Excerpt from Appendix to the First Twenty-Three Volumes of Edwards's Botanical Register: Consisting of a Complete Alphabetical and Systematical Index of Names, Synonymes, and Matter, Adjusted to the Present State of Systematical Botany; Together With a Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony Moon of the value of all works depends upon their having a good index; if this is true as a general rule, it is much more so with regard to books of great extent, involving multitudes of independent facts, and especially in the case of such a publication as the Botanical Register, of which twenty-three volumes have appeared without any classified catalogue of their contents. It is true, that alphabetical lists of the plants figured in those volumes have been already published, but one list stopped with the 13th volume, and the other applies only to the 10 succeeding ones; they are moreover merely alphabetical, while a systematical index is quite as necessary, and they contain no references to the numerous synonymes ascertained during the progress of the publication. These considerations have led the editor to undertake the laborious task of preparing a new and complete index, both classified and alphabetical, of the entire work, including not merely the names of the plants actually figured, together with their synonymes, but references to all the genera and species described only in the notes, and to such systematical and physiological observations as are to be found scattered through the pages. In doing this, the opportunity has been taken of revising the whole of the nomenclature, and of introducing such changes and corrections as the rapid progress of Systematical Botany has rendered necessary. The systematical index has thus become a silent commentary upon the whole 23 volumes, and is anindispensable adjunct to the work itself; for it will serve to shew the unlearned how far innovations in nomenclature are fit to be adopted, and which of the alterations that have from time to time been actually admitted into the work, appear, upon deliberate consideration, to deserve perpetuation. The number of errors requiring correction is not considerable, but it will be found, by a reference to the index, that they have been made unsparingly, and without the least regard to personal considerations. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This 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.