Excerpt from A Notice of the Origin, Progress, and Progress Condition: Of the Academy of Natural Sciences of PhiladelphiaA large portion of the materials employed in civil and naval architecture, and many of our most valuable medicines, are de rived from the vegetable kingdom. It is estimated that at this time there are about species of plants, which have been distinctly characterized. For the means of distinguishing them from each other, and consequently, for the ability to recognize, amidst the host, those adapted to the purposes for which we seek them, we are indebted to the labors of botanists.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.