Oh, Nature ! all-sufficient ! over all ! Enrich me with the knowledge of thy works ! Snatch me to Heaven; thy rolling wonders there, World beyond world, in infinite extent, Profusely scatter'd o'er the blue immense, Show me; their motions, periods, and their laws, Give me to scan ; through the disclosing deep Light my blind way; the mineral strata there ; Thrust, blooming, thence the vegetable world ; O'er that the rising system, more complex, Of animals; and higher still, the mind, The varied scene of quick-compounded thought, And where the mixing passions endless shift ; These ever open to my ravish'd eye; A search, the flight of time can ne'er exhaust! But if to that unequal ; if the blood, In sluggish streams about my heart, forbid That best ambition ; under closing shades, Inglorious, lay me by the lowly brook, And whisper to my dreams. From thee begin, Dwell all on thee, with thee conclude my song : And let me never, never stray from thee!

FIRST STEPS TO BOTANY,

INTENDED AS

Popular Illustrations

OF THE SCIENCE,

LEADING TO ITS STUDY AS A BRANCH OF

GENERAL EDUCATION,

BY JAMES L. DRUMMOND, M.D.

PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY IN THE

BELFAST ACADEMICAL INSTITUTION.

LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN,

PATERNOSTER-ROW.

TO

THE PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENTS,

THE JOINT BOARDS OF MANAGERS AND VISITORS,

THE BOARD OF FACULTY,

AND THE BOARD OF MASTERS,

OF THE

BELFAST ACADEMICAL INSTITUTION,

THIS LITTLE WORK

IS INSCRIBED,

BY

THE AUTHOR.