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THE MAGAZINE

OF

NATURAL HISTORY.

MAY, 1828.

INTRODUCTION.

In order to point out the agreeableness and utility of the study of Natural History, we shall commence by taking it for granted, that all knowledge is pleasure as well as power. If any man doubts this, we refer him to the first page of Mr. Brougham's Preliminary Discourse on the Objects, Advantages, and Pleasures of Science. In this Introduction, we shall chiefly endeavour to show that the pleasure and the power obtained will be in direct proportion to the labour bestowed.

To know any thing does not consist in having merely seen it, or in recollecting its name; no naturalist can be said to know a plant, unless he knows its rank in the vegetable kingdom, its structure, habits of growth, the climates and countries in which it abounds, its history in its wild state, and, if a cultivated plant, its domestic history, its culture, properties,

and uses.

The tulip and the ranunculus are known to every body, and are deservedly two of the most admired productions of professional florists. There is no child who cannot name them at sight, and no gardener who does not know a great deal about their culture: but how few, among either gardeners or botanical amateurs, know that these two plants, however nearly they may be allied as fine flowers, are very different in point of rank in the scale of vegetable creation; that they belong to separate fundamental divisions of plants, the organisation of the one being much more perfect than that of the other; and that they display wholly different characters of structure and physiological economy, from the seminal embryo through every stage to the perfect plant! Thus the ranunculus, belonging to a division of plants characterised VOL. I. No. 1.

B

by a reticulated structure of all their parts, admits of portions of its leaves being broken off, without impeding the remainder of the leaf in the performance of its functions; while the tulip, belonging to a division characterised by a parallel fibrous structure of all the parts, does not admit of part of the leaves, and particularly of their extremities, being cut off, without impeding their functions, and consequently injuring the present health of the plant, and influencing its vigour for the following year. But any one who is so far a vegetabie anatomist and physiologist as to know the distinctive structures of these two divisions (Monocotyledoneæ and Dicotyledoneæ), if he should see only a part of the leaf of a tulip or of a ranunculus, would be able to ascertain the division to which it belonged, and, by consequence, the essential principles of the culture and management of the plant, as far as respects the most important organs of plants, leaves being analogous to the lungs of animals.

Such is the difference between knowing a plant as a gardener or an amateur, and knowing it as a physiologist. There must evidently be a superior degree of pleasure in combining both descriptions of knowledge, and as evidently an advantage in point of utility: for though the mere cultivator might be aware of the effect of cutting or mutilating the leaves of the tulip and ranunculus from experience in the management of these two plants, yet not knowing it from principle, the knowledge could only be of use to him in this particular case, instead of being of use as applied to two of the three grand divisions of the vegetable kingdom. There is a positive source of pleasure in knowing the species of plants individually. Every plant of which we acquire a knowledge by sight, so as to be able to recognise it again when it comes in our way, is not only a distinct source of pleasure at first, but the pleasure is repeated and increased when we see it for the second and third times, or after some time, or in other circumstances relatively to ourselves or to the plant. In this way, with no other knowledge of plants than that of being able to name them when we see them, and, consequently, to communicate our ideas respecting them to others, they may prove sources of the most interesting associations. But even this pleasure, derived from what may be termed the trivial knowledge of plants, may be greatly enhanced by extending our views to circumstances connected with them not strictly botanical. Thus we may view them with regard to their geological relation in any particular country, their geographical distribution relatively to the world, their migration from one

country to another, their relation to climate, their being domestic plants following man, their being social (growing in masses) or solitary, their being abundant or rare, their natural modes of propagation, their natural enemies or friends whether among other plants or among animals, their history with regard to man, and their properties, uses, and culture.

A mere general lover of plants, therefore, who knows no more of them, in a strictly botanical sense, than their names, may add greatly to the pleasure which he derives from this taste, by simply acquiring something of that knowledge which may be called the biography of plants. It must be evident that cultivators, by adding to their stock of this description of knowledge, would not merely add greatly to their enjoyments, but would also contribute to their professional improvement, would add to their power as well as to their pleasure.

Those of us who know nothing of scientific zoology, still derive much pleasure from observing the great variety of forms, habits, and powers of the animal kingdom; and nothing is more common than for man to form attachments to particular animals. We transfer the human virtues to some of the nobler quadrupeds, and admire the courage of the horse, the sagacity of the dog, the docility of the ox, the patience of the ass, and the observant mimic powers of the monkey tribe; we are delighted with the singing of birds, instructed by the industry of the bee or ant, pleased with the gaiety of the butterfly, and amused or annoyed by various other insects or reptiles. But what is this interest in animated nature compared with the enjoyments of a scientific zoologist? The man who can trace the powers of the Author of nature, exerted in various degrees and for various purposes, through all the different orders of animated nature, from the most minute insect or obscure mollusca, endowed with unerring instinct, up to the intellectual powers of rational man, and who knows scientifically that man is the most perfectly formed of all animals, lives in a different world from the mere general observer, and enjoys that more exalted pleasure which can be given by scientific knowledge only.

Nor need the young student, who aspires to become a zoologist, be discouraged from attempting to obtain his share of the superior delight scientific knowledge can afford, by the obstacles that apparently oppose the acquirement. Every step in the pursuit produces a reward and a gratification, in exact proportion to its difficulty; and every advantage thus gained becomes a fresh inducement to proceed. The geographical distribution of the various animated beings which

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