Page:An introduction to physiological and systematical botany (1st edition).djvu/22

 in our days, by his scientific skill alone, has given the bread-fruit to the West-Indies, and his country justly honours his character and pursuits. All this is acknowledged. We are no longer in the infancy of science, in which its utility, not having been proved, might be doubted, nor is it for this that I contend. I would recommend botany for its own sake. I have often alluded to its benefits as a mental exercise, nor can any study exceed it in raising curiosity, gratifying a taste for beauty and ingenuity of contrivance, or sharpening the powers of discrimination. What then can be better adapted for young persons? The chief use of a great part of our education is no other than what I have just mentioned. The languages and the mathematics, however valuable in themselves when acquired, are even more so as they train the youthful mind to thought and observations. In