KEW GARDEN MUSEUM. 333 
of Vegetables, or, as he has termed his most complete work, the “ Pro- 
dromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis.” This, as is well 
known to many besides the readers of our Journal, is the ** Natura 
System or Method,” and it possesses the great merit, that plants are 
thereby classified mainly from their organs of reproduction; and as it 
is evident that those families of plants which present the greatest 
number of points of analogy in those organs, will also display them 
in the organs of nutrition where the secretions are chiefly formed upon 
which depend the peculiar properties of plants, so it follows that these 
properties may be in accordance with their classification into Natural 
Groups. 
It will be seen in an early part of the following catalogue, for ex- 
ample, that the Ranunculus- or Crowfoot-family contains acrid and 
poisonous principles : the Poppy-family is narcotic, while the seeds are 
wholesome: the Sour-sop-family supplies excellent fruits: the Crucifere 
are antiscorbutie, and the Violet-family is emetic; while more familiar 
instances may be mentioned in the @rass-family, which yields all our 
cereal grains: the Labiate are aromatic and contain volatile oil: the 
Bindweed-family is cathartic: the Gentian-family abound in bitter 
principle, the Conifers in Resin, Turpentine, and Tar, the Mallow- 
family in mueilage and fibre. Armed with this kind of knowledge (I 
mean, an acquaintance with the natural families of the vegetable king- 
dom), an intelligent traveller in distant regions may safely estimate the 
properties which a plant, though he has never met with it before, may 
possess; and many instances are narrated of botanists, who have ac- 
companied exploring expeditions and voyages of discovery, unhesita- 
tingly employing certain plants hitherto unknown, as food, or for the 
relief of some malady, especially the scurvy. If they were in want of — 
string or cordage, the bark of the Nettle-family, and equally of the 
Spurge-laurels, would afford it. They would be aware too, that many 
- plants, justly deemed poisonous in the crude or raw condition, possess 
this principle in a volatile state, as for example the Potato (thotigh not 
in a high degree), the Arum-family, and the Cassava or Tapioca plant 
(eminently poisonous) ; yet, when the injurious principle is dissipated 
by cooking or forced out by pressure (witness the tapioca-bags of the 
South American Indians in the Museum), the residue affords nutritious - 
food, the staff of life to tens of thousands. | 
The utility of this museum to mankind at large, and of that arrange- — — 
ment of the collection which we have been discussing, is testified by 
