A manual of scientific enquiry : prepared for the use of officers in Her Majesty's Navy ; and travellers in general / originally edited by Sir John F.W. Herschel.

Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of scientific enquiry : prepared for the use of officers in Her Majesty's Navy ; and travellers in general / originally edited by Sir John F.W. Herschel. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    truly observed that few persons visit them with their eyes open. Thus, while some travellers boldly assert that the vicinity of Aden is utterly destitute of vegetation, others have detected plants of very peculiar structure, and ad- mirably adapted to such a locality; and one estimable naturalist, Pakenham Edge worth, Esq., has actually published a Morula entitled ' Half an Hour's Botanizing Excursion at Aden,' giving an account of forty species gathered during that brief time, eleven of which are con- sidered new to science! One has only to glance at a map of the world, and it will be instantly seen that much of it is unknown alike to the botanist and the geographer. The extensive interior of South America, particularly towards the sources of the great rivers, the deserts and mountain-chains of Africa, the table-lands of Thibet, with the northern declivities of the Himalajran Mountains, the Chinese dominions, Japan, and many of the numerous islands of the Malayan Archipelago, are still a terra incognita to the naturalist. But it is not to such little traversed realms alone that we need look for new and interesting vegetable productions, particularly of the more useful kinds, those of many of our own colonies being still very imperfectly known. With regard to botanical books, it is difficult to recom- mend any of a general character suitable for the traveller. Many of the best collections of plants have been made without books; and, unfortunately, there is no complete or Universal Flora yet published. De Candolle's 4 Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis' is the best, and it is ad- vancing towards a termination ; and Warpers' ' Repertorium Botanices Systematical' is a valuable supplement to it. Don's ' Dictionary of Gardening and Botany' is useful, so far as it goes : it is in 4 vols., 4to., published at 14/. 8s., but now offered by many booksellers at 1?. 85.! Dr. Lindley's various introductory works on Botany ought to be in the hand of every student, and, above all, his ' Vegetable King- dom' Loudon's ' Encyclopaedia of Plants9 with its numerous woodcuts, is an excellent travelling companion. And for