroy its vegetative life,
should any be remaining ; and then the digesting
apparatus animalizes the vegetable, and gradually
converts it into the nature, and substance of the
creature. And when this animal dies, his constitu-
ent particles fly off in vapour : these are absorbed
by the growing plant with avidity, they being its
appropriate food ; and this absorption of putrid va-
pour causes them to grow, and to flourish ; and thus
42 THE BOTANIST.
do animals and vegetables mutually nourish and
support each other ; so that what was yesterday
grass, is to day part of a sheep, and tomorrow be-
comes part of a man.*
From the foregoing doctrine may be deduced the
true theory of the action of manures ; or the susten-
tation of a plant by its appropriate food. This is the
corner-stone in the foundation of that Temple of
Ceres, which we hope to see reared in A m e r i c a. It
will moreover illustrate that doctrine which teaches,
that in this world which we inhabit, there is an uni-
versal change, or mutation of all things into all ; that
nothing is lost, but the sum total of matter in the
Universe remains perfectly the same ; and that which
some consider as fresh creations, or calling of some-
thing out of nothing, is only a change or mutation
of something which before existed.
From the experiments recorded in our third num-
ber, we learn, that there is something in a rich soil
beside water, which contributes to the growth of a
plant ; and it appears that there is a mucilage pro-
duced by the decomposition of vegetable and ani-
mal recrements which affords the matter, pabulum,
or provender for the support of plants. If it be in-
quired farther, — of what is this mucilage composed ?
We answer, that its base is a gluten resembling the
coagulable lymph in our own blood vessels. The
oxygenous principle concerned in germination will
be spoken of hereafter.
* See Locke on Identity and Diversity.
THE BOTANIST. 43
The growth of organized bodies is a mysterious
process. Philosophers who believe with Lucretius
and Bujfon, in the pre-existence of germs, or seeds,
organic particles, or molecule, denominate them
which you will, have endeavoured to sooth the im-
agination by an hypothesis. They have supposed
that these very subtle germs, or seeds of things, were
merely susceptible of life by the application of a due
degree of heat ; and that they were, at the creation
of the world, dispersed universally into all parts of
this terraqueous globe, that are accessible to air, and
to light ; so that they are in the waters, as well as in
the earth. Pope refers to this theory when he says,
"See through this a/V, this ocean, and this earthy
All matter quick, and bursting into birth !
Vast chain of beings ! which from Goo began—
Beast, bird, fish, in«ect, which no eye can see,
No glass can reach; from infinite to thee,
From thee to nothing." —
So that the production of vegetables, or any other
organized body is loftily a dissemination of what be-
fore existed. They grew, or unfolded themselves
only when they fell into a proper matrix, or nidus,
adapted by nature to their support and growth.
Thus for example, if the eggs of certain insects fall
on my writing desk, they perish ; because the cloth
which covers it, is not the proper nidus, or matrix
for them •, but if they are deposited on a piece of
cheese, that being their proper matrix they soon
become animated.* This doctrine opens to our
•The earth duly moistened and warmed, is the proper matrix for the
Bean, which we selected in No. 2, as an example of all other seeds.
44 THE BOTANIST.
view an host of comforting facts, that banish entire-
ly the dismal one of equivocal generation. Now we
presume that while a vegetable is growing and flour-
ishing, it attracts and absorbs these original seeds,
or moleculae, fiom the earth, and from the water,
and from the air, and that this imbibition is con-
tinued until the plant attains its full perfection ; and
when it has risen to its acme, it rejects their further
admission into all its parts ; and therefore instead of
being distributed as heretofore all over the plant,
they now tend to the seed vessels only, and there
form and perfect the seed, which increase very rap-
idly ; and become an organic particle of a larger size.
Nearly the same process takes place in animals.
The Roman poet Lucretius sums up the doctrine
of unceasing mutation thus,
" And so each part returns when bodies die,
What came from earth to earth; what from the sky
Dropt down, ascends again, and mounts on high.
For Death doth not destroy ; but disunite
The seeds, and change their order, and their site:
Then makes neru combinations, whence arise
In bodies all those great varieties
Of shape and colour." Creech's Translation.
To scrutinize how an organized body first be-
gan, is, perhaps, a presumptuous attempt ; but to in-
quire after what manner, when once begun, they
have been continued, is a work more suited to hu-
man abilities, and is gratifying to the towering fac-
ulties of reason, and honourable to religion : provid-
ed we substitute for the disconsolate doctrine of
blind and vague chance* conspicuous in Lucretius,
THE BOTANIST. 45
that of an intelligent, and sovereign Creator and Le-,
gidator of the Universe, the Almighty Director, and
merciful Controller of that never ceasing change,
or circulation, through which every thing on this
evanescent globe is doomed to pass.
From what has been said, it appears that a seed,
the garden bean, for example, is a body regularly
organized, and arranged into a system of vessels,
glands and membranes ; and that it is, in a degree,
alive ; so far at least, as to be in a state, or fitness to
be acted upon by certain external agents, which
agents are, fire, air, and water, or to speak more
correctly, a certain vivifying principle, in the air,
and in the water, called oxygen, which is the very
spirit of fire and flame. This oxygenous principle
lies in a dormant state in the hen's tgg, until it is>
awakened by fire, or caloric, which combining with,
it, expands, and agitates the subtle fluids, and the
very minute vessels of the egg, so that the wheel of
life begins to oscillate ; and then slowly to rotate ;
and at length, the membranes thicken and all die
parts gradually unfold themselves : the same thing-
takes place in the seed, or bean, when placed in the
earth.
But we cannot advance with confidence a step far-
ther without some knowledge of the properties of the
wonderful agent fire; which alike animates and
sustains the great system of the world, and the di-
minitive system in a seed. What shall we say on
this subtile subject ? Fire, or caloric, by a gentle
agitation, enlivens all entire organized bodies, and
W THE BOTANIST.
conducts them by slow degrees to their destined
perfection. It foments the embryo plant in the seed,
and the miniature branch in the bud. But fire il-
ludes inquiry by its being totally invisible ; for
it becomes visible only when it borrows a body
to appear in.. It seems secretly to unite itself to an
inflammable something, and when united with this
inexplicable principle, it enters into the composition
of other bodies. But a mind that has scarcely ceas-
ed vibrating between the Priestlian doctrine of phlo-
giston, and the Lavoisierian doctrine of oxygen, feels
the utmost diffidence in speaking of a subject in
which a Bacon,* a Newton, and a Boerhaave,
a Priestly, and a Lavoisier, have all guessed
differently. The Botanist ceases to wonder that
sensible nations, not blessed with a revelation from
heaven, have worshipped the sun, or a flame of fire,
as the Deity. He believes that this vivifying some-
thing called fire, or caloric^ fills the immense space
of the whole universe, pervades all bodies, and ac-
tuates every particle of matter ; and that by it the
phenomena of magnetism, fire, and light are pro-
duced ; and that on it the various, and astonishing
phenomena of vegetation and animation depend. He
* Lord Bacon pronounced beat to be the effect of an intestine motion,
er mutual collision of the particles of the body heated; an expansive un-
dulatory motion in the minute particles of the body, by which they tend
with some rapidity towards the circumference, and, at the same time, in-
clined a little upwards.
f The chemists of the present day use the xvor&beat to express the sen~
sation, and have adopted the word calorie t» express the cause of the sensation
nf heat.
THE BOTANIST. 4?
moreover believes that the Sun is the efficient cause
of the motions of this fluid ; and that the various
phenomena of our system, are the effects of these
motions ; but the modus operandi of this anima
mundi is, like its great Author, past finding out !
Let us turn from this difficult subject to one that
is more within the management of human abilities.
It appears from experiments that oxygen gives seeds
their first determination to germinate; just as the
same vivifying principle first excites the movements
of life in a bird's egg. Old seeds, that would not
germinate, even in the most favorable soil and situ-
ation, have been made to vegetate, by sprinkling
the earth, in which they were planted, with water, to
which was added some oxygenated muriatic acid.
Garden cresses, thus treated, germinated in six
hours; while those, treated with common water,
required thirty -six to produce the same effect. Me-
tallic oxydes, or calces of ores, and burnt clay, are
good manures, because they abound with oxygen.*
Whoever takes an extensive view of those slow
operations that are going forward on the globe
which we inhabit, will perceive that the decay of
animals increases the quantity of such matter as is
fitted to become the food of vegetables, and vice
versa. Calcareous earth is produced by the exuviae,
recrements, or remains of animals, especially their
shells, which shells, left at the bottom of the ocean,
* On this subject, consult Mr. Jacquin of Vienna, Homboldt, and Dar-
win. See also the experiments of Sir Francis Ford, in Phitos. Ma?. I79S,
and Dr. Barton's Elements of Botany, p, 278.
4-8 THE BOTANIST.
until they have become wonderfully accumulated,
and since elevated by submarine fires, constitute, at
this day, those immeasurable strata of chalk, marble,
and lime- stone, which are found here and there,
throughout the earth. The strata incumbent on these,
consisting of coal, iron, clay, and marie, are princi-
pally products of the vegetable kingdom. Thus are
all these strata of materials fabricated, circulated, and,
in the course of countless ages, refabricated, and re-
circulated by the procedure of vegetable and animal
life, and decay. Hence may we not conclude with
the modern Lucretius,* that vegetables and animals,
during their growth, increase the quantity of matter
which is fit, or capable of being fitted for the food
of each other ; while they elaborate a part of the ma-
terials of which they consist, from the simple ele-
ments of hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, phosphorus,
and oxygen, into which modern chemistry has re-
solved them by analysis ?
This transmutation of animal to vegetative nature;
and of the vegetable again to animal, may be ren-
dered perhaps more intelligible by the following ex-
ample from Darwin. In animal nutrition, the or-
ganic matter of dead animals and vegetables, taken
into the stomach is there decomposed ; and the most
nutritive parts are absorbed by the lacteals, and so
* In calling Dartv'tn the modern Lucretius, we wish not to convey an
idea derogatory to the christian character of the Biitish poet and philoso-
pher. He resembles the heathen poet in genius, and not in his atheit-tical
notions. Whether they resembled each other in a licentious, or amatorial
cast of mind, is left for others to determine.
THE BOTANIST. 49
become part of the creature. In vegetable nutrition,
the organic mutter of dead animals and vegetables
suffers likewise decomposition, and undergoes new
combinations, on, or beneath the surface of the earth,
while the more nutritious parts are absorbed by the
roots of the plant in contact with it.
" Hence when a Monarch, or — a Mushroom dies,
A while eitinct th' organic matter lies;
But, — as a few short hours, or years revolve,
Alchemic powers the changing mass dissolve ;
Born to new life unnumber'd insects pant-
New buds surround the microscopic plant. Temple of Nature.
These general principles being premised, we shall
next attempt to show how the nutriment of vegeta-
bles is received from the earth by the roots of a
plant.
THE BOTANIST.
N°. V.
We have said that there were few little things fa
nature more truly surprizing than a seed ; that each
seed was a system, or complete whole, wrought up
into a narrow compass, and retaining a living prin-
ciple.
The antients, from the scarcity of books, and some
other causes, had their attention less divided than
the moderns. They therefore viewed Nature with
keener eyes, and more concentrated attention, than
7
SO THE BOTANIST.
those who have lived since the multiplication of
books by the discovery of the art of printing. They
were of opinion that every thing, even the great
globe itself, sprang from an Egg ; which egg, their
poets say, was hatched by Nox, night, or obscurity;
or something behind a dark veil, which they could
not see through. Darwin alludes to this doctrine,
in speaking of that Spirit, which presided over
chaos,
" Who, ere the morn of time.
On wings outstretch'd, o'er Chaos hung suhlime ;
Warm'd into life the bursting Egg of Nioht,
And gave young Nature to admiring Light !"
Some, less diffident than the sagacious antients T
imagine that they have penetrated this veil, and il-
lumined the obscurity by saying that jire is the pri-
mary cause of the development of a seed. Be it so.
But what do we mean by fire, or caloric ? Is it here
any thing more than a mere word denoting the last
term of our analytical results ? We moderns have
decomposed substances, which under the antient
doctrines of philosophy, had passed for elements,
not susceptible of decomposition. We have been able
to dissect Light, analyze Air, and decompose
Water, and have discovered substances which all
previous investigation had found too subtle for the
detection of the senses ; but we have not yet detect-
ed the essence of fire. When therefore we attempt
to investigate the primary motion in seeds,, we
should not stop at the visible effects ; but push for-
ward to the invisible cause. Thus when Ave speak
THE BOTANIST. 51
of the motive powers of magnetism, or electricity,
\vc should strive to raise our minds beyond these
visible effects to the cause of them. In such an in-
tense view of things, we must exclude the word
spontaneity from the book of Nature. We must
not grant it even to fire, which constitutes fluidity.*
If proud science be humbled by speculations of
this sort, the agriculturalist may indulge his pride by
considerations of another kind ; by reflecting that he
is, in some degree, a partaker in the power and priv-
ilege of the Crea tor ; who has enabled him to rear
from a few organized particles, a field of vegetables,
a variegated garden, or a forest of trees. Man alone,
says the chemist Chaptal, possesses the rare advan-
tage of knowing a part of the laws of nature ; of pre-
paring events ; of predicting results ; of producing
effects at pleasure; of removing whatever is nox-
ious ; of appropriating whatever is beneficial ; and
of composing substances, which nature herself nev-
er forms : in this point of view, himself a creator,
he appears to partake with the Supreme in the most
eminent of his prerogatives !
From this digression we turn again into the path,
whence we musingly wandered ; which path is to le d
us to a full view of that Nemorale Templum, which
christian philosophy consecrates to the honour of the
Parent of Universal Nature !
of the anatomy of a vegetable.
The principal vessels of plants are of two kinds,
lubes and cells. The tubes run from the roots
* See Harris's Philos. Arrangements.
52 THE BOTANIST.
to the different parts of the plant in separate bun-
dles, communicating with each other, but not branch-
ing and joining, or anastomosing, as in animals.
These tubes contain the sap-juice, or chyle of the
plant. When immersed in a watery fluid, they fill
themselves on the principle, some suppose, of capil-
lary attraction ; but as this principle is not yet clearly
settled among philosophers, we are inclined to believe
with Fordyce, that it is from a power similar to the
muscular power in animals, by which this absorp-
tion, and all other motions of vegetables are perform-
ed. These tubes terminate in cells, which cells con-
tain the peculiar juices of the plant.
In the root of a plant certain cells surround the
tubes ; which are opened only at the extreme point
of them ; and fluids cannot be absolved any where
else. The tubes are not simply open at the end of
these radicle fibres ; but there is a particular struc-
ture, or configuration, which adapts them to the im-
bibition of fluids ; so that if the ends of all the fibres
of the roots of any vegetable be cut off, the growth
of that vegetable is stopped until a fresh configura-
tion is formed. As roots can only absorb nutriment
from the very points of their fibres, the configura-
tion, just mentioned, defends the absorbing tubes
from a superabundance of water. The roots of some
plants will bear without injury a greater quantity of
moisture than others. Those of aquatic plants have
a peculiarly firm structure, for defending them from
the effects of long maceration.
THE BOTANTST. 53
Linnaeus has not rejected the idea of certain
philosophers, who defined a plant to be an inverted
animal He considers its roots as its lacteals ; the
earth as its stomach ; the trunk and branches the
bones, and the leaves its lungs. There is, however,
this difference between them ; — an animal is an or-
ganized body, or a kind of hydraulic machine,
nourished by roots, or syphons, or in other words die
lacteals placed within him. A plant, is in like manner,
an organized body, or kind of hydraulic machine,
nourished by means of roots, made up of lacteal ves-
sels, or syphons, placed on the outside of it. Moreo-
ver, is not the long cylindrical absorbent vessel,
which runs from the roots of trees up to the caudex of
each bud, and which enters at the foot stalk of each
leaf analogous to the thoracic duct in animals?*
Every part of a plant that is under ground is not
its root. Some vegetables, as the onion, the tulip,
and all the tribe of lilies, terminate in a large bulb.
But this bulb is not the root ; but the hybernacula,
or winter quarters of the vegetable ens. It is a sub-
terraneous bud, inclosing the embryo plant, and
protecting it from the destructive effects of frost.
The radicles, or stringy appendages, proceeding
from the bulb, as in the onion and tulip, are in fact
the roots ; because they alone contain those absorb-
ing tubes, through which nutriment is imbibed from
the earth. The Marquis de St. Simon, however,
controverts this doctrine ; and imputes the absorb-
* See Bonnet's Contempt, de la Nature.
J* THE BOTANIST.
ing power to the middle part of the bulb. The ab-
sorbents in a plant differ from those in animals in
the facility with which they carry fluids either way.
Invert a plant, and its roots, now in the air, will pro-
duce leaves ; and its branches, now in the ground,
will shoot forth into roots ; or rather radicles, or
ligneous absorbents.
The roots of plants show a remarkable instinct in
searching for food, by creeping towards collections
of water; and into a rich soil. The roots of plants,
says Bishop Wat son, seem to turn away, with a kind of
abhorrence, from whatever they meet with, which is
hurtful to them ; and to desert their ordinary direc-
tion and to tend with a kind of irresistible impulse to-
wards collections of water, placed within their reach.
Thus the willow creeps into our wells, after water ;
and has been known to form a mat, or netting
across them. The Lombanhj poplars, which now
ornament most of the cities, and many of the villages
in America, have very extensive roots, running
horizontally at a small distance from the surface of
the ground. They injure our gardens, and damage
our pavements in the streets, in search of water, or
of air. This growing evil, will perhaps compel us
to eradicate these handsome trees from the streets,
which they at present adorn.
In summing up all that has been said, it appears,
that a seed is the sexual offspring of a plant, con-
taining not only the rudiments of the future vegeta-
ble, but also a quantity of aliment laid up within its
membranes for its early nourishment. A whitish
THE BOTANIST. SB
subject of a delicate nature forms the substance of
the seed. Small vessels, which proceed from the
germ are in every part of this substance, dividing,
and subdividing it every where. After the seed has
lain in the ground, moistened and warmed to a cer-
tain degree, it gently expands, and then begins to
shoot forth ; the radicle downwards, and the plu-
mula upwards. The warmth, which had penetrated
its outward folds, operates on their moisture, and
dissolves the mealy substance of the seed lobe, and
mixes with it. Of this mixture is formed a kind of
milk, which being conveyed to the infantile plant by
a concourse of vessels, terminating in a little protu-
berance or papilla furnishes it with nourishment,
adapted to its tender age, and extreme delicacy.
By these means the radicle, or incipient root un-
folds itself, and increases in bulk and extent every
day. In a short time, it seems to become, like the
chicken in the egg, sensible of too close confine-
ment, and it makes an effort to come forth. The
small orifice, which may be observed on the out-
side of the bean, and every other seed, facilitates its
egress. Then the radicle creeps downwards into the
earth, and soon after the plumula stretches upwards
to taste the air, while the seed lobes, emulating leaves,
serve as shields to defend the infant plant from harm.
As the plant acquires size and strength, these are
no longer useful, but dropping off, perish ; and
from this time forward the plant depends for its
coarser nourishment on certain fluids in the earth ;
and on more subtle and refined ones from the at-
J6 THE BOTANIST.
mosphere. For it is with plants as with ourselves,
while our stomachs are digesting coarser ioori, our
lungs are digesting air ; so that while plants are re-
ceiving mucilage from the earth, their leaves, or
lungs inspire the oxygenous, or vital principle from
the atmosphere.
From this view given of the seed, and its econo-
my, the assertion will no longer appear strange that
the spacious oak once existed in an acorn. Thus
says the poetical Darwin,
The pulpy acorn, e'er it swells, contains
The oak's vast branches in its milky veins.
And again,
Grain within grain, successive harvests dwell,
And boundless forests slumber in a shell.
THE BOTANIST.
N°. VI.
We left the infantile plant struggling for life, and
extending its roots, which contain those vessels that
answer to the lacteals in animals, in order to imbibe
nutriment from its mother earth ; while the plumu-
Ja, or little stem and leaf were aspiring to drink the
vital air, which soon changes it from a } ellou ish
white to a beautiful green colour. That leaves do
not acquire this splendid green before they enjoy
the light of heaven, is known to every one who has
.noticed plants growing in dark cellars, or covered
THE BOTANIST. 57
ver with boards, or otherwise secluded from the
sun's rays.* We shall resume this subject when
we speak of the office of the leaves in cleansing a
foul atmosphere from putrid exhalations. We must
now pursue
THE ANATOMY OF A VEGETABLE ; BEING THE
EXAMINATION OF A TRUNK OF A TREE FROM
WITHOUT INWARDS.
In cutting the trunk of a tree from the circumfer-
ence to the centre, the instrument passes through
seven distinct parts in the following order :
I. The Epidermis.
II. The Cortex.
III. The Liber.
IV. The Alburnum.
V. The Vascular Series.
VI. The Lignum.
VII. The Medulla, or Pith.
Under which of these heads must we place the
Silver grain, or those bright radii which pass from
the centre to the circumference ? Are these any
thing more than mechanical braces of the ligneous
part of the tree ; a sort of dovetailing to preserve the
limb from breaking into concentric circles, on suf-
* This operation called bleaching, or etiolation, renders plants less acrid
^nd is usually performed on endive and cellery.
m THE BOTANIST.
faring violent flexures in high winds and storms?
Or do they contain the air vessels, passing from the
epidermis to the centre ?
The Epidermis is a delicate, but firm, transparent
membrane, covering the plant every where. It is
impenetrable to water, and, like the cuticle of the
human body, is sooner elevated in the form of a blis-
ter, than destroyed by any corrosive fluid. The
epidermis of vegetables is, as in the human scarf-
skin, a single membrane, although Duhamel says
he counted six in the birch tree, and our country-
man, Dr. Barton, distinguished twice that number.
Notwithstanding this respectable authority, we ap-
prehend, that both these naturalists were deceived.
We admit, as a well established opinion, that the
epidermis, or cuticle of a tree, is renewed every
year ; and that where we discover several layers,,
they are only the old ones, beneath the recent one.
Some trees, says Darwin, have as many cuticles, as
they are years old ; others cast them more easily, as
a snake casts its skin. Hence the service of curry-
ing or scratching trees.*
The use of the epidermis is to protect the ulti-
mate ramifications of the aerial and aqueous vessels ;
those minute vessels, by which they are enabled to
• It is said, if you continue to scratch the curvature of a crooked tree,
it will in time become straight. It resembles in this respect a contracted
leg or arm, which is sometimes restored by friction. We should be care-
ful not to scratch trees that exude a gum, such as peach trees. An insect
■will sometimes injure the bark of the peach tree near the surface of the
wround, which occasions an exudation of gum, and soon after the tree be-
comes sickly and at length dies.
THE BOTANIST, 59
absorb aeriform fluidities, which are needful to
the life, health, and beauty of the plant.
Oa removing the Epidermis,
The Cortex, or hide of the plant, as the word im-
ports, appears. This is the part known to every one
by the name of B.irk. It consists of vessels, glands,
and Utricles, which are little bags, or cells, inosculat-
ed, contorted, interwoven, and compacted, in such
a m inner, as to render it very difficult of demon-
stration. It is among this compounded structure
of the cortex, or bark, that the work of digestion is
performed ; and the product of this digestion is con-
veyed through the whole vegetable, till at length the
leaf and the flower, the first the lungs, the last the
face, mouth, and entrails, perfect the plant. It is in
the bark of the plant, that the medicinal virtues
principally reside. In this reticular substance are
found the oils, resins, gums, balsams, and more oc-
cult virtues, so precious to the healing art. The
Peruvian bark, and the cinnamon have stamped ce-
lebrity on this part of a vegetable.
After the bark is stripped off, we discover the
third integument, namely the liber ; which consists
of laminae or plates, bound together by a cellular
matter, which, when dissolved by maceration in wa-
ter, detaches these plates or coatings from each
other ; when they resemble the leaves of the books
of the antients ; whence arose the name of liber.
The liber is softer and more juicy, than the cortex.
It grows however harder and harder, until it assumes-
the quality and name of lignum or wood.
60 THE BOTANIST.
Between the liber and lignum is interposed a pe-
culiar substance called alburnum by Linnccus* blea
by the British, arebier by the French, and sap-wood
by the American yeomanry. It is whiter and softer,
than either the cortex or liber. It is not at all times
easy to distinguish between the alburnum and the
wood, the structure being similar. Indeed the al-
burnum appears to be but the infantile stage of the
wood, progressing from a mucilaginous to the adult
state.
We have said that the liber grows harder and
harder till it assumes the quality and name of lig-
num ; but Du Hcimel says that in certain circum-
stances the wood is capable of producing new bark.
A cherry tree stripped of its bark exuded from the
whole surface of its wood, in little points, a gelati-
nous matter, which gradually extended over the
whole, and became a new bark ; under which a
layer of new wood was speedily formed. This ge-
latinous substance, or matter of organization is cal-
led Cambium, (from, I presume, the Italian word
cambio, or cambiere, to exchange, or commutate )
which Mirbel supposes to produce the liber, or
young bark ; and at the same time, by a peculiar
arrangement of the vascular parts, the alburnum, or
new wood. Is this a process similar to the exuda-
tion of that part of our blood called coagulable lymph
in consequence of inflammation in the human body ?
When, by inflammation, a vascular part of the body
* " Intermedia substantia libri et lijjni." Linnx,
THE BOTANIST. Gl
is roused to an extraordinary action, then millions of
vessels are called into existence, and glands also,
winch secrete the coagulable lymph, or matter of
organization, which is one link in the chain of reno-
vation. Or is it like the exudation that repairs the
broken bhell of the snail ? Or the exudation which
forms the calhis that reunites a fractured bone '?*
Between the alburnum and the wood lies a fifth
ring, or circle of vessels called the vascular series.
Its structure is simple, being a single course of
greenish vessels, lodged between two cellular mem-
brines. It terminates, says Dr. Hunter,f in the
nectaria of the flower. Some botanists consider the
vascular series, as part of the alburnum.
The sixth part in order is the lignum or wood,
which is the most solid part of the trunk ; and is de-
fined by our great master to be the alburnum and
liber of the preceding year, deprived of their juice,
hardened and firmly agglutinated. The wood is
composed of concentric rings. The centre of these
circles is generally observed to be nearer the north,
than the south side of the tree.
On examining a transverse section of a trunk, or
large limb of a tree, an oak for example, we can gen-
erally observe, that the interior rings are harder
than the exterior. It is a prevalent opinion, that
one of these rin^s is added everv year, and that, re-
garding the number of circles, we can ascertain
the age of the tree. Some have ventured to deny
* See Smith's Botany. f Philosoph. Botanic.
M THE BOTANIST.
this criterion, although they knew, that Linnaeus
himself examined very aged oaks in some of the isl-
ands of the Baltic with that principle for his guide.
This illustrious secretary of nature was persuaded,
that he could point out by the ligneous circles,
the severe winters of 1587, 1687, and 1709, as
they were thinner than the rest. This curious
circumstance merits the attention of our rural phi-
losophers. Who knows, but we may hence form a
probable conjecture of the age of those surprizing
antiquities, discovered in this new world on the
banks of the Ohio and Muskingum ?
Substantial as is the wood or ligneous part of a
tree, it is nevertheless so far from being an essential
part, that many plants are without it. The arunda-
cious plants, as the reeds, and the grasses, and indeed
all the gramina, are naturally hollow. How often
do we see trees, so internally decayed, as to be kept
alive merely by a vigorous state of the bark ?
The seventh and last part is the medulla, or pith.
This is a spongy or vesicular substance, placed in
the centre of the wood, and is according to Linnae-
us, essential to the life of the vegetable. In the new
productions of trees it consists of a number of oval,
greenish moist bladders, which at length become
empty, dry, and spherical, and by degrees assume
a whitish colour. We know but little of the minute
structure of the pith. It resists the tincture of the
most subtle colouring fluids, and is as impenetra-
ble to water, as the pith of a goose-quill. Ought we
t& infer, that the pith is destitute of vessels ? May it
THE BOTANIST. 6£
not be like the most subtle parts of the brain of an-
imals, the vessels of which elude the sharpest sight,
by reason of their exility ? In plants, which have
hollow stems, the tube is lined with pith.
Linnaeus attributes great importance to the pith,
and asserts, after Bradley, that it gives birth to the
buds. Some botanists of the first rank believe, that
the pith is, in a plant, what the brain and spinal-mar-
row are in the inferior order of animals. The pith,
says Darwin, appears to be the first or most essential
rudiments of the new plant, like the brain, spinal-
marrow, and medulla oblongata, which is the first
visible part of the figure of every animal foetus from
the tadpole to mankind. It seems however that
the pith is not essential, or absolutely necessary to
vegetation, as we often observe trees to live and
thrive without it.* The guaicum or lignum vitse, it
is said, has no pith. If the pith be the brain of a
tree, may it not be with some trees as with some
animals, in which the brain is not confined to the
head, but spread all over them, as in the earthworm
and polypus, the parts of which, though cut in piec-
es, live and become entire animals ? Some animals,
like some vegetables, are more vivacious than
others. A tortoise will live and crawl several days
after decapitation ; because his body is replete with
ganglions, which are subordinate brains, having an
innate energy independent in some measure of the
* If Forsy'fj't book, hnd not come forth under such uncommonly higk
sanctioi, we in America should li ve been disposed to doubt sorrreof hlfc
accounts of the restoration ol decayed trees.
61 THE BOTANIST.
capital portion in the skull. After all, the office of
the medulla or pith in vegetables is among the desid-
erata in the science of botany.*
fc There is no part of the anatomy of a vegetable in-
volved in more intricacy and uncertainty, than the
Vascular System. Linrueus speaks of three
kinds of vessels,
I. The Sap vessehy
II. The Vasa propria, or proper vessels, and
III. The Air vessels ;
but later botanists have increased their number to
seven.
The Sap vessels convey the sap-juice or chyle of
the vegetable. They rise perpendicularly and pass
principally through and between the wood and the
bark ; and though imperceptible, they must pervade
other parts of the plant.
The Vasa propria, proper, or peculiar vessels, are
so called because they contain the peculiar or specific
secreted fluids, as the gum in the peach tree, and the
resin in the fir. In these vessels are found the medic-
inal qualities, peculiar to a plant. The utricles are
small repositories, which contain the colouring mat-
ter of the plant. In them the nutritive juice of the
plant is lodged, just as the marrow is preserved in
bones, whence it is taken both in animals and vege-
* Sonie have conjectured that the pith was a reservoir of moisture,
against a dry season, like the depositesof matrow in the hones, or rather
the fat in our bodies, and on which it is supposed we subsist during the
emaciating state of fevers.
THE BOTANIST. 65
tables, when they are not sufficiently supplied with
chyliferous nutriment.*
The air vessels are called trachea from their re-
semblance to the respiratory organs of insects.
They are found in the wood and in the alburnum,
but not in the bark. In order to detect them, you
must take a young branch of a vine, and clear away
the bark, and then break it by drawing the two ex-
tremities in opposite directions, when the air vessels
may be seen in the form of small corkscrews. See
engraved representations of them in Grevfs Anato-
my of Plants, and Day-will's Phytologia.
These tracheae or air vessels carry other fluids be-
side air. Darwin says they are absorbent vessels of
the adult vegetable, and the umbilical ones of the
embrvon bud.
As to the absorbent, the excretory, and the secre-
tory vessels, Ave shall speak of them when we de-
scribe the leaves.
To the foregoing description of the parts of a
plant should be added that which contemplates it as
a whole. Linnaus, in some measure helps us to
that view of it when he says, that the cortex of the
flower terminates in the calyx ; the liber in the
petals or painted leaves; the lignum m the stam-
ina; the vascular series in the nectaria; and
the pith in the seeds.
It is very difficult to convey a clear idea of these
-different parts of a plant j we would therefore refer
* See Chaptat's Chemistry, Vol. 2.
9
66 THE BOTANIST.
the reader to Grew's admirable engravings, copied
after magnified specimens of various parts of a vege-
table, which, though executed more than a century
ago, have not since been surpassed.
Dr. Grew and Malpighi began their anatomy
of plants about the same time, unknown to each
other-; one in England, the other in Italy. Much
praise is due to the Italian, but more to the English-
man. So finished are his descriptions, that he has
left but little to his successors but admiration.
The best solar and lucernal microscopes of the
present day serve to increase our admiration of the
accuracy and industry of Dr. Nehemiah Grew in
the anatomy of plants. His excellencies are nume-
rous, and his mistakes few. Darwin contends, that
what Grew and Malpighi called bronchia, or air
vessels, are really absorbents ; that they have been
erroneously thought air vessels, in the same man-
ner as the arteries of the human body, were supposed
by the antients to convey air, till the great Harvey,
by more exact experiments, and juster reasoning
evinced that they were blood vessels.
The Botanist is not entirely satisfied with the ac-
count he has here given of the anatomy of a vegeta-
ble from the epidermis to the centre. Grew, Hales,
Du Hamel, Linnaeus and Darwin, with many living
naturalists have examined the minute structure of a
plant, but every one of them has left a wide field for
discoveries to his successor. We in America have
not all the means for examining these things, as have
our elder brethren in Europe. It is but lately that
THE BOTANIST,. 67
we have begun to construct microscopes ; by whose
magical powers men have sometimes called things
that are not into existence, as well as established
the existence of others that were doubtful.
THE BOTANIST.
N°. VII.
Several Philosophers distinguished for sagacity
and industry, have devoted a considerable portion
of their lives to the examination of the structure of
plants, and to the study of the process of vegetation ;
yet the subtile organization of vegetables has baf-
fled their sight, though armed with the microscope ;
and the laws of vegetation have been but imperfect-
ly explored. Who has been able to discriminate
that peculiar organization in each kind of plant which
gives the specific medicinal quality to each ? If mat-
ter, considered as mere matter, give not the peculiar
qualities to bodies, they must result from the differ-
ent arrangement of the same matter in different vege-
tables. It is from the different modification of veg-
etable matter, which produces those various and op-
posite qualities, observable in two plants growing in
the same bed of a garden, and breathing the same
air, and which produces both bread and poison out
68 THE BOTANIST.
of the same soil. It is, says Dr. Hunter,* from the
different elaboration of a mass of innocent earth, that
gives life and vigour to the bitter aloes, and to the
sweet sugar cane, to the cool house-leek, and to the
fiery mustard, to the nourishing grain of wheat and
corn, to the deadly night shade, and the still more
deadly upas.
It is incompatible with our plan to exercise much
attention in describinsr the different forms and struc-
ture of the trunks or stems of plants. Seven are
enumerated by Linnaus.
1 st. The Caulis, or stem properly so called, bear-
ing the leaves and the flower.
2d. The Culmus or straw, which species of stem
is generally hollow, as in grasses.
3d. The Scapus, or stalk, which bears the fructi-
fication only, the leaves not being raised above the
ground, as in the Dandelion.
4th. The Pedunculus, or flower-stalk, which bears
the flower, or fructification from the caulis. It is
the stalk or immediate support of a single flower or
fruit.
5. The Petiolus, or stalk of a leaf. It fastens the
leaves, but not the fructification.
6. The Frons, a vague term, generally used to
signify that the root, stem, leaf and fructification are
all in one, as in Ferns.
7. The Stipes, which is the stalk, or trunk of a
frons, and is applied only to the Palms, Filices and
Fungi.
Georgicat Essay?:
THE BOTANIST. G9
Turning from these things* let us examine some
other objects of more importance, viz.
THE BUDS.
A Btm is a protuberance, hard body, or pointed
button, being a compendium, or epitome of its pa-
rent plant, jutting out from its stem or branches. A
bud is composed externally of scales, which are
elongations of the inner bark. It is commonly cov-
ered with a resinous varnish, to protect it from cold,
insects, and moisture ; and it contains the rudiments
of the leaves, or flower, or both, which are to be ex-
panded, or exfoliated the following year. Buds are
called by Virgil gemma. As many plants have
no buds ; and some that have are divested of them
when removed from cold to warm climates, it is ev-
ident that the buds are not parts essential to a vege-
table. They are however so very common in these
northern states, that our Flora would appear awk-
ward without her gems. Of the arborescent plants
growing among us, which have no buds, all of them
have been brought from warm climates, as the
orange, lemon, acacias, geraniums, the oleander and
guiacum.
* The branch of an oak is called ramus ; and a twig of that branch ramu-
las ; but what is the discriminating term for the huge trunk of any tree
which rising from the root supports them all ? Can it be arranged prop-
erly under either of these seven heads ?
70 THE BOTANIST.
If you examine a twig of almost any of our trees
at this season,* especially the horse chesnut, you
will find that the bud is rooted in, or proturberates
from the pith. You will also find, that wherever a
new bud is generated in the stem or twig, or in the
bosom of a leaf, there a membraneous diaphragm
divides the cavity. This division, which is covered
with a medullary, or pithy substance, distinguishes
the insertion of one bud from another. Beside the
scales of the bark, and the rudiments of the leaves,
we discover by searching deeper, that the bud, like
the seed, contains the parent plant in miniature.
Seeds are vegetable eggs ; and buds are foetal
plants, both equally adapted to continue their spe-
cies forever. A bud on the stem or twig of a tree
in the winter, as well as the bulb of a tulip, is the
hybernacula, or winter quarters of the vegetable ens,
where the embryo plant sleeps in safety during the
severity of winter, secure from the destructive ef-
fects of frost, moisture, or insects.
There are three kinds of buds ; one containing a
flower, another containing only leaves, and a third
containing both. A just discrimination of these
three kinds of buds is important to gardeners. Leaf-
buds should be always selected for inoculation, al-
though flower-buds are commonly chosen for that
purpose, because they are fuller, thicker, less point-
ed, and resemble plump seed; whereas if they should
be transplanted into the bark of a tree, they are more
apt to disappoint the expectations of the ingrafter than
* December.
THE BOTANIST. 71
if he used the leaf-buds. An accurate knowledge
of these things will tend to explode the vague terms
of " barren buds," and " fertile buds." Another
illustration of our former assertion, that anatomical
investigation is the only certain, and rational meth-
od of arriving at certainty in the laws of vegetation.
By the term foliation, botanists mean the com-
plication, or folded state of the leaves, while con-
cealed within the buds. This intricate and compli-
cated structure, was first evolved and displayed by
our great master Linnaeus; who has taught us,
that the leaves in buds are either,
Involute; that is, rolled in, when their lateral
margins are rolled spirally inwards on both sides.
Re volute, rolled back, when their lateral mar-
gins are rolled spirally backwards on both sides.
Obvolute, rolled against each other ; when theiF
respective margins alternately embrace the straight
margin of the opposite leaf.
Convolute, rolled together ; when the margin
of one side surrounds the other margin of the same
leaf in the manner of a cawl or hood.
Imbricate; when they are parallel, with a
straight surface, and lie one over the other.
Eqjjitant, riding; when the sides of the leaves
lie parallel, and approach in such a manner, as the
outer embrace the inner, which is not the case with
the
Conduplicate; or doubled together, that is,
when the sides of the leaf are parallel, and approach
each other.
?2 THE BOTANIST.
Plicate, plaited; when their complication is in
plaits lengthwise.
Reclinate, reclined; when the leaves are re-
flexed downwards towards the petiole.
Circinal, compassed; or in rings, when the
leaves are rolled in spirally downwards.*
Although LoejUng^ natural history of buds has
not been surpassed, as any naturalist will be con-
vinced, if he peruses his paper, entitled ** Gemma
Arborum" in the Amanitates Academica ; yet Dar-
win is more to our present purpose, which is to mix
the utile with the dulce.
Dr. Darwin, in his " philosophy of agriculture and
gardening,"" says, "if a bud be torn from a branch
of a tree, or cut out, and planted in the earth, with
a glass cup inverted over it, to prevent the exhala-
tion from being at first greater than its power of ab-
sorption ;f or if it be inserted into the bark of another
tree, it will grow, and become a plant in every re-
spect like its parent. This evinces, that every bud
of a tree is an individual vegetable being; and that
a tree therefore is a family or swarm of individual
plants, like the polypus, with its young growing out
* See chap. xvi. of a book well known in America, entitled " An Intro-
duction to Botany, &c. which was compiled from the writings of Liunaus, by
an English Baronet, and published by Jamc Lee, nursery man, at the
Vineyard, Hammersmith," near London, an honest, sensible, hardworking,
unlettered North Briton.
f In this situation a greater heat may be given th«n, than in hot houses,
without increasing their quantity of perspiration, which ccses as soon as
the air in the glass is saturated with moisture. Phytol. Sea. ik.
THE BOTANTST. 73
of its sides, or like the branching cells of the coral
insect."
" When old oaks or willows lose by decay almost
all their solid internal wood, it frequently happens,
that a part of the shell of the trunk or stem contin-
ues to flourish with a few healthy branches. Whence
it appears, that no part of the tree is alive, but the
buds and the bark, and the root-fibres ; that the b^rk
is only an intertexture of the caudexes of the nu-
merous buds, as they pass down to shoot their radi-
cles into the earth ; and that the solid timber of a
tree ceases to be alive, and is then only of service to
support the numerous family of buds in the air,
above the herbaceous vegetables in their vicinity. "
" A bud of a tree therefore, like a vegetable aris-
ing from a seed, consists of three parts ; the plu-
mula or leaf, the radicle or root-fibres, and the part
which joins these two together, which is called cau-
dex by Linnaeus, when applied to entire plants;
and may therefore be termed caudex genuine, when
applied to buds.
" An embryon-bud, whether it be a leaf-bud, or
a flower bud, is the viviparous offspring of an
adult leaf-bud ; and is as individual, as a seed, which
is its oviparous offspring.
" As the season advances, the leaf-bud puts forth
a plumula, like a seed, which stimulated by the ox-
ygen of the atmosphere, rises upwards info leaves,
to acquire its adapted pabulum ; which leaves con-
stitute its lungs. The flower- bud under similar cir-
cumstances puts forth its bractes or floral-leaves ;
10
7* THE BOTANIST.
which serve the office of lungs to the pericarp and
and calyx ; and expands it petals, which again serve
the office of the lungs to the anthers and stigmas ;
and thus like the leaf-bud, it becomes an adult veg-
etable being, with the power of producing seed."*
Close observers of nature have remarked, that
about midsummer, there is a kind of pause in vege-
tation, for perhaps a fortnight ; and it is believed, that
leaf buds maybe changed into flower-buds, and flow-
er-buds into leaf -buds. The probability of this idea
of transmuting flower-buds and leaf-buds into each
other is confiimed, says the ingenious author of "the
Botanic Garden," by the curious conversion of the
parts of the flowers of some vegetable monsters] in-
to green leaves ; if they be too well nourished, after
they are so far advanced, as to be unchangeable in-
to leaf-buds. Instances of this luxuriance are some-
times seen in the chaffy scales of the calyx of the
Everlasting, in the Pink, and in the Rose- Willow.
The artificial method of converting leaf-buds into
flower-buds is by disturbing the natural course of
vegetation by binding some of the most vigorous
stalks or roots with strong wire. J The success of
this operation depends on weakening, or strengthen-
ing the growth of the last year's buds.
* Darwin's Phytol.
■f Double, or very luxuriant flowers, however beautiful in the eyes of
the florist, are called monsters by botanists.
•^ See Bradley on Gardenii'f, vol 2, p. 155. Al«o, Mr. Fitzgerard's
jnode in Philos. Transact, for 1761, and Count Euffon'a in Act. Paris. An.
1733.
THE BOTANIST. 75
Instead of planting buds in the earth, we plant
them within the bark of another tree ; taking care
to place them so, that the pith of the bud comes in
close contact with the pith of the branch, in which
the slit is made. This mode of propagation is call-
ed inoculation*
An argument among others, that the Chinese had
no communication with either Greeks or Romans,
is their total ignorance of the art of ingrafting or in-
oculation. That the antients were well acquainted
with this operation appears by this passage from
Virgil's Georgics, as translated by Darwin.
When cruder juices swell the leafy vein,
Stint the young germ, the tender blossom stain;
On each lopp'd shoot, a foster scion bind,
Pith prest to pith, and rind applied to rind.
So shall the trunk, with loftier crest ascend,
And wide in air robuster arms extend,
Nur<e the new buds, admire the leaves unknown,
And blushing bend with fruitage not its own.
We might conclude this number by a beautiful
poetical description of the arts of producing flower -
buds; extracted from " the Botanic Garden" of the
fanciful Darwin ; but his allusions forbid it. While
our Flora presents a bouquet to the Massachusetts
youth of both sexes, she must not sprinkle poison on
her flowers.
* In France and in Switzerland they improve the fruit of a tree by in-
grafting it with a scion from its own branches. This is found to amelio-
rate the quality of the fruit, and increase the size of it.
THE BOTANIST.
N°. VIII.
How dead the vegetable kingdom lies ! ^.Thomsons Winter.
In the past numbers we treated of the seed, the
root, the stem, and lastly of the bud, hybernacula>
or winter quarters of the vegetative life. Order in-
dicates that we describe the leaves and opening
flowers in this; but alas! a frost, "a killing
frost" has " nipt our shoot" and check'd us in the
bud. Our congeniality, or uncongeniality to the
seasons, is founded in the nature of things, let John-
son say what he will to the contrary. When the
mercury in the glass, and the mercury in the man,
is a degree or two below o, he is fitted rather to
write on modern patriotism, and public generosity,
than on the vernal bounties of exuberant Na-
ture. Anthology* requires the etherial warmth
of spring.
We attribute to the hard, inflexible, horn-beam
fibre of a Johnson, which no climate could alter, nor
season soften, this erroneous sentiment : — " Those
who look upon the mind to depend on the seasons,
and suppose the intellect subject to periodical ebbs
and flows, may justly be derided as intoxicated by
* i. e. A treatise on Flowers.
THE BOTANIST. 77
the fumes of a vain imagination. The author that
thinks himself weather bound, will find, with a little
help from hellebore, that he is only idle or exhaust-
ed. But while this notion has possession of the
head, it produces the inability which it supposes."
This stern philosopher however was compelled, in
the evening of his life, to groan out, that we are "the
slaves of sunshine and of 'gloom ."*
When
- « The vernal sun awakes
The torpid sap detruded to the root
By wintry winds ;"
or in better words, when " the winter is past, and the
ram is over and gone /" when "flowers appear on
the earth, and the singing of birds is come ; when
the fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the
tender grapes give a good smell," then will the Bot-
anist quit his conglaciated state, and, congenial to
the cheerful season, once more attempt to delineate
the beauties of earth's renovated carpet ; — unless the
cold hind of death, or the still colder hand of a goth-
ic spirit should paralyze his forever !f
Lest those who have regarded the past numbers
of the Botanist with a favourable eye should be dis-
appointed, we seize this opportunity of introducing
them to the acquaintance
* Verses on Winter.
f Circumventive attempts, about this time, to deprive our author of the honour and
froftts of tzventy years indefatigable labour in the feld of Natural History, mag
have given rise to these gloomy reflections. Ed.
78 THE BOTANIST.
OF LINNjEUS.
The figure which this learned physician, and il-
lustrious naturalist made while living, and the great
reputation of his works now he is dead, will justify
us in devoting the rest of this number to his hon-
our.*
Charles Von Linne, or as the learned through-
out the world have latinized it, Carol us Linnaeus,
was born at Smaland i.i Sweden, in the year 1707.
It has almost always happened that those who have
occupied some of the highest seats in the temple of
fame, have been obliged to climb up to it through
the rough, dirty and difficult road of poverty, calum-
ny and opposition. It was remarkably so with
Linnaeus, who was the son of an obscure clergyman,
of an inconsiderable village in a gloomy region of the
elobe. His father's income was so small, and his
family so large and straightened in their circumstanc-
es, that this prince of naturalists was on the point of
being bound to a mechanic. The design of bind-
ing Linnaeus to a shoe-maker was over-ruled by
his uncle, and he was sent to school, when he was
ten years of age. At this early period, his chief
amusement was gathering plants and hunting after
insects.
Almost all young men, when just stepping on the
stage of busy life, press forward to the acquisition of
* If the reader would glance over Dr. Pulteney's general review of the
life and writings of L'wnaus. he will see whence we have taken most of our
facts; and will perceive that we have sometimes used his expressions.
THE BOTANIST. 79
riches, as the surest road to power and reputation ;
whilst a few, a very few consider wealth as a second-
ary object, and pursue with ardour fame or reputa-
tion as the first. Hence there have not been many
very famous literary characters who have not com-
menced their career in poverty ; and most of them.
have found that " Slow rises worth by poverty de-
pressed."
In the year 1728, he removed toUpsal, where he
obtained the patronage of several eminent men, par-
ticularly of Olaus Celsius, at that time Pro-
fessor of Divinity, and the restorer of natural histo-
rv in Sweden. Under such encouragement he made
rapid progress in his studies, and in the esteem of
the Professors. We have this striking proof of his
merits and attainments, that after only two years res-
idence, he was thought sufficiently qualified to give
lectures, occasionally, from the botanic chair, in
the room of Professor Rudbeck.
In 1731 the Royal Academy of Sciences, having
a desire to improve the natural history of Sweden,
deputed Linnaeus to make the tour of Lapland, with
the sole view of exploring the natural history of the
arctic region, to which his reputation, as a scholar
and a naturalist, and his tough constitution, equally
recommended him. He traversed the Lapland de-
sert, which was destitute of villages, roads, cultiva-
tion, or any conveniences. He spent about five
months in this tour, suffering innumerable hardships
and privations ; and that too for a very small sti-
pend, scarcely enough to buy him shoes, which must
80 THE BOTANIST.
have been an important article of clothing ; for
poor Linnaeus travelled ten degrees of latitude on
foot. Several years after he travelled through Hol-
land, Brabant, and France, in the same manner,
gathering plants on the way, and searching for min-
erals.
In 1733 this indefatigable naturalist was sent by
the government to visit the mines in Sweden. On
his return to Upsal, he gave lectures on mineralogy
in the university. In 1735, when he took his de-
gree of Doctor of Physic, he published the first
sketch of his Systema Nature, in a very com-
pendious way, and in the form of tables, in twelve
pages only. By this it appears, that he had at a ve-
ry early period, before he was twenty-four years of
age, laid the basis of that magnificent work, which
he afterwards raised, and which will ever remain a
lasting monument of his genius and industry. In
the same year he retired to Fahlum, a town in Da-
lecarlia, where he gave lectures on mineralogy and
the docimastic art ; and where he practised physic.
In 1736 he passed over into England, carrying let-
ters of recommendation from the famous Boer-
haave, who was at that time Professor of the The-
ory and Practice of Physic at Leyden, the glory of
the medical world, and one of the best botanists of
the age. That the sagacious Boeihaave penetrated
the true character of Linnaeus, and predicted his fu-
ture fame and greatness appears by his letter of in-
troduction to Sir Hans Sloane, in which he says,
" Linnaeus, qui has tibi dabit literas, est unice dig-
THE BOTANIST. 81
" mis te vidcre, unice dignus a te videri; qui vos
" videbit simul, videbit hominum par, cui simile
" vix dabit orbis." Although Boerhaavc particular-
ly recommended him to Sir Hans Sloane, Presi-
dent of the Royal Society, Sir Hans paid him but lit-
tle attention ; lor Linnaeus was not one of those gay
young men that attract much personal attention.
He was nesrlisent of dress and diminutive in stature.
The patronage of so illustrious a man rendered
Linnaeus still more conspicuous ; Boerhaave him'
self being a cultivator of natural history and botany,
the merits of Linnaeus could hardly escape his
perspicacity.
Boerhaave's friendship for Linnaeus continued to
the latest period of his existence. When Linnaeus
visited him in his last sickness, and but a short time
before this light of the medical world was extin-
guished, Boerhaave taking an affectionate leave of
his young friend, said, " I have lived my time out,
"and my days are at an end. I have done every
' { thing that was in my power. May God protect
" thee, with whom this duty remains ! What the
" world required of me, it has got; but from thee,
•■' my dear Linnaeus, it expects much more !"
In 1737 Linnaeus published the Genera Planta-
rum, which completely unfolded the sexual system,
as far as related to classical and generical characters ;
and in the same year exemplified it in the species by
the Flora Lappo?iica, and the Hortus Clijfortianus*
At the same time, he dedicated to Dillenius, the
Pritiea Boto?iica, in which he explains his reasons
11
82 THE BOTANIST.
for the change of names, and for the establishment
of new distinctions, both of which, he well knew,-
would be considered as dangerous innovations.
In 1738 Linnaeus really imagined, that he had
fixed down for the last time in the practice at Stock-
holm ; for being now married, he concluded it was
time to settle down for life, and give over gathering
plants in the arctic circle, and searching the bowels
of the earth for minerals. He however met with
great opposition in his business. He was too learn-
ed and too eminent not to excite all that envy and
jealousy could engender and inflict. At Stockholm
his enemies oppressed him with many difficulties ;
but the abilities and persevering spirit of Linnaeus
surmounted them all, so that he came at length in-
to extensive practice as a physician. But his vast
and ardent mind would not allow him to confine it
to such drudgery ; especially when the fruit of his
labour was to be only money. Count Tessen was
his patron, through whose influence medals were
struck in his honour. He enjoyed also a stipend
from the citizens of Stockholm for giving lectures
in botany.
In 1741 Linnaeus was appointed joint Professor
of Physic with Rosen. These two colleagues agreed
to divide the medical department between them.
Professor Rosen took anatomy, physiology, patholo-
gy, and therapeutics ; whilst Professor Linnaeus took
natural history, botany, materia medica, dietetics, and
the diagnosis morborum. The systematic genius of
this prince of naturalists displayed itself in his mode
THE BOTANIST. 8$
of teaching medicine ; for he arranged in the form
of a table all the diseases that afflict mankind. Sauv-
age in France followed his plan, and made many im-
provements ; and the late Dr. Cullen carried it to a
high degree of perfection. According to this plan,
diseases are arranged, in imitation of botanists, into
classes, orders, genera, and species* This mode of
arranging disorders is called Nosology. The repu-
tation of the Swedish University at Upsal rose to a
height before unknown, during the time when its
medical department was under the direction of Lin-
naeus. But that, which has established forever the
name of Linnaeus; and which has reflected honour
on his country, is the System a Nature. Noth-
ing since the labours of Aristotle can be compared
to it for depth of knowledge and extent of re-
search.
From this period the reputation of Linnaeus bore
some proportion to his merit ; and extended itself
to distant countries; insomuch that there was
scarcely a learned society in Europe, but was eager
to elect him a member ; scarcely a crowned head,
but sought some means to honour him. His emol-
ument kept pace with his fame and honours. It was
no longer laudatur et alget* His practice as a phy-
sician became lucrative ; and we find him possessed
of his country house and gardens in the vicinity of
the capital. Linnaeus received one of the most flat-
tering testimonies of the extent and magnitude of
• Starving OU universal praise ; or living in splendid wretchedness.
8t THE BOTANIST.
his fame, that perhaps was ever shown to any litera-
ry character, the state of the nation which conferred
it, with all its circumstances, duly considered.
This was an invitation to Madrid from the King of
Spain, there to preside as a naturalist, with the offer
of an annual pension of 2000 pistoles, letters of no-
bility, and the perfect free exercise of his religion.
But, after the most perfect acknowledgments of the
singular honour done him, he returned for answer,
" that if he had any merits, they were due to his
own country.""
This extraordinary man died January 11th, 1778,
in the 71st year of his life, leaving behind him a glo-
rious reputation. Uncommon respect was shown
to his memory. At the commemoration of his death,
by the Royal Academy of Sciences, the King of
Sweden honoured the assembly with his presence ;
nay farther, in his speech from the throne to the
Swedish parliament, that philosophic monarch la-
mented the death of Linnaeus, as a public calamity.
He said, "I have lost a man whose fame was as
" great all over the world, as the honour was bright,
" which his country derived from him as a citizen.
" Long Mall Upsal remember the celebrity which it
" acquired by the name of Linnaeus !"
Linnaeus had a good constitution, though often
grievously afflicted wth the head ache, and in the
latter part of his life with the gout. This great man
was of a diminutive stature, his head laro-e, and its
hinder part very high. His look wa.s ardent, pierc-
ing, and apt to daunt the beholder ; and his temper
THE BOTANIST. 85
quick ; nevertheless his conduct towards his nu-
merous opponents shews a dignified spirit of for-
bearance. He disavowed controversy, and seldom
replied to the numerous attacks on his doctrine. He
however, when attacked by Siegesbeck, and some
other virulent calumniators, wrote a reply, entitled
Orbis eruditi judicium de Caroli Linnai scriptis : and
with it gave a memoranda of his life. This Sieges-
beck was a brother professor. He laid it down as
a firm maxim, that every system must finally rest
on its intrinsic merit ; and he willingly committed
his own to the judgment of posterity.*
Diminutive as was the stature of Linnaeus, his
mind was of gigantic size. He was possessed of a
lively imagination, corrected by a strong judgment,
and guided by the laws of system ; added to these
a most retentive memory, an unremitting industry,
and the greatest perseverance in all his pursuits ; as
is evident from that continued vigour with which he
prosecuted the design, that he appears to have form-
ed so early in life, of totally reforming and fabricating
anew the whole science of natural history ; and this
he actually performed, and gave to it a degree of
perfection before unknown. He had moreover the
uncommon felicity of living to see his own structure
* The Massachusetts Botanist is far from being disposed to censure
any cotemporary writer: but he cannot refrain from remarking, that
while some American writers speak in respectful and proper terms of
Martyn, Milne, Loefling, and other retailers of botanical knowledge, our
great master Linnxus is spoken of in a tone of disrespect. Has not Linnx-
ns been to naturalists what Columbus wa-j to Geographers ?
36 THE BOTANIST.
raised above all others, notwithstanding every dis-
couragement its author at first laboured under, and
the opposition it afterwards met with. Neither has
any writer more cautiously avoided that common
error of building his own fame on the ruin of anoth-
er man's. He every where acknowledges the seve-
ral merits of each author's system ; and no man ap-
pears to be more sensible of the partial defect of his
own.
Linnaeus was of a noble mind ; and his mind was
made better by struggling with adversity. To be
poor, and to be at the same time struggling on with
some new discover}', or precious improvement, is,
in the strict sense of the word, to be in adversity ;
for one thus circumstanced never fails to have a nu-
merous host against him, chiefly composed of the
jealous, the envious, and the knavish. But has ad-
versity no consolations ? Is it not the best course of
discipline a wise man can endure ? He who has nev-
er been acquainted with adversity, says Seneca, is
ignorant of half the scenes of nature ; for prosperity
very much obstructs the knowledge of ourselves.
And he who was greater than Seneca, I mean John-
son, observes, that, that fortitude, which has to en-
counter no danger ; that prudence, which has sur-
mounted no difficulties ; that integrity, which has
been attacked by no temptations, can, at best, be
considered as gold not yet brought to the test ; of
which therefore trj£ true value cannot be assigned.
When Linnaeus first published his sexual s}'stem
of botany, he experienced the same treatment which
THE BOTANIST. 87
generally falls to the lot of those who have enlight-
ened the world by the rays of their genius and learn-
ing : a few admired and extolled him ; others ridi-
culed him, while some laboured to prove that he was
destitute of common sense ; and that he wrote about
that which he did not himself understand. That
those rivals who dwelt in the same city should view
him with an u evil eye," that is, an eye made sore,
by reason of his extraordinary light, which gave it
pain, and which they therefore sought to veil, or put
out, is not to be wondered at ; but that it should
give pain to the eye of Count Buffon, and other cel-
ebrated men in France is indeed pitiful. In Eng-
land, and in some other parts of Europe they receiv-
ed the new doctrine with all that caution which be .
came an enlightened age and people ; and Nature
was traced experimentally through all her operations
in the vegetable economy before the sexual doctrine
of Linnaeus was acknowledged. It is now as firmly
established as any law in nature.
Linnaeus not only silenced all gainsayers ; but
had the uncommon good fortune of living to see
the fruits of his own great exertions. He lived to
see Natural History raise herself in his native courK-
try under his culture, and the fostering hand of the
government to a state of perfection unknown else-
where. He lived to see it diffused thence all over
the civilized world. He lived to see the sovereigns
of Europe establishing societies for cultivating that
science to which he had so long devoted his head
and heart. And when he ceased to live, the philos* •
86 THE BOTANIST.
pher saw with grateful admiration the sovereign of
Sweden pronouncing the eulogy of Linnaeus from
his throne, and lamenting his death as a public ca-
lamity !
Linnaeus was well acquainted with the art of re-
commending science by elegance of language, and
embellishing philosophy with polite literature. No
man of the age had a more happy command of the
Latin tongue than Linnaeus; and no man ever ap-
plied it more successfully to his purpose, or gave to
description such copiousness, precision, and ele-
gance. The glaring paint of Buffon suffers in com-
parison with the pleasing but solid manner of Lin-
naeus ; for this prince of naturalists possessed the
sound, distinct, and comprehensive knowledge of
Bacon, with all the beautiful light graces and em-
bellishments of Addison. He knew, that those au-
thors who would find many readers, and those lec-
turers who would secure attentive hearers, must
please, whilst they instruct.
Physiology owes much toLinnseus. But Pathol-
ogy, the foundation of the whole medical art, and of
all medical theory, has been more improved by Lin-
naeus in his Calvis Medicines, of eight pages only,
which is a master piece in its way, and one of the
greatest treasures in medicine, than by a hundred
authors and books in folio.
The Materia Medica was in a confused state, and
many articles were imperfectly known, until Linnae-
us reformed it. He was the first who said that all
our principal medicines are poisons ; and that phy-
THE BOTANIST. 89
sicians ought not to condemn poisons, but to use
them, as surgeons do their knives, cautiously.
Besides medals there are several monuments erect-
ed to the honour of this great naturalist in he gar-
dens of his admirers in different places in Europe.
In 1778, Dr. Hope laid the foundation stone of a
monument, since finished, in the botanic garden at
Edinburgh.
The Botanist possessing an original letter, written
by the son of this great man to the celebrated Dr.
Fothergill, giving an account of his father's death,
conceives that its insertion here will be generally
pleasing to the learned part of his readers, and partic-
ularly to every American naturalist.
Carol us a Linne, Films nobilisstmo &? experi-
entissimo Medicine Es? Botanices Professor Up-
salit?, Duo. Doctor l Fothergill, S. P. D.
LENTO per biennium morbo intabescens, om-
nibus tandem prostratris corporis viribus, vitas sta-
tione septuagenarius : deeessit pater opt. Archia-
ter & Eques de stella polari Carolus a Linne d.
FY. Iduum Jan. MDCCLXXVI1I.
Hunc mihi totique domui Ejus luctuosum casum,
cxigente id non sincera minus in TE observantia
mea, ac, quae beate defunctum TIBI junxit, amici-
tias ne
putavi.
tiae necessitudine obsequiossisime significandum
12
90 THE BOTANIST.
Ut vero, qui TE coluit, viri post funera beati
memoriae faveas, quaque ille, dum in vivis erat,
apud TE valuit, gratiae haeredem constituas Filium,
quo decet verborum honore contendo, Deum im-
mortalem precaturus, velit, in singulare scientiarum.
decus & emolumentum, TIBI, Vir Nobilissime ex-
tentum omnique felicitatis genere refertum vita? spa-
tium concedere. Dabam Upsaliae d. X. Cal. Febr.
MDCCLXXVIII.
But now this father, and this son lie buried togeth-
er, under a marble monument, in the cathedral of
Stockholm, bearing this inscription,
OSSA
CAROLI a LINNE
EQUITIS AURATI.
MARITO OPTIMO
FILIO UNICO
CAROLO a LINNE
PATRIS SUCCiiSSORI
ET
SIBI
SARA ELIZABETA MOR^EA.
Dr. Smith, President of theLinnaean Society in
London, is now in possession of the Herbarium, the 1
Library and the manuscripts of Linnseus.
THE BOTANIST.
N°. IX.
In our last number we gave a biographical sketch
of that learned physician, and prince of naturalists,
Linnaeus. This great man was not more distin-
guished for a profound knowledge of natural history,
than remarkable for a happy mode of displaying it.
He availed himself, says one of his biographers, of
the advantages of an uncommon share of eloquence,
and an animated style to display in a lively and con-
vincing manner, the relation which this study has
to the public good ; and to encourage and allure
youth into its pursuits, by opening its manifold
sources of pleasure to their view, and to show them
how greatly this agreeable employment would add
both to their comfort and their profit. Nevertheless
this good man had to contend all his life with secret
and open enemies. We are told by one of the great-
est men of our age and country, " that the heroic
characters of every age and nation have generally
lived in a continual struggle with a great portion of
mankind ; that their principal merit often consists in
the firmness, perseverance, and fortitude with which
they bear up against the torrent of opposition from
their fellow mortals ; that the tempest of obloquy
rages against them not only through their lives, but
92 THE BOTANIST.
of en redoubles its fury for centuries after their earth-
ly career is closed.
Sure fate of all ; beneath whose rising ray
Each star of meaner merit fades away !
Oppress'd we feel the beam directly beat;
Those suns of glory please not till they set. Pope.
Nor are the malignant passions of mankind, which
are always arrayed in such formidable strength
against talents and virtue, more destitute of cunning
th in of violence. They have plausible pretexts,
as well as deadly weapons. The best of men are
not only often exposed to the worst of imputations ;
but, from the artifices with which they are propaga-
ted, to be robbed of that greatest of all earthly bles-
sings, the good opinion of the virtuous and the
wise."* Linnasus had a better fate than most great
men ; for he silenced his opponents, and lived down
all the calumnies of his enemies.
We shall now present our readers with a concise
History of Botany from the earliest ages, until this
Science came finished from the hands of our great
master Linmeus.
Borwy in the Greek language means an herb,
whence is derived botany, which at this day signi-
fies the science relating to vegetables, for which the
antients had no name ; as it was not in their days
erected into a regular science.
Although botany, as a science, may appear to some
a study too dull for an exalted and refined genius ;
yet if w r e cast our eyes back on the earlier ages, and
trace this branch of knowledge down to our own
* Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory, by the Hon. John Quincy Adams
THE BOTANIST. 9$
time$ we shall find that it has been cultivated by
those of the brightest parts, and fostered by men of
great distinction. We need only mention him who
is c died by way of pre-eminence " the wise many
Though born to a throne and destined to rule over
a powerful people, yet was Solomon so captivated
with the charms of botany, that he is said in the
scriptures to have known plants "from the cedar of
Lebanon to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall'''
and we find in his " book of wisdom," that he not
only " knew the diversities of plants, but the virtues
of their roots."
Sol >M)tf flourished about 170 years after the
siege of Troy, or in the year of the world 2129, and
is said to be the first botanist on our records of man-
kind. But on examining the oldest book we have,
the Bible, we find an account of a plan for establish-
ing a Botanical Garden as early as 899 years before
Christ. The account of it is contained in less than
three verses in the first book of Kings ; — Audit came
to pass, after these things, that Naboth, the Jez-
reelite, hid a vineyard, which ivas in Jezreel, hard
by the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria. And
Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy
vineyard that I may have it for a garden of
herbs, because it is near to my house. And Na-
both said to Ahab, God forbid ! But in order to
force it from him they set two sons of Belial to bear
witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme
God and the king : and they stoned him so that he
died. But divine justice, which forever pursues dis-
94< THE BOTANIST.
honourable and base deeds, avenged the cause of
persecuted N iboth ; for the dogs in the streets lick-
ed up the blood of the two principal contrivers of
this plot.
We find no mention of a botanist, from the glo-
rious Solomon down to the venerable father of med-
icine, Hippocrates. He gives us the names and vir-
tues of two hundred and thirty four plants, but no
description by which we can ascertain what they
were. Cotemporary with the father of physic, liv-
ed Cratevas, who he calls the prince of botanists.
A considerable space after him appeared Theophras-
tus ; who wrote ten books on plants, of which nine
have reached our hands. These merit the highest
encomiums.
Theophrastus was a disciple of Aristotle, and
flourished in the third century : he may justly be con-
sidered as the father of botany. He treats of the
vegetable life ; and the anatomy and construction of
plants, and of their origin and propagation. He di-
vides vegetables into seven classes, which division
is founded on the generation of plants, their place of
growth, their size, as trees and shrubs, their use, and
their lactescence, which last circumstance respects
every kind of liquor, of whatever colour, that flows
in great abundance from them when cut. This
golden monument of botany cannot be too strongly
recommended to the curious.
The Romans were devoted to Victoria ; a deity so
adored by that rough people, that they paid little at-
tention to natural history. Pliny says that they were
THE BOTANIST. 95
strangers to botany till Pompey conquered Mithri-
dates, the most philosophic king of the age. His
observations on the medicinal virtues of plants fall-
ing into the hands of Pompey, were, by his orders,
translated into Latin. Dioscorides, though by birth
a Grecian, lived under the Roman empire. He was
the next botanist of note after Theophrastus. It is
highly probable, that several botanists lived between
the time of Theophrastus and Dioscorides, a space
of nearly 4(0 years ; yet if we except Antonius Mu-
sa, Euphorbius, and iEmilius Macer, who was a-
soldier, poet, and botanist, and the first who clothed
botany in poetry, we find no mention of any one
who paid attention to this science. Dioscorides men-
tions about six hundred plants ; four hundred and
ten of which he described, together with their medi-
cinal virtues ; about five hundred of them are men-
tioned by the father of botany. Dioscorides arrang-
ed plants, from their uses in medicine and domestic
economy, into four classes, viz. aromatics, aliment-
ary vegetables, medicinal, and vinous ; a vague and
fallacious distinction.
Pliny, in his immense compilation, called the his-
tory of the world, mentions four hundred plants more
than are to be found in Dioscorides ; and yet he
lived but about forty years after him. He, who
wishes to see all the natural history of the antients
at a glance, may consult Pliny to advantage.
The famous Galen flourished about 130 years af-
ter Christ. He was, for that day, a great traveller,
and might have increased the catalogue of plants ;
96 THE BOTANIST.
but he contented himself in descanting on the medi-
cinal virtues of those mentioned by his predecessor.
After the sixth century, learning was almost entire-
ly abolished by the Goths. Whilst a swarm of north-
ern barbarians were destroying taste and learning in
the western empire, the Arabians who were follow-
ers of the renowned Mahomet, over-ran the eastern.
By conquering Greece, they monopolized all the
writings of that famous nation. During 400 years
there was no attempt to draw from its obscurity the
botany of the antients. At length one of the Sara-
cen califs ordered the Greek books on medicine to
be translated into Arabic, or their mixed Saracen
language ; and botany, which is a branch of medi-
cine, attracted their notice. Serapio collected the
Greek and Arabian authors, who had written on
plants; and after him followed Razis, Avicenna,
Averhoes, Actuarius, and several others of less note.
They were more attentive to the materia medica in
general than to plants in particular. To them we
owe the knowledge of sugar, of distilled spirits, of
rhubarb, senna, and most of the milder cathartics.
After a dark and dismal period, emphatically styl-
ed the barbarous or dark ages, a dawn of light be-
gan to to appear, first, in Italy, and from thence, a
second time, over the world, when Medicine, and
her hand-maid Botany, emerged from the gloom of
barbarism ; for in 1470 Theodore Gaza, a Greek
refugee at Rome, resuscitated philosophy by making
elegant translations of Aristotle and Theophrastus,
who were commented on in the sequel by Scaliger
THE BOTANIST. 97
and Stapcl. Dioscorides was likewise translated in-
to pure and beautiful Latin by a Venetian nobleman.
John Parkinson Avrote his Paradisus Terrestris
in 1629. He was apothecary to the king. The his-
tory of flowers he gave at great length. In his The-
atrum Botanicum he has comprehended more spe-
cies of plants, than were to be found in any history
of plants published before his time.
Among public gardens, in which plants were de-
monstrated by professors, that of Padua is the oldest.
It commenced about the year 1530. From that pe-
riod, professors of botany have been established in
almost every school of medicine.
The famous Cesmo de Medicis founded a botanic
garden at Pisa ; and committed it to the care of An-
dreas Ccesalpinus, a celebrated physician, botanist,
and anatomist, the father of the botanic system and
professor of botany at Padua.
Prosper Alpinus was nearly as eminent in botany
as in physic. He made a large and rare collection
of plants in Egypt, and afterwards read lectures on.
botany at Venice.
The famous Henry the fourth of France founded
the botanic garden at Montpelier in 1598; the care
of which has successively been committed to dis-
tinguished botanists, who were also physicians.
Francis the Jirst was a great admirer of botany,
and a liberal encourager of every plan that could im-
prove and advance it.
Lewis the fourteenth founded a noble garden in
the suburbs of St Victoris at Paris, and put it under
13
Sfc THE BOTANIST.
the care of Heroarcl, his chief physician, and Guide
Borossxas, his physician in ordinary.
It is about 150 years since botanic gardens were
established in England. Those at Chelsea and Ox-
ford are the most anticnt. About the same time,
botanic gardens were formed in Holland. The gar-
den at Leyden is the most celebrated. The great
Boerhaave was professor of botany there, at the same
time that he filled Europe with his fame as profes-
sor of physic.
Prior to this period two illustrious brothers ap-
peared, who alone have done more for the advance-
ment of botany, than all the rest together, who pre-
ceded and followed them, until Tournefort. Rare
geniusses ! says the celebrated Rousseau, whose
vast knowledge and solid labours, consecrated to
botany, rendered them worthy of that immortality
which they have acquired. For, till this part of
natural history falls into oblivion, the names oiJohn
and Caspar Bauhm will live along with it in the
memory of mankind. Each of these indefatigable
men, par nobile fratrum, undertook an universal his-
tory of plants, and to add to it a synonymy, or exact
list of the names that every plant bore in all the writ-
ers which preceded them.
John nearly completed his undertaking in three
volumes folio, but did not live to publish the whole.
Caspar laboured forty years, but the life of man is
too short for the execution of a plan so extensive. '
Their works are still the guide to all those, who
wish to consult antient authors on botany. John
THE BOTANIST. 99
Bauhin was born at Lyons in 1541, and died in
1624. Caspar was born 1560, and died 1624.
After this period, scarcely an author wrote on
medicine, but wrote more or less on botany ; of these
we must not omit Fuc/isius, who in 1530 published
five hundred and ten figures of plants ; nor Rondele-
tius, a physician of Montpelier. Nor may we for-
get Turner, a learned English physician, who pub*
lished the first history of plants in English, with most
of the figures of Fuchsius. He gave the names of
the plants in Latin, Greek, German, and French, in
alphabetical order.
Hyeeronymus Bouc, a German, was the first of
the moderns who has given a methodical distribu-
tion of vegetables. In his history of plants publish-
ed 1532 he divides the eight hundred species there
described, into three classes, founded on their qual-
ities, habit, figure and size ; Clusius endeavoured
soon after to establish the natural distinction of The-
ophrastus, which w is into trees, shrubs, and under-
shrubs. Others attempted to characterize plants
by the roots, stems, and leaves, but all were found
insufficient.
THE BOTANIST.
N°. X.
Such was the unsettled state of botanical method,
when Con' rad GESNERof Switzerland turned his
eye to the Jiower and fruit ; and suggested the jisrl
idea of a systematic arrangement. It was in 1506 that
Gesner proposed to the world his idea of an arrange-
ment from the parts of the flower and fruit. No
plan however was established by Gesner upon this
principle ; he merely suggested the idea ; but the
application of it was made, twenty years after, by
Ccescilpmus^A physician and professor of botany at Pa-
dua, who thus favoured the world with the first sys-
tem of botany ; which occurrence marks the second
grand aera in the history of this science.
It might have been expected, that a method,
founded like that of Cce^alpinus upon genuine sci-
entific principles, would have been immediately
adopted by the learned, and in establishing itself,
have totally extirpated those insufficient characters,
which during so many ages have disgraced the sci-
ence. The fact however is, that this system of Caes-
alpinus perished almost as soon as it had existence ;
for with this learned physician died his plan of ar-
rangement ; and it was not till nearly a century after,
that Dr. Robert Morison of Aberdeen, attaching
THE BOTANIST. 101
himself to the principles of Gesner and Caealpinus^
re-established their scientific arrangement upon a
solid foundation ; and from being only the restorer
of a system has been generally celebrated as its
founder.
Imperfect as is the mode of distribution by Mori*
son, it has furnished many useful hints to Ray,
Tournefort, and Linn&us, those great luminaries of
the science, who were not ashamed to acknowledge
the obligation.*
Ray proposed his method to the world in 1682.
It originally consisted of twenty-five classes ; two of
which respect trees and shrubs, and the remaining
twenty-three herbaceous plants. The distinction in-
to herbs and trees, which Ray's method sets out, ac-
knowledges a different, though not more certain prin-
ciple, than that of Caesalpinus and Morison. The
* We mentioned in our last number Dr. William Turner, an English
physician of singular learning, who had the honour of publishing the first
botanical work in the English language. There is a copy of this curious
book in the library of the university at Cambridge, bearing this title A
ne-w Herbal, ■wherein tbe names of herbs in Greke, Latin, Englysh, Dutch, Frencbe
and in tbe Potecaries and Herbaries Latin, -with the properties, degrees and natural
places of the same, gathered and made by William Turner, Physician unto the Dute
of Somersettes Grace Imprinted at London, anno. 1551.
There are but few books in the English language, printed 250 year«
ago, executed with more elegance, as it regards the numerous figure*
of plants as well as the type. There were but one or two botanical
books, containing figures of plants, prior to this, in Europe ; yet most of
Turner's wooden stamps are so well done, that the herbariser would know
the plant at first glance.
It is pleasant to compare these first effort* of the graphic art with the
splendid performances of Miller, Curtis, and TUrnton in London, and those
of the Flora Batava, executed under the direction of Messrs. Sepps and
Kopt, at Amsterdam.
102 THE BOTANIST.
former, in making this distinction, had an eye with
the antients, to the duration of the stem ; the latter to
its consistence. Ray has called in the buds as an
auxiliary, and denominates trees, all such plants as
bear buds ; herbs, such as bear no buds. The ob-
jection, which lies ag ainst Linnseus's distinction in-
to shrubs and trees, from the same principle, may
be still more powerfully urged in the present case :
for though all herbaceous plants rise without buds,
all trees are not furnished with them ; many of the
largest trees in warm climates, and some shrubby
plants in every country, being totally devoid of that
scaly appearance, which constitutes the essence of a
bud.
Ray allots one division to submarine plants, or
such as grow at the bottom of the sea, or upon rocks
that are surrounded by that element. They are ei-
ther of a hard stony nature, as the plants termed
lit/iophyta, of a substance resembling horn, as the
corallines, or of a softer herbaceous texture, as the
Jiici, spunges, and sea ?nosses. It is curious, that the
corallines have successively passed through each of
the three kingdoms of nature. Some have class-
ed them with the mineral kingdom ; the greater
part have arranged jthem with vegetables ; but natu-
ralists have now demonstrated, that they belong to
the animal kingdom. The animality of this singu-
lar tribe of natural bodies was hinted at by Imperati,
an Italian, in the year 1599, and afterwards by Peys-
sonel, in 1727; but it is to M. Bernard Jus sieu, a
French academician, and Mr. Ellis ©f London, that
THE BOTANIST. 103
we owe decisive facts, and a regular detail, demon-
strating, that corallines are ramified animals. Mr.
Ellis has, in his natural history of corallines, parcel-
led them out into their several genera, by means of
fixed and invariable characters obvious in their ap-
pearance.
Ray's general history of plants contains eighteen
thousand six hundred and fifty five species and va-
rieties. His method was followed by Sir Hans
Shane, in his natural history of Jamaica ; by Petiver,
in his British herbal ; by Dillenius, in his synopsis
of British plants ; and by Martyn, in his catalogue
of plants that grow in the neighbourhood of Cam-
bridge, in England.
Dr. Herman, professor of botany at Leyden, was
the" first who introduced into Holland a genuine
systematic arrangement of plants from the parts of
fructification. Morison's method had been left in-
complete ; and Ray's, though perfect from its first
appearance, did not, all at once, attract the attention
of the learned ; and was indeed for many years studi-
ed chiefly in England, the native country of its au-
thor. Ray laboured under some disadvantages; he
was not a physician, but a divine. The defects of
Ray's original method, and its impracticability, did
not elude the observations of Dr. Herman. He had
applied himself with unremitting ardour from his
earliest years to the study of plants ; had examined
with attention every plan of arrangement, and actu-
ally undertaken a long and perilous expedition into
India, with the sole view of promoting his favourite
104 THE BOTANIST.
science. Herman exhibited such marks of unwea-
ried diligence, that he alone, it is said, reared twice
as many plants in the garden at Leydcn, as had been
introduced by all his predecessors, Bontius, Clutius,
Pavius, Clusius, Vortius, Schuylius, and Syenus,
put together, in the long space of an hundred and
fifty years. Such a man merited the applause of the
public, and attained it.
Dr. Herman's method consists of twenty-five
classes, which are founded upon the size and dura-
tion of plants ; the presence or absence of the petals
and calyx ; the number of capsules, cells, and naked
seeds; the substance of the leaves and fruit; the
form and consistence of the roots ; the situation and
disposition of the flowers, leaves, and calyx, and fig-
ure of the fruit. The method proposed by Herman
excels all, which preceded it, in the uniformity of its
classical characters.
The famous Boerhaave, the glory of the medical
art, was appointed professor of botany at Leyden in
1709. His method was a mixture of Ray's, Her-
man's and Tournefort's. The submarine and im-
perfect plants, which find no place in the system of
Herman, are borrowed by Boerhaave from Ray.
Boerhaave's classes are thirty-four in number, and
subdivide themselves into an hundred and four sec-
tions, which have for their characters the figure of
the leaves, stem, calyx, petals, and seeds ; the num-
ber of petals, seeds, and capsules ; the substance of
the leaves ; the situation of the flowers, and their
difference in point of sex. By this method Boer-
THE BOTANIST. 105
haave arranged six thousand plants, the produce of
the botanical garden at Ley den, which he carefully
superintended for the space of twenty years, and left
to his successor, Mr. Adrien Royen in a much more
flourishing state, than he had himself received it.
Botanical writers were disposed to walk in the
track of their predecessors. Few had sufficient cour-
age to venture upon an unbeaten path. Morison
followed Caesalpinus ; Ray improved upon Mori-
son ; Knaut abridged Ray ; and Boerhaave makes
Herman his guide. Rivinus, a professor of physic
and botany at Leipsic, was the first, who in 1690,
relinquishing the pursuit of affinities, and convinced
of the insufficiency of the fruit, set about a method,
which would atone by its facility for the want of nu-
merous relations and natural families. A method
purely artificial appeared to Rivinus the best adapt-
ed for the purpose of vegetable arrangement. It
rests upon the equality and number of the petals ;
a system no less admired for its simplicity, than fot
the regularity and uniformity of its plan.
The method of Knaut, Ludwig, Po?itedra, and
Magnolias, will be presented in a future number
in the form of a table, together with several other*
from Caesalpinus to Linnaeus.
The celebrity of Tournefort requires that we
should dwell a little on his history and character.
Joseph Pit ton de Tournefort was born at
Aix in Provence in 1656. He was educated in the
Jesuits' college in Aix; and like the great Boerhaave
intended for a divine ; but like that ^reat man, quitted
14
106 THE BOTANIST.
divinity for physic. In early life he was nearly as
fond of anatomy and chemistry, as of botany. In
1679 he went to Montpelier, where he perfected
himself in anatomy and physic. The botanic gar-
den, established in that city by Henry IV. rich as
it was, could not satisfy his unbounded curiosity.
He ransacked all the tracts of ground within more
than ten leagues of Montpelier. Then he explored
the Pyrenean mountains and the Alps, and afterwards
examined the vegetables in Provence, Languedoc,
Dauphine, and Catalonia. He travelled through
Spain and Portugal. He took his degree of doctor
in physic in 1698, when he published his History of
the plants which grow about Paris, together with av-
account of their use in medicine.
In the year 1 700 Dr. Tournefort received an or-
der from the king to travel into Greece, Asia, and
Africa, not only to discover plants, but to make ob-
servations on natural history in general ; upon an-
tient and modern geography ; and even upon the
customs, religion, and commerce of the people.
From this grand tour he brought home one thousand
three hundred and sixty- six new species ol plants,
most of which ranged themselves under one or othep
of the six hundred seventy-three genera he had al-
ready established ; and for all the rest he had only
twenty-five genera to create, without beiiig obliged
to augment the number of classes : a circumstance,
which sufficiently proves the advantage of a system,
to which so many foreign and unexrtctt d plants
were easily reducible. Vv hen Tournefort returned
THE BOTANIST. 105
to Paris he thought of resuming the practice of phys-
sic, which he hud sacrificed to his botanical expedi-
tion; but experience shows us, says his biographer,*
that, in every thing depending on the taste of the
public, especially affairs of this nature, delays are
dangerous. Dr. Tournefort found it difficult to re-
sume his practice. He was at the same time pro-
fessor of physic ; the functions of the academy em-
ployed some of his time ; the arrangement of his
memoirs still more of it. This multiplicity of bu-
siness affected his health ; and, when in this uncom-
fortable state, he accidentally received a blow on his
breast, which in a few months put an end to his ac-
tive, useful, and honourable life, which happened in
Dec. 1708.
The system of Tournefort is too extensive and in-
tricate to allow us to give even an analysis of it. We
hope to be able to give an outline of his method
in some future number; and shall only observe
here, that Tournefort surpassed all his predeces-
sors in supplying a clue to the immense labyrinth,
which the vegetable kingdom exhibited to the as-
tonished botanist. He gave the first complete regu-
lar arrangement, and cleared the way for one still
greater than himself. For in I735f rose the sun of
* See Hist, de PAcad. des Sciences, An. 1708.
f The first sketch of Linnaus's system was published in 1735, the last
edition of the Systema Vegetabilium in 1784 ; the Critica Botanica wis pub-
lished in 17S7; the first edition of the Grnera Plantarum the same year;
and the last in 1764 ; the first edition of the Species Plantarum in 1753; the
second in 1762 and 1765.
108 THE BOTANIST.
the botanic world, Linnaeus, of whom we have al-
ready spoken ; and to whom we shall frequently ad-
vert, as the source of light and intelligence.*
THE BOTANIST.
N°. XI.
BOTANICAL GARDENS.
We asserted in a late number, that the first men-
tion of " a garden of herbs" was in the xxi. chap, of
the first book of Kings ; but prior to this was the
garden erected by Solomon. / made ?ne, says he,
gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of
all kinds of fruits. I made me pools of water to wa-
ter therewith the trees.
The island of Crete was the physic garden of
Rome. The emperors maintained in that island
gardeners and herbarists to provide the physicians
of Rome with simples. The establishment of pro-
fessorships gdve rise, in modern times, to Botanical
gardens ; a new species of luxury to the botanist.
The first public botanical garden of this sort was
that of Padua, established in 1533.
* We have compiled this history of botany from the writings of Lin-
naeus ; from the history of the French Acad, of Sciences, from Milne, and
*. J. RousseaCr,
THE BOTANIST. io#
The utility of these institutions is self-evident.
By public gardens medicinal plants are at the com-
mand of the teacher in every lesson ; the eye and the
mind are perpetually gratified with the succession of
curious, scarce, and exotic luxuries; here the bot-
anist can compare the doubtful species, and exam-
ine them, through all the stages of growth, with
those to which they are allied ; and all these advan-
tages are accumulated in a thousand objects at the
same time.
The first botanic garden in Switzerland was con-
structed at Zurich, by Gesner, in 1560.
The botanic garden at the University of Oxford
was founded in 1632 by Henry, earl of Danby ; who
gave for this purpose five acres of ground, erected
green-houses and stoves, endowed handsomely the
establishment, and planted in it as supervisor Robart^
a German, who published in 1648 Catalogns Plan-
tarum Horti medici Oxoniensis, &c. which contain-
ed, if we read rightly, sixteen hundred species.
The botanical garden at Edinburgh was founded
by Sir Andrew Balfiour in 1680 ; and may be con-
sidered as the first introduction of natural history in
Scotland. This garden was so successfully cultivat-
ed, that it is said to have contained three thousand
species of plants, disposed according to Morison's
method.
Among those public institutions, which in a sin-
gular manner invigorated the spirit of natural histo-
ry in England, the Royal Society claims the most
distinguished notice. In its design, as in its pre--
lit) THE BOTANIST.
gress, it was the fostering parent, and guardian of
natural knowledge. Such was the respectability of
this society, both as a body, and in its individuals, that
through its means the whole nation may be said to
have amply contributed to its aggrandizements.
Under the auspices of this illustrious society the
anatomy and philosophy of plants were illustrated by
Grew and Hales.
We mention, in connection with the Royal Soci-
ety, the Physic Garden at Chelsea, founded by the
company of apothecaries in 1673, but which was
not effectually constructed till thirteen years after ; so
slow and gradual is the progress of such institutions
at their commencement.
From the time of Johnson* who was the editor of
that celebrated English botanist, Gerard, a custom
had prevailed among the London apothecaries! to
form a society each summer, and make excursions to
investigate plants. The Itinera, published by John-
son, may be considered as the fruit of such expedi-
tions in his day. After the foundation of Chelsea
garden this laudable practice was fixed to stated pe-
riods, and put under regulations, the herbarizing
being now distinguished into private and general.
* Johnson received a degree of M. D. at Oxford in 1643; the year fol-
lowing he was killed in a desperate action with the parliamentary troops.
He was lieutenant-colonel in Sir Marmaduke Rawdon's regiment. Bota-
ny owes much to this accomplished scholar and soldier.
f In England an apothecary is not, as with us, a vender of drugs ; but a
practitioner of physic and surgery ; and differs principally from a phy-
sician in not having taken a degree in medicine.
THE BOTANIST. m
They first begin on the second Tuesday in April ;
and are held monthly on the same day till September
inclusively, in some of the villages in the immedi*
ate neighbourhood of London. These are for the
benefit of pupils. At the end of the season the pre-
mium of Hudson's Flora Anglica is presented to the
young man, who has been the most successful in
discovering and investigating the greatest number of
plants. The general herbarization is annually in Ju-
ly ; when the demonstrator and others of the court of
assistants belonging to the company make an excur-
sion to a considerable distance from the city ; col-
lect the scarce plants, and dine together near Lon-
don.
This institution at Chelsea was rendered more
stable, and received permanency from the liberality
of Sir Hans Shane ; who in 1721 gave four acres of
ground to the company, on condition, that the de-
monstrator should, in the name of the company, de#
liver to the Royal Society fifty new plants, till the
number should amount to two thousand ; all specifi-
cally different from each other ; the list of which was
published yearly in the Philosophical Transactions*
The first was printed in 1722, and the catalogues
have been continued till 1773; at which time the
number of two thousand five hundred and fifty was
completed. These specimens are duly preserved
in the archives of the society, for the inspection of
the curious.
ilSJ THE BOTANIST.
Under excellent superintendants Chelsea Garden
has flourished ; having been excelled perhaps by no
public institution of the kind in Europe, for the
number of curious exotics it contains. Of this Mil-
ler's Dictionary affords sufficient proofs. In justice
to the memory of those, who filled the place of lec-
turers and demonstrators in Chelsea garden, we re-
cite the names of the following gentlemen. They
were all practitioners in physic.
Isaac Rand from 1722 to 1729
Joseph Miller
1740
1746
John Wilmer
1747
1767
William Hudson
17G5
1769
Stanesby Alchhorne
1770
1772
William Curtis*
1773 t
o his d
Soon after the restoration of Charles II. a grow-
ing taste for the cultivation of exotics sprung up
among the great and opulent in England. Archi-
bald, Duke qfArgyle, was one of the first, who was
conspicuous for the introduction of foreign trees and
shrubs. Evelyn, both by his writings and exam-
ple, encouraged the same taste ; and the royal gar-
dens at Hampton court were made rich in fine plants.
Dr. Compton, Bishop of London, had a garden rich-
ly stored with plants at Fulham ; and many private
gentlemen vied with each other in these elegant and
* The Botanist cannot omit here a tribute of respect to his departed
friend, Curtis, under whose tuition he herbarized in the environs of Lon-
don two years in succession. His Flora Londinensis, replete with learning
and taste, is a picture of the man.
THE BOTANIST. 116
useful amusements. The growing commerce of
the British nation, and the more frequent intercourse
with Holland, where immense collections from the
Dutch colonies had been made, rendered the grati-
fications more easily attainable, than before, and
from these happy coincidences, science in general
reaped great benefit.
We ought not to pass over some eminent British
gardeners., who, while others were increasing the
catalogue of plants and giving accurate descriptions
of exotics, were equally serviceable to real science
in the art of culture. Fairclulds, Knoxvlton, Gordon,
Miller, and Forsythe, have distinguished themselves
in the useful and healthy* exercise of horticulture.
In the xxxii. vol. of Philosophical Transactions
there is a paper by Fairchilds on the motion of the
sap. Knowlton was gardener to the Earl of Bur-
lington, and was much noticed by Sir Hans Sloane.
Several of his communications are to be found in the
Philosophical Transactions. He died in 1782, aged
ninety. Gordon was eminent for his successful cul-
tivation of exotics. He maintained a correspond-
ence with Linnzeus, and has a plant named after
him.
The extraordinary merit of Philip Miller de-
mands a more particular notice, as he raistel himself
to an eminence never before equalled by a gardener.
He was born in 1691. His father was gardener to
* Cadogan snys, he never knew a gardener afflicted with the gout, n«-
less he was noto.riewsly intemperate.
15
THE BOTANIST.
the company of apothecaries at Chelsea ; and he
himself succeeded in that station in 1722. It is not
uncommon to give the name of botanist to any man,
who can recite by name the plants of his garden ;
but Mr. Miller rose much above this ordinary at-
tainment. He added to the knowledge of the theo-
ry and practice of gardening that of the structure and
character of plants, and was early and practically
versed in the methods of Ray and Tournefort. To
his superior skill in his art we owe the culture and
preservation of a variety of fine plants, which, in less
skilful hands, would have failed to adorn the conser-
vatories of the curious.
Mr. Miller maintained an extensive correspond-
ence with persons in distant parts of the globe, from
the Cape of Good Hope to Siberia. He was em-
phatically styled by foreigners Hortulanorum Prln-
ceps. His Gardener'' s Dictionary was first publish-
ed in folio in 1731, and has been translated into va-
rious languages ; the reception it has every where
met with is a sufficient proof of its superiority.
Linnaeus said of his dictionary, Non erit Lexicon
Hortulanorum, sed Botanicorum. He was not only
a member of the Royal Society, but of its council.
This "prince of gardeners" died in 1771, aged eigh-
ty years. A plant has been dedicated to his hon-
our.*
We shall close this number with an account of
the botanical garden reared by that celebrated physi-
* The MilUria was a new genus, discovered at Panama, by Houston.
THE BOTANIST. irs
eian and naturalist, Dr. Fothergill, at the village
of Upton, six miles from the royal exchange, Lon-
don. The wall of this garden enclosed above live
acres of land ; a piece of water, or winding canal
forming it into two divisions. A glass door from
the winter parlour gave entrance to a long range of
hot and green-house apartments, of nearly two hun-
dred feet extent, containing upward of three thou-
sand four hundred distinct species of exotics, whose
foliage wore a perpetual verdure, and formed a beau-
tiful and striking contrast in the winter to the shriv-
elled natives in the cold, open air. In the open
ground, with the returning spring, about three thou-
sand distinct species of plants and shrubs vied in
verdure with the natives of Asia and Africa. It was
in this spot, where a perpetual spring was realized,
that the elegant proprietor sometimes retired to con-
template the vegetable productions of the four quar-
ters of the globe united within his domain, where
the spheres seemed transported, and the arctic cir-
cle joined to the equator.*
But let us have recourse to the description of this
celebrated garden, as given by the President of the
Royal Society, who, besides circumnavigating the
globe, was acquainted with most of the botanical
gardens of Europe.
*'At anexpense, says Sir Joseph Banks, seldom un-
dertaken by an individual, and with an ardour that
was visible in the whole of his conduct, Dr. Fothergill
" See Lettsoro's life and writings of Dr. Fothergill, Vol. Ill
116 THE BOTANIST.
procured, from all parts of the world, a great number
of the rarest plants, and protected them in the am-
plest buildings, ivhich this or any other country has
seen. He liberally proposed rewards to thotse, whose
circumstances and situations in life gave them op-
portunities of bringing hither plants, which might
be ornamental, and probably useful to this country
or her colonies ; and liberally paid these rewards to
all that served him. If the troubles of war had per-
mitted, we should have had the cortex winteranus
introduced by his means into this country ; and
also the bread-fruit, and mangasteen, into the
West- Indies. For each of these, and many others,
he had fixed a proper premium. In conjunction
with the Earl of Tank erville, Dr. Pitcairn, and my-
self, Dr. Fothergill sent over a person to Africa,
who is still employed upon the coast of that country,
for the purpose of collecting plants.
"Those whose gratitude for restored health
prompted them to do what was acceptable to their
benefactor, were always informed by him, that pres-
ents of rare plants chiefly attracted his attention and
would be more acceptable to him, than the most
generous fees. How many unhappy men, enervat-
ed by the effects of hot climates, where their con-
nexions had placed them, found health on their re-
turn, at that cheap purchase !
" What an infinite number of plants he obtained
by these means, the large collection of drawings he
left behind him will ampiy testify ; and that they
were equalled by nothing but royal munificence, at
THE BOTANIST. 117
this time largely bestowed upon the botanic garden
at Kexv. In my opinion, no other garden in Europe,
royal or of a subject, had near so many scarce and
valuable plants.
" That science might not suffer a loss, when a
plant he had cultivated should die, he liberally paid
the best artist the country afforded to draw the new
ones as they came to perfection ; and so numerous
were they at last, that he found it necessary to em-
ploy more artists than one, in order to keep pace
with their increase. His garden was known all over
Europe, and foreigners of all ranks asked, when they
came hither, permission to see it ; of which Dr. So-
lander and myself are sufficient witnesses, from the
many applications, that have been made through us
for that permissson."*
An Hortus Siccus, Herbarium, for collection of dri-
ed plants, is often a pleasant auxiliary to the botanist.
Sir Hans Sloane's collection of dried plants, now de-
posited in the British Museum, contains about eight
thousand species ; but Dr. Sherard's is a vast deal
larger. Tournefort's collection, in France, contains
four thousand species ; that of Valiant twelve thou-
sand ; and rhose of Jussieu and Adanson contain each
about ten thousand species and varieties. These, says
* See Sir Joseph Banks's note to Dr. Thompson's memoirs of Dr. Fotli-
ergii 1.
f Linnaeus has described a chest capable of containing six thousand
dried plants, in which the divisions or cells correspond to the number of
classes in the sexual method, and differ in dimensions according to thi
greater, or lees number of species in each class-
118 THE BOTANIST.
Dr. Milne, are gardens which flourish when vegeta-
tion is no more ; which please by the surprising va-
riety which they display, and are rendered eminent-
ly useful by the facility with which the natural his-
tory of countries the most remote from each other,
is, by such means, acquired.*
THE BOTANIST.
N°. XII.
We are disposed to devote a number to the mem-
ory of
MARK CATESBY,
principally on account of his unwearied diligence in
collecting ; and of his taste and elegance in describ-
ing plants, quadrupeds, birds, amphibia, fishes, and
insects of the southern parts of these United States ;
and because his splendid volumes have been long
known and admired in America ; especially by those
who have visited the library of our University.
" We asserted in our last number, that Turner t Herbal was the first bot-
anical work printed in the English language. It was the first original
work ; but in 1516 Peter Traveris printed the first English book on bot-
any, bearing this title — « The Grete Herbal whiche geveth parfyct
" knowledge and understandyng of all manner of Herbes & there gra-
u cyous vertues whiche God hathe ordeyned for our prosperous welfare
6C and helth, for they hele and cure all manner of dyseases & seknesses that
THE BOTANIST. 11&
Mark Catesby was, says Dr. Pulteney (to whonv
we are indebted for this article) one of those men,
whom a passion for natural history very early allured
from the interesting pursuits of life ; and it led him
at length to cross the Atlantic, that he might read
the volume of nature in a country but imperfectly
explored, and where her beauties were displayed in a
more extended and magnificent scale, than the nar-
now bounds of his native country exhibited. It is
j »
but too true, that the world at large will forever treat
with ridicule and disdain that man, who, thus desert-
ing the paths that lead to riches, to perferment, or
to honour, gives himself up to what are commonly
deemed unimportant and trifling occupations. Few
will give him credit for that secret satisfaction, for
that inexhaustible pleasure, which the investigation
of nature, in all her objects, incessantly holds forth
to his mind ; or believe, that such employment can
possibly compensate for the solid treasures of gain.
Mark Catesby was born about the latter end of
1679, or the beginning of the next year. He ac-
quaints us himself, that he had very early a propen-
sity to the study of nature ; and that his wish for
higher gratifications in this way, first led him to
; ' fall or misfortune to all manner of creatoures of God created, practysed
" by many expert & wyse masters, as Avicenna &c. &c. prented by me
" Peter Traveris 1516," &c &c This book was evidently fabricated
from a German work, entitled Tbr Bonk of Nature ; the first book ever
printed on natural history, viz. between 1475 and 1478; and from the
Hortis tattitath, printed at Paris in 1 499.
We luve compiled this number chiefly from Dr. Pulteney's Biographi-
cal Sketches, and the works mentioned in a note to our last.
120 THE BOTANIST.
London, which he emphatically styles " the centre
of science;" and afterwards impelled him to Seek
further sources, in distant parts of the globe. The
residence of some relations in Virginia favoured his
design ; and he went to that country in 1712, where
he staid seven years, admiring, and collecting the va-
rious productions of the country, without having
laid any direct plan for the work he afterwards ac-
complished. During this residence, he communi-
cated seeds and specimens of plants, both dried, and
in a growing state, to Mr. Dale, of Braintree, in Es-
sex ; and, some of his observations on the country,
being communicated by this means to Dr. William
Sherard, procured him the friendship and patronage
of that gentleman. On his return to England, 1719,
he was encouraged by the assistance of several of
the nobility, of Sir Hans Sloane, Dr. Sherard, and
other naturalists, whose names he has recorded, to
return to America, with the professed design of de-
scribing, delineating, and painting the more curious
objects of nature. Carolina was fixed on, as the
place of his residence, where he arrived in May,
1722. He first examined the lower parts of the
country, making excursions from Charleston;
and afterwards sojourned, for sometime, among the
Indians in the mountainous regions at and about
Fort Moore. He then extended his researches
through Georgia and Florida ; and having spent
nearly three years on the continent, he visited the
Bahama Islands, taking his residence in the Isle of
Providence ; carrying on his plan, and particularly
THE BOTANIST. 121
making collections of fishes, and submarine produc-
tions.
On his return to England, in the year 1726, his
labours met with the approbation of his patrons.
Catesby made himself master of the art of etching;
and, retiring to Hoxton, e n ployed himself in carry-
ing on his great work, which he published in num-
bers of twenty plants each. The first appeared in
the latter end of the year 1730 ; and the first vol-
ume, consisting of one hundred plates, was finished
in 1732 : the second, in 1743 ; and the appendix,
of twenty plates, in the year 1748.
A regular account of each number, written by
Dr. Cromwell Mortimer, secretary of the Royai So-
ciety, was laid before the society as it appeared,
and printed in the Philososophical Transactions ; in
which the Doctor has sometimes interspersed illus-
trative observations.*
The whole workf bears th_ j following title : " The
" Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Ba-
" hama Inlands ; containing the figures of birds,
" beasts, fishes, serpents, insects, and plants ; par-
" ticularly the forest trees, shrubs and plants, not
" hitherto described, or very incorrectly figured by
" Authors ; together with their descriptions, in
" French and English. To which are aided, ob-
* See No. 4] 5. 420. 426. for Vol.1.; No. 432. 438. 441. 449. 484,
for Vol II.; and No. 4SG for the Aopendix.
f Tom. I. 1731. pp. 100. tab. 100. Tom. II 1743. pp. 100. tali. 100
Account of Carolina, &c. pp. 44. Appendu, pp. 20. tab. 20. Fol. im-
perial, fig. 407.
16
122 THE BOTANTST.
" servations on the air, soil, and waters : with re-
" marks upon agriculture, grain, pulse, roots. To
" the whole is prefixed a new and correct map of
" the countries treated of." By Mark Catesby,
F. R. S.
The number of subjects described and figured in
this work stands as below :
Plants - - - 171
Quadrupeds - 9
Birds - - - 111
Amphibia - - - 33
Fishes ... 46
Insects - - - 31
In this splendid performance, the curious are
gratified with the figures of many of the most beau-
tiful trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants, that adorn
the gardens of the present time. Many also of the
most useful in the arts, and conveniences of life, and
several of those used in medicine, are here for the
first time exhibited in the true proportion, and natu-
ral colours. It is only to be regretted, that, in this
work, a separate exhibition of the flower in all its
parts should be wanting ; in defect of which, several
curious articles have not been ascertained. ' It is a
requisite of modern date, and without it, every fig-
ure, especially of a new species, must be deemed
imperfect.
Most of the plates of plants exibit also some sub-
ject of the animal kingdom. To these my plan does
THE BOTANIST. 123
not extend ; but I will in the note,* enumerate some
of the most remarkable of the vegetable class. As
Catesby etched all the figures himself, from his own
paintings, and the coloured copies were at first done
under his own inspection, and wherever it was pos-
sible, every subject in its natural size, this work was
the most splendid of its kind that England had ev-
er produced. I do not know that it had been equal-
led on the continent, unless by that of Madam Me-
rian, which, however, falls greatly short in extent.
Seventy-two plates of Catesby's work were copied
by the Nuremberg artists, and published in 1750.
His " Observations on Carolina, &c/' were sepa-
rately printed in folio, at the same place, in 17G7.
* I. Of tho«e used in food or medicine, I select the following : The Cliin-
kapin, Fagui pumila ; the nuts of which are preferred to chesnuts, and
stored by the Indians for winter food. The live Oak Quercus Pbelios &. of
which the acorns yield an oil not inferior to that of almonds. The
Snake-root, Aristolocbia Virginiana , well known in medicine The May-
apple, Podophyllum pdatum ; used as ipecaquanha in Carolina. The Hicco-
ry tree, Juglans alia ; the nuts afford excellent winter provision among
the Indians, and yield fine oil ; the young wood preferred for hoops, and
.the old for fire-wood. The China root of Carolina, Smtlax Tamonldes.
Sassafras-tree, Laurus Sassafras: ; used in Virginia for intermittents. The
Cocco, and Tyre, Arum Colocasia ; of which the roots are eaten by the ne-
groes, after destroying the acrimony by boiling. Ilathera Bark, roton
Cascarilla. Laurel-leaved Canella, Canella alba ; well known in the shops,
and used as Winter's bark. The Cassena.or Yapon of the Indians, Prinot
glabcr; in great repute as a restorative. The Virginian Potatoe or Bat-
tatas, Con-volvulus Battatas ; of general use as food among whites as wtll as
negroes. Marsh Custard Apple, Annona palustris. Indian Pink, Shigella
marilmdica, of the shops. Rice Plant, Oryza saliva. Netted Custard Vp.
ple An ona reticulata. Wild Pine, Tillandsia polystacbia ; a parasitical plant,
remarkable for holding a large quantity of water in the hollow of the
124, THE BOTANIST.
Catesby was the author of a paper, printed in the
forty -fourth volume of the Philosophical Transac-
tions, p. 4-35, " On Birds of Passage ;" in which*
in opposition to the opinion that birds lie torpid in
caverns, and at the bottom of waters, he produces a
variety of reasons, and several facts, which his resi-
dence in America offered, in support of their migra-
tion in search of proper food. His voyages across
the Atlantic, had taught him the ability of these wan-
derers to take long flights. He mentions, in anoth-
er place, his having seen Hawks, Swallows, and a
species of Owl, in twenty-six degrees of north lati-
tude, at the distance of six hundred leagues from
land. He shows, that birds before unknown to the
leaves. Mangrove Grape-tree, Cocclobn uvifera. Cacao, or Chocolate-tree,
Tbeobroma Cacao. Vanelloe, E()idcndrum •vanilla. Cashew Nut, /inacardium
Cccidentale Ginseng, Panax quinquefolium ; the famous Ninsin 01 the
Chinese.
II. Ot such as more immediately respect the common conveniences of
life, are. The Cypress of America, uprasus dittieba • the tallest and largest
of the American trees, nine or ten feet in diameter at the ground, and mx-
ty Or seventy high, aiFording a light but excellent timber. The purple
Bind weed of Carolina, said to be one of the plants the Indians usi- to
gHard against the venom of .ho rattle-nake. The water Tupelo, Nyssa
aqiutica ; the root supplies the place of corks. The Red Bay, Laurus Eor-
Ionia; the wood excellent for cabinets, and beautiful as sattin-wood Can-
dle-berry Myrtle, Myriea cerifera ; the green wax boiled from the berries
with one-fourth of tallow, forms candles which burn long, and yield a
grateful smell. Soap-wood, Sapindus saponaria ; the bark and leaves beat-
en in a mortar, produce a lather used as soap. Glaucous JXiimosa ; used
as sattin-wood Brasiletto wood, Czsalpbua Brasiliemis ; a well known
die. The Mangrove-tree Rizopbo. ra Mangle ; forming almost impenetra-
ble woods, the recesses of turtle, fishes, and of young .dilators. The sweet
Gum-tree, Liquidambar styracifiua ; yielding a fragrant gum, like the Tohi
THE BOTANIST. 12.1
country, find their way annually into various parts of
N >rth America, since the introduction of several
kinds of grain ; of this the Rice- bird, Emher'izc
orizmom, and the white faced Duck,' Anas discors,
are, among others, instances too suefficiently known
and felt by the inhabitants.
Catesby was elected a Fellow of the Royal Socie-
ty soon after his second return from America, and
lived in acquaintance and friendship with many of
the most respectable members of that body ; being
" greatly esteemed for his modesty, ingenuity, and
upright behaviour."
Before his death, he removed from Hoxton to
Fuiham, and afterwards to London ; and died at his
Balsam; the wood adapted to cabinet-making. Logwood, Hamatoxylon
campechianum. Maiaogany-tree, Sivietenia Mabagoni.
III. Of the ornamental kind, are, The Dogw od-rree, Cornus jlorida ; sin-
gula tor the gradual growth of the petals, which, after the opening of
the flower, expand from the breadth of a sixpence to that of a man's hand.
The sweet flowering Bay, Magnolia glauca. The blue Trumpet-flower,
Bivnonia carulli. Loblolly Bay, Gordonia Latianthus. Carolina All-spice,
Cahc jntbus JloriJus- Tulip-tree L>riod?ndron Tulipifcra. Catalpa-tree. Bitr-
tionia Catalpa; unknown in Carolina, till Catesby brought it from the re-
moter inland parts. Sessile flowered Trillium. Viscous Azalea. Small
ash-leived Trumpet-flower, Bignonia radicam. The Fringe-tree, Cbionan-
thus Virginica. Broad-leaved Sea-side Laurel, Xylopbylla latifolia Willow-
leave IB ly, Lauras aestivalis. American Callicarpa. Herbaceous Coral-
tree. M.itbrina berbacea. Yellow Martagon Lily-, Lilium suferbum. Phila-
delphtan.or red Mireagon Lily, Lilium Pbiladdpbkmn. Purple Rudbcckia.
Laurel-leaved Magnolia, Magnolia grandifora ; the most superb fragrant
flowering tree that ornaments our gardens. Yellow, -md purple Side-
saddle Flower ; Sarracciia fa-aa, purpurea. Umbrella Magnolia, Magnolia
iripstala. Climbing, or four-lea\ ed Trumpet-flower; Bignonia capi
Lime-leaved Hibiscus. Red Piumttia. White Piutneria. Broad-leaved
126 THE BOTANIST.
house behind St. Luke's church, in Old- Street,
Dec. 23, 1749, aged 70, leaving a widow and two
children.
His work has been re-published in 175 1 and 1771.
To the last edition a Linnaeun index has been an-
nexed ; but it is by no means so copious or perfect
as a work of such merit and magnificence de-
mands."*
THE BOTANIST.
N°. XIII.
I have always thought it possible to be a very
great botanist, says the celebrated Rosseau, without
knowing so much as one plant by name.\ He never-
theless exhorts his pupil to pass from his closet to
the gardens and fields, to study the sacred scriptures
Kdlmia. Balsam-tree, C/i/*/'<z rosea. Virginian Cowslip, Dodecatheon Mtadiw
Carolina Pancratium. Lilium Canadense. Atamasco Lily, Amaryllis atamas-
eo. Common Stuartia Mulacodendron. Blue Magnolia, Magnolia acuminata.
Rhododendron maximum. And finally, the Lily-thorn, or Catesbjea spi-
nosa. Dr. Gronovius called by the name of Catesbea,& thorny shrub of the
Tetrandrous class, bearing a long trumpet-shaped flower, succeeded by a
yellow berry, which Catesby first discovered in the Isle of Providence
and sent to Europe in the year 1726.
* From Historical and Biographical Sketches of the Progress of Botany,
by R. Pulteney, M. D.
f See J. J. Rosseau's "Letters on the Elements of Botany," translated
by Martyn.
THE BOTANIST. 127
of nature, instead of books written by men. This
famous Genevan had doubtless seen persons, who
bestowed all their attention on the nomenclature and
classification of vegetables, and thought themselves
botanists. The celebrated J. Hunter* knew not the
names of every individual in the armies of Britain;
nor the discriminating mark of each company in
each and every regiment ; yet he knew most accu-
rately the anatomy and physiology of every individ-
ual.
One universal language should be adopted by bot-
anists ; and it is important that it should be well un-
derstood ; but it is absurd to make this the prima-
ry object. If the study of plants do not lead to a
knowledge of their uses in rural enconomy ; and to
their medicinal virtues, the attention to the aspect
and names of plants is of very litte importance to the
public. f Before the Spanish overran Mexico, Mon-
tezuma transplanted innumerable vegetables from
the woods and fields into his royal garden ; and it
was the business of his physicians to investigate and
announce the medicinal virtues of his vast collection.
Would it not be well, if the philosophers of the
north should imitate the wise example of these more
than half civilized people of the south ?
The first step we should take towards perfecting
the science of botany in New- England is to trans-
* Surgeon-General of the British army.
f It apne.rs from the preceding history, that every professor of botany
was a medical maa.
128 THE BOTANIST.
plant vegetables from our woods, bogs, fields, and,
if possible, marshes, into one garden ; and then at-
tempt the naturalization of tropical and other exot-
ics. We must not expect to have a garden in which
every plant of every country will prosper, or even
grow. To effect this we must imagine a garden
planted on a mountain directly under the equator,
and gradually sloping to the height of more than two
miles above the level of the ocean. There every
plant of every climate would grow. Alexander de
Homboldt, a Prussian gentleman, has given us some
very interesting facts to this purpose, collected with-
in a few years past, in the equatorial region. The
vast range of elevation, from the shores of the At-
lantic to the heights of the Andes, affords every pos-
sible degree of temperature, and exhibits all the di-
versity of the vegetable tribes. This distinguished
traveller represents the different kinds of plaifts as
following each other in a regular succession up the
mountains.
We are told that the inhabitants of New-Spain
distinguish the cultivated part of the country into
three zones, 1. The tierras calientes, or warm
grounds, which never rising above one thousand
feet above the sea, have a heat of eighty degrees,
and yield abundantly, sugar, indigo, cotton, and
plantains or bananas. 2. The tierras templades,
or temperate grounds, which lying on the declivity
of the great ridge, at an altitude, from four to five
thousand feet, enjoy a mild, vernal temperature, of
sixty-eight, or seventy degrees, that seldom varies
THE BOTANIST. 129
ten degrees through the whole year. 3. The tier-
ras frias or cold grounds, having an elevation o£
eight thousand feet, and comprehending the high
plains, or tabic land, such as that of Mexico, of which
the temperature is generally under sixty-three de-
grees, and never exceeds seventy degrees.*
The following account of the successionof plants
from the low grounds up to the boundary of per-
petual congelation, as marked on the Andes, we es-
teem both curious and instructive. They are the
remarks of Humboldt as given to the English reader
by the Edinburgh Review for 1810.
" Under the equator, from the coast to the height'
of three thousand feet, grow the scitaminets of Jus-
sieu, — the palms, the sensitive plants, and the most
odoriferous of the liliaceous tribe. In that sultry
zone, where vesretation wantons in the rankest luxu-
riance, appear likewise the theophrasta, the hymen-
aa, the cecropia peltata, the allionia, the conocarpus,
the convolvulus littoralis, the cactus pereskia, the
sesuvium, portulacastrum, the toluifera balsamum,
and cusparia febrifuga, or the quinquina of Carony.
Between three thousand and six thousand feet of el-
evation, occur the melastomts^ the clusiu alba, the
primus occidentalism the ficus, the morcea, the call-
car pa, the acrosticum, the solanum, die dolichos cro-
ton, and the passifiora tomentosa. Above tho^e lim-
its, the sensitive plant ceases to appear. The tree-
ferns range from the height of futeen hundred to
■ From the Edingbugh Review, April, 1810.
17
130 THE BOTANIST.
that of five thousand feet. The tracts which have
an elevation from six to nine thousand feet, and en-
joy a mild temperature, varying between thirty-four
and seventy-two degrees, produce the fuchsia, the
lobelia, the styrax, the tropozolum, the begonia, and
the columella. Towards the upper part of that zone,
the acxna, the dicho?idra, the nierembergia, the hy-
drocotile, the nerteria, and the alchemilla, cover the
surface with a fine herbage. This is the region of
the oak, or the quercus granatensis, which annually
sheds its leaves, and, from an elevation of nine thou-
sand two hundred feet, never descends near the
equator below that of five thousand five hundred
feet, though it occurs, under the parallel of Mexi-
co, at the height of only two thousand six hundred
and twenty feet. The ceroxyhn andicola, or wax-
palm, whose trunk is one hundred and eighty feet
high, grows on the mountains of Quindiu, from six
to nine thousand feet above the sea. Beyond this
limit of nine thousand feet, the larger trees of every
kind cease to appear. Some dwarfish pines, indeed,,
rise to near thirteen thousand feet. The several spe-
cies of the cinchona, which furnishes the salutary
Peruvian bark, are scattered along the chain of the
Andes, over an extent of two thousand miles, at an
elevation from two thousand three hundred to nine
thousand five hundred feet, and therefore exposed
to great variety of climate. The lancifolia and cor-
difolia prefer the plains ; the oblongifolia and longi-
flora occur somewhat higher ; but the noted quin-
quina of Loxa, and which Humboldt proposes to
THE BOTANIST. 131
name the cinchona condaminw, grows at heights from
six thousand two hundred and fifty to eight thou-
sand feet, where the mean temperature varies be-
tween fifty-nine and sixty-two degrees, on a bottom
of micaceous chist in the woods of Caxanuma and
Uritucinga, This precious shrub forms one con-
tinued forest on the eastern declivity of the Andes, as
far as the province of Jaen, and the hills above the
river Amazons. Bark of a similar quality is thus
obtained from very distinct kinds of the cinchona ;
in the same manner as the caoutchouc, or common
elastic gum, is procured from the inspissated juice
of a variety of different vegetables — from the ficus,
the hevea, the lobelia, the castilloa, and several spe-
cies of the euphorbium. The wintcra and escallo-
nia occur at an altitude from nine thousand two hun-
dred to ten thousand eight hundred feet, and form
scrubby bushes in the cold and moist climate at the
paramos. Above the height of ten thousand five
hundred feet, the arborescent vegetables disappear.
The alpine plants occupy an elevation from six thou-
sand five hundred to thirteen thousand five hundred
feet : There grow the gentians, the stalina, and the
espeletia Jrailexon, whose hairy leaves often afford
cover to the shivering Indians, when benighted in
those upland regions. The grasses appear at a
height from thirteen thousand five hundred to fifteen
thousand one hundred feet. In this zone, where
snow falls at times, the jarava, and a multitude of
new species of panicum agrostis, avena, and dacty-
&$, cover the soil with a yellow carpet, which the in-
132 THE BOTANIST.
habitants call pajonal. From the height of about fif-
teen hundred feet, to the boundary of perpetual con-
gelation, the only plants visible are the linchens which
cover the face of the rocks, and seem even to pene-
trate under the snow.
It is a most curious fact, that those plants which
seem to constitute the natural riches of the equato-
rial regions, are never found growing spontaneous-
ly. The car'ica papaya, the jatropha manihot, or
cassava, the plantain and maize, from which the
native Americans drew their principal subsistence,
were no where seen by Humboldt in the wild state ;
nor could he discover the potatoe, though this val-
uable root is, along with the chenopodium guinoa,
cultivated in the high country of New Grenada. In
the lower grounds between the tropics, the natives
raise cassava, cacoa, maize, and plantains. It is the
region of the mam??iea, of oranges, pine-apples, and
the most delicious fruits. The Europeans have in-
troduced indigo, sugar, cotton, and coffee, which
they cultivate to near the height of five thousand
feet above the sea, chiefly by the labour of negro
slaves. Indigo and cacao require great heat ; but
cotton and coffee will grow at a considerable eleva-
tion ; and sugar is cultivated even with success, in
the temperate parts of Quito. This is the habita-
tion of the cerealm, or bread-corn. The introduc-
tion of wheat into New Spain, is traced to three or
four grains which a negro servant of Cortez picked
out from among the stores of rice that had been sent
from Europe, for subsisting the troops. The monks
THE BOTANIST. l$&
of Quito still preserve, as a precious relic, the earth-
en jar in which Father Rixi of Ghent gathered the
first crop, from a spot of ground cleared away in
front of the convent. Wheat, under the equator will
seldom form an ear below the elevation of four
thousand five hundred feet, or ripen it above that
of ten thousand eight hundred. Barley is made to
grow somewhat higher ; but then with the utmost
difficulty. Between the altitudes of six and nine
thousand feet, lies the climate best suited for the
culture of all kinds of European grain. In the same
tract is raised the chenopod'ium quinoa. From the
elevation of four thousand three hundred feet to that
of six thousand two hundred feet, grows the ery-
throxylum peruvianum, whose leaves, called cocca,
being mixed with quick lime, serve to stimulate the
exhausted force of the Indian, during his long and
toilsome journies over the heights of the Andes.
In the space between the altitudes of nine thousand
eight hundred and thirteen thousand feet, potatoes
and the tropoeolum esculentum are generally culti-
vated."
While Padua, Paris, Madrid, Upsal, Oxford,
Leyden, and Montpelier had flourishing botanical
gardens, London, so celebrated in the annals of sci-
ence, couid boast of no public botanical garden until
1780 ; and even then it was begun and conducted by
a private individual, without any property to carry
it on, excepting what arose from his daily practice
in physic and surgery ; and even this practice was
.finally sacrificed to his ruling passion, botany. The
334 THE BOTANIST.
person of whom we speak is William Curtis-,
author of the Flora Londinensis, and Botanic Maga-
zine. As the writer of these essays was, during sev-
eral years, a witness of the unwearied exertions of
his friend and teacher, he conceives it may be ser-
viceable as well as agreeable at this period, to give
some account of the founder of the botanical garden
near London, together with a description of it.
Soon after Mr. Curtis- became enamoured with
botany, a large share of lucrative practice devolved
upon him by the death of an old preceptor and part-
ner. He then began to publish a description of all
the plants in and about London, in large folio, ele-
gantly designed, and coloured after nature. Not
merely the expense of this great work, but the at-
tention it demanded, alarmed the friends of Curtis.
Even the sagacious and benevolent Fothergill, u the
friend of mankind and of merit" checked the Row-
ings of his bounty, lest he should be accessary to the
ruin of his young friend, already too much disposed
to quit the practice of physic to follow enchanting
Flora. Fothergill had a great regard for Curtis, and
being of the same religious persuasion, would have
left nothing undone for advancing, what he conceiv-
ed to be his true interest ; which he believed to be,
that of following with undivided attention, the prac-
tice of physic. Often, on receiving the splendid
; Mr. Curtis was a practitioner of physic and surgery, but never had a
medical degree ; of course he had not the title of doctor, but was called
an apothecary ; — a distinction rigidly adhered to in London, while we in
New England call every practitioner of physic or surgery doctor.
THE BOTANIST.
numbers of the Flora Londinensis, has the Botan-
ist heard the venerable Fothergill exclaim, "These
plates I view with more pain than pleasure. They
will ruin the author, by diverting him from his lu-
crative practice, and plunging him into expense, be-
yond what any man of independent fortune can sus-
tain. The load is too heavy for this young man,
and it will break his back." But Fothergill, though
possessed of the " perspicax oculus" in a preeminent
degree, did not then see, that the mild and silent
Curtis was indued with the persevering spirit of
Linn ze us. He little thought, that this meek and
quiet man would finally effect all that he meditated ;
and that to the Flora Londinensis he would add the
Monthly Botanic Magazine, and to both a Botani-
cal Garden ! Deep enthusiasm is seldom accompa-
nied with great ardour of expression. Under a mild
and playful disposition, William Curtis was animated
with a persevering spirit, that, in a different walk of
life, might have wearied out the patience of a Xeno-
phon, and discouraged Hannibal himself. It has
been said, that Curtis composed his Botanical Mag-
azine, as Dr. Johnson did his Rambler ; the one to
support him under the arduous work of his Diction-
ary, and the other of his Flora.
The King, the Queen, and most of the Nobility
were subscribers to the Flora Londinensis: It is.
however remarkable, that when Curtis began his
Botanic Garden, although he was presented with ma-
ny scarce and valuable plants from the royal gardens
at Kew. as well as from those of the Earl of Bute
136 THE BOTANIST.
at Sutton, the Dutchess of Portland at Blustrade,
from Dr. Fothergill's at Upton, and from Dr. Pit-
cairn's at Islington, yet he never received any pecu-
niary assistance towards carrying on his Botanic
garden. In 1783 the number of subscribers to this
institution did not amount to more than forty. When
Curtis died (July, 1799) a general regret, i\ is said,
was felt from the throne to the bookseller's shop,
that the author of the Flora Londinensh and the
founder of the London Botanic Garden had never
experienced royal patronage, nor national bounty.
His first essay towards a botanic garden was
at Lambeth,* near the Magdalen Hospital, St.
George's Fields ; but he found the situation of the
spot he had chosen inconvenient ; for although from
its position it appeared peculiarly adapted for the
growth of aquatic and bog plants, yet this was ac-
companied by many disadvantages, for which this
fortunate peculiarity did not present an adequate
compensation. He therefore determined to remove ;
and here follow the reasons as detailed by himself:
" I had long observed, with the most pointed re-
gret, that I had an enemy to contend with in Lam-
beth Marsh, which neither time nor ingenuity, nor
industry could vanquish ; and that was the smoke
of London ; which, except when the wind blew from
the south, constantly enveloped my plants, and shed-
ding its baneful influence oyer them, destroyed ma-
*The spot was called Lambeth marsh, from its dampness; but was not
so watery as to deserve the name of marsh in this country.
THE BOTANIST. 137
ny ; and, in a greater or less degree, proved injuri-
ous to most of them, especially the Alpine ones. In
addition to this grand obstacle, I had to contend with
many smaller ones, which became formidable when
combined, such as the obscurity of the situation, the
badness of the roads leading to it, with the effluvia
of surrounding ditches, at times highly offensive.
" Nevertheless, when I reflected on the sums I
had expended, when I surveyed the trees, the shrubs,
and the hedges which I had planted, now become
ornamental in themselves, and affording shelter to
my plants, such of those inconveniencies, as 1 could
not have remedied I should have borne with patience,
and continued my garden under all its inconvenien-
ces, had not my landlord exacted terms for the re-
newal of my lease, too extravagant to be complied
with.
" Disappointed, but not disheartened, I resolved
to attempt its re-establishment elsewhere : I looked
over the list of those who had patronized my form-
er attempts, and finding the majority of my sub-
scribers resided to the westward of the city, I fixed
on a spot at Brompton, with the advantage at least of
some experience in the cultivation of plants ; and
here I have witnessed a pleasure I had long wished
for — that of seeing plants grow in perfect health and
vigour.
" That I have good grounds also to expect that
my labours will be crowned with success, the
list of those persons, who have honoured my garden
with their subscriptions the first year of its forma-
18
138 THE BOTANIST.
tion, affords me the most pleasing proof. Indeed,
while vegetables shall constitute a part of our food,
and there is a necessity to distinguish wholesome
from poisonous ones — while medicines for the cure
of our diseases shall be drawn from the vegetable
kingdom — while agriculture, the grand source of
the wealth and strength of all nations, shall be ca-
pable of being improved by a closer attention to our
native plants — while botany shall be studied as
an instructive science, or as an object of rational
amusement ; or, while the beauties of nature have
power to charm, so long a garden, on the plan of the
one I am endeavouring to establish, will, I humbly
presume, meet with the support of the public."
Nor was Mr. Curtis mistaken. His plants ac-
quired fresh health and vigour from a more conge-
nial position ; the number of his subscribers increas-
ed every year, while his own reputation, which had
been augmented by his lectures and his publications,
extended not only to the most remote parts of his
native land, but throughout many parts of Europe.
In this enviable situation, with a fair prospect of
wealth and fame opening before him, this excellent
botanist was suddenly snatched from his family, his
friends, and the public, on the 11th of July, 1799.
On this melancholy occasion, the establishment
devolved solely on Mr. William Salisbury, first his
assistant, and. afterwards his partner. Possessing
youth, he has added to the bounds of the botanical
garden, increased the library, multiplied the speci-
mens of plants, built a house for his own residence
THE BOTANIST. 139
on the spot, and seems anxious to adapt the estab-
lishment for the use and accommodation both of
public societies and private individuals.
The botanic garden is situated at Queen's Elm,
in the road to Fulham, exactly one mile and a half
from Hyde Park Corner, and about three quarters
of a mile from Brompton. The site must be allow-
ed to have been well chosen, for the grounds lie
open to the south and west, except where the plant-
ations are intended to exclude the sun, while the
northeast wind, by being impregnated with the ig-
nited air of the capital, loses much of its sharpness,
and becomes far less pernicious, than it would other-
wise be to such plants as require a bland and genial
climate. This extent is about three acres and a
half, including the ground occupied by the hot house,
green-houses, and library ; and seven acres more,
immediately adjoining, and now in the occupation
of the proprietor, can at any time be included.
The arrangement is strictly Linnasan ; and every
tree, shrub, and plant, is labelled so as to afford the
advantage of an easy reference to the correspondent,
numbers in the catalogue.
On approaching, from Fulham road, the stranger
perceives a door, situated nearly in the middle of the
plantation ; and, on ringing a bell, will be immedi-
ly admitted. A broad walk, extending across the
garden, presents a parterre, on each side, in which
all the different varieties and beautiful hues of Flora
are exhibited, in regular gradation, according to the
season :
140 THE BOTANIST.
" Along these blushing borders, bright with hue,
Fair-handed Spring unbosoms every grace."
No. 1. contains all those plants that are consider-
ed- useful in agriculture. Persons skilled in this art,
have an opportunity of seeing, distinctly arranged,
with their proper names and species, every tree,
grass, and shrub, that is cultivated as food for man,
the horse, cow, and all other subordinate animals.—
This is a most important branch of natural econo-
my.
No. 2. is the medicinal quarter, in which the stu-
dent will find the plants of the London and Edin-
burgh Dispensatories; and whether he himself is
destined to prescribe, or to make up the prescrip-
tions of others, will here have an opportunity of be-
coming acquainted with the characters of those herbs
which form a part of the Materia Medica*
Among the curious ones will be found the Assa-
foetida; while the poisonous tribe,f only thirteen of
which will thrive in the open air in Britain, are ar-
ranged so as to be hereafter detected by simple in-
spection alone, f
No. 3. the Foreign Grass quarter, contains the Ly-
geum, Spartum, the Melica Ciliata, the Triticum
sestivum, the Juncus niveus, &c.
* Who ought, as Dr. Gregory has so emphatically advised, to make
himself thoroughly acquainted with these plants.
f The Aconitum Napellus, Aetata spicata, Cicuta Virosa, &c.
\ A class of plants, with which all ranks of society ought to be ac-
quainted ; for," On the day thou eatpst thereof, thou shalt surely die."
THE BOTANIST. 141
No. 4. the British Grass quarter. Here the ag-
riculturalist will, at one view, behold and distin-
guish those gramma, which constitute the real
wealth and fertility of a country. These include ev-
ery species serving for food for the horse, the cow,
the ass, the sheep, and the goat.
In this interesting collection is to be found the
Meadow Fox-tail (the Alopecarus Pratensh of Lin-
naeus), which is the most fattening of this tribe ;
also the Anthoxanthum Odoratum, or the sweet scent-
ed vernal meadow grass, that confers a fine aromat-
ic flavour on our hay, together with a complete col-
lection of all the British species of gramina may be
seen in great perfection in this quarter.
No. 5. contains the British plants of large growth.
No. 6. the British wood.
No. 7. is dedicated to British rock plants, and
aquatics.
No. 8. the Hot-house and Green-house. Here I
found the Dioncea Muscipula, a fine specimen of
which was lately presented to the President of the
Linnaean Society, for the purpose of elucidating his
lectures at the Royal Institute. I also saw the Stre-
litzia Regince, so called out of compliment to the
Queen ; the Portlandia, the Plumieria, the Vanilla,
Catesbea Spinosa, the Ipomtea bona nox, the Ama-
ryllis reticulata, together with the Crinum crubes-
cens, all in fine bloom.
In the Green-house is to be met with the double
Camella Japonica, the Phormium tenax, with a very
142 THE BOTANIST.
excellent collection of plants from the Cape of Good
Hope and New Holland.
No. 9. the Library. This is an oblong building,
with a lattice work towards the south, through which
it is intended that the ornithologist should be recre-
ated with the view of British birds, and enabled to
study their habits and manners while alive.
The collection consists of useful works, either
on, or immediately connected with, the science of
botany, such as Curtis's Flora Londinensis, and all
the other productions of this celebrated natural-
ist ; the Flora Austriaca, JDanica, Britanica, &V. ;
Linnaeus's Genera Es? Species Plantar urn, Systema
Nature Opera Clusii ; Mathioli in Dioscoridem ; the
Hortus Eystettensys ; together with the English
Herbals of Gerrard, Parkinson, Johnson, &c. in all
about five hundred volumes, including the most cel-
ebrated agricultural works of Young, Marshall,
Dickson, &x.
No. 10. a Green-house, entirely dedicated to
Heaths, chiefly from the coast of Africa, of which
there are one hundred and fifty different species.
No. 11. is appropriated to bulbs and flower roots.
No. 12. foreign annual plants.
No. 13. This quarter contains upwards of one
thousand different species of foreign hardy herbace-
ous plants.
No. 14. foreign Alpine plants.
No. 15. American plants, and foreign wood
quarter.
THE BOTANIST. 14.3
No. 16. is a double border of foreign trees and
shrubs, extending all round the boundaries of the
garden on each side of the walk.
The above is intended as a popular rather than a
scientific description of a spot, where either the stu-
dent or the adept may satisfy his curiosity, by means
of an arrangement executed in strict conformity to
the system of the great Swedish naturalist. Those
also, who delight in the contemplation of nature, are
recreated at a very trifling expense ; and flowers,
plants, and trees, at every season of the year, pre-
sent an almost endless variety of interesting objects.
Mr. Salisbury is often honoured with the pres-
ence, not only of some of the first botanists of En-
gland and other countries, but also with many of the
British nobility ; and he has often beheld, with
grateful satisfaction, different branches of the royal
family, who have honoured it with their patronage,
walking along the paths, appearing delighted with
the arrangement.*
Such is, at present, the Botanic Garden at Queen's
Elms ; in the further improving of which no pains
or labour are spared to render it still more useful to
the public. It remains for a nation, not only fond
of science, but ever considered as its munificent pa-
tron and generous protector, to enable the proprietor
to complete his plans, extend his views in favour of
genius ; and finally to form an establishment equally
worthy of science, and of the noted liberality of
Great Britain.
* European Maga^iri."
THE BOTANIST.
N°. XIV.
Whoever becomes seriously engaged in Natu-
ral History, will find it one of the most agreeable
studies that can occupy the rational mind. The
pleasure which natural history affords differs from
all others, because it brings no satiety; for here
gratification and appetite are perpetually interchang-
ing : yet the writer never has nor never will recom-
mend it merely to amuse the imagination, or gratify
the fancy. Utility, public utility is the principal mo-
tive which has impelled him, for a series of years,
to hold up Botany, Agriculture, and Mineralogy to
the attention of the rising generation. This coun-
try, abounding in minerals, is yet dependent on for-
eign nations for riches that lie under our feet. How-
ever humiliating to American pride, we should re-
member, that no people can truly be said to have
obtained absolute civilization who do not work up
their own metals, instead of sending them to other
nations, there to be manufactured into utensils, tools
and weapons. Although it be true that every thing
for the immediate support of life is continued with
unceasing circulation from the upper stratum of the
earth, it is nevertheless as true, that from the bowels
of it a nation draws nearly all her means of defence,
THE BOTANIST. 145
labour her tools, commerce most of her riches, ag-
riculture her chief support, and the fine arts ail their
materials. An inferior nation depends on a supe-
rior one for all these instruments of civilization. A
country like ours, filling fast with an enterprizing
and ingenious people, and possessing wood, iron, and
hemp, looking anxiously towards one small nation for
protection to its commerce ; and towards another
one with apprehension, is a singular phenomenon in
the history of man ! A boy may tie the noble war-
horse, by a small string, to a stake, where he will re-
main until he starve, and this because he is kept ig-
norant of his own strength, and of the weakness of i
those who bridle him and manage him !
Agriculture is the art by which we can live in
comfort, without dependence on other nations. It
is the o-reat art, which we Americans ouo-ht above all
other arts to pursue, until we shall be able not
onlv to extend commerce, but to defend it. Yet
this honourable and independent employment will
ever remain a vague and uncertain pursuit unless
we acquire a knowledge of the vegetable economy,
and obtain a happy insight into the physiology of
plants; for then only will agriculture acquire the
stability of a science.
Under the head of Agriculture we wish to in-
clude the culture of forest trees, especially the oak ;
which is among trees what iron is among metals, the
strength and glory of every nation that is partly mari-
time, and parti}' agricultural. That wood, like this
19
146 THE BOTANIST.
metal is very hard, and yet not very heavy ; hence
the great value of both. The Romans called the
oak robur ; and used it metaphorically for great
strength of body and of mind, or fortitude ; hence
our word robust. Robur nodosum was the club of
Hercules, the emblem of heroic virtue. And an oak
with its acorns was held in high veneration by the
renowned Romans. Pliny says, Glandiferi maxi-
me generis omnes, quibus honos apud Romano s per-
petuus. When speaking of crowns and chaplets,
he says, that that civie coronet has most dignity,
which is made of a branch of the oak, provided it
bears, at the same time, acorns. The arms, or en-
sign armorial of a nation, should be expressed only
by the productions of it. The eagle and the olive
branch accompany the thunder bolt in the arms of
our nation. The olive is the product of those coun-
tries, where the human race is debilitated by that
warmth which is needful for its growth. Instead of
this languid foreigner, let us place in the ensign ar-
morial of the United States a branch of the oak with
its acorns. Providence, whose works are distin-
guished from human art by manifold conveniences
flowing from one single contrivance, gives the acorn,
and by it communicates power and glory to a na-
tion ; provided that nation has wisdom to appreciate,
and virtue to co-operate with its bountiful intimation.
Let the branch of the oak then, with its acorns, en-
circle the American eagle ; or rather let the emblem.
THE BOTANIST. 147
of the western Empire be a Condor* reposing on a
mighty branch of this pride of onr forests.
Leaving these general observations! let us turn
our attention particularly to the anatomy and physi-
ology of
THE LEAF.
So from the root
Springs lighter the green stalk ; from thence the leaves
More airy ; last the bright consummate flower. Miltm.
By Foliation English botanists mean the compli-
cation or folded state of leaves, while concealed with-
in the bud ; but this term expresses not that pro-
cedure of nature, by which the leaves are renewed
and developed every spring, so accurately as does
the Latin word vernatio.
In a former number we have shown, that the bud
springs from the medulla, or pith of the plant ; and
by searching into the bud we have seen the rudi-
ments of the leaves ; and when we penetrate still
deeper we discover, that the bud, like the seed,
* The Condor, Vultur Grypbus, (Lin.) is peculiar to America, and it
the largest bird that flies. It possesess, says Goldsmith, in a higher de-
gree than the Eagle, all the qualities that render it formidable not only to
the feathered kind but to beasts. Acosta, Garcilasso and Condemine
have described this preeminent bird.
| The readers of this volume may remember that these essays were
first published in the Monthly Anthology, a miscellaneous work, resem-
bling the London Monthly Magazines. This accounts for the introduc-
tion of national sentiments, which the Botanist feels no disposition tc
erase.
148 THE BOTANIST.
contained the epitome of the future plant ; but dur-
ing winter it wants the power of unfolding its parts.
Bo-h seeds and buds contain the primordia planta-
rum: buds therefore differ from seeds only, as the
living foetus differs from the egg of an animal; so
that buds are seeds in a more advanced stage of
vegetation. We have already remarked, that some
buds contain flowers, some leaves, and some both ;
and that an accurate discrimination of them was of
importance in the process of budding. To watch
the vernation of the embryo bud, the gradual un-
folding of the foetal leaves and infantile flower, is a
pleasing speculation ; for the leaves are completely
formed, and fairly rolled up for evolution, many
months before they begin to expand. The study of
the anatomical structure of the full expanded leaf
and its functions is equally delightful.
We shall pass silently over the nomenclature ol
leaves,* which is apt to discourage young botanists
unused to geometrical writers in the Latin tongue ;
and shall pursue the more pleasant task of exhibit-
ing, as far as we are able, the structure and the
functions of the leaf.
When we are told, that ' a leaf is a part of a plant,
extended into length and breadth, in such a manner
* There is not onlv the full urn bftdum, trifdum, cjuadrifidum, quinquefdum,
and bipartum, tripartum qu drlpartum, and qu'uqucpartum ; but there is the
folium compositum, decompo hum, and mperaJecompOihum ; and the folium am-
pl-xicaule, and semiamplexic ule, and a luindrc' others having reference to
the shipe of the le if >nercly Good sense is sometimes embarrassed when
thus oppressed with hard words.
.
THE BOTANIST. U9
as to have one side distinguishable from the other,'*
the naturalist receives but little information ; and we
obtain but little more, when we are told, that they
are * the organs of motion ;'f but, when we say, that
the leaves are the Iimgs of a plant, we convey an idea
more consonant to truth and nature : for we find
that a leaf will die, if its upper or varnished surface
is anointed with any glutinous matter; or when
placed in an exhausted receiver. If we should sav
that the leaf combines the office of lacteals and lungs,
we shall come still nearer truth. While our stom-
achs digest solid food, our lungs digest air ; so that
what is performed by two organs in animals, is per-
formed by one in plants ; let us then examine this
organ and its functions.
The leafis attached to the branch of the plant bv
a short foot-stalk. From these foot-stalks a number
of fibres issue, which} ramifying in every direction,
communicate with each other in every part of the
leaf, and thereby form a curious network. The in-
termediate substance is greenish ;| and may be eaten
by insects, or destroyed by putrefaction, while the
fibrous part remains entire, constituting the skele-
ton of the leaf. There are, however, two layers of
fibres in every leaf, forming two distinct skeletons ;
the one belonging to the upper part of the leaf, the
other appertaining to the lower. It is very difficult
to demonstrate the anatomy of a leaf; but we have
* Miller. f Linnxus.
\ Landslips painted by the best masters are not green.
150 THE BOTANIST.
reason to conclude, that the seven essential parts of
a plant, enumerated in the fourth number, are ex-
tended, rolled out, and extenuated throughout the
leaf ; so that if you slit a leaf with scissors, you cut
through as many different parts of the plant, as if
you cut through the trunk of a tree.* The whole
leaf is covered with a portion of the epidermis, or
that scarf-skin, which covers the stem and stalk of
the plant. Between this thin membrane and the
cortical net- work, are placed the absorbent vessels,
together with what we presume to be the absorbent
glands. Dr. Darwin assures us, that there is an ar-
tery and a vein in a leaf; and that the artery carries
the sap to the extreme surface of the upper side of
the leaf, and there exposes it, under a thin moist
membrane, to the action of the atmospheric air ;
then the veins collect and return this circulating flu-
id to the foot-stalk, just as the artery and vein ope-
rate in our lungs. It is hardly fair to compare the
leaves of a plant with the respiratory organs of the
more perfect animals ; but rather to the breathing
apparatus of insects, or, what is perhaps more to our
purpose, to the gills of fish.
When the structure of any organized body is too
subtle to come within the scrutiny of the human
senses, we must have recourse to analogy ; and from
the truths we discover, and the observations we
make, we must judge of the operations in similar
bodies; for we can form our opinion of that which
* Is the wood to be found in an annual leaf?
THE BOTANIST. 151
we know not, only by placing it in comparison with
something similar to what we do know. The struc-
ture of certain large-leaved plants, that grow in wa-
ter, are remarkably conspicuous ; and the gills of
fish resemble, in structure and office, the leaves of
these aquatic plants. Duverney and Monro have
scrutinized the gills of fish ; the former found, that
those of the carp contained four thousand three hun-
dred and eighty -six bones, which were moved by
sixty -nine muscles : and the latter informs us, that,
in the gills of the skate fish, there exists one hundred
and forty four thousand folds, or subdivisions. This
manifold structure gives this respiratory organ a
surprising extent of surface. These subdivisions
terminating in innumerable points, resemble fringe ;
but, when examined by the microscope, appear like
down ; yet is every part crowded with blood-ves-
sels, being ramifications of the pulmonary artery and
vein. The whole extent of the gills is covered with
an exceedingly fine membrane, in which the micro-
scope discovers a still finer net- work of vessels. By
such a structure the fish exposes a greater surface
of blood to the water, than is exposed to the air, by
the internal membrane of the air-cells of the lungs of
quadrupeds ; and that for the same purpose, namely,
imbibing uncombined ox} gen, which is the materi-
al or pabuium vitas, equally necessary to fish as to
land animals. Now, if we compare the structure of
the gills of fish with that of the leaf of aquatic plants,
we can discern a great similarity.
152 THE BOTANIST.
The gills of fish present an immense surface to
the water in which they live, in consequence of their
innumerable folds of nerves, blood and air vessels.
The divisions and subdivisions of this organ are so
fine that they resemble a most delicate fringe. In
like manner certain aquatic plants, growing in the
ponds here in Cambridge, have subaquatic leaves
resembling fine moss, or rather that kind of silk cal-
led floss ; the structure and use of which are the
same as the gills in fish. While those leaves, which
are growing under water, have this delicate struc-
ture, the leaves of the same plant, when it has shot
up out of the water, being produced wholly in
the air, become intire and firm, having none of
those segments or slits, which distinguished them
when subaquatic ; so that the one leaf under water,
has the structure and functions of gills, while the
next above it is a firm leaf, or lungs, by reason of
its breathing the open air. Here a change takes
place in an amphibious plant, like that which is ob-
served in an amphibious animal, on its passing from
the tadpole to the frog state ; for in the former state
it has gills, and in the latter lungs.
As a tree cannot go in search of food, like an
animal, it is forced to draw its nourishment from
within the narrow sphere of its existence ; it there-
fore extends its roots through the surrounding earth,
by which it draws in sustentation, as through so ma-
ny syphons. These imbibing vessels of the roots
may be compared to the lacteals in animals. This
THE BOTANIST. 16,1
It is asked, " Is this season, so full of the bloom of
nature, unpropitious to the unfolding of the petals of
elocution ?* Let the great Montesquieu answer the
question. Put a man, says this sage, in a warm,
confined place, and he will feel faintness and lassi-
tude. Thus circumstanced, if you propose a bold
enterprize to him, you find him very iittle disposed
towards it. His weakness will induce a desponden-
cy ; he will be afraid of every thing, because he feels
himself capable of nothing. Faintness of the body,
produced by the heat of the climate, is soon com-
municated to the mind ; and then there is no curi-
osity, no noble enterprize, no generous sentiment.
The inclinations are passive, and indolence consti-
tutes his utmost happiness.
Although the Botanist has been ready to exclaim
•with Thomson,
All-conquering heat.f oh intermit thy wrath !
yet he has not been an idle spectator of the transito-
ry blossoms.
For as the vernal sun awak'd the torpid sap,
he watched the infant bud and emb-yo flower ; and
marked, as they gradually unfolded, the beauties of
the breathing leaf. And when the bursting calyx
gave the struggling petals to the admiring sight, he
* Hints to correspondents in the Antholc f y for last month, where the
botanist is called upon to renew his labours.
f July. Thermometer between S8° and 95°, and not a sprinkling of
rain for five weeks.
21
162 THE BOTANIST.
hung over their elegant forms and resplendent hues
enraptured. But while gazing at the glories of the
full blown flower, and contemplating its wondrous
economy, it shrunk from the intrusion, and, like the
hopes of man, withered on the stalk. So passeth
away the splendour of this world !
During this dry and fervid season the vegetable
race has a more melancholy aspect, than in the froz-
en gloom of winter, when the vegetative ens natu-
rally retires to its cradle, hybernacula, or winter quar-
ters, and is resuscitated by the next vernal sun. But
in this arid and adust state of the earth and the air,
every annual plant is threatened with speedy de-
struction : For want of the cherishing influence of
supernal rain,
Distressful nature pants.
The very streams look languid from afar. Thomson.
To the laborious husbandman, the gardener, and
the botanist, the descent of rain on the parched soil
and thirsty plants is the most grateful phenomenon
in the whole enconomy of nature. Let us put by
our flowers then, for the present, that we may consid-
er the nature, and contemplate the source of this
precious fluid, which gives health, beauty and vig-
our to all that lives.
WATER
is indeed a wondrous element ! Well might the
Grecian sage* contend, that water was the original
* Thales.
THE BOTANIST. 163
matter, or principle of all things ; and that even the
air was but an offspring, expansion, or expiration of
water. We actually find that water bears a part in
the formation of every body in the three kingdoms
of nature. It enters into all the food of every ani-
mal, and every vegetable in creation. It is neces-
sary to the' free exercise of every animal function
and action : and although it is the common cement
of all terrestrial bodies, it nevertheless hastens and
facilitates the requisite dissolution of every animal
and vegetable, when life has departed ; and is there-
fore an important agent in that never ceasing pro-
cess of mutation, by which one thing is changed
out of, and into every other in creation.
Can a Naturalist do better, at this dry and threat-
ening season, than solicit the attention of his young
readers of both sexes, to the means nature uses to
provide the earth with rivers of water ; beasts with
running brooks ; plants with refreshing showers; and
man with every thing ? It is possible that they may
never have once reflected on the connexion between
the sea and vegetation — between the mountains and
the ocean — between the rivers under ground and
the atmosphere above it. They may never have
considered, that the Atlantic ocean conspires with
our loftiest mountains to furnish us with an element
indispensably necessary to the life, to the health, and
to the beauty of plants, as well as of men.
The clouds dispensing refreshing showers, " turn-
ing the wilderness into a standing water, and the dry
ground into water springs ;" the flow of rivers, with
164 THE BOTANIST.
their long train of beneficial consequences, could
hardly escape the notice of any thinking being in
any age of the world. We accordingly find the
supply of water frequently mentioned, in the oldest
book we have, among the most wonderful, as well
as valuable of Heaven's blessings ; whilst the heathen
world imagined every river to be under the guard-
ianship of some particular deity, who they believed
created it, because they knew a river of water to be
of more than mortal formation.
It has probably impressed others, as well as the
writer ; with something bordering on wonder, that
during seven and twenty centuries, wherein the
memory and learning of mankind have been exercis-
ed, there has not been found one philosopher so well
instructed in the laws of nature, as to be able to give
a complete history and satisfactory explanation of
the ascent of freshwater from the salt ocean ; the
suspension of vapours in the air ; the formation of
distinctly defined clouds ; and the descent of ?-ain>
together with a connected chain of causes. What
facts and reasonings we have on these subjects are
mere fragments widely scattered. If Pythagoray
taught, as Ovid says,
Unde nives, quae fulminis esset origo :
Jupiter, an venti, discussa nube tonarent,
the doctrine has never come down to us.
Seeing the earth covered annually with a rich and
beautiful carpet of vegetables ; and these surprising-
ly diversified, variegated, and developing between
M seed time and harvest time," must have led those
THE BOTANIST. 165
of antient days to recognize the proximate cause,
the warmth of the sun and the moisture from the
clouds ; and these again to that perpetual circulation
subsisting between the ocean and the mountains,
through the instrumentality of the air, and by the
medium of rivers to the ocean again. But the phi-
losophy, or explanation of this vivifying phenome-
non is spoken of as something past finding out.
They did then, as we do now, push our investiga-
tions as high as ever we can, as in the case of gravi-
tation ; and beyond that principle say with them, it
is " the hand of 'God '.•" an expression denoting only
the last term of our analytical results. Unable to
discover the essence of light and of fire, the Deity
was called by the name of these inscrutable agents.
In early times, when the knowledge of nature was
confined to narrow limits, they, like our Indians,
" Saw God in clouds, and heard him in the wind."
Hence they styled the Deity, " the father of the
ra'.ns," and represented him, as " calling forth the
zvaters of the sea, and pouring them down according
to the vapour thereof." Whence we infer thev
believed that the water rose, in form of vapour from
the salt ocean ; and that it became freshened in its
passage through the air. It moreover appears, that
they believed this process was regularly and perpet-
ually performing, in an unceasing circulation ; for
thev remarked that, although " all the rivers run in-
to the sea, yet was the sea not full ; unto the place
whence the rivers come, thither they return again."
166 THE BOTANIST.
They seem also to have known, that mountains made
a part of this grand apparatus ; and to have believed
that it was not a fortuitous or casual operation ; but
regulated as we now find it, by weight and measure.
May not this be inferred from the sublime question
of Isaiah — " TVho hath measured the waters in the
hollow of his hand, and weighed the mountains in
scales ?"
The people of antient times discerned in part this
magnificent apparatus ; and saw its effects ; but were
restrained by a religious awe, from attempting the
investigation of it; because storms, lightning, and hail
were conceived to be the precursors of the chariot of
the Deity; — " who maketh the clouds his chariot —
who walketh on the wings of the wind," accompa-
nied with "hailstones" and "fire." The origin and
the course of the winds, " whence they come, and
whither they go," were all, for these reasons, deem-
ed mysterious. Hence, instead of scrutinizing the
cause, their pious minds, overwhelmed with awe,
sunk into undiscerning amazement. Under such
solemn impressions, I cease to wonder that he, who
wrote that antient drama, the book of Job, puts,
among the most difficult of his questions, that which
demands an explanation of " the balancing of the
clouds."
The never-ceasing circulation of water between
the ocean and terra firma has, it seems, been con-
templated from the earliest ages with grateful admi-
ration ; but not being altogether an object of sight,
was ranked among the inexplicable works of Deity.
THE BOTANIST. 167
Des Cartes, JViewentyte, Halley, and a few others
among the moderns, have amused the literary pub-
lic with their hypotheses : But of their learned theo-
ries, which of them is not clogged with objections ?
That all the rivers of fresh water are derived from
the salt ocean, no one doubts ; but how it rises from
the sea is the question. Some contend, that the par-
ticles of water are formed into hollow spherules, or
diminutive balloons, which being lighter than com-
mon air ascend, and are buoyant in it ; and that they
rise, or fall, or move horizontally, according to the
impulse given by attraction, repulsion, by winds, or
by electricity. The public have generally acquiesced
in the theory of Dr. Halley ; as they commonly do
with every hypothesis presented them in the impos-
ing garb of "mathematics. Dr. Halley took a ves-
sel of certain dimensions, filled to a certain depth
with water, and warmed to such a degree as the air
is in the hottest summer months. After standing
two hours, he found, on weighing it, what it had lost
by evaporation. From this datum he proceeded in
his calculations ; and found that a square mile yields
six thousand nine hundred and fourteen tons, and
consequently that a degree square will evaporate
about thirty-three million of tons. He calculated
the surface of the Mediterranean ; and estimated
that it must lose in vapour every summer's day Jive
t/musand two hundred and eighty million of tons.
Dr. Halley considers a certain grade of heat abso-
lu'ely necessary to the ascent of vapours from the
ocean ; but we find, that this evaporation goes for-
168 THE BOTANIST.
ward with equal rapidity in the coldest weather, nay
in caves at the coldest season, in the frozen regions
of the north.
Strange ! what extremes should thus preserve the snow
High on the Alps, or in deep caves below. Waller.
We must then seek some other cause beside heat ;
and the chemico-philosophers have tried to soothe
disputants by an hypothesis which is void of it.
They consider that the air is a menstruum, capable of
dissolving, suspending, and intimately mixing the
particles of water with itself. That as a given quantity
of water will take up just so much salt and no more,
without becoming turbid, and at length precipitating
it to the bottom ; so air, the most powerful solvent in
nature, next to fire, will take up, intimately mix, and
suspend, just so much water and remain clear. The
mixture will continue transparent, just this side sat-
uration ; when saturated, the abundant waters float
in form of clouds ; but when supersaturated, it lets
go the water, which, like a supersaturated solution
of salt, falls from the clouds on the earth in the form
of rain.
Is the probability of this theory diminished by the
new chemical doctrine, which teaches that water is
formed by an union of hydrogen and oxygen ? The
pneumatic chemists have, by their curious discove-
ries, removed the boundaries, which separated, as
we once thought, air from water ; and have led us
to respect that very antient idea, which conceived
them to be one element.
THE BOTANIST. 169
The salt ocean, which covers by far the greatest
part of this globe, has a three-fold motion. The first
is gentle, like the breathing of an animal ; by it the
sea swells and rises tip against the shores, and en-
ters gradually into bays and mouths of rivers, dur-
ing the space of six hours. Then it seems to rest
for a quarter of an hour, and then as gradually slides
down again ; when after another pause of a quarter
of an hour, it begins again to flow as before. The
second motion is more vehement and incessant, and
is, like that of the heart, circulatory ; whereas that of
the tides is merely backward and forward. It comes
in the course of the trade winds, which blow ever-
lastingly from east to west ; runs past the West- In-
dia islands ; pours into the bay of Mexico ; and
rushing rapidly out, forms the gulf of Florida; which
sweeping along the American shore, carries the wa-
ters of the Atlantic into the North Sea ; whence they
pass in a never-ceasing circulation around the globe.
The other motion is from the atmosphere, when
agitated by winds. It is local and variable ; and
seems subservient to the transpiration of the ocean.
It ruffles the surface merely, and, from this superfi-
cial agitation, begins that hitherto inexplicable clis-
tillatio per ascensum.
By whatever means the w;'ter ascends the air from
the ocean, this is briefly the course of it : in rising
from the ocean it leaves the salt behind, as in the
common process of distillation. The ascended va-
pour is probably decomposed, when it forms clouds
170 THE BOTANIST.
which are distinctly visible : these float in the gen-
eral atmosphere, which appears to be then a different
fluid from these circumscribed clouds. Antiquity
conceived a cloud to be a congeries of watery va-
pour, a conservatory, in which the rain is kept as
" in bottles. 11 * As clouds become fuller of water
they gravitate ; or are attracted by the loftiest moun-
tains, when they pour upon them abundant rains.
But, according to an ingenious chemist,t there are
two steps of the process between evaporation and
rain ; of which at present we are completely igno-
rant :
1st. What becomes of the vapour after it enters
into the atmosphere ?
2d. What makes it lay aside the new form, which
it must have assumed > and return again to its state
of vapour, and fall down in rain ?
And till these two steps be discovered by experi-
ments and observations, it will be impossible for us
to give a satisfactory, or a useful theory of rain.
There are mountains so very large, that even pro-
vinces are found embosomed near their summits, as
those of Quito. The tops of such mountains are
constantly enveloped with clouds, especially during
the night ; J and the waters are constantly dripping
down through the crannies and crevices of the
stones, forming kindred brooks i when uniting with
* See Job. | Dr. I. Thompson.
\ It rains perpetf ally among the Andes, while in Egypt seldom or
;iever.
THE BOTANIST. 171
other streams, it rushes with accelerated force to
the plains below, forcing a passage through every
pliable thing in its way.
Resistless, roaring dreadful, down it comes,
From the rude mountains, and the mossy wild,
Trembling through rocks abrupt, and sounding far ;
Then o'er the sandy valley floating spreads,
Calm, slug-gish, silent ; till again constraint
Between two meeting hills, it bursts away
Where rocks and woods o'erhang the turbid stream,
There gathering triple force, rapid and deep,
It boils and wheels, and foams and thunders through ;
Till pouring on, it proudly seeks the deep ;
Whose vanquish'd tide, recoiling from the shock,
Yields to this liquid weight of half the globe. Tiomjen.
The river, after rolling its waters into the ocean,
is destined to be again exhaled in vapours ; and to
re-enter afresh the channels of this magnificent cir-
culation!
THE BOTANIST.
N°. XVI.
f Last the bright, consummate flower
" Spirits odorous breathes." Milton.
Once more we hail with gratitude the returning
spring!* In winter, when the earth is bound up
with ice, and covered with a bed of snow ; when the
trees are divested of their leaves , and appear dead ;
* April, 1808.
172 THE BOTANIST.
and the very herbage seems annihilated, then " the
lord of the soil" casts his eyes over the barren waste
with a sigh. As his reason alone could not lead him
to believe, that the tree would ever again blossom ;
or the earth be again clothed with a beautiful carpet
of vegetables ; so his heart sinks within him, from a
fearful apprehension, that the Lord of all is un-
mindful of his necessities. This, ye Legislators ! is
the period, when you should, in imitation of the
churches of Rome and of England, appoint your
days of humiliation and solemn fasts : for it is at
gloomy season that man ieels his dependency
oi. a power above him. But when the sun so diffuses
its warmth through the air, as to loosen the flinty
brook, and edge it with green ; and when the full
bladed grass appears, and awakened nature sees a
new creation, then the husbandman exclaims, with
exaltation, "man is not forgotten! for here
and there are pledges of an adorable reminescence?
and traits of a wonderful renovation !" Then seize,
Legislators ! this season of returning spring for your
National Thanksgiving, when every sense and every
heart is joy.*
* Should this ever be read bevond the boundaries of New-England, it
may not be superfluous to add here, that our ancestors instituted, at the
firs; settlement of Massachusetts, a Te Deum, or day of public thanksgiv-
ing in the* autumn ; and a day of Fasting and Prayer in the spring of everv
year. The day for these solemnities is appointed by the Supreme Exec-
utive of the State, whose proclamation, in this case, has the effect of an
Archbishop's circular. The idea here suggested is, that the Thanksgiving
would be celebrated with more fervour at that season, when " awaken-
?d nature sees a new creation."
THE BOTANIST.
If in winter the husbandman
" Marks not the mighty hand
" That, ever busy, wheels (he silent spheres;"'
he cannot miss it in
"The fair profusion that o'erspreads the spring."
The poets have conveyed their idea of spring, by
describing this genial season as a youth of most
beautiful air and shape, with a blooming counte-
nance, expressive of satisfaction and joy ; and cloth-
ed in a flowing mantle of green, interwoven with
flowers ; a chaplet of roses on his head, a narcissus
in his hand, while primroses and violets spring up
under his feet.* The ornament and pride of spring,
Milton's " bright, consummate flower" must there-
fore be the theme of our present number.
Every one may think that he knows precisely
what is a flower : it is however remarkable, that bot-
anists have been not a little puzzled in fixing their
definition of it. The celebrated French botanist
Tournefort, tells us, that " a flower is a part of a
plant, very often remarkable for its peculiar colours,
for the most part, adhering to the young fruit, to
which it seems to afford the first nourishment, in
order to explicate its most tender parts." Is this a
definition "? Pontedra, in his Anthology, tells us that
" a flower is a part of a plant unlike the rest in form
and nature." Jussieu says that " that is properly a
* The poets have described Spring, accompanied by Flora on one hand,
and Vertumnus on the other ; and immediately followed by a stern fig-
ure, in shining armour : this is Mars, who, they say, has long usurped a
place among the attendants of Spring.
17> THE BOTANIST.
flower, which is composed of stamina and of a pis-
tillum." But some flowers have no pistillum. Vail-
lant advanced one step beyond his predecessors, and
asserts that " the flower ought, strictly speaking, to
be reckoned the organs, which constitute the dif- k
ferent sexes in plants : for that the petals, which im-
mediately envelope them, are only the coats to cov-
er and defend them ;" but he adds, " these coats are
the most conspicuous, and most beautiful parts of
the composition ; and therefore to these, according
to the common idea, shall I give the name of flow-
er.' ' Marty n went a little farther, and defined " a
flower to be the organs of generation of both sexes,
adhering to a common placenta, together with their
common coverings." Nay, if we consult Johnson's
Dictionary for a definition, we shall find that " a
flower is that part of a plant which contains the
seeds," which definition is more applicable to a pea-
pod. The early botanists meant by the term anthos,
flos, or flower, what is now understood in common
conversation by that term, namely, the rich and del-
icate painted leaves or petals, which adhere to
the seed vessel, or rudiment of the future fruit.
In truth botany was unknown to the antients as a
science. They had no distinct term to express the
petals of a flower, so as to distinguish it from the
green leaves of the plant. Virgil, in describing his
amellusy which is a species of aster ; the flower of
which has a yellow disk and purple rays, calls it
a golden flower surrounded with purple leaves. All
THE BOTANIST. 175
his translators, excepting Martyn, the botanist, have
mistaken his description,
a Aureus ipse [flos] sed in foliis, quse plurima circum
" Funduntur, viol* sublucet purpura nigra." Georg. IV.
Addison makes the leaves of the plant purple
Dryden makes the bough purple ; and Trapp gives
the stem a golden hue. All this confusion has arisen
for want of a word in the Latin language to express
the petals of the corolla, as distinct from the com-
mon leaves of the plant. Modern botanists have
borrowed the word ttitclkm from the Greek to express
the beautiful rich leaves of the flower merely ; and
thus they avoid all ambiguity in description.* We
make no apology for this dry discussion. Our aim
is perspicuity rather than elegance. We wish to
give the student of nature a less confused idea of a
flower than he commonly finds in books of botany j
and we hope we shall give him a distinct idea of the
beautiful, but complicated thing before us.
Since the adoption of the sexual system, the pe-
tals, which excite the admiration of the florist, are
considered by the botanist, as coverings only to the
essential parts of the flower. A flower therefore, in
modern botany, differs from the same term in form-
er writers ; and from the common acceptation of it ;
for the calyx, the petals, nay, the filaments of the
stamina may all be wanting ; and yet it is a flower,
provided the anthers and stigma can be traced. The
essence of a flower then consists in the anthera and
r See Lee'» Botany, p. 4.
i"6 THE BOTANIST.
the stigma ; and they constitute a flower, whether
they be supported by a calyx, or surrounded by a
petal, or petals, forming that chaplet, coronet, or
little crown denominated in Latin, corolla. A pa-
tient observer may find these nice distinctions illus-
trated in ferns, mosses, mushrooms, linchens and
sea-weeds.
Let us now examine a complete or perfect flow-
er : and let us first look at
The Calyx ; which originally meant the green
bottom of a rose bud ; but it is now extended to
that green flower cup, which is generally composed
of five small leaves ; and which incloses, sustains
and embraces the corolla, or painted petals, at the
bottom of every flower, and indeed envelops it en-
tirely before it opens, as in the rose. The calyx
which accompanies almost all other flowers, is want-
ing in the tulip, the hyacinth, the narcissus , and in-
deed the greater part of the liliaceous tribe. The ad-
mirably accurate Grew called this part of the flow-
er the empalement ; and defines it to be the outermost
part of the flower, encompassing the other two,
namely, the corolla, or what Grew called the folia-
ture ; and the stamina and pistillum, which he called
the attire.
The terms perianthum, involucrum, anient hum,
spatha, gluma, cahjptra and volva, are but different
appellations of the varied calyx. Linnaeus teils
us, that the calyx is the termination of die cortical
epidermis, or outer bark of the plant ; which, alter
accompanying the trunk or stem through all its
THE BOTANIST. 177
branches, breaks out at the bottom of the flower, in
the form of the flower cup. In the sexual system,
or, as some will have it, the allegory of the illustri-
ous Swede, the calyx is rarely one entire piece ; but
of several, one laid over the other. This structure
serves to keep the whole flower or composition tight,
and at the same time, allows it to recede, as the parts
of fructification increase in size : it is like slacken-
ing the laces of the stays, stomachers or bodices,
in cases and circumstances not entirely dissimilar.
Flowers standing on a firm basis, as tulips, have no
calyx ; but where the foot of each petal is long,
slender, and numerous, as in pinks, they are kept
within compass by a double calyx. In a few in-
stances, the calyx is tinctured with a different colour
than green ; and then it is not easy to distinguish the
painted calyx from the painted corolla. Linnaeus
however gives this simple rule ; the corolla, in point
of situation, is ranged alternately wiih the stamina ;
whereas, the segment of the calyx stands opposite to
to the stamina. Thus much for the calyx.
The Corolla is the circle of beautiful coloured
leaves, which stands within the calyx, forming a
chaplet, composed of a petal or petals ; for so we
call those delicately painted leaves, which excel in
beauty every other part of the plant. In the piony,
the petals are blood red ; in our gard n lily, a rich
and delicate white ; and in tulips and violets, charm-
ingly variegated. The number of petals in a flower
is to be reckoned from the base of the corolla; and
23
178 THE BOTANIST.
the number of the segments from the middle of it.
If the petals are quite distinct at the bottom, the
flower is said to be polypetalous, or to consist of
more petals than one ; but if the petals are united at
bottom, though ever so slightly, then the flower is
monopetalous, or consisting of one petal only ; thus
the cranberry is monopetalous, and not tretapetalous,
because, though the petals fall off in four distinct
parts, they were originally united at the base.* A
bell-shaped flower consists of one petal, and is de-
nominated corolla ca?npanulata, and a funnel-shaped
flower, corolla infundibuliformis ; a gaping flower
corolla ring en s ; but the corolla cruciformis con-
sists of four petals ; and the butterfly shaped flow-
er, or corolla papilionacea, consists of five petals, as
in the pea blossom. The number Jive is most re-
markably predominant in the petals of flowers.
There are, moreover, irregular flowers, consisting
of dissimilar parts, which are generally accompa-
nied with a nectarium, as in the larkspur. The nec-
tarium, so called from nectar, the fabled drink of
the gods, is that part or appendage of the petals, ap-
propriated for containing, if not secreting, the honey,
whence it is taken by the bees. All flowers are not
provided with this receptacle for honey, although it
is probable that every flower has a honey-secreting
gland. The irregularity of the form and position
of this receptacle frequently puzzles young botanists.
Sometimes the nectarium makes part of the calyx ;
* Philosoph. Botan. Linnsei.
THE BOTANIST. 179
sometimes it is fixed in the common base, or recep-
tacle of the plant. Plants in which the nectaria are
distinct from the petals, that is, not lodged within
their substance, are generally poisonous.* If the
nectarium do not exist as a distinct visible part, it
probably exists as a pore or pores in every plant.f
It may hereafter be demonstrated, that this secreto-
ry apparatus is primarily necessary to the fructifi-
cation of the plant itself. Rousseau says, that the
nectaria are one of those instruments destined by na-
ture to unite the vegetable to the animal kingdom ;
and to make them circulate from one to another.
A flower and an insect have great resemblance to
each other. An insect is nourished by honey. May
it not be needful that the flower, during the process
of fructification, should be nourished by honey from
the nectaries ? Sugar is formed in the joints of the
canes, for, perhaps, a similar purpose.
THE STAMINA, AND THE PISTILLA.
Within the corolla stands, what Grew called the
attire; but what are now called the stamens and
pistils, which in the sexual system, and Linnasan
hypothesis of generation, are the most important or-
gans of a plant ; for on the number and respective
* Philosoph. Botan.
f All the grasses have nectaries. In the Passion flower, it is a triple
crown or glory.
180 THE BOTANIST.
position of the stamens and pistils, that prince of
botanists has founded his famous sexual system.
The stamina are filaments or threads issuing from
about the middle of the flower. Each stamen or
thread is surmounted by a prominence or button,
containing a fine powder. This protuberance is
called the anthera ; which is a capsule with one, two,
or more cavities.* The summit of each stamina
is called by way of pre-eminence, anthera, or flow-
er. It contains the pollen, which term means in
Latin the very fine dust in a mill. Some conceive
this dust to be infinitessimally small eggs or seeds,
or rather organic particles, or molecules ; others com-
pare it to the seminal fluid in animals. This pol-
len, or fecundating powder is very conspicuous in the
tall, white garden lily. This powder is collected by
the bees ; and is formed by some secret process in
their bodies into wax ; which is a singular species
of vegetable oil, rendered concrete by a peculiar
acid in the insect.
The pistillum, which is the Latin word for a pes-
tle, stands in the centre of the flower ; this term has
been adopted, from the fancied resemblance of a
pestle in a mortar. It is placed on the germen, or
seed bud ; its summit is called stigma, and in many
flowers resembles that bone of the arm, denominat-
ed the o.? humeri ; but its form varies in different
kinds of flowers. The surface of the stigma is cov-
* See Grew's graphic descriptions, from plate 55 to 64 inclusive, where
these capsules, with their pollen are finely delineated.
THE BOTANIST. 181
ered with a glutinous matter, to which the fecunda-
ting powder of the anthera adheres.
The germen is then the base of the pistillum,
and contains the rudiments of the seed ; which in
the process of vegetation swells and becomes the
seed vessels. It answers to the ovarium, or rather
uterine apparatus of animal's. The pericarpium is
the germen grown to maturity ; or the plant big with
seed.
The receptacle is the base, which connects the be-
fore mentioned parts together.
Fructification is a very significant term : it is de-
rived from Jructus, fruit ; and facio, to make : we
are not entirely satisfied with the definition, which
our great master has given of this compound word :
he says, it is a temporary part of plants appropriated
to generation, terminating the old vegetable, and be-
ginning the new. We have just described the sev-
en parts of fructification ; when recapitulated, they
are in order, as follows :
I. The Calyx.
II. The Corolla.
III. The Stamina.
IV. The Pistillum.
V. The Germen, or Pericarpium.
VI. The Seed ; and
VII, The Receptacle.
182 THE BOTANIST.
Having described the seven several component
parts of that beautiful offspring of a plant, denomi-
nated a flower, we have now leisure to make a few
remarks on the whole composition.
We cannot readily believe, with most botanists,
that the petals, or to take them collectively, the co-
rolla, have no other use in the vegetable economy,
than merely to cover and guard the sexual organs.
It militates against one of the most conspicuous
laws of nature, where we never see a complicated
contrivance, for a simple end or purpose ; but al-
ways the reverse. There is a pulmonary, or breath-
ing system in every vegetable. An artery belongs
to each portion of the corolla ; which conveys the
vegetable blood to the extremities of the petal, there
exposing it to the light and to the air, under a deli-
cate membrane ; which covers the internal surface
of the petal; where it often changes its colour, and
is seen beautifully in party-coloured tulips and pop-
pies.* The vegetable blood is collected at the ex-
tremities of, what Darwin calls, the coral arteries,
and is returned by correspondent veins, exactly as
he describes it in the green foliage.
It is presumed, that this breathing, and circulat-
ing structure, has for its end, the sustenance of the
anthers and stigma ; as well as for the elaboration of
honey, wax and essential oil ; and for perfecting the
prolific powder. The poetical author of the Botanic
* See Darwin's Phytologia.
THE BOTANIST. 183
Garden imagines, that as the glands which se-
crete the honey, and perfect the pollen, and pre-
pare and exalt the odoriferous essential oil, are at-
tached to the petals, and always fall off and perish
with them, it is an evidence that the vegetable blood is
elaborated, and oxygenated in this pulmonary sys-
tem of the flower, for the express purpose of these
important secretions. I leave to the philosophic
botanist to determine, whether there be more of
hypothesis than demonstration in this assertion.
We should, however, bear in mind this fact, that as
the green leaves constitute the organs of respiration
to the leaf-buds, so the bractes perform the same of-
fice to the flower buds.
Assuredly there are few things in nature, that de-
light the eye and regale the smell, like, what Mil-
ton calls, " the bright, consummate flower." Some
of them far exceed the finest feathers, the most bril-
liant shells ; or the most precious stones, or costly
diamonds. This appears to have been the judg-
ment of the learned and tasteful, in all ages. The
term jioivcr has been always used to express the
most excellent and valuable part of a thing; it is
synonymous with embellishment, or ornament ; it is
used to express the prime, acme or perfection of an
individual in the animal kingdom ; as well as the
most distinguished and most valuable mental ac-
quirement ; as the flower of the family, the flower
of the army, the flower of chivalry. To say, that
" he cropt the flowers of every virtue," is to express
all that can be conceived of human perfection.
18* THE BOTANIST.
By the expressive term of fructification ,* botan-
ists mean, not only the evanescent flower, but the
green* or imperfect fruit ; for they cannot well be
separated ; as a growing plant like a living animal,
remains not a moment the same ; but is continually
changing : hence fructification is defined by Lin-
naeus to be a temporary part of plants, terminating
the old vegetable, and beginning the new. The per-
fection of the vegetable consists in its fructification ;
the essence of the fructification consists in the flow-
er and fruit ; the essence of the flower consists in
the antherae and stigma ; and the essence of the fruit
consists in the seed ; and the essence of the seed
consists in the corculum, which is fastened to the
cotyledon; and the essence of the corculum con-
sists in the plumula, in which is the punctum vita
of the plant itself ; very minute in its dimensions ;
but capable, by the combination of intrinsic caloric,
with its innate oxygen, of increasing like a bud, to
infinity.
From this view of the produce of fructification,
the disciples of Linnaeus have learnt the following
principles ;
1st. That eveiy vegetable is furnished with flow-
er and fruit ; there being no species where these
are wanting.
2d. That there is no fructification without an-
thera, stigma, and seed.
• Fructification comprehends the nvw state of the flower, and the/utw
turitim of the fruit.
THE BOTANIST. 185
3d. That the anthers, and stigma constitute a
a flower, whether the petals or corolla be present or
or not.
4th. That the seed constitutes a fruit, whether
there be a pericarpium or not.*
Linnreus's theory of fructification is this : he sup-
poses, that the medullary part of a plant, that is to
say, the pith, must be joined with the external, or
cortical part, for the purpose of producing a new
one. If the medulla be so vigorous as to burst
through its containing vessels, and thus mix with
the cortical part, a bud is produced, either on the
branches or the roots of vegetables ; otherwise the
medulla is extended till it terminates in the pistil-
lum, or female part of the flower ; and the cortical
part is likewise elongated, till it terminates in the
antherse, or male part of the flower ; and then the
fecundating dust, from the latter, being joined to
the prolific juices of the former, produces the seeds,
or new plants ; at the same time, the inner rind is
extended into the petals or corolla ; and the outer
bark into the calyx. f This view of a plant will il-
lustrate the assertion in a former number, that the
seven essential parts, discoverable in the section of
a trunk of a tree, may be discerned in its blossom.
Plants, more especially, "the bright, consummate
flower, spirits odo?'ous breathe.'''' On what does
* See Lee's epitome of the works of I.innsEus. Chap. ix.
\ See Darwin, p. 83.
24
186 THE BOTANIST.
this agreeable odour depend ? The chemists say
on the oil ; but this is not going far enough. The
agitation of this matter must be postponed to next
month.
THE BOTANIST.
N°. XVII.
In our sketch of the History of Botany, we spoke
of that par nobile Jratrum, John and Caspar Bauhin.
We said that each of these indefatigable men under-
took an universal history of plants ; with a synony-
my, or exact list of the names that every plant bore
in all the writers which preceded them. Their
works, which are examples of vast knowledge and
solid labours, are still the guide to all those who
wish to consult antient authors on botany. After
their death, which happened between the years 1624,
and 1630 scarcely any author wrote on medicine,
but wrote more or less on botany.
Hyeeronymus Bouc, a German, was the first of
the moderns who has given a methodical distribu-
tion of vegetables. In his history of plants, pub-
lished in 1532, he divides the eight hundred species
there described into three classes, founded on their
qualities, habit, figure and size. Clusius endeavour-
ed soon after to establish the natural distinction of
THE BOTANIST. 187
Theophrastus, which was into trees, shrubs, and
undershrubs. Others attempted to characterize
plants by the roots, stems, and leaves, but all were
found insufficient. It was thirty years from this
time, that Gesner suggested the first idea of a sys-
tem founded on the flower and fruit. But the ap-
plication of this suggestion was not made until twen-
ty years afterwards by Casalpinus, a physician, and
professor of botany at Padua. Yet this system of
Csesalpinus, founded on scientific principles, perish-
ed, or rather slept for nearly a century, when it was
awakened by Dr. Morison of Aberdeen. The next
systematical arrangement of plants was given by the
learned and pious Mr. Ray. His general history of
plants contains eighteen thousand six hundred and
fifty-five species and varieties. He allows one di-
vision to such plants as grow at the bottom of the
sea; or upon rocks that are surrounded by that
element ; but naturalists have now removed these
from the vegetable to the animal kingdom. Then
Herman of Leyden published his systematic ar-
rangement ; and soon after the famous Boerhaave
favoured the public with his plan. About this time,
or a little anterior, viz. the year 1700, the celebrated
Tournefort came forth with his learned and exten-
sive botanical system ; then Knaut, Ludwig, Pon-
tedra and Magnolias. It appears that Csesalpinus
followed Gesner ; Morison Cassalpinus ; Ray im-
proved upon Morison ; Knaut abridged Ray ; Her-
man formed himself partly on Morison, and partly
;Gn Ray, while Boerhaave took the indefatigable Her»
188 THE BOTANIST.
nnn for his guide. But it was Tournefort of France
who surpassed all his predecessors in supplying
a clue to the vegetable kingdom. Intricate as is this
system, it was the most complete the world had ev-
er seen. The French nation were proud of it ; and
gloried in giving an everlasting botanical system to
an admiring world. Yet Tournefort did but clear
the way for one still greater than himself; for in the
year 1755 arose the sun of the botanical world, Lin-
naeus ; of whose system we can give here only a
mere sketch or outline.
Excepting Aristotle, the antient writers on Natu-
ral History had no systematical arrangement ; but
described plants and animals as they came to hand.
The boundaries of natural history have been so en-
larged by modern enterprize and industry, that it
has become necessary to class and sort this vast mul-
titude, or the student of nature would be lost in the
exuberance before him. It is natural enough, says
that pleasant writer Goldsmith, for ignorance to lie
down in hopeless uncertainty ; and to declare, that
to particularize each body is utterly impossible ;
but it is otherwise with the active, searching mind :
no way intimidated with the immense variety*
it begins the task of numbering, grouping and
classing all the various kinds that fall within its no-
tice ; finds every day new relations between the sev-
eral parts of creation, acquires the art of considering
several at a time under one point of view ; and at last
begins to find that the variety is neither so great.
THE BOTANIST. 189
nor so inscrutable as was first imagined.* It is a
difficult task to find out a particular man in an im-
mense crowd, or mob of people ; but if this promis-
cuous jumble of people be systematized, or arrang-
ed into brigades, regiments, companies, and pla-
toons, we sh-ill be able to find the individual with-
out much difficulty. It is thus in a systemati-
cal arrangement of vegetables. Bonnet has, in a
great measure, disregarded system ; and Buffon has
treated it with contempt. But the eloquent author
of the " History of the Earth and Animated Nature"
justly remarks, that books are written with opposite
views ; some only to be read ; and some only to be
occasionally consulted; that the methodists have
sacrificed to order alone all the delights of the sub-
ject, all the acts of heightening, awakening, or con-
tinuing curiosity. But he adds, that systematical
arrangements "have the same use in science that a
dictionary has in language ; but with this difference,
that in a dictionary we proceed from the name to
the definition ; in a system of natural history we
proceed from the definition to find out the thing.
Without the aid of system, Nature must still have
lain undistinguished, like furniture in a lumber-
room ; every thing we wish for is there indeed ; but
we know not where to find it."
The Botanist will not conceal that he attempted,
some years ago, what some perhaps would call an he-
retical innovation against the Linnasan creed. It has
• See History of the Earth and Animated Nature, Vol, 2. Chap, xvi,
190 THE BOTANIST.
however served, like every other heresy, to fix more
firmly the true doctrine. When he commenced
these monthly essays, botany was scarcely known in
our commonwealth. While he endeavoured to at-
tract the attention of the youth of both sexes to this
subject, he hoped to remove the objection, often
urged by parents, against the Linnaean doctrine and
phraseology. In fewer words ; he hoped he could
drop the Linnaean metaphor of generation ; and
substitute that of nutrition, and thereby obviate the
objection just mentioned. In his first essay, his
plan appeared plausible, and his progress pleasant.
But as he went on, he found himself more and more
encumbered with unmanageable and awkward ma-
terials. The Botanist knows no other distinguish-
ing mark which divides the animal from the veg-
etable, than that the one has a stomach for receiv-
ing and digesting its food ; and the other has
none. But then, he found that his meditated inno-
vation would trespass against a law which he had
acknowledged. — To be more explicit — He commu-
nicated his delicate plan to a sensible friend ; —
whether une sage Jemme, or une femme sage, im-
ports not. The answer determined its fate. " You
" will be laughed at. If you refine too much, you
•" will create in young people, the very evil you ap-
" prehend. Remember Rosseau's comment on the
" fox, the crow, and the cheese. What you call the
" the objectionable part of botany is the principal
" stimulus to its study. Divest it of that charm,
i( and you will diminish the number of its admirers
THE BOTANIST. 191
" among the men. Then burn your nonsense, and
M glorify Linnaeus."
The opinion of Sir Joseph Banks had no small
influence in diverting the Botanist from his project
for while under the influence of it, he had written to
that celebrated Naturalist. He in answer says : —
" How can you and I correspond about a plant, which
" you may have found in America, or I in Europe,
" and is known but to one of us r unless we have
" agreed on a technical language, by which we can
" describe to each other the constituent parts ; and
" by that means agree to what known plant it bears
" the greatest resemblance. The Linnaean system
" is not certainly to be considered as free from
" faults. All human contrivance will abound with
" them. But still I eannot help allowing that, as
** far as I know, it is the best hitherto invented, by a
" great interval ; and as such, is now, in a manner
tc invariably received by the whole learned world."
We therefore present our readers with a sketch
of this famous system.
THE OUTLINES OF
LINNjEUS'S SYSTEM OF VEGETABLES,
The sexual system, as invented and given to
the world by Linnaeus, is built or founded on the
male and female parts of fructification. By
fructification is meant flower and fruit ; and is dis»
posed according to the number, proportion and sit-
192 THE BOTANIST.
uation of the stamens or pistils, or the male and fe-
male organs.
For the sake of brevity of expression, he has had
recourse to the Greek language. Andria, from Any,
a husband, he has applied to the stamen ; and gy-
nia, from ywH, a wife, to the pistil. The stamen -
consists of two parts : — first, the filament is that
part which elevates the anthera ; — second, the an-
ther a is the part that bears the pollen, or farina fae-
cundans, that impregnates the pistillum or germen.
First, The pistillum consists of three parts ;
the germen or embryo of a future fruit ; — second,
the style, which elevates the stigma ; — third, the
stigma or summit, which is covered with a moisture,
that dissolves the farina fascundans of the anthera,
fitting it for vivification.
Of the classes and orders, with the names of
plants exemplifying them.
MONANDRIA
CONTAINS II. ORDERS.
One Stamen in the Hermafihrodite Flower.
T C Order I. Monogynia \ C Canna.
Class 1. £ order II. Digynia $ E \ Blitum.
DIANDRIA
CONTAINS III. ORDERS.
Two Sta?nens in the Hermafihrodite Floiver.
f Order I. Monogynia') fMonarda.
Class II. \ Order II. Digynia U. g.^ Anthoxanthum.
L Order III. Trigynia ) (.Piper.
THE BOTANIST.
TRIANDR1A
CONTAINS III. ORDERS.
Three Stamens in the Hermaphrodite Flower.
193
{Order I. Monbgynia "J f(
Order II. Digynia I e. g. -J J
Order III. Trigyhia J \_l
Crocus.
Avenaa.
Moliugo.
TETRANBRIA
CONTAINS III. ORDERS.
/>/wr Stamens in the Flower with the Fruit.
(If two firoximate Stamens are shorter, let it be referred
to Class XIV.)
{Dipsacus.
i elis.
Potamogeton.
Class
f Order I. Monogynia^i
IV. < Order II. Digynia Ie.
^ Order III. TetragyniaJ
Class V. <J
PENTAXDRIA
CONTAINS VI. ORDERS.
Five Stamens in the Hermaphrodite Flower.
fNerium.
j Anethum.
j Turnera.
E. G. < n
^ Parnassia.
Crassuia.
nogynia "J
Fynia
Order I. Mom
Order II. Digr
Order III. Trigynia
Order IV. Tetragynia
j Order V. Pentagynia
[ Order VI. Polygyria
Myosurus.
HEXANDRIA
CONTAINS V. ORDERS.
Six Stamens in the Hermaphrodite Flower.
f If of this, two m ofifiodt,e Stamens are snorter, it bi longs to
Class XV. )
f Order I.
j Order II.
Class VI. <J Order III. Trig
Order IV. Vetru
Order V. Polygynia
25
)> e. g. <; p.
J U
f Amaryllis-
| Qryza.
I-.u . ex.
na-
Ansnia.
m THE BOTANIST.
HEPTANDRIA.
CONTAINS IV. ORDERS.
Seven Stamens in the same Flower with the Pistillum.
("Order I. Monogynia ~\ f Aesculus.
Class VIL < ° rder IL Di SV nia I E G J Limeum.
' j Order III. Tetragynia f ' | Saururus.
(^Order IV. Hefitagynia J [_Septas.
OCTANDRIA
CONTAINS IV. ORDERS.
Might Stamens in the same Flower with the Pistillum.
{Order I. Monogynia"] ("Oenothera.
Order II. Digynia \ J Galenia.
Order III. Trigynia r E " G,< \ Polygonum.
Order IV. Tetragynia J j^Adoxa.
ENNEANDRIA
CONTAINS III. ORDERS.
Nine Stamens in the Hermaphrodite Flower.
{Order I. Monogynia "1 TCassyta.
Order II. Trigynia K e. g. < Rheum
Order III. Hexagynia J (^Butomus.
DECANDRIA
CONTAINS V. ORDERS.
Ten Stamens in the Hermaphrodite Flower.
'Order I. Monogynia "| ("Kalmia.
Order II. Digynia J Saxifraga.
Class X. < Order III. Trigynia J>e. g.<^ Stellaria.
Order IV. Pentagynia I I Oxalis.
Order V. Decagynia J (^Phytolacca.
THE BOTANIST.
395
DODECANDRIA
CONTAINS y. ORDERS.
Stamens from twelve to nineteen in the Hermaphrodite
Flower.
{Order I. Monogynia
Order II. Digynia
Order III. Trigynia
Order IV. Pentagynia
Order V. Dodecagynia
{Asarum.
Agrimonia.
Euphorbia.
Glinus.
Sempervivum.
ICOSANDRIA.
CONTAINS V. ORDERS.
The Stamens inserted (not in the Receptacle, but) in the in
side of the Calyx. — Commonly twenty, often more.
J Order I. Monogynia
Order II. Digynia
^ Order III. Trigynia £. e. g.
J Order IV. Pentagynia
(_Order V. Polygynia
POLYANDRIA
CONTAINS VII. ORDERS.
fPunica.
I Crataegus.
< Sorous.
I Pyrus.
(^Rubus.
The Stamens inserted in the Receptacle from twenty to an
hundred^ in the same with the Pistil in the Flower.
"Order I.
Order II.
Order III.
Class XIII. <^ Order IV-
Order V.
Order VI.
Monogynia
Digynia
Trigynia
'"Sarracenia.
Fothergilla.
Aconitum.
Pentagynia
Hexagynia
(_Order VII. Polygynia
Tetragynia £>e. g.< Tatracera
Aquilegia.
Stratiotes.
Ranunculus.
DIDYNAMIA
CONTAINS II. ORDERS,
Four Stamens-, of which two are close together, and arc
longer.
Order I. Gy7nnospermia } „ „ S Melittis.
Class XI\
M8
rder II. Angiospermia
It, n 5 MC
S B -°7Mc
lianthus.
196 THE BOTANIST.
TETRADYNAMIA
CONTAINS II. ORDERS.
Six Stamens ; four of which are long, the two ofi/iosite chort.
^i vu ? Order I. Siliculosd~> ( Lunaria.
Class XV. £ Order n< suigum \ I Cheiranth^s.
MONADELPHIA
CONTAINS V. ORDERS.
The Filaments of the Stamens grown together into one Body.
Order I. P entandria
Older II. Enncandri
Class XVI. <
r ia ""}
ria I
ia >e.
Hermannia.
Dryandra.
Order III. Dccandria ]>e. g.<; Geranium
Order IV. Dodtcandria j Pu;tapete
Order V. Polijandria J (jYlcea.
DIADELPHIA
CONTAINS IV. ORDERS.
The Filaments of the Stamens grown together into two Bo-
dies.
r Order I. Pentandria~\ ("Monnieria,
, Order II. Hexandria ! J Fumaria.
Class XVII. <^ Qrder nL 0cl andria >*' G ^ Pfciygala.
j^Order IV. Decandria J [^Lathyrus.
POLYADELPHIA
CONTAINS III. ORDERS.
The Filaments of the Stamens grown together into three
or more Bodies.
{"Order I. Pentandria"\ rTheobroma.
Class XVIII. < Order II. Icosandria Ie. g.< Citrus.
(_ Order III. Polijandria J (_ Hypericum,
THE BOTANIST.
197
SYNGENESIA
CONTAINS VI. ORDEUS.
The Stamens with the Antheras grown together in Form of a
Cylinder (having rarely Filaments. J
»— i
IT.
U
<
'Order I. Polygamia JEqualis ~\ fLeontodon.
Order II. Polygamia Sufierflua I J Xeranthemura.
Order III. Poly gamiaFrustranea \ J Helianthus.
OvderlV. Polyga?fiia Neccssaria j ' '^Calendula.
Order V. Polygamia Segregata J Echinops.
Order VI. Monogamia [_Lobelia.
GYNANDRIA
CONTAINS VIII. ORDERS.
The Stamens inserted on the Pistil (not on the Receptacle.)
ClassXX.<<
Order I.
Order II.
Order III.
Order IV.
Order V.
Order VI.
Order VII.
Diandria
Triandria
Tetrandria
P entandria
Hexandria
Decandria
Dodecandria
fOrchis.
>e. g.<;
Order VIII. Polyandria
Sisyrinchium.
Nepenthes.
Passiflora.
Aristolochia,
Helicteres.
Cytinus.
MONOECIA
CONTAINS XI. ORDERS.
The Male and Female Flowers on the same Plant.
Class XXI. <
Order I.
Order II.
Orderlll.
Order IV.
Order V.
Order VI.
Order VII.
Order VIII.
Order IX.
OrderX.
^OrderXI.
Monandria
Diandria
Triandria
Tetrandria
Pentandria
Hexandria )>E.
Hejitandria
Polyandria
Monadelphia
Syngcnesia
Gunandria
"Zanichellia.
Lemna.
Tripsacum.
Urtica.
Parthenium,
g.<^ Pharus.
Guettarda.
Juglans.
Pinus.
Momordica.
Andraclme,
19S
THE BOTANIST.
DIOECIA
CONTAINS XIV. ORDERS.
The Male Flowers on a different Plant from the Female
'J
Order I.
Monandria
'Pandanus.
Order II.
Diandria
Salix.
Order III.
Triandria
Empetrum.
Order IV.
Tetrandria
Viscum.
Order V.
P entandria
Humulus.
Order VI.
Hexandria
Tamus.
Order VII.
Octandria
> E. G. <
Populus.
Order VIII.
JSnneandria
Mercurialis.
Order IX.
Decandria
Kiggelaria.
Order X.
Dodecandria
Meiuspermum
Order XI.
Polyandria
Cliffortia.
Order XII.
Monadelphia
Junip^rus.
Order XIII
Syngenesia
Ruscus.
Order XIV
Gynandria
^Clutia.
POLYGAMIA
CONTAINS III. ORDERS.
Hermaphrodite and Male or Female Flowers on the same
Plant.
f Order I. Monoecia
Class XXIII. 1 Order II. Dioecia
(^ Order III. Trioecia
}
rVeratrum.
e. g. < Fraxinus.
(_ Ficus.
CRYPTOGAMIA
CONTAINS IV. ORDERS.
The Flowers within the Fruit ; or in so singular a ?node,
as not to be perceptible to the eye.
"Order I.
Filices~\
Order II. Musci '
Order III.
Class XXIV. <j — J- — " Y e. g. ^ -
^_Order IV. Fmtgi J
PALMjE.
rPolypodium.
J Bryum.
ucus.
{^Agaricus.
Class XXV. Palms : the flowers borne on a spadix, and
within a spathe. e. g. Cocos.
THE BOTANIST. 199
The orders are taken from the females, or pis-
tils, as the classes are from the males, or
stamens ; but in the classes of the Syngenesia
the orders differ from the rest :
FOR EXAMPLE
MoNOGYNIA, DlGYNIA, TrIGYNIA, &C. Tunf
Femina, with the prefixing of the Greek number
(xoyo; one, In two, Tfe?c three, reo-o-a^ four, &c.
Which means i The Pistil, 1,2, 3, 4, &c. — Here the
number of the pistils is taken from the basis of
the styles ; if the basis should be deficient,
then the calculation is to be made from the num-
ber of the stigmas.
POLYGAMIA .EQUALIS.
That is, Of many Flosculi furnished with stamens
and pistils. Flowers of this sort are for the most
part commonly called jlosculous.
POLYGAMIA SPURIA.
That is, Where hermaphrodite flosculi occupy the
disk, and that female flosculi surround the mar-
gin, which are deprived of stamina, and that in a
three-foid manner.
SUPERFLUOUS.
That is, That when the flowers of the hermaphro-
dite disk are furnished with a stigma, and pro-
300 THE BOTANIST.
duce seeds, the female flowers also, that constitute,
the radius, produce seeds in like manner.
FRUSTRANEOUS.
That is, When the flowers of the hermaphrodite
disk are furnished with a stigma, and produce
seeds ; but the flosculi constituting the radius,
being deprived of a stigma, cannot produce seeds.
NECESSARY.
That is, When the hermaphrodite flowers, through
a defect of the stigma or pistil, cannot perfect
their seeds ; but female flowers in the radius pro-
duce perfect seeds.
SEGREGATED.
That is, When several floriferous calyxes are con-
tained in a calyx common to all, so as to form
only one flower.
The young student of botany will understand the
preceding sketch of the Linnasan System, if he have
recourse to the " Letters on the Elements of Bota-
ny, addressed to a Lady,-' by the celebrated J. J.
Rousseau, translated by Dr. Martyn. If to this
pleasant guide, he should add John Miller's engrav-
ed illustrations of the sexual system of Linnaaus, he
will be soon able to proceed v ithout the help of
books ; as it regards the system. It is superfluous
to add a word to what has been said, throughout
THE BOTANIST. 201
these essays, respecting the botanical writings of
Linnaeus. But " botany is not to be learnt in the
closet : you must go into the garden or the fields,
and there become familiar with Nature herself;
with that beauty, order, regularity, and inexhaustible
variety, which is to be found in the structure of
vegetables ; and that wonderful fitness to its end,
which we perceive in every work of creation."*
THE BOTANIST.
N°. XVIII.
The bright, consummate Flower, says the
most learned of poets, " spirits odorous breathes."
Let us now enquire on what this odour depends.
The chemist tells us, that it depends on the oil of
the plant. But we are dissatisfied with this vague
answer. A vegetable distils two kinds of oil, dif-
fering very much from each other ; the one is fix-
ed, and the other volatile. The fixed oil is com-
bined with mucilage ; the volatile, with the aroma,
or spiritus rector of the plant. The fixed oil is
found only in the seeds ; and is confined almost en-
tirely to those which have two cotyledons, as in
the flax-seed, almonds, and rape-seed. But the
* Martyn's preface to Rousseau's letters.
26
202 THE BOTANIST.
volatile oil is found in every part of a plant, except
the cotyledons of the seeds, where it never oc-
curs ; and is distinguished pre-eminently in Mil-
ton's bright, consummate flower.
When we say that the fine fragrance of a flower
depends on its volatile oil ; or that its aromatic
virtue is contained in it, and hence called its es-
sential oil, we do not go quite far enough. We
are so far from being admitted, says the profound
Locke 5 into the secrets of nature, that we scarcely
approach the first entrance. We overlook the op-
erations of those invisible fluids, which encompass
them, upon whose motions and operations depend
those qualities,* for which they are most remarka-
ble. Thus this essential oil contains something
more subtile and active than itself ; a spirit > an ex-
ceedingly minute, volatile, and scarcely ponderable
spirit, which, when separated, leaves nothing pecu-
liar in the remaining oil. This is the spiritus rec-
tor '-of the old chemists, the predominant, prevailing,
paramount, or ruling spirit of the plant. This aeri-
form fluidity, gas, or spirit, denominate it which
you will, and which is inimitable by art, imparts
that smell, taste, and medicinal virtue to that pecu-
liar species of plants, and is found in no other.
The fixed oil of a plant is innate ; but the essential
oil is the effect, or the result of the vegetable econ-
omv, operating in perfect health, and in full perfec-
* What Lock calk " yr.M.tTins," Aristotle, and some other ancients..
-ailed forms
THE BOTANIST. 20J
aon, while drawing its sustentation from its native
earth and air.
The essential oils of plants have their respec-
tive characteristics from their aroma, or spirits.
The volatile oil serves, in some degree, for envel-
oping, arresting, and preventing a too sudden, and
too copious expenditure of them ; while the fixed
oil serves only for connecting the solid parts to-
gether, like the oil or fat in animals. The differ-
ence in the nature of these two oils, is therefore
very wide. How different must be the medicinal
virtues of the root — the wood — the leaf — the flow-
er — the fruit, and the seed of the same plant?
Yet we physicians have been in the habit of pound-
ing up an entire vegetable in a mortar, and squeeze
ing out the juices of it, and of giving this mixture
of every thing to the sick ; and from its operation
we pronounce on its predominant medicinal virtue.
Those who filled our s} r stems of Materia Medica
with Galenical preparations, had no idea of the sub-
tile structure and economy of a vegetable. While
transforming a plant into an ointment, who ever
chinks of its structure ? And who that has attend-
ed closely to its structure and economy, can rely on
its analysis by fire, which reduces every plant to
the same coal, the same earth, and the same salt ?
Some of our readers may be of the opinion, that
by fixing our eyes too intently on the poetical flow-
er of Milton, we have strayed from the enlightened
path of modern chemistry, into such a thicket of
odoriferous flowers as to become, if not stupified,
204 THE BOTANIST.
at least, so far bewildered as not to be able to find
our way out. We are aware that the term spirit,
is not fashionable. We mean by it, the finest and
most subtile parts of bodies ; the most active part
of matter, with regard to its facility of motion, in
comparison with the grosser parts : we mean that
which is discoverable by its smartness to the smell ;
and that which rises first in distillation. The name
of spirit, was formerly given to any subtile, volatile
substance, that exhaled from bodies in a given de-
gree of heat : and, by a sort of imaginary analogy,
was transferred to the human system : hence the
term animal spirits; which was ingeniously sup-
posed to reside in the nervous fluid, as the spiritus
rector resides in the essential oil of plants.
If the term spirit should displease the fastidious
critic, we would remind him that spirit, in the
German language, is gaseht ; whence is derived
the English word ghost or spirit ; and hence our
fashionable word gas, or gaz ; by which we are
to understand an exceedingly rare, highly elastic,
and invisible fluid, not condensible by cold. Should
the critic persist in refusing his imprimatur to the
term spirit, or spiritus rector, we will compound
with him, by giving him in its stead, the word
quintessence ; by which we mean the specific es-
sence, the active principle, by the power of which
medicines operate. By this term was meant the
predominant, ruling, or distinguishing part of me-
dicinal simples which can be separated, in imagina-
tion, from the tangible body, leaving its organiza-
THE BOTANIST. 205
tion entire. To be still more particular : The an-
tient philosophers, and after them, our old chem-
ists conceived that fire — air — water, and earth con-
tributed to the composition of all vegetables ; to all
which was added a fifth thing, or ens, which en-
riched and distinguished the whole, by its own
particular efficacy ; and on which the odour, taste,
and virtue of each plant depended : they therefore
asserted, that each species of plants was made up
of the feur common elements ; but to these was
added a fifth ; which, though small hi quantity,
was the most powerful, efficacious, and predomi-
nant of its component parts: this therefore they
called the fifth essence ; or, as expressed in Latin,
the quinta essentia.
The knowledge of quintessences was considered
two hundred years ago, as the utmost bounds, the
ne plus ultra of chemical perfection. Is not this
precisely the case, at present, with the knowledge
of gases, or spirits?
We have said, that all aromatic plants contain
a volatile oil ; but this aromatic oil does not reside
in the same part in every kind of plant : sometimes
indeed we find it distributed through the whole
plant, as in the Bohemian angelica : sometimes it
exists only in the bark, as in cinnamon. Balm,
mint, rosemary, and wormwood contain their essen-
tial oil in their leaves and stems ; while the elecam-
pane and fiorentine iris deposite it in their roots.
All the terebinthenate, or resin-bearing trees, have it
in their young branches ; while the chamomile and
206 THE BOTANIST.
the rose have it in their petals. Many fruits contain
it throughout their whole substance, as pepper and
juniper. Oranges and lemons contain it in their
rind or peel. The nutmeg-tree bears its essential
oil in the nut, and its immediate envelopment, or
rather its second envelopment, which is mace. The
seeds of the umbelliferous plants, such as fennel^
eummin, and anise have the vesicles of essential oil
along the projecting lines of their skin.
Passing from the aroma of plants to those quali-
ties which powerfully affect the organs of taste, we
remark that the taste of essential oils is pungent, or
hot. But it is curious that the taste of the plant
does not always influence that of its essential oil ;
for the oil of pepper has no extraordinary acrimo-
ny ; and that which is obtained from wormwood is
not bitter : and so of colour ; the oil of red roses is
white; the oil of lavender yellow; and that of
chamomile a fine blue. The oil of parsley is of a
bright green, and that of millefoil a sea green.
This is a valuable part of botany ; and ought to be
diligently pursued in this country.
Have not some devotees to system led students
of botany to neglect the great use and end of this
science? Far be it from us to slight system. We
are its advocates ; c method is the soul of science/*
But we wish to remind some of our readers of the
subordinate rank which it holds to the great and ul-
timate end of botany. Far be it from the Botanist
* Bacon.
THE BOTANIST. 20 7
to speak lightly of the pleasure derived from the
sight of an elegant, and splendid plant. Amidst
the insatiable variety of nature, few are its produc-
tions that can be placed in competition with a beau-
tiful, odoriferous flower. The most gorgeous feath-
ers captivate the sight merely by the richness of
their colours ; and the most brilliant gem but daz-
zles the eye by its splendour; but they are all
blanks to the blind man ; who is regaled by the fra-
grance of the rose and the violet ; the lily and the
jessamine.
THE BOTANIST.
N°. XIX.
If love be any refinement, conjugal love must be certainly so in a much
higher degree. It is the parent of substantial virtues and agreeable
qualities, and cultivates the mind while it improves the behaviour.
Spectator, N°. 525.
We dedicate the present number to such of our
fair country women, as honour these essays with
perusal. Our Flora, on this occasion, has bound
her cheerful brow with myrtle and placed the white
rose in her bosom.* We have moreover selected
* P^nts sacred to love in ancient mythology.
20$ THE BOTANIST.
for a motto, a passage from that accomplished
scholar and friend of the sex, Addison, as contain-
ing a charming sentiment, every way proper to pre-
cede the history of a female, who not only shone
with uncommon splendour as an artist and a botan-
ist, but was rendered still more conspicuous by the
additional lustre of conjugal affection, which virtue
she exercised at the darkest periods, and during the
most distressful pangs of human calamity.
Our fair readers will pardon us, if we should fail
in celebrating conjugal affection, the ground work
of all the domestic virtues. Teachers of right-
eousness themselves may excuse us, if we cast a
look of regret to this too much neglected portion
of moral philosophy. We have colleges for teach-
ing every art and science. We have minute direc-
tions in gardening and agriculture. We have
numberless books on the doctrine of business ; on
self policy, or the art of rising in life ; on oratory,
and on politics ; while that which is worth them
all, the doctrine of domestic happiness •, is left com-
paratively uncultivated ; yet this is that philoso-
phy, spoken of by Lord Bacon, which of all oth-
ers " comes home to men's business and boso?ns"
The history of every civilized nation, nay every
man's own recollection, affords abundant proofs,
that the female mind is equally capable with that of
the male. It is situation and circumstances that
rouse the latent energies of the female soul.
Whence is it, that the children of widows become
generally better men and better women, than chil-
THE BOTANIST. 209
clren brought up in conjunction with the father ? It
ause afflictive circumstances have called forth
the dormant energies of heroic woman, and per-
fected a virtue peculiar to the sex ; a virtue, which
originated in conjugal affection. Can this evanes-
cent world, this anxious scene, exhibit a more in-
teresting sight to the philosopher, than a virtuous
widow weeping over her " houseless child of
want ?" Yes ; there is one picture still more af-
fecting. It is where the father and husband is
worse than dead, through his folly and his crimes.
Here, if conjugal love has not been ripened into
maternal affection, and grown up into the highest
of stoical virtues, nay more, sublimed into religion,
the wretched woman sinks into intemperance, or is
lost in despair. An over anxious and unrestrained
fondness is not true maternal affection. The fowls
of the air and the beasts of the field have also a
blind and furious fondness for their young. Ma-
ternal affection is where judgement draws more
closely the bonds of nature.
The happiness of the conjugal state appears height-
ened, says Addison, to the highest degree it is ca-
pable of, when we see two persons of accomplished
minds not only united in the same interests and af-
fections, but in their taste of the same improve-
ments, pleasures, and diversions. Pliny, one of
the finest, gentlemen and politest writers among the
Romans, has left us, in his letter to Hispulla, his
wife's aunt, one of the most agreeable family pieces
of this kind ever seen. We refer our readers to the
27
210 THE BOTANIST.
525th number of the Spectator for the letter itself,
and hasten to give an account of an ingenious and
excellent woman, who enlivened the dungeon of
her husband with flowers, and entwined his fetters
with the white rose and the myrtle.
It is a singular fact, says Dr. Pulteney, that
physic is indebted for the most complete set of
figures of the medical plants to the genius and in-
dustry of a lady, exerted on an occasion, that re-
dounded highly to her praise. The name of
MRS. ELIZABETH BLACKWELL
is well known, both from her own merit and the
fate of her unfortunate husband, who, condemned
for crimes of state, suffered death on the scaffold in
Sweden, in the year 1747.
We are informed, she was the daughter of a
merchant in the neighbourhood of Aberdeen; of
which city Dr. Alexander Blackwell, her husband,
was a native, and where he received an university
education, and was early distinguished for his
knowledge. After having failed in his attempt to
introduce himself into practice, first in Scotland,
and afterwards in London, he became corrector to
a printing press ; and soon after commenced print-
ing himself. But being prosecuted by the trade,
and at length involved in debt, was thrown into
prison. To relieve these distresses, Mrs. Black-
well having a genius for drawing and painting, ex-
erted all her talents ; and, understanding that an
herbal of medicinal plants was greatly wanted, she
THE BOTANIST. 211
exhibited to Sir Hans Sloane, Dr. Mead, and other
ph) r sicians, some specimens of her art in painting
plants, who approved so highly of them, as to en-
courage her to prosecute a work, by the profits of
which she is said to have procured her husband's
liberty, after a confinement of two years. Dr. Issac
Rand was at that time Demonstrator to the Compa-
ny of Apothecaries, in the garden at Chelsea. By
his advice she took up her residence opposite the
Physic Garden, in order to facilitate her design by
receiving the plants as fresh as possible. He not
only promoted her work with the public, but, to-
gether with the celebrated Philip Miller, afforded
her all possible direction and assistance in the exe-
cution of it. After she had completed the draw-
ings, she engraved them on copper, and coloured
the prints with her own hands. During her abode
at Chelsea, she was frequently visited by persons of
quality, and many scientific people, who admired
her performances and patronized her undertaking.
On publishing the first volume, in 1737, she ob-
tained a recommendation from Dr. Mead, Dr.
Sherard, Dr. Rand, and others, to be prefixed to it.
And being allowed to present, in person, a copy to
the College of Physicians, that body made her a
present, and gave her a public testimonial of their
approbation ; with leave to prefix it to her book.
The second volume was finished in 1739, and the
whole published under the following title : U A cu-
rious Herbal, containing 500 Cuts of the most use-
ful plants which are now used in the practice of
21B THE BOTANIST.
Physic, engraved on folio copper -plates, after draw-
ings taken from the life. By Elizabeth Blac/avell.
To which is added, a short description of the Plants,
and their common uses in Physic. 1739." 2
Vol. fol.
The drawings are in general faithful ; and if
there is wanting that accuracy, which modern im-
provements have rendered necessary in delineating
the more minute parts, yet, upon the whole, the
figures are sufficiently distinctive of the subject.
Each plate is accompanied with an engraved page,
containing the Latin and English officinal names,
followed by a short description of the plant, and a
summary of its qualities and uses. After these oc-
cur the name in various other languages. These
illustrations were the share her husband took in the
work. This ill-fated man, after his failure in phys-
ic, and in printing, became an unsuccessful candi-
date for the place of secretary to the Society for
the encouragement of learning. He was made
superintendant of the works belonging to the Duke
of Candos, at Cannons, and experienced those dis-
appointments, incident to projectors. He formed
schemes in agriculture, and wrote a treatise on the
subject, which we are told was the cause of his be-
ing engaged in Sweden. In that kingdom he
drained marshes, practised physic, and was even
employed in that capacity for the king. At length
he was involved in some state cabals ; or, as some
?.ccounts have it, in a plot with Count Tessin, for
THE BOTANIST. 213
which he suffered death, protesting his innocence to
the last.*
So respectable a performance as Mrs. Blackwell's
attracted the attention of physicians on the conti-
nent. It was translated into German and repub-
lished at Norimburg, in 1750. To this edition
was prefixed a most elaborate and learned catalogue
of botanical authors. In 1773 a supplemental vol-
ume, exhibiting plants omitted by Mrs. Black-
well, was published under the direction of Ludwig,
Rose, and Boehmer. In this form the work of
this learned and ingenious lady surpassed all that
had been published. We hope the patrons of bota-
ny, will gratify the ladies of America with a sight
of these splendid books, not merely as a valuable
treasure of botanical knowledge, but to show the
men to what degree of perfection the other sex may
ascend, when their talents are brought forth, and
sublimed by conjugal affection.
Prior to the time of Mrs. Blackwell, flourished
the very ingenious and indefatigable
MARIA SYBIL MERIAN,
Who was born at Francfort in 1647. Her fa-
ther was a celebrated engraver ; and from him
she acquired a knowledge of drawing. He placed
her under the instruction of an eminent painter,
from whom she learnt a remarkable neatness of
* Dr. Pulteney's historical and biographical sketches of the progress of
Botany in England.
214 THE BOTANIST.
managing the pencil, and delicacy of colouring.
She was particularly fond of painting subjects of
natural history ; such as plants, reptiles, and insects,
which she most commonly drew from nature ; at
the same time, she studied those objects with a cu-
riosity, and with the inquisitive spirit of a natural-
ist ; so that her knowledge of nature, and the work
of her hands, rendered her every day, more and
more celebrated. She most commonly painted her
subjects on vellum ; and in water colours ; and she
finished an astonishing number. She painted the
caterpillar, in all its various changes and formSj in
which they successively appear, from their quies-
cent state, till they become butterflies. Not con-
tented with painting the plants, insects, and rep-
tiles, of her own country, this enterprising woman
crossed the Atlantic, and visited Surinam, to paint
those plants, insects, and reptiles, which were pe-
culiar to that climate. At her return to Europe,
she published two volumes of engravings, which
she executed from her own paintings ; and which
hold a high rank in that art. But they are not
equal to her paintings ; for her glistening serpents,
her wet frogs, and her crawling spiders are execut-
ed with horrible precision. This celebrated wo-
man died in 1717. She left a daughter, who paint-
ed in the same style ; and who had accompanied
her mother to Surinam. This young lady pub-
lished a 3d volume in folio, collected from the de-
signs of her mother ; which complete work has
THE BOTANIST. 215
been always admired by the learned, as well as by
the professors of painting.*
The Botanist cannot too strongly recommend to
his fair readers the art of delineation or drawing.
What a decided superiority does a facility in this
art give to the person who possesses it, over the
one who does not ? If the time consumed by our
young ladies, in learning to play tolerably ill on
sundry musical instruments, were devoted to the
charming art of copying nature, and acquiring some
knowledge of her works, how beautifully would it
embellish our system of female education ? This
art is not merely in itself amusing, but may be
highly useful and important, in a change of for-
tune, and under the pressure of adverse circum-
stances, as has been illustrated in the historv of the
amiable, but unfortunate Elizabeth Blackwell.
THE BOTANIST.
N°. XX.
1 Last the bright, consummate Flower.
Milton.
We have already described the parts essential to
every flower ;f and have showed that botanists
were, a long time, puzzled how to define one. A
• See Escyclop, Brififa- + See number XV I.
216 THE BOTANIST.
flower is to the plant or herbage, what the human
face is to the body ; being that part which particu-
larly marks and characterizes the man. This was
Milton's idea, who bestows upon it the epithet of
consummate, as containing, and expressing an as-
semblage of all its virtues and excellencies. The
antients appear to have had a similar notion of this
bright countenance of a plant. Pliny says that blos-
soms are the joy of trees, in bearing which they
assume a new countenance, or aspect, vying with
each other in the luxuriance, and variety of their
colours. Poets of all ages and nations have run a
parallel between man and plants ; and have compar-
ed the most blooming and beautiful part of our spe-
cies to those flowers that are the most charming
for their aspect, and their fragrance. So also have
the modern poets.
Upon her head the various wreath ;
The flowers, less blooming than her face ;
Their scent, less fragrant than her breath.*
Throughout inanimate nature, is there any thing
which unites so many delightful circumstances as
certain flowers ? They have a cool, a smooth and
polished surface, very grateful to the touch : they
have a beauty transcending almost every thing else
in nature : they have a fragrance surpassing every
thing in creation ; and they exude a nectarious
fluid, proverbial for its delicious sweetness. Here
every sense, excepting the hearing, is regaled.
* Prior.
THE BOTANIST. 217
No part of a plant approaches so near anima-
tion as the flowers ; and some think that the nec-
taria are those parts of it, destined by nature to
unite the vegetable to the animal kingdom, and so
to make them circulate from one to the other ; the
bee, in this case, being a link in the chain. Some
plants discover a remarkable sensibility, or irita-
bility in their stamina and pistilla, or rather in their
anthers and stigma, as in our common barberry,*
or in rue,f where their motions seem, at times, to
mimic animal life.
The pollen and the stigma are always in perfec-
tion at the same time. If viewed through a micro-
scope, each particle of pollen appears to be a mem-
branous bag, or bladder, which remains entire till
it comes in contact with water, and then it bursts
with an elastic force, discharging a most subtile va-
pour, which we presume impregnates the pistil-
lum, and gradually expands the germ. But, lest
these minute capsules should burst, by coming in
contact with any moisture, and prematurely emit
their vapour, nature has guarded many flowers
from its effect, by covering over the pollen with so
perfect a parapluie, as in our sarracenia, or fore-
fathers- cup, that it would not be extravagant to
suppose, that it might have given the first idea of
this instrument. The pollen of the blue irisj has
a double covering of another kind. The pendant
position of some flowers sufficiently guards them
* Berberis communis. f Ruta graveolens. \ Iris gennanicar*
28
218 THE BOTANIST.
from moisture, at that period of their existence
when it would be injurious to them, as in the
crown imperial.* Many flowers shew an instinc-
tive sensibility of approaching rain ; and in that
state of the atmosphere which precedes it, shut up
their corrolla, so as to cover completely their an-
thers and stigma. f Sometimes, indeed, a thunder
storm overtakes them by surprise, before they are
prepared to close.
Aquatic plants, or such as naturally grow in wa-
ter, have their pollen carefully guarded from mois-
ture, as we see in the family of Nymphoea. The
Lotos,\ celebrated through so many ages and coun-
tries, is one of them. This venerated plant closes
its flowers, and sinks under water in the night ;
and rises again in the morning to salute the sun.
But none of the aquatic plants is more curious than
the valesnaria spiralis, which blossoms under wa-
* Fritillaria impenalis.
f The flower of the solanum tuberosum, or potatoe, is a remarkable-
instance.
| Sir William Jones, in speaking of Brimha, Vishnou, and Shiva, as
emblematical representations of the Deity, says " the first operations of
these three powers are evidently described in the different Pouranas by
a number of allegories ; and from them we may deduce the Ionian phi-
losophy of primaeval water, the doctrine of the mundane egg, and the
veneration paid to the nympbcea or lotos, which was anciently revered in
Egypt, as it is at present in Hindostan, Tibet, and Nepal. The inhabi-
tants ofTibtt embellish their temples and altars with it ; and a native of
Nepal made prostrations before it, on entering my study, where the fine
plant and beautiful flowers lay for examination,''
THE BOTANIST. 219
ter, yet is its fecundating powder secured from
moisture.*
Although each bud and flower seems to be a
complete system, or individual, yet are they but
parts of a whole : for notwithstanding the distance,
and difference between the roots of a tree and its
flowers, there is a remarkable consent or sympathy
between them ; for when the roots are exuberant
the flowers are defective ; yet this is not more sur-
prizing than that instance of sympathy, which sub-
sists between our stomachs and our eyes ; for we
know that irritations in the alimentary canal (which
corresponds to the roots of a plant) are discoverable
in the organs of sight.
Enraptured as we often are with the splendour
and fragrance of flowers, their transitory beauty fre-
quently occasions the unconscious sigh. Their
evanescent existence has so often been compared to
the corresponding periods of human life, that they
are seldom contemplated without a mixture of mel-
ancholy. The man who has unhappily imbibed
the comfortless doctrine of a blind nature, that la-
bours, through the whole of its wonderful works,
without end or design, receives no cheering im-
pressions on a sight of the transient flower: yet
must he know, on a moment's reflection, that al-
though the flower fleeth like a shadow, its species
never dies ; but contains within itself the principle
* A species of valesnaria is found in the ponds in the neighborhood of
rarabridge.
220 THE BOTANIST.
of perpetual renovation. And he who has stopped
short of saying in his heart " there is no God! " but
having imbibed a notion that death is an everlast-
ing sleep, is apt to compare himself with the plant,
and to repine at the difference. He observes the
pride of our forests, the oak, shedding his leaves
in the autumn ; and sees them renovated in the
spring, and going on reclothing and flourishing
through ages, while he, surveying his decayed and
nerveless limbs, sighs out in despair — there is no
returning spring for me ! Every revolving sun but
adds more marks of decay. My withered trunk
shall never clothe itself with a smoother rind ; nor
my hoary locks be readorned with the auburn gloss
of youth; nor will a more vigorous sap circulate
through my nearly collapsed vessels ! The plant
is annually renovated, while the lord of the earth,
wkh all his towering faculties, withers and sinks
down to an everlasting sleep !* — But this is judg-
ing by sense and sight alone —
Believe the muse : the wintry blast of death
Kills not the buds of virtue ; no, they spread,
Beneath the heavenly beam of brighter suns,
Thro' endless ages, into higher powers, f
The attempt to describe by words, that which in
truth, requires the faithful pencil of the first of paint-
ers, may well be deemed a futile effort. Who
would attempt to describe by words " the gay car-
nation"% The most eminent in the Belgian school
* A similar idea is to be found somewhere in the writings of Godwiq,
■^Thomson's Summer. \ JVIilton.
THE BOTANIST. 221
of painters, may throw his pencil by in despair of
imitating even the violet or apple-blossom ; for
" who can paint like nature ?" what colours on the
painters pallet can express the richness of the ama-
ryllis formosissima ; or the superbia gloriosa ; or the
dodecatheon of Linnaeus ? Who could hope to suc-
ceed in the description of the strelitzia regina* a-
domed as it is, "with purple, azure, and speck'd with
gold?" or the Ixora coccinea, the cluster of whose
flowers are so brilliant that they resemble burning
coals. The splendid hamanthus ; the red and blue
echiutn orientale ; the elegant pancratium, with its
long and slender filaments ; or the lilio narcissus
qfricanus, whose petals are white as snow, with
streaks of crimson : These, as well as the gorgeous
inusa, equally defy the power of paint and the art of
the pencil.
If the painter can give but a faint picture of the
violet, or the passion-flower, or the chalcedonian
lily, what would he say, if requested to express
with his colours some of the family of the Cacti ?
particularly the Cactus grandiflorus, or night-
* So called by Sir Joseph Banks, in honour of the queen of England.
This plant is curiously formed, as well as pre-eminently splendid.
f The Botanist having published a picturesque account of the cactus
grandifloru:, or nlgbt-bk-wing cereus in June, 1808, which was afterwards
copied into some of the newspapers, has been induced, from the no-
tice which that imperfect description attracted, to give a more particu-
lar history of this very curious family of plants, the cacti.
Not only Theophrastus, but Dioscorides, Athenseus, and Pliny have de-
scribed a plant which they called kudos, which was said to have creeping
222 THE BOTANIST.
blowing cEREUs.f This stately flower is found
in different parts of South America, and in some of
stems, with a broad and prickly leaf; and that it was not indigenous in
Greece.
These plants appear to us of a strange and singular structure ; and on
that account they are cultivated in the stoves and green-houses of the cu-
rious. Of this genus of plants, there are more than forty species already
described. They are natives of South- America and of the West-India
Islands. The species cultivated in gardens are the cactus mamillaris, or
melon-thistle ; C. melo-cactus, great melon thistle, or Turk's cap ; C. te-
tragonus, four angled upright torch thistle ; C. hexagonous, six angled
torch thistle ; C. heptagonous, seven angled upright torch thistle ; C. re-
pandus, slender upright torch thistle; C. lanuginosus, woolly upright
torch thistle ; C. peruvianus, Peruvian upright torch thistle ; C. Royeni,
Royen's upright torch thistle ; C. grandiforus, great flowering, creeping
cereus; C. flagelliformis pink flowering, creeping cereus; C. triangu-
laris, triangular cereus, or strawberry pear. Then comes the opuntia, or
Indian fig, or prickly pear ; C. tuna, great Indian fig ; C. curassavicus, the
curassoa, least Indian fig, or pin pillow ; C. spinosissimus, cluster-spined
Indian fig; C. phyllanthus, spleenwort-leavcd Indian fig; C. alatus, nar-
row long jointed Indian fig ; C. moniliformis, neck lace, or Indian fig ;
C. pereskia, Barbadoes gooseberry.
Most of thete curious cacti have been described by La Mark from the
MM.S. of Plumier, at St. Domingo. Of these singular plants, the
generic character is, Calyx superior, imbricated, tubular, deciduous. Cor.
petals numerous, disposed in several ranks ; the outer ones shorter, the
inner rather larger. Stam. filaments numerous, inserted into the calyx ;
anthers oblong. Pistil, germ inferior; style cylindric; stigma headed,
multified. Peric. berry oblong, umbilicated at its summit, one-celled.
Seeds numerous, bedded in pulp.
Essential character ; calyx superior, imbricated. Corolla of many petals.
Berry one-celled. Seeds numerous. A numerous tribe of plants, which
former botanists had distributed into separate genera, Linnaeus has united
in one genus. He says that the melocactus, is monocotyledinous ; and
opuntia dicotyledinous; but that nevertheless they are of the same natural
genus.
Of this singular family of plants the Ecbinomelocacti,\htTvKYL's cap is gen.
erally viewed as the most curious. It so resembles in size, in shape, and
decoration, an elegant cap of Turkish fashion, that most people, on firs':
THE BOTANIST.
the West India Island*. It expands a most beauti-
ful corrolla of nearly' a foot in diameter : it has
sight of it, suppose it to be the work of art, and not a production of na-
ture. It is a roundish mass, with fourteen angles, and sometimes more
than three feet in circumference ; consisting internally of a soft, green,
fleshy substance, full of moisture ; deeply divided into fourteen regular,
smooth, flat-sided parts ; the ridge of the ribs furnished with a row of
clustered, stiff", straight, diverging spines, about an inch long, and red at
their summit. Flowers red, situated at the top of the plant, which con-
stitute the ornamental tuft of the cap ; but the tuft is more remarkable
in the fourth species, viz. the coronatus, where it is composed of a white,
close, cottony down, interspersed with clusters of red spines. This is a
native of South America, where they grow from apertures in the steep
sides of rocks.
Among other singularities this odd family of vegetables have no lea-vet.
The cacti are divided into the melon-thistle ; the torch-thistle ; the creeping
cereus ; and the Indian fgs. Of the erect cereuses, or those which support
themselves, the cereus peruvianus, or as the French call it cierge epineux
is worthy notice. There is one now in the Imperial Garden at Paris,
forty feet high. It was presented more than one hundred years ago, by
Hotton, professor of botany at Leyden, to Fagon, first physician to Lewis
XIV. when it was only four or five inches high. The growth of each
year is distinguished by a contraction of the stem ; each of these con-
tractions is at first very deep, and remains nearly the same for years, when
it gradually diminishes, and at length is entirely obliterated. This plant
grew at first about a foot and a half in a year, and when it was fourteen
years old, was twenty-three feet high, and seven inches in diameter. A^
the age of eleven, it produced its first two branches, about three feet
from the ground ; a year after it produced its first flowers, and has con-
tinued to flower ever since. See Diet. Agric. Nouv. Encycl.
The twenty-third species of this genus is cereus grandiflorus ;
or night flowering creeping cereus,^ with lateral roots ; and is the superb
plant mentioned in this number. 'Tis the cereus scandens minor Miller
jcon Tab. 90. C. gracilis scandens ramosus, flore ingenti, &c. Trew
Ehr. Tab. 31,32. Eph. Nat. Curios. 1752. Vol. IX. app. 1S4. Tab. 11
12,13. C. Americanus, major articulatus, Volk. Hesp. 1. 133. t. 134.
Character. Creeping, with about five angles. Stem cylindric, branched;
greenish ; angles not very prominent; spines small, clustered, diverging.
~l»ivers lateral, about six inches, sometimes near a foot diameter, ;wef:
204 THE BOTANIST.
twenty stamina surrounding one pistilium. The
inside of the calyx is a splendid yellow, or bright
scented ; calyx large, long, tubular, scaly below, composed in its upper
part of straight, linear, pointed, yellowish leaflets, disposed in several rows'
and forming a kind of ray to the flower; petals white, numerous, lanceo-
late, disposed in several rows, in a beautiful rosaceous form ; style a little
longer than the stamens ; stigma with twenty divisions. The flowers be-
gin to open between 7 and 8 o'clock in the evening, usually in the
month of July, are fully blown by eleven, and by three or four in the
morning they begin to fade, and soon after to hang down in a state of
irrecoverable decay.
Darwin's " refulgent Cerea" or, as the flower is usually called ceres, has
no allusion to the heathen goddess of that name, as is commonly imagin-
ed, but derives its name from cera, ivax, from the resemblance ot the
stems to bay berry wax. Some have been called /orcA-thistles, because
the natives use them as flambeaux ; they have derived their name of
thistles, from their numerous spines or prickles.
Of the opuntias, Indian figs, or prickly pears, there is one, viz. the C.
iplendidus, worthy particular notice. It is cultivated at Mexico for its de-
licious fruit. Its character is proliferously articulate ; woody, very large,
divisions ample, oblong, glaucus ; those formed in the first years, spin-
ous ; the younger ones nearly unarmed : spines rigid and pungent. It is
a large tree. The divisions numerous, thirty inches long; from twelve
to fifteen, and even twenty broad, beset with tufts of stiff", red bristles
which are very pungent. In the older divisions these tufts are accom-
panied by three spines of unequal size, very strong and sharp : the others
have rarely more than one or two, and often none. The beautiful
glaucous colour of this species, its immense size, the vigor, and richness
of its vegetation, with the number and amplitude of its divisions, render
It the most striking and most magnificent of all its family, and give it, in
Mons. Thiery's opinion, a just right to the epithet superb.
The thirty-seventh species, viz. C. Nopal of Thiery, is the true
eochineaHndian fig. It differs from the splendidus chiefly in colour. Mons.
Thiery assures us, that this is the only species on which the true cochi-
neal insect is bred in Mexico. He says it does not grow wild in that
country; but is probably some unknown species, brought by cultivation
to its present state of perfection. It differs from the C. coccincllifer of
Linnaeus andjother botanists in being always found with long, sharp spines.
THE BOTANIST. 22£
sulphur colour ; the petals of the purest white >
but viewing it in front, so as to look into its deep
bell, whence issues its long trembling stamina,
baffles all description; for in one shade, it is of
an aurora color ; viewed in another, it resembles
the blaze of burning nitre ; and as the eye plays
over it, we think we see, at times, a bright reddish
purple.
We may remark generally, that the most splen-
did flowers are oi shortest duration : thus this grand
flower expands its beautiful corol, and diffuses a
most fragrant odour, for a few hours in the night,
then closes to expand no more. It commonly
opens about seven or eight o'clock in the evening
usually in July in its native place ; but later in Eng-
land, and in this country ; by two in the morning it
begins to wilt* and soon after to fade, droop, and
This very curious family of plants may be raised without much dif-
ficulty in our stoves and green houses. The melon thistle, or Turk's cap, may
be raised from seed, sowed in pots of light earth, and plunged into a bed
of tanner's bark. These plants should be placed on the top of the flues
of the hot-houses in winter; and in the bark beds in summer.
The cereus, or torch thistle, is raised from cuttings placed in pots filled
with light earth, a little sea sand, and sifted lime rubbish, and then placed
in a bark hot-bed or a stove. The night blowing cereus is a tender plant,
and requires a warm stove to protect it. The opuntia, or Indian figs, are
also produced from cuttings, and thrive best in that degree of heat mark-
ed temperate on botanical thermometers. See on these various subjects
Sloane Jam. La mark, from Plumier. Jussieu. Thiery's de Menonville.
Nouv. Encyclop Miller's Diet, and a summary from them all in the
Cyclopedia, art. Cactus.
* The author has v&ntured to use here a word, common among his
countrymen, expressive of that state, or condition of a plant which pre-
cedes fading and withering. To fade is to tend from a brighter to »
29
226 THE BOTANIST.
wither ; and before sun-rise it hangs down in a state
of irrecoverable collapse and decay ; and the next
day this short lived belle resembles a soaked half
grown ear of Indian corn. The first time the Bot-
anist gazed at this transitory beauty, in the garden
of Fothergill, and saw its sudden change, it was
with sensations he never can forget. He confesses
that in the vast assemblage of flowers that adorn the
earth, this flaunting beauty caught his eye, and ex-
cited strongly his youthful admiration. Well
might the poetical Darwin say of his " refulgent
Cereal
Bright as the blush of rising morn she warns
The dull, cold eye of midnight with her charms ;
There to the skies 6he lifts her pencill'd brows,
weaker colour. To wither is to waste, to exsiccate, to become sapless,
shrink and wrinkle : and to have lost the power of growth : thus Shake,
speare ;
« When I have pluck'd the rose
" 1 cannot give it vital growth again ;
" It needs mast wither.
Some of our garden vegetables, the beet f»r example, will, in the hot-
test part of the hottest days (thermometer 95 or 98°) -wilt .- its leaves will
decline from an erect posture to a horizontal one ; yet will it not change
from a brighter to' a weaker colour, which is fading; neither does it be-
come juiceless, and wrinkled which is withering, or verging to irrecover-
able decay ; neither do we undersiand by -wilting, exactly the drooping of
a plant, which is figurative, because drooping means sorrowful, and there-
fore derived from man ; and when we apply the word -wilting to man, we
use it fi m-ativelv, as being derived from the condition of a leaf or flower.
We therefore say, when speak-n? of a certain condition of a flower or
leaf between its state of complete mrgescence and utmost vigour, and its
destruction, that a plant -wilts, fades, droops, withers and decays. The Bot-
anist has not hesitated in adopting a term that has merely floated on the
breath of the people, because he knows no other, not even the Latin
ward Jus, that so exactly expresses his meaning.
THE BOTANIST. 22:
Ope's her fair lips, and breathes her virgin vows
Eyes the white zenith ; counts the suns that roll
Their distant fires, and blaze around the pole ;
Or mark where Jove directs his glittering car
O'er heaven's blue vault, — herself a brighter star !
Sweet maid of night ! to Cynthia's sober beams
Glows thy warm cheek, thy polish'd bosom gleams.
In crowds around thee gaze th' admiring swains,
And guard in silence the enchanted plains ;
Drop the still tear, or breathe th' impassioned sigh.
And drink inebriate rapture from thine eye.
All this is the rhapsody of youth, when the nerves
are in a state of the most delicate susceptibility ;
and when every fibre vibrates with pleasure. At that
period of high excitement, the attention is engross-
ed by a single object. An animating sun-shine
then varies the appearances and hues of things.—
Not so the man of age, whose indurated nerves
sluggishly conduct his sensations ; in whom habit-
ual gratifications are coolly relished, and desires are
feebly awakened.* Such is the difference between
youth and age, in our perceptions of delicious fruit,
fragrant smells, smooth glossy surfaces, vividness
of colours, and the heavenly sweetness of sounds !
The Botanist, sobered by age, cannot, — will not al-
low the flaunting " Ceres''' to rival in his affections
the blushing rose, " veil'd in a cloud of fragrance,"
whose qualities are often disregarded, because com-
mon. Queen of flowers! where is the poet that
has not celebrated thy beauties ? where the painter
that has not aimed to imitate thee ? and who that
* See note, p. 220.
228 THE BOTANIST.
has senses does not wish to take to his bosom
" the fresh blown roses wash'd in dew ?" Of the
beautiful sex, we fondly compare the most beauti-
ful to flowers. Were I then to renew my youth,
and to live over again ; and were I disposed to ran-
sack creation for a comparison, I should compare —
But — why this vain wish? — this melancholy re-
flection !
" No more the summer of my life remains,
" My autumn's lengthening evenings chill my veins !
« Down the bleak stream of years, ■*
« Wing'd on, I hasten to the tomb's repose ;
" The port whose deep, dark bottom shall detain
* My anchor, never to be weigh'd again !"
* The discontented Camocns adds here " by woes on woes."
(J
$NP OF tHB, BOtAHlS*}
THE
PRINCIPLE OF VITALITY :
A
DISCOURSE,
DELIVERED IN THE FIRST CHURCH IN BOSTON,
TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 1790,
BEFORE THE
OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
BY B. WATERHOUSE, M. D.
Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic, and Lecturer
on Natural History in the University at Cambridge.
OF ALL THE POWERS IN NATURE, HEAT IS THE CHIEF.
BACON.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
At a semiannual meeting of the Humane Society, held in
Boston, June 8, 1790.
Voted, That the Honourable the President, the
Vice-President, and Monsieur De Letombe, Consul of
France, William Tudor, and Loammi Baldwin, Esq'rs.
be a committee to wait on Benjamin Waterhouse, Esq.
M. D. and return him the thanks of this society for his in-
genious Discourse delivered this day, and to request of him
a copy for the press.
Attest, JOHN AVERY, jun. Secretary.
TO THE
HON. JAMES BOWDOIN, LL,D. F.R.S.
&c. &c. &c.
PRESIDENT ;
THE HON. THOMAS RUSSELL, ESQ.
VICE-PRESIDENT ;
AND THE OTHER TRUSTEES
OF THE
HUMANE SOCIETY
OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS,
THIS DISCOURSE,
DELIVERED AT THEIR REQUEST,
IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,
BY
BENJAMIN WATERHOUSE;
PREFACE.
This Discourse was delivered before the Humane Society of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts more than twenty years ago.
The Society took its origin from the following occurrences : — In the
summer of 1782, a number of young persons of both sexes were drowned
in the harbour of Newport Rhode-Island, by the oversetting of a pleasure
boat. Four or five of these youug people were taken up when they had
been not more than ten minutes in the water, and yet they all perished ;
for there was no mean used to resuscitate them. Thereupon the Author
published in the Newport Mercury some account of the methods prac-
tised by the humane societies of Europe ; and exerted himself to form
one at Rhode-Island ; but nothing was effected. Three years after-
wards, viz. in 1785, when sailing through the harbour of Newport
with the celebrated blind philosopher, Dr. Henry Moyes of Edinburgh,
he related to him the sad accident, and lamented that we had no humane
50ciety in America for resuscitating the drowned ; and the ill success
he experience i in attempting to establish one. " Do not be discouraged,"
said this extraordinary man ; "but let us set about it immediately ; — this
very day." We accordingly did so ; and by the help of his intelligent
serving man, who was a good ammuensis, we committed to paper a plan
of our Humane Society, and took it with us to Boston; and communicat-
ed it to a small assemblage of professional gentlemen in School-Street,
whence arose The Humane Society of the Common-wealth of Massachusetts, which
Was incorporated in 1791.
In organizing this new society, in 1785, the Author discerned a mode
of preceeding with which he had never been conversant ; for at that time,
he was ignorant even of the meaning of the word " caucus ;" he therefore
declined becoming an officer of it, and withdrew from the association.
In the year 1790 the author was urged to rejoin the society previously
to its incorporation, particularly by the late Governour Boivdoin, the Hon.
Thomas Russell, Bishop Parker, and the present Reverend and worthy Dr.
Lathrop, and thereupon he was appointed to deliver a Discourse before
them. As the Author accepted this task more in compliance with the
solicitations of his very honourable and reverend friends, than real incli-
nation, so he protracted the composition to a late period ; and this he
offers as an apologv for its containing full as many indications of reading
as traitr of originality.
Cambridge, July, 1811.
30
O ART ! thou distinguishing attribute and honour of hu»
man kind ! Wide and extensive is the reach of thy dominion.
No Element is there either so violent, or so subtile, so
yielding or so sluggish, as by the powers of its nature to be
superior to thy direction. Thou dreadest not the fierce im-
petuosity of Fire, but compellest its violence to be both
obedient and useful. Nor is the subtile Air less obedient to
thy power, whether thou wiliest it to be a minister to our
pleasure or utility. Even Water itself is by thee taught to
bear us ; the vast ocean to promote that intercourse of na-
tions, which ignorance would imagine it was destined to
intercept
Harris's Dialogue concerning Art;
discourse.
Were the European Philosopher to turn his
eyes on this new Empire, to see in what order and
degree those dispositions and arts, which charact-
erize polished humanity, arise among us, he would
undoubtedly perceive that the extension of benev-
olence has kept exact pace with the diffusion of
knowledge.
Our venerable ancestors early sowed the seeds of
science in this land and watched their growth with
pious care ; and it is not difficult to discover the
diffusive spirit of benevolence following every where
the increasing light of science.
Without being particular on this head, one in-
stance of it honourable to humanity, is the cordial
adoption, and generous support given to this Hu-
mane Society, which is formed on a very extensive
scale of benevolence.
I decline giving a history of this or similar in-
stitutions ; nor shall I descant on the beneficial in-
fluence of numerous humane associations, which
mark and dignify the age in which we live. Suffice
236 DISCOURSE,
it to say, that the success attending the societies
established for restoring drowned persons at Amster-
dam, Hamburgh, London, Padua, Vienna, Paris,
and elsewhere, induced some respectable characters
to form one in Boston. But they have gone beyond
the European societies, and have extended their
plan not only to the restoration of life, when ap-
parently lost, but to the preservation of it when in
imminent danger.*
It is scarcely necessary to say that the plan of this
society is totally void of all private interested views.
None of its members receive any other recompence
than the sublime joy of doing good.
I shall avoid speaking of any particular mode of
treating persons apparently dead, and shall confine
myself to the great principle of Vitality, An-
imation, or Life. I feel the difficulty of doing
justice to so copious a subject in the short space
allotted to a discourse.
The subject of animation is not merely curious,
but leads to usefulness. It has arrested the atten-
tion of Philosophers in almost every age of the
world. Some of the antients reasoned thus on it :
Matter of itself cannot move, yet it is evident all
things change, and that nothing is lost ; that the
sum total of matter in the Universe remains perfect-
ly the same ; and as it was the work of Omnipo-
tence to create something out of nothing, the same
* By constructing huts, or small houses, on the sea coast, for sheltering
the shipwrecked sailor in the severity of winter. 1811.
DISCOURSE. 23?
Omnipotence is required to reduce any thing back
to nothing.* It is apparent that there is an univer-
sal change, or mutation of all things into all, then
must there be some one primary matter, common
to all things out of which they were made — They
went still further, and enquired into the moving
principle, the efficient cause, that is to say, that cause,
which associates the elements of natural substances,
and which employs them when associated, accord-
ing to their various and peculiar characters.! This
moving principle they called the Anima Mundi, the
Soul of the World.
Thales, one of the seven wise men of Greece,
maintained, that Water was the subtile principle
that moved all things. He concluded that matter
was chiefly dealt -out in moisture ; that the seeds of
plants so long as they are in a growing state, are
moist ; and that a vegetable will grow to a consider-
able size from water alone ; that the Earth is re-
freshed, recruited, and made fruitful by water : — that
the Air itself is but an expansion, or expiration of
water. He reminds us of the immense quantities in
the subterraneous regions, whence fountains, and
rivers, like so many veins in the body, convey
water over the surface, and through the bowels of
our globe, to vivify and sustain the whole.
Heraclitus maintained a very different doc-
trine. He taught that Fire was the vivifying princi
* See Bacoo's accounts of antient opinions,
f See Harris, philos. arrang.
238 DISCOURSE.
pie of all things. He allowed the truth of Tholes' s
doctrine, but observed \hdXjire had such an univer-
sal sway in nature, that water itself was not without
a mixture of it ; for that water grows hard and con-
geals into ice when fire leaves it, and is only restor-
ed to its fluidity by entering it again. He re-
marked that the whole mass of waters in the sea,
was actually an ocean of fire, seeing there were not
two distinct drops of water, which do not owe their
fluidity to some portion of fire enclosed within them.
So deeply rooted was the doctrine that fire was the
first or animating principle, that there were, and
still are whole nations who worship it as a Deity.*
Anaximenes contradicted both these philos-
ophers ; and contended that Air was the vivifying
principle and first mover of all things. He observ-
ed that although the water of Thales could not
subsist without the fire of Heraclitus, yet fire itself
could not exist without Air, which was the very
spirit of flame, and the breath of life : that no seed
of vegetables, eggs of animals, be they ever so ripe,
* That venerable sect of Philosophers, the Stoics, taught that there was
ene infinite, eternal, almighty mind, which, diffused through the whole
universe of well ordered and regularly disposed matter, actuates every
part of it, and is as it were the soul of this vast body. The parts of this
bodv they say, are of two sorts, viz. the Celestial, as the planets and fixed
stars : and the Terrestrial, as the earth, and all the other elements about it-
The celestial continue without change, or variation. But the whole
sublunary world, is not only liable to dissolution, but often hath been*
and shall again be dissolved by fire : and that the reciprocal deaths, dis-
solutions and digestions, which support by turns all the substances which
we see, are the effects of fire.
See Creech's preface to the translation of C.MaHMVS.
DISCOURSE. 239
or pregnant, and cherished with ever so kindly a
warmth, will ever bring forth the embryos contain,
ed in them, if they be totally deprived of air. We
shall see hereafter the necessity of attending to these
powerful agents, fire and air, in the resuscitation of
those apparently dead by suspension, submersion, or
frost.
Let us now examine the subject of animation with
the light afforded us by more modern Philoso-
phers.
From them we learn that matter is inert; that any-
one particle of matter left to itself will continue al-
ways in the same state, with regard to its motion or
rest. There are, however, certain powers, which
two particles of matter have of acting on one another,
as in gravitation and cohesion. We learn also that
there is an attraction of crystallization, by which
bodies when fluid become in time solid, and assume
a particular figure ; that there is an attraction of
magnetism, by which a piece of iron, in certain cir-
cumstances, attracts another piece of iron ; that
there is an attraction of electricity, by which a sub-
stance charged with more electric matter flies to a-
nother charged with less. There is moreover,
chemical attraction, by which two particles of dif-
ferent bodies rush together, and form one. If we
add that most of these have their opposite repul-
sions, we can say that they are all the known prop-
erties of mere matter ; and there is nothing in them
that can merit the name of vitality.
240 DISCOURSE.
But there is in a growing vegetable a power be-
yond all this, viz. a power which first moves, and
then conducts that latent process by which a seed
becomes a plant.
Now, every body capable of growing, has a cer-
tain internal adjustment, disposition, or arrangement
of its matter, which is called organization; and being
capable of increasing in bulk, has a certain degree of
vitality. There is a scale of life, stretching in uni-
form gradation from human excellence downwards,
till it disappears in a shade of ambiguity, in the
living state of vegetables.* Life, says the Bishop of
Landaff, belongs alike to both the animal and veget-
able kingdom ; and seems to depend on the same
principle in both. Stop the motion of a fluid in an
animal limb, by a strong ligature, the limb mortifies
beyond the ligature and drops off ; a branch of a
tree, under like circumstances, grows dry and rots
away. — Both animals and vegetables are subject to
be frost-bitten and to consequent mortifications ;
both experience extravasation of juices from reple-
tion, and pinings from inanition ; both can suffer
amputation of limbs without being deprived of life,
and in a similar manner both from a callus ; both
are liable to contract disease by infection ; both are
strengthened by air and motion.
Every seed of a Plant is an organized body en-
dowed with vessels, and contains under several
membranes the plant in minature.f If this seed be
* Brown.
f Look at the engravings in Grezvs anatomy of plonU.
DISCOURSE. 241
be put into the moist earth and a certain degree of
heat applied, with access of air, the three principles
of the undent Philosophers, the juice in these vessels
will expand by the warmth ; and being thus onee
put in motion gradually increase, and grow up into
a plant ; which plant produces a similar seed capable
of propagating its kind forever.
In like manner, an egg is an organized body,
which contains under several envelopments the
chicken in miniature ; and may be considered as a
womb, detached from the body of the parent animal,
in which the embryo is just beginning to be form-
ed ; if warmed to a certain degree, whether by the
parent animal, or by art, the fluids which surround
that speck in the egg called the punctum vita, ex-
pand, and the little vessels swell and extend them-
selves ; and the motion or oscillation once began, it
develops, by degrees, until it becomes a perfect
animal, capable of all the functions common to its
kind.
The seed of the vegetable, and the egg of the
animal would remain, or rather become effete and in-
animate, unless some stimulus, some agent from
-without, excited or began a motion in them. But
what is this agent, or stimulus ? For that is the
question.
This stimulus, or animating principle in a natural
body, does not depend on its organization, nor its
figure, nor any of those inferior forms, which make
up the system of its visible qualities ; but it is the
31
242 DISCOURSE.
power, " which not being that organization, nor that
figure, nor those qualities, is yet able to produce, to
preserve, and to employ them. It is therefore the
power, which departing, the body ceases to live, and
the members soon pass into putrefaction and decay."*
From an attentive observation of animated nature,
we discover that life is caused, and continued by
something which acts from without ; and this some-
thing is, as far as we can discover, heat, acting on
the seed or egg.f I say heat, according to the com-
• Harris Phil. Arrang.
t DESCRIPTION OF A HEN's EGG ; WITH THE HISTORY OF
THE GROWTH OF THE ANIMAL CONTAINED IN IT.
Immediately under the shell, lies that common membrane, or skin,
which lines it on the inside, adhering closely to it every where, except
at the broad end, where a little cavity is left, that is filled with air; which
increases as the animal within grows larger. Under this membrane are
contained two -whites, though seeming to us to be only one; each wrap-
ped up in a membrane of its own, one white within the other. They
differ from each other in specific gravity. In the midst of all is the yoli,
wrapt round likewise with its own membrane. At each end of this are
two ligaments, called chalaza, which are white dense substances, made from
the membranes, and serving to keep the white and the yolk in their
places, They are called chalazx from their resemblance to hail.
The cicatricula is the part where the animal first begins to shew signs
of life ; it resembles a vetch or small pea, lying on one side of the yolk
and within its membranes. The outer membranes and ligaments pre-
serve the fluids in their proper places, the white serves as nourishment ;
and the yolk with its membranes after a time, becomes a part of the
chicken's body. This is the description of the bens egg, and answers to
all others, ho?/ large or how small soever.
Previously to putting rhe eggs to the hen, M ' Ipighi and Haller first
examined this cicatricula: wheh they consider as the most important
part of the egg. This, which some call the punctum salient, or pvnetum vi-
f,e, was found in those that were impregnated by the male to be large,
DISCOURSE. 243
mon acceptation of the term : but to speak more
philosophically, it is that subtile electric fluid, which
Jills the immense space of the whole Universe, per-
but in others small. Upon examination with the microscope it was
found to he a kind of hag, containing a transparent liquor, in the midst
of which the embryo was seen. The embryo resembled a composition of
little threads, which the warmth of future incubations tended to en-
large.
Upon placing the egg in a proper warmth, after six hours the vital
speck begins to dilate like the pupil of the eye. The head of the chicken
is distinctly seen, with the back-bone something resembling a tadpole
floating in its ambient fluid, but as yet seeming to assume none of the
functions of animal life. About six hours more the little animal is seen
more distinctly ; the head becomes more plainly visible, and the verte-
bra of the back more easily perceivable. All these signs of preparation
for life are increased in six hours more; and, at the end of twenty-four
the ribs begin to take their places, the neck begins to lengthen, and the
head to turn to one side.
At this time, the fluids in the egg seem to have changed places ; the
yolk which was before in the centre of the shell, approaches nearer the
broad end. The watery part of rhe white is diminished, the grosser part
sinks to the small end; and the little animal appears to turn towards the
part of the broad end in which a cavity has been described, and with its
yolk seems to adhere t© the membrane there
At the end of forty hours the great work of life seems fairly begun,
and the animal plainly appears to move ; the back bone thickens ; the
first rudiments of the eyes begin to appear ; the heart beats, and the
blood begins already to circulate. The parts, however, as yet are fluid*
but, by degrees, become more and more tenacious. At the end of two
days, the liquor in which the chicken swims, seems to increase; the he-id
appears with two little bladders in place of eyes ; the heart be»ts in the
manner of every embryo where the blood does not circulate through the
lungs. In about fourteen hours after this, the chicken is grown more
ttrong ; the veins and arteries begin to branch, in order to form the
brains ; and the spinal marrow is seen stretching along the back-bone.
In three days, the whole body of the chicken appears bent; the head
with its two eye-balls, with their different humours, now distinctly ap-
pear; and five other vesicles are seen, which soon unite to form the ru-
•iimcnU of the brain. The out-lines also of the thighs, and wings, begin
/
244 DISCOURSE.
vades all bodies, and actuates every particle of mat-
ter. Heat is only one effect of its motion.
to be seen, and the body begins to gather flesh. At the end of the fourth
day, the vesicles that go to form the brain approach each other; the
wings and thighs appear more solid ; the whole body is covered with a
jelly like flesh; the heart that was hitherto exposed, is now covered up
within the body, by a very thin transparent membrane ; and at the same
time, the umbilical vessels, that unite the animal to the yolk, now appear
to come forth from the abdomen. After the fifth and sixth days the ves-
sels of the brain begin to be covered over; the wings and the thighs
lengthen ; the belly is closed up, and turned ; the liver is seen within it,
very distinctly, not yet grown red, but of a dusky white ; both the ven-
tricles of the heart are discerned, as if they were two separate hearts,
beating distinctly ; the whole body of the animal is covered over, and the
traces of the incipient feathers are already to be seen. The seventh day
the head appears very large ; the brain is entirely covered over ; the
bill begins to appear betwixt the eyes, and the wings, the thighs, and
the legs, have acquired their perfect figure. Hitherto, however, the an-
imal appears as if it had two bodies ; the yolk is joined to it by the um-
bilical vessel that comes from the belly; and is furnished with its vessels,
through which the blood circulates, as through the rest of the body of
the chicken, making a bulk greater than that of the animal itself. But
towards the end of incubation, the umbilical vessel shortens the yolk, and
with it the intestines are thrust up into the body of the chicken by the
action of the muscles of the belly, and the two bodies are thus formed in-
to one. During this state, all the organs are found to perform their se-
cretions; the bile is found to be separated, as in grown animals ; but it
is transparent, and without bitterness; the chicken then also appears to
have lungs. On the tenth, the muscles of the wings appear, and the
feathers begin to push out. On the eleventh, the heart which hitherto
had appeared divided, begins to unite, the arteries which belong to it
join into it, like the fingers into the Dalm of the hand. All these appear-
ances, come more into view, because the fluids the vessels had hitherto
secreted, were more transparent; but as the colour of the fluids deepen,
their operations and circulations are more distinctly seen. As the animal
thus, by the eleventh day, completely formed, begins to gather strength,
it becomes more uneasy in its situation, and exerts its animal powers with
increasing force. For some time before it is able to break the shell in
DISCOURSE. 245
In whatever manner a susceptible, or irritable
body is operated upon by this exciting power, a cer-
tain quantity of it, or a certain energy, is assigned
and belongs to every individual system upon the
commencement of its living state.*
Now a living animal has, besides those attributes
common to all bodies, as solidity, extension and
gravity, a peculiar something, which distinguishes it
from a dead one ; for a muscular fibre will contract,
and that not by the power of gravitation, cohesion^
crystallization, magnetism, or chemical attraction.
That state of an animal fibre in which a contrac-
tion, or oscillation, is produced by the influx or con-
which it is imprisoned, it is heard to chirrup, receiving a sufficient quantity
«f air for this purpose, from that cavity which lies between the membrane
and the shell, and which must contain air to resist the external pressure.
At length upon the 20th day, in some birds sooner, and later in others,
the enclosed animal breaks the shell within which it has been confined,
with its beak; and by repeated efforts, at last procures its enlargement.
From this history we perceive, that those parts which are most con-
ducive to life, are the first that are begun ; the head and the back-bone,
which no doubt enclose the brain, and the spinal marrow, though both
are too limpid to be discerned, are the first that are seen to exist ; the
beating of the heart is seen soon after ; the less noble parts seem to spring
from these, the wings, the thighs, the feet, and lastly the bill. The re-
semblance between the beginning animal in the egg, and the embryo in
the womb, is very striking. An egg may be considered as a womb, de-
tached from the body of the parent animal, in which the embryo is but
just beginning to be formed. It may be regarded as a kind of incom-
plete delivery, The similitude between the e ? g and the embryo in the
womb has induced many to assert (and with great probability) that all
animals are produced from eggs
Goldsmith's HUtory of the Earth and Animated Nature, Vol. II. See
also Malpighi, Haller, Graff, and Burton.
* Brown.
246 DISCOURSE.
tact of a stimulus, is called irritability, or susceptibili-
ty, and excitability.
That principle in animals, on which sensation,
motion, and all the animal powers depend, is called
the Vis Vitalis.
By the action of stimuli on the solids, particular-
ly heat, the vis vitalis is excited and preserved ;
when diminished it may be increased, and when
suspended it may be restored.
Within every one of us, there is an innate and
active power, which ceases not its work, when sense
and appetite are asleep ; which without any con-
scious co-operation of the man himself, carries him
from a seed or embryo, to his destined magnitude.
This is strictly speaking the Animal (Economy, and
is as perfect in the brutal Hottentot, as in the
brightest genius of human kind.
All this depends on a principle which some call
the Vis Actuosa, others the Impetum Faciens. This
power is innate, and is that by which man lives ; it
forms him, it nourishes him, moves him, animates
him. By it he feels, he desires, refuses, sleeps and
wakes ; nevertheless, it is totally different from the
Mind ; For,
In our bodies is found something of quite a dif-
ferent nature from what has been mentioned ; a
power of thinking, reflecting, comparing, choosing,
and representing to itself past, present and to come.
This power in relation to its several operations, is
termed comprehension, understanding, reason, mind,
will, freedom, or collectively, by the single word
DISCOURSE. 247
Soul.* But to return to the innate principle of
animation in man.
Every body knows that although the child is
formed, and lives, and grows, and moves in the
womb of its mother, it never breathes there. It re-
ceives its animating principle, its heat, motion and
life, from the mother, by a nerve and artery, which
enters at its navel and conveys the blood to the heart
of the infant, without ever passing through the lungs.
The blood in this case goes directly on through the
body of the heart, by an opening called the Foramen
Ovale, and from thence to the Aorta, or great artery,
by which it is driven to every part of its body ; so
that the circulation, nutrition and life, are kept up
with the mother, as if they were not two bodies but
one. It is remarkable that the fruit of vegetables is,
in like manner, nourished, and supported by a
slender stalk issuing froiv the parent stock.
When the child is born it becomes dependent on
a new principle for the continuance of its existence.
When it passes from the watery habitation into the
atmosphere, a new determination takes place ; and
instead of the umbilical cord from the mother, the
common air becomes the main-spring of all its
actions and functions. When the child opens its
mouth to cry, in rushes the air, and expands the
lungs. The blood, which had hitherto passed
through the heart, now takes a wider circuit, and the
Jbramen ovale closes forever. The lungs which had,
till this time, been inactive, now first begin their
* See Hexpert,
248 DISCOURSE.
functions, and they cease not their motion as long
as life continues.
Hence then it appears, that next to the expanding
power of heat, Respiration, or breathing is the
primum mobile in the human machine.
Atmospheric air contains a certain vivifying
spirit, which is necessary to continue the lives of
animals, and this, in a gallon of air, is said to be^
sufficient for one man during the space of a minute,
and not much longer. Air that has lost this vivify-
ing spirit, deadens fire, extinguishes flame, and de-
stroys life.*
It is well known that there is a set of vessels in the
lungs which contain air, and another which contain
blood.
The air in the lungs is in constant motion ; for
either that which is at present contained in the cells,
is passing through the wind-pipe into the atmo-
sphere; or a fresh parcel is passing from the external
atmosphere through the wind-pipe into those cells.
The whole of this compound motion is called
JRespiration.f
If the air continue at rest in the lungs for many
minutes ; or if a man continue to respire the same
air ; or if he breathe air that has served for the in-
flammation of fuel ; or pure fixable air, or any other
vapour, excepting respirable air, he diesf .
From the organs of respiration ; or rather from
what may be called the sy sterna spirituale pneumo-
* Ferguson. f Fordyce.
DISCOURSE. 249
nician, all the actions of the body, and all the power
which it exerts are ultimately derived.
It appears from a train of experiments, that the
common air communicates a vivifying something to
the blood, when drawn into the lungs, and gives to
it a stimulating quality, by which it is fitted to ex-
cite the heart to action; and that the chemical
quality, which the blood acquires in passing through
the lungs, is necessary to keep up the action of the
heart, and consequently the health of the animal.
For no sooner are the lungs quiescent than the heart
ceases to contract, the blood stops, all the intellectual
operations cease, sensation and voluntary motion
are suspended, and all external signs of life disap-
pear. All which are admirably explained by Dr.
Edmund Goodwin.*
When the fluids in the human machine are thus
at rest, what do we see ? — a mere carcase — We see
the person dead ! f But after what manner ?
Here are all the solids, and all the fluids too. What
then is lacking ? A gentle oscillation, or motion of
the fluids, a circumgyration of the liquors ; for let
there be by what means soever an oscillation, a con-
* See his experimental Enquiry, &c.
f There are several instances of people buried alive, even in this
country.
Oh reader ! — — But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of the prison-house, i
I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres.
\ The Grave.
32
250 DISCOURSE.
cussion, or excitement of the nervous energy, which
may impel the fluids to move the lungs and heart,
life immediately returns, with the usual circulation
of the blood and other fluids, heat, colour, agility,
cogitation, and every vital, natural, and human
action.
If it be asked, what is that vivifying something
which, through the medium of the atmosphere, gives
this oscillation or concussion, and continues life ?
I answer ; it is a portion of that subtile electric
fluid, which fills the immense space of the whole uni-
verse, pervades all bodies, and actuates every par-
ticle of matter. By it the phenomena of magnetism,
fire, and light are produced ; and on it the various and
astonishing phenomena of Vegetation and An-
imation depend. If it be asked further, what and
where is the source of this all powerful agent ? I
answer, the Sun is the efficient cause of the motions
of this fluid, and the various phenomena of our system
are the effects of these motions.
Soul of surrounding worlds !
Without whose quickning glance, this cumbrous earth
Would be a lifeless mass, inert and dead,
And not, as now, the green abode of life.*
I am aware that analogical arguments are proba-
ble, but not conclusive ; and that plausible inferences
from well known facts in brutes, have occasioned
many errors respecting man. Yet I cannot but be-
lieve from what we observe in the resuscitation of
* Thomson's summer.
DISCOURSE. 251
swallows, after lying four months in the bottom of
a pond ; of snakes frozen stiff as a stick ; of flies cork-
ed up in a bottle of Madeira in Virginia, and
brought to life again in Great-Britian ; f I say, I
cannot help believing from these and similar facts,
that it is possible to restore to life a human being
who has been frozen some days. We have well
authenticated accounts of not only birds frozen to
death (as it is called) but of the human species too,
who were even for days, without pulse, breathing,
or the least natural heat, and yet resuscitated.*
In this case, the application of heat should be
conducted, says Dr. Goodwin, on the same plan,
which nature points out for the hybernating, or
torpid animal ; that is to say ; it should be applied
gradually and uniformly. It may be raised to 98
degrees of Farenheit, but not above 100. To blow
one's own breath into the lungs of another, is an
absurd and pernicious practice.
The consideration of the facts just related, have
led some to conceptions of the Soul, which have
puzzled them, and created doubts rather unfavour-
able to the opinions entertained by the majority of
christians. " What is the condition, say they, of
the soul all this time." — In animal bodies there are
only two general conditions, life and death ; and if
by death we understand the privation of life, there
can be no intermediate state between them, says
f See Dr. Franklin's letter to Mons. Dubourg.
* See the writings of Rdi and IVbytts. The Flora Siberica. Also Peyer
aaatom.
252 DISCOURSE.
Dr. Goodwin ; for no human art can communicate
life to dead matter. Dr. Whytte thinks it is not
only probable, but even demonstrable, that the soul
does not immediately leave the body upon a total
stoppage of the heart's motion, and of the circula-
tion of the blood, that is, upon what we usually call
death, but that it continues for some time at least
present with it, and ready to actuate it. He thinks,
with Gassendi, Dr. H. More, Sir Isaac Newton,
Dr. S. Clarke, and some other of the greatest
philosophers of the last and present age, that the
soul is extended.
The apparently dead carcase, therefore, which has
lain three or four hours under water, is as much
alive as a sound hen's-egg ; * they would both
putrify and dissolve if let alone ; but apply a due
and uniform degree of heat to either, and you
change the seemingly dead body into a live and ac-
tive animal.
The union of soul with body, is the most ab-
struse contemplation that can exercise the mind of
man. " How is it that one painful idea alters the
course of the blood ! Who can explain how the
blood in return, carries its irregularities to the mind !
What incomprehensible mechanism has subjected
the organs to sentiment and thought ! What, says
Voltaire, is that unknown fluid, which is quicker and
more active than light, and flies in the twinkling of an
eye, through all the channels of life; produces memo-
ry, sorrow or joy, reason or frenzy, recalls with hor-
* See page 242.
DISCOURSE. 253
ror what one would wish to forget, and makes of a
thinking being, an object of admiration, or a sub-
ject of pity and tears !"
The intellectual scheme, says the author of
Hermes, which never forgets Deity, postpones
every thing corporeal to the primary mental
cause. It is here it looks for the origin of in-
telligible ideas, even of those, which exist in hu-
man capacities. For though sensible objects may
be the destined medium, to awaken the dormant
energies of man's understanding, yet are those
energies themselves, no more contained in sense,
than the explosion of a cannon in the spark which
gave it fire.
This then, like all other sound philosophy, leads
us at last, up to the great first cause, the ens
ENTIUM, the SUPREME AUTHOR OF ALL, who is
ever to be adored with the most profound reverence
by the reasonable part of this creation.*
* It would seem that the Parent of Universal Nature has ordained, that to
a certain degree of exquisite organization the soul should adhere ; for be-
tween organization and function there exists a connexion proportioned
and inseparable. When that subtile organization is ruined, the soul flies
back again, like quenched fire, to the source whence it came. If so, then
are not our bodies vessels, immersed in the vivifying spirit, the " anima
mundi ?" If the materials, which compose these vessels be arranged after
a certain manner, life, or the spirit adheres to us. If the vessel is cracked,
to a certain degree, it can hold no water. If the body be to a certain de-
gree marred, it can hold no life. If the deranged organization banish
life, for fifteen or twenty minutes, as in persons who have lain that time
under water ; and if, by communication of warmth, and agitation of the
lungs, and of the heart, life should be restored, what shall we say then ?
where ? and in what state was the soul, or immortal part ? We can only
aav.that being still immersed in the anima mundi, the body is rendered, by
254- DISCOURSE.
Thus much towards investigating the important
subject of ■■'■ italitij or Animation. The narrow limits
of a discourse prevent my pursuing the matter
further at this time. I pass on to a more general
and pleasant theme, the Progress of Humanity. ' Per-
haps we may discover the causes which produced
that spirit of benevolence, which gave birth to this
society.
It is very common to praise antient times and
condemn our own ; yet, if we cast our eyes back
on the history of mankind, the view will shock us.
Of six and twenty centuries, wherein the memory
and learning of mankind have been exercised, scarce-
ly six can be culled out as fertile in the sciences, or
favourable to humanity ! * On a modest computa-
tion, the destruction of the human race in building
up tyranny by Sesostris, by Semiramis, by Xerxes,
by Alexander, the Romans, the Sicilians, by Mithra-
dates, the Goths and Vandals, the Crusaders, and by
the Spaniards in Mexico and Peru, amount to forty
times the number of mankind now on the face of
the earth.
the means used, capable of imbibing again the needful portion of that
spirit in which " we live, move, and have our being." I say, imbibing
again ; for in the beginning " He breathed into man the breath of life, and the
consequence was, " he became a living toul."
We are confident that there is something in us that can be without us.
and will be after us ; what it was before us we know not ; nor can we
tell how it entered us. Thus Cicero, who wrote before life and immortal-
ity were brought to light by the gospel, says " Quidquid est Mud quod sentit,
quod sapit, quod vult, quod wget, caleste et divinum est ; ob eamque rem aternum
:it necesse est"
* See Novum organum. Bacon.
DISCOURSE. 255
The Roman name strikes us with such venera-
tion, that we are apt to include humanity among
their virtues. But the most celebrated virtue of the
most renowned Roman would pass without much
eulogium in this day. The truth is, their natural
roughness of temper, their adoration of Victoria,
that Deity so dear to the Romans, made them neglect
and trample upon their fellow men, whom they scarce-
ly distinguished from brutes.* And when the glory,
greatness, strength, and learning of that famous
people were extinguished, and when their Empire
was finally overturned, the cause of humanity was
still less regarded.
It was worse, when a northern swarm of barba-
rians, the Goths, quitting their inhospitable regions
spread through the more fertile parts of the world,
and extinguished the small light of learning which
remained.!
And when Mahomet and his successors carried
their victories, with the rapidity of a torrent, over
most parts of Asia, Africa, through Persia, Arabia,
Egypt, and Palestine, they completed the destruc-
tion the Goths began.
When the barbarians embraced Christianity, they
made it bend to their prejudices, rather than sub-
ject their prejudices to its principles; and from the
mixture of Christianity with the antient customs of
barbarians sprang a discord in manners. From a
mixture of the rights of sovereigns with those of
• Millot. f Boerhaave's Academ. Le.-.
256 DISCOURSE.
the nobility, and of the priesthood, sprang a dis-
cord in politics and government. And from a
mixture of the Pagans and Mahometans with the
Christians, sprang a discord in religion. Anarchy
and confusion were the consequences of so many
contrasts : — Europe was one large field of battle,
and ignorance and brutal force quenched almost
every ray of knowledge, while the noble faculties
of the soul were absorbed by fear.*
The extension of benevolence, keeps exact pace
with the diffusion of knowledge, and the exertions
of the one are circumscribed by the limits of the
other.
Whenever the Parent of universal Nature
chooses to make a mighty change in the affairs of
men, he seems to effect it by, what we call, mean
and humble instruments.
Two seemingly inglorious mechanical discove-
ries, changed the face of the world more than any
conqueror, sect, or empire ever did. I mean the
mariner'' s compass, and the art of printing. ,f These
inventions gradually banished barbarism, and hu-
manized the world. The antients were acquaint-
ed with but a very small part of the globe. They
called all the northern nations, Scythians, and all
the western, Celt a, indiscriminately. They had
no knowledge of Africa beyond the nearest part of
Mthiopia ; nor of Asia beyond the Ganges ; and
• See Robertson, Cli. v. and Millot's Element, of Gen. Hist
f See Novum Organ.
DISCOURSE. 257
as for our quarter of the world, America, they had
not even a tradition about it.f
Commerce is a cure for the most destructive pre-
judices. It has every where diffused a knowledge
of the manners of all nations. The multiplication
of books by the art of printing, and of drawings
and pictures by the art of engraving, produced a
radiance of knowledge that made tyranny tremble ;
and will effectually secure the human race from
those horrid shocks of barbarism and tyranny, that
once nearly laid waste the old world. The mari-
ner* 's compass then opened the universe, and print-
ing displayed it.
At this time, superstition, and an odious ecclesi-
astical despotism, received a fatal wound. Astro-
nomical improvements, by discovering worlds be-
sides our own, expanded the human mind. So
that when the Christian religion began again to be
taught in its purity, the universe seemed to extend
itself to do it homage. Then did Knowledge
raise weeping Humanity from the dust, and
point with her blazing torch the way to happiness
and pe as ! Then did Religion, instead of dag-
gers, racks, and fetters, wear upon her graceful
brow thi;> everlasting motto, " My ways are ways
" of 'pleasantness, and all my paths are peace "
Need l say a word to prove to such an audience
as this, that the present prevailing spirit of benevo-
lence is principally owing to the diffusion of a re-
f Bacon.
33
258 DISCOURSE.
ligion, as much above all others, as heaven is above
the earth ? Let him who doubts, compare it with
the next best system the world ever possessed.
Did not Moses bring famine and other plagues on
the Egyptians ? Elijah deprived the earth of rain,
and destroyed with fire those who opposed him ;
as did Elisha those who mocked him. Did not
David kill and curse those he hated or envied?
But the Founder of the religion of humanity
came without judgement, anger, or revenge. All
his transactions were for the benefit of man. He
allayed the winds which threatened destruction to
the mariners ; he restored limbs to the lame, sight
to the blind, speech to the dumb, clean flesh to the
leprous, a sound mind to the insane, and life to the
dead.\ All his, were works of beneficence, diffus-
ing charity and good will to men, accompanied too,
with a spirit so sublime and friendly, that the hu-
man heart, with unbidden veneration, bows down
before it.
While we consider this Humane Society as a
stream deriving its source from the inexhaustible
" River of Joy,'''' the ministers of religion may be
considered its principal guardians. They have
been its chief supporters ; and so long as they con-
tinue to inculcate the precepts of the religion of
humanity, with that benevolent, gentle, pious, char-
itable, tolerating spirit, which so eminently distin-
f See Bacon's Essays.
DISCOURSE 259
guishes those before whom I now speak, they will
be regarded among its brightest ornaments*
Then will Charity, that bright constellation of
christian virtues, always be present with us ; under
whose fostering influence, we hope, this yet infant
society, this standing committee of humanity, will
extend, so far and wide, its salutiferous effects, that
future generations will have reason to commemo-
rate its exertions with grateful admiration !
* The author rejoices in this public opportunity of rendering a juit
tribute to the Clergy of Baton. He hopes it will not be less grateful, in
coming from a person who was educated in that religious persuasion,
which teaches every man to be his own priest.
Lib:
N. C. State Coll
APPENDIX,
The following letters are inserted here to shew the interest which the
renowned Washington took in the prosperity of the first Humane Society ,
established in the nation over which he presided. Although a part
only of his letter to the Reverend Dr. Latbrop relates to the Humane
Society, yet I cannot resist the impulse of publishing the whole ; because
everv thing that contributes to the consolidation of the union of these
states is as dear to humanity as the life of man itself. B. W.
Cambridge, July 4, 1811.
Mount Vernon, June 22d, 1788.
REVEREND AND RESPECTED SIR,
Your acceptable favour of the I6th of May,
covering a recent publication of the Humane Socie-
ty, has within a few days past, been put into my
hands.
I observe, with singular satisfaction, the cases in
which your benevolent institution has been instru-
mental in recalling some of our fellow creatures (as
it were) from beyond the gates of eternity, and has
given occasion for the hearts of parents and friends
to leap for joy. The provision made for shipwreck-
ed mariners is also highly estimable in the view of
every philanthropic mind, and greatly consolatory to
that suffering part of the community. These things
will draw upon you the blessings of those who were
nigh to perish. These works of charity and good
262 APPENDIX.
will towards men reflect, in my estimation, great
lustre upon the authors, and .presage an zera of still
farther improvements. How pitiful, in the eye of
reason and religion, is that false ambition which des-
olates the world with fire and sword for the purpos-
es of conquest and fame ; when compared to the
milder virtues of making our neighbours and our
fellow men as happy as their frail conditions and
perishable natures will permit them to be !
I am happy to find that the proposed general gov-
ernment meets with your approbation, as indeed it
does with that of most disinterested and discerning
men. The convention of this state is now in ses-
sion, and I cannot but hope that the constitution will
be adopted by it, though not without considerable
opposition. I trust, however, that the commenda-
ble example exhibited by the minority in your State
will not be without its salutary influence in this. In
truth it appears to me that (should the proposed
government be generally and harmoniously adopted)
it will be a new phenomenon in the political and
moral world ; and an astonishing victory gained by
enlightened reason over brutal force. I have the
honour to be with very great consideration,
Reverend and respected sir,
your most obedient, and humble servant,
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
THE REV. JOHN LATHROP, D. D.
'APPENDIX. 263
Mount Vernon, November I9th y 1790.
Sir,
I beg you to excuse the delay, which my
avocations in the country have occasioned in an-
swering your letter of the 28th of August.
I am persuaded of the happy influence, which
the Discourse, that accompanied it, must have in
promoting the interests of humanity ;# and I re-
quest you to accept my thanks for your polite at-
tention in favouring me with this mark of your re-
gard.
I am, sir,
your most obedient servant,
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
Benjamin Waterhouse, M. D. and Professor in
the University at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
* The preceding Discourse on the Principle of Vitality
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