Botany.

Date:
1826
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Botany. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    4/72 (page 364)
    BOTANY, Gr. fioravr], a herb, herb- Bot'anist, $ age; relating to herbs; skilled Botan'ical, Vin herbs; a part of natural Botan'ick, i history which relates to vege- Botanol'ogy. J tables; the science of plants. Botanist, one who studies the various species of plants. Botanology, an oration or discourse upon plants. Some botanical eriticks tell us, the poets have not rightly followed the traditions of antiquity, in meta¬ morphosing the sisters of Phaeton into poplars. Addison. The uliginous lacteous matter, taken notice of by that diligent botanist, was only a collection of corals. Woodward. Then spring the living herbs, beyond the power Of botanist to number up their tribes. Thomson. While botanists, all cold to smiles and dimpling. Forsake the fair, and patiently—go simpling. Goldsmith. 1. Botany, considered in its details, treats of the elements, of the immediate principles, of the internal and external structure, of the functions, of the organs, and of the similitudes and dissi¬ militudes of the almost infinite multitude of beings of which the vegetable world is com¬ posed. 2. Chemistry explains the constituent elements and the immediate principles of vegetables; anatomy and physiology indicate the structure of their system and the uses of their parts; bo¬ tany, properly so called, teaches us to compare, to describe, and to name plants, and to class them according to the mutual affinities which are indicated by their external characters. 3. In this article it is not proposed to enter into any investigation of chemical botany, which has no practical relation to the study of the science, and which more properly forms a part of the science of chemistry. The heads into which the following remarks will be divided are, 1. The analogy of the science ; or of the differences which exist between vegetables and other ani¬ mated beings, and of their resemblances. 2. The history of the science. 3. The anatomy and physiology of plants. 4. Pure botany, comprehending the theory and principles of the science, its terminology, and its classifications. I. Of the Analogy of the Science. 4. Among the multitude of beings which cover the surface of our planet, man only is possessed of the intellect which raises him above other animals. The latter are the mere slaves of their feelings, or of instinct; but man, whose only laws act upon his own free will, by the operations of the mind, is divested of the mere sense of necessity or of want, and directs his intelligence to the examination and knowledge of the other beings which constitute that glorious nature which has been formed for his advantage. The infinite variety of forms, and the imposing appearance of those objects which surround him, not only offer him matter for admiration, but carry him yet further; he is induced to study the laws by which they act or live, the qualities, whether useful or injurious, which they possess, and the affinities which they bear to himself and to each other. God, mind, and matter, are the subjects of the meditation of man. But if he would devote himself to all the departments of know¬ ledge, which are included under these three great names, his natural weakness would compel his mind to sink under the exertion. 5. Hence the origin of sciences, into which all nature is divided by certain limits. By the aid of analysis, the fruit of intellectual ob¬ servation, all knowledge is separated into different branches; and though the boundaries of the sciences are confined in appearance, that limi¬ tation has been the means by which each has been brought to its present state 0f perfection, and by which the knowledge of one science has been made to bear upon that of another. 6. On the one hand, intellect has given rise to what are called the intellectual or moral sciences; on the other hand, observation has created the natural or physical sciences; and these are di¬ visible under three heads, that is to say, Physics, medically considered, Chemistry, and Natural History. The physician directs his attention to the properties and maladies of matter in ge¬ neral ; the chemist considers the action of its elements; and the naturalist studies the pheno¬ mena of particular parts. 7. The district of the naturalist is confined to what are called the three kingdoms of nature; and no limits can appear more certain or decided than those within which these kingdoms are confined. The mineral kingdom is composed of brute matter, and is only susceptible of in¬ crease, by the juxta-position of the substances which combine in its formation. Vegetables are furnished with organs, by means of which they assimilate and adapt to their purposes the elements which surround them; but, fixed by the hand of nature to one spot, they are incapable of other movements than those which are peculiar to their organisation, or than those which are com¬ municated by neighbouring bodies. But animals which are endued with similar properties in many respects, and which are propagated in like man¬ ner by peculiar organs, are also furnished with instinct, which teaches them how to distinguish their aliment, and to move from place to place. But do these limits absolutely exist in nature, or are they the imperfect creatures of the mind of man 1 And is not all nature connected by an inconceivable and inextricable multitude of affi¬ nities, crossing and interlacing each other in all. directions, in such a manner as to render it im¬ possible for us to circumscribe any one of her works within bounds so absolute that she will not be found overleaping them in some corner or another ? It will probably be found that the affirmative is the answer to these suggestions, and that the deeper becomes our knowledge oi the productions which occupy our minds-, the more numerous the exceptions will be found to every law by which man in his ingenuity has