by deriving the word from guz, or gazaz, to cut, to shear, to minoe. This sharp instrument of theirs has given occasion to Pisidas to compare a swarm of locusts to a sword with ten thousand edges. Caterpillars begin their ravages before the locust, which, as Mr. Taylor observes, seems to coincide with the nature of the creature here intended: That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten,' Joel i. 4.

BOTANY.

THAT branch of natural history which relates to vegetables has been called BOTANY, from botane, a plant or herb; and PHYTOLOGr, from phyton, a plant, and logos, a discourse. It treats of their structure and functions, the systematical arrangement and denomination of their several kinds, and their peculiar properties and uses. Were all the known objects diffused over the surface of this earth submitted to the examination of a certain number of individuals accustomed to nice and patient investigation, but altogether ignorant of any arrangement hitherto proposed, there can be but little doubt that the same classification would be adopted by all; and that the objects would be divided into three grand assemblages, namely, minerals, plants, and animals; such being, in fact, for the purposes of description, at least, the most convenient distribution that could be adopted. Thus there is no difficulty in distinguishing this mineral body from that plant, or this plant from a horse, an elephant, or any other quadruped. Yet, when we come to examine the confines of these several kingdoms of nature, we find that so nice are the shades and gradations, and so gradual the transitions from one class of bodies to the other, that objects frequently present themselves, to which it would be difficult to assign their proper compart

ment.

However striking, therefore, the distinctions between animal and vegetable life, in their more perfect and elaborate forms, as we approach the contiguous extremities of the two kingdoms, we find these distinctions fading away so gradually,

Shade unperceived, so softening into shade,

and the mutual advances so close and intimate, that it becomes a task of no common difficulty to draw a line of distinction between them, and determine to which of them an individual may belong.

The structure of vegetables is truly wonderful, and demands our admiring attention. How excellently adapted are the roots for taking hold of their parent earth, as well as for drawing nourishment for the support of the plant, and imbibing moisture from the neighboring soil! How commodiously are the various tubes and fibres composing the trunk or stalk arranged for the motion of the sap upwards, to all the extremities of the leaves and branches! How nicely are the leaves formed for the important services they are made to yield in the economy of vegetation! What an excellent clothing does the bark afford, not only for protecting the stem and branches from external injury, but from the hurtful extremes of

heat and cold! What evident marks of wisdom and design do the flowers evince in their beautiul and delicate construction; how nicely are they formed for the protection and nourishment of the first and tender rudiments of the fruit, and when it has attained more firmness and solidity, how readily do they relinquish their charge, and drop off in decay, when no longer necessary! How wonderfully does the fruit, in some classes, envelope and protect the seed till it has arrived at maturity; and lastly, what a passing strange piece of organized mechanisin is the seed itself, and, being necessary for the reproduction of its species, what a remarkable provision is made for its preservation and succession! What but the wisdom of a Deity could have devised, that those seeds which are most exposed to the ravages of the inhabitants of the forest should be not only doubly, but some of them trebly enclosed; that those most in request as articles of food, should be so hardy and so abundantly prolific; and that seeds in general, which are the sport of so many casualties, and exposed to injury from such a variety of accidents, should be possessed of a principle of lasting vitality, which makes it indeed no easy matter to deprive them of their fructifying power! Plants are also multiplied and propagated by a variety of ways, which strengthen the provision made for their succession.

Nor is the finger of Providence less visible in the means for diffusing or spreading abroad vegetables, than in the provision made for keeping up their succession. The earth may be said to be full of the goodness of the Lord; but how comes it to pass, that in parts untrod by man, and on the tops of ruinous buildings, so many varied specimens of the vegetable creation are to be found? Is it not from the manner in which nature's great Husbandman scatters his seeds about? While the seeds of some plants are made sufficiently heavy to fall down and take up their abode near the place of their nativity; and others, after having been swallowed up by quadrupeds, are deposited in the neighboring soil; some are carried by the fowls of the air to places more remote, or, being furnished with a soft plumage, are borne on the winds of heaven to the situations allotted for them. To prevent some from pitching too near, they are wrapped up in elastic cases, which, bursting when fully ripe, the prisoners fly abroad in all directions. To prevent others from straying too far, they are furnished with a kind of grappling hooks, that arrest them in their flight, and attach them to the spot most congenial to their growth. These are some of the doings of the Lord, and are wondrous in our eyes!

In the construction of plants we observe a considerable difference in the consistence of the three classes. Compared with the shrubby race, how hard, firm, and tenacious is the trunk of the majestic oak; and, compared with the herbaceous tribe, how woody, tough, and elastic is the hawthorn twig! But for this, how could the mighty monarch of the wood have been able to withstand the fury of the tempest? While the more humble and lowly