‘PREFACE. s 
“into Dotahical nomenclature, and indeed it must be ac- 
knowledged that the concussion of revolution whe- 
ther in science or politics, even to fulfil the most ims 
portant object, but little accords with our natural de= 
sire of harmony. And yet the same love of revolu-_ 
- tion might-also have been urged with equal force 
_ against the great Linnzus, who in the zenith of his fame, — 
but seldom spared the labours of his predecessors or 
soatorsporaries when they stood in the way of hie dar- 
it we are at length shctinedt to believe, that the | 
Tast and most perfect of systems, perfect because the ~ 
uncontaminated gifi of Nature, is about to be confer- 
red upon and confirmed by the Botanical world. The 
-plam of natural affinitics, sublime and extensive, 
s the arrogance of solitary individuals, and requires 
rtof every Botanist and the exploration of 
oul try towards its completion. Can we deny 
seption of a prevailing affinity throughout, the 
e kingdom, and carp at the anomalous charac- 
of a . few individuals? But even here the science 
| ‘totriumph, when we perceive that the anomalies 
diminish by the accession of objects. 
eR a ee 
Whoever might have been my impression in tavbas 
the system of arrangement by affinities, the conve- 
ence and prevalence of the artificial system of Lin- 
nzus, still almost exclusively taught throughout the 
: United ee rendered some defoemnce , to Public 
