•216 Dr. Smith's Inquiry into the Structure of Seeds. 



Mosses for this reason from the other Cryptogamic vegetables, 

 and therefore Jussieu can scarcely believe these parts to be Co- 

 tyledons; yet it is not possible to call them any thing else, and to 

 suppose them a peculiar, and hitherto unheard-of, organ, would 

 but increase the difficulty. Gsertner in the Introduction to his 

 great work, p. 157, tells us he has seen many Cotyledons in se- 

 veral Fuci also, and that he suspects others of the more imper- 

 fect plants, hitherto referred to the Monocotyledortes, may be si- 

 milarly circumstanced. It seems that too much, by far, has 

 been taken for granted in this department, though .the parts un- 

 der consideration form the great hinge upon which all natural 

 systems turn. It is only by analogy that the great family, or na- 

 tural order, of Lichenes has been judged. Monocotyledonous, an 

 analogy which the Fuel, if Gsertner be correct, render very 

 doubtful. The germination of the Fungi is at least equally un- 

 certain. 



I mean not however by any means to invalidate the import- 

 ance of the distinction between such plants as have two or 

 more Cotyledons, and such as have only one or none, however 

 inaccurate the terms commonly used to distinguish them may 

 be. Much less am I inclined to throw any needless impediments 

 in the way of those who labour at the arduous and important 

 study of natural classification, or to detract from the well-earned 

 fame of such men as Gaertner and Jussieu, on account of 

 difficulties and imperfections unavoidable in so abstruse a study. 

 No real friend to truth and knowledge ever foments invidious 

 rivalships in philosophy. The field of science is now so vast, 

 that its different cultivators find the advantage of dividing their 

 tasks, and thus the students of physiology, of natural systems, 

 and of artificial ones, may all powerfully assist each other. 

 Truth is pursued by different paths, and nothing is more pleas- 

 ing 



