Page:An introduction to physiological and systematical botany (1st edition).djvu/24

 xviii mankind or to themselves. They would permit their children to study botany, only because it might possibly lead to professorships, or other lucrative preferment.

These views are not blameable, but they are not the sole end of human existence. Is it not desirable to call the soul from the feverish agitation of worldly pursuits, to the contemplation of Divine Wisdom in the beautiful economy of Nature? Is it not a privilege to walk with God in the garden of creation, and hold converse with his providence? If such elevated feelings do not lead to the study of Nature, it cannot far be pursued without rewarding the student by exciting them.

Rousseau, a great judge of the human heart and observer of human manners, has remarked, that "when science is transplanted from the mountains and woods into cities and worldly society, it