ABSTRACT
The Utilitarian tendencies were pushing scientific knowledge in the direction of empire building, whereas a more subtle but equally important Romantic strain was defining science in the sense of demystifying nature without compromising the essential connect between nature and man. While nature was at the very heart of the Romantic poetic imagination, it was no less so for the men and women of science at this time. From the Romantic worldview which ascribed to botany the pietism required in unveiling the mysteries of nature representing the 'hand of God', it had travelled to unknown lands where nature became an exploitable entity in search for greater profits. The Romantic Movement, which was initially a reaction to the devastation that Industrial Revolution had incurred on the fabric of the British society, was thus a critique of the use of science in a way that had allowed for glaring inequities, child labour, poverty and squalor.
