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.

PATERNOSTER-ROW.

46169.

BLIOTHEQUE CANTONAL

LAUSANNE

T UNIVERSITAIRE

LONDON:
Printed by A. & R. Spottiswoode,
New-Street-Square.

ΤΟ

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.