in Natural History. 481 
use of the Tinnæanarrangement. The two great masters of bota- 
nical science propose different ends, and ought not to be regarded 
asrivals. The President of this Society has also constantly pressed 
upon the attention of the student the same important fact. 
In some respects it is not to be regretted that the abso- 
lute sway which the name of Linnzus has had among English 
naturalists is somewhat abated: for although authority is an 
extremely useful bond of union, and has in this instance esta- 
blished among us a nomenclature which nothing short of homage 
to the founder could probably have made current, yet it has 
brought with it the ordinary evils attendant upon great names. 
The range of the pupil has been limited by that of the master; 
and it has been considered a species of heterodoxy to dissent 
from the established opinions. ‘The danger to be now appre- 
hended is, that those who adopt other arrangements will forget 
the advantages to be denina fam hat is pees in wages love of 
that which is new. 
In addition to the remarks made sb? Mr. Nosos and the Pre- 
sident, I would beg leave to suggest to those who adopt new 
systems,—and in adopting them think it advisable to break up 
the old orders and genera into many new ones,—that the artificial 
and natural systems aim at two very distinct objects, which are 
in some measure incompatible with each other. ‘The one is to 
make us acquainted with individuals: and the other, founded 
upon an acquaintance with individuals, to combine them ac- 
cording to their characters, so as to abridge the labour of reason- 
ing, and to enable us to ascend from particular to general truths. 
In order to assist us in these investigations, we employ certain 
words in a peculiar sense. "Thus the word Species, when used 
by naturalists, has a more confined signification than the same 
word when employed in scholastic language. We have agreed 
that a species shall be that distinct form originally so created, 
3Q2 and 
