Volume 1

The universal herbal, or botanical, medical and agricultural dictionary : containing an account of all known plants in the world, arranged according to the Linnean system. Specifying the uses to which they are or may be applied.

  • Green, Thomas.
Date:
1816
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The universal herbal, or botanical, medical and agricultural dictionary : containing an account of all known plants in the world, arranged according to the Linnean system. Specifying the uses to which they are or may be applied. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    INTRODUCTION -CT®-§>—<B> JN ATURAL History properly signifies that study by which we learn to distinguish from each other, all bodies, whether animal, vegetable, or mineral, which surround us; to discover as much as possible their nature and properties, and espe- cially their dependence on each other in the general scale of beings. In a more extensive sense, it may be said to teach the secondary properties of natural bodies, or the various uses to which they have been or may be converted, in the service of man : for an acquaintance with their properties is our only sure guide to a knowledge of their artificial uses. But as this definition would include many arts and sciences, each of which would be sufficient to occupy any common mind, such as agriculture, medicine, chemistry, and many others, it is sufficient for a philosophical naturalist to be acquainted with the general principles upon which such arts and sciences are founded. Botany, (from fiorxw an herb, from (3oro; of 0serxv, I feed, be- cause vegetables are the natural food of most animals,) is the science of plants; or that part of natural history which relates to vegetables. It may be divided into three branches : 1st. The physiology of plants, or a knowledge of the structure and functions of their different parts; 2dly. The systematical arrangement and denomination of their several kinds; and, 3dly. Their economical or medical properties, all of which should be kept in view by an intelligent botanist. In the utmost extent of the word. Botany signifies a knowledge of plants, and of the uses to which they may be applied, in medicine, chemistry, or the arts in general: but it is com- monly restricted to a bare knowledge of the plants them- selves, and of the distinguishing marks whereby each species may be known from every other. This knowledge is indis- pensably necessary. Many animals are endowed with an in- stinctive faculty of distinguishing salutary from noxious food. Mankind have no such instinct. They must have recourse to experience, and to observation. But these are not suffi- cient guides in every case. A general caution, not to eat any thing but what we know to be salutary, will not answer in every instance. A ship’s company, in want of provisions, may be thrown upon an uninhabited coast, or a desert island. Entirely ignorant of the nature of the plants they meet with, disease, or a scarcity of animals, may compel them to have recourse to vegetable food. The consequences may be dreadful—they must first eat before they can form any cer- tain conclusion; and many lives have already been lost in these hazardous experiments. If the whole science of botany were as complete as some of its parts, very little skill in it would be sufficient to guard with certainty from committing such fatal mistakes. There are certain classes and orders which are called natural, because every genus and species comprehended under them, is not only distinguished by the same characteristic marks, but likewise possesses the same qua- lities, though not in an equal degree. For instance; shew a botanist the flower of a plant, the calix of which is a double-valved glume or husk, with three stamina, two pistilla, and one naked seed; he can pronounce with absolute cer- tainty, that the plant from which the flower was taken, bears seed of a farinaceous quality, and that it may be safely used as food. In like manner, shew him a flower with twelve or more stamina, all inserted into the internal side of the calix, though it belong to a plant growing in Japan, he can pro- nounce without hesitation, that its fruit may be eaten with safety. On the other hand, shew him a plant whose flower has Jive stamina, one pistil, one petal, and whose fruit is of the berry kind; he will tell you it is poisonous. Facts of this kind render botany a most interesting science. With re- spect to medical uses, it is found by experience, that plants, which are distinguished by the same characters in the flower and fruit, have tfie same qualities, though not always in an equal degree; so that upon inspecting the flower and the fruit, a botanist can determine the effects that will result from its use as a medicine. To determine therefore the medical virtues of all the plants belonging to a particular class, the physician has nothing to do but to ascertain, by a set of clear and unquestionable experiments, the virtues of any one of them; and this amazingly shortens the labour of investigation. As the number of species are known to be upwards of 20,000; by ascertaining the virtues of one genus, at a medium, you de- termine the number of 12 species. But by ascertaining the virtues of one genus belonging to a natural order, the virtues of perhaps 3 or 400 species are ascertained. A natural ar- rangement of the classes, orders, genera, and species, free in every instance from heterogeneous combinations, and disturb- ing no real affinities, is the ne plus ultra of classification. It is the point of perfection to which every naturalist should labour to approach, though what no one can expect actually to attain. To have formed the idea, is, however, no small advance towards it; and m itself implies a very important acquisition of knowledge. This elegant science, which so manifestly displays the un- bounded goodness and wisdom of God, was cultivated in some degree among the ancients, but chiefly with relation to medicine. As, however, they adopted no regular method of dis- tribution and arrangement, the knowledge they gained was soon and easily lost. It would be as tedious as useless here to detail the various systems of those botanists who preceded the great Linneus, as it is well known that the system which bears his name is greatly superior to all that have been hitherto devised. It is called the Sexual System, because founded upon the important discovery, that in plants, as well as in animals, there is an indisputable distinction of the sexes ; the following authenticated proof of which will probably be ac- ceptable to the intelligent reader. In Vol. xlvii. of the Philosophical Transactions, No. 25, there is a letter from Mr. Mylius of Berlin, concerning a remarkable experiment made upon the palm-tree. He says, “ The sex of plants is very well confirmed, by an experiment that has been made here upon the palma major foliis Jlabelli formibus, or, the reater fan-shaped-leaf palm. There is a great tree of this ind in the garden of the Royal Academy. It has flowered and borne fruit these thirty years, but the fruit never ripened,