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PREFACE.
After the many elementary works on Botany which have appeared in various languages, any new attempt of the same kind may, at first sight, seem unnecessary. But when we consider the rapid progress of the science within a few years, in the acquisition and determination of new plants, and especially the discoveries and improvements in vegetable physiology; when we reflect on the view with which those fundamental works of Linnæus, the basis of all following ones, were composed, and to whom they were addressed, we must be aware of their unfitness for purposes of general and popular utility,
