The botanic garden. A poem in two parts. Part I. Containing the Economy of vegetation. Part II. the Loves of the plants. With philosophical notes / [Erasmus Darwin].
- Erasmus Darwin
- Date:
- 1791
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The botanic garden. A poem in two parts. Part I. Containing the Economy of vegetation. Part II. the Loves of the plants. With philosophical notes / [Erasmus Darwin]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![[ ™ ] APOLOGY. It may be proper here to apologize for many of the fubfequent conje6lures on fome articles of natural philofophy, as not being fupported by accurate inveftigation or conclufive experi- ments. Extravagant theories however in thofe parts of philofophy, where our knowledge is yet imperfe6l, are not without their ufe; as they encourage the execution of laborious experiments, or the inveftigation of ingenious dedudlions, to confirm or refute them. And fmce natural objefts are allied to each other by many affinities, every kind of theoretic diftribution of them adds to our knowledge by developing fome of their analogies. The Roficrucian do61:rine of Gnomes, Sylphs, Nymphs, and Salamanders, was thought to afford a proper machinery for a Botanic poems it is probable, that they were originally the names of hieroglyphic figures reprefenting the elements. Many of the important operations of Nature were fhadowed or allegorized in the heathen mythology, as the firft Cupid fpringing from the Egg of Night, the marriage of Cupid and Pfyche, the Rape of Proferpine, the Congrefs of Jupiter and Juno, Death and Refuf- citation of Adonis, &c. many of which are ingenioufly explained in](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28772970_0013.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
