WILD FLOWERS: How to See and how to Gather them. WITH REMARKS ON THE ECONOMICAL & MEDICINAL USES BY SPENCER THOMSON, M.D., L.R.C.S.E. FELLOW OF THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH, "It is pleasant to note all plants, from the rush to the spreading cedar, From the giant king of palms to the lichen that staineth its stem." MARTIN TUPPER. ΤΟ T48 1859 Bial. Leer WILLIAM THOMAS THOMSON, ESQ., F.R.S.E., F.I.A. OF TRINITY GROVE, EDINBURGH, THE FOLLOWING PAGES Are Inscribed, IN AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE OF YOUTHFUL DAYS AND WALKS, BY HIS BROTHER, THE AUTHOR. M354812 PREFACE ΤΟ THE FOURTH EDITION. "Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful. Beauty is God's handwriting—a wayside sacrament; welcome it in every fair face, every fair sky, and every fair flower, and thank Him for it, the fountain of all loveliness; drink it in, simply, earnestly, with all your eyes; tis a charmèd draught, a cup of blessing." AN author pens his preface to his first edition with mingled feelings. He may hope, both modestly and truly, that his work deserves the public favour, but he must know that favour does not always follow When, however, a second and a third edition have come and gone, and a fourth is in request, he may fairly consider that his work has not been in vain. Truly sorry should I have been had my "Wild Flower Wanderings" proved that I had failed to render a subject I truly love, attractive to others; a subject to which the good and the true, and there |