20 ROBERT MORISON AND JOHN RAY 



seu Herbarum Distributio Nova per Tabulas Cognationis et Affi- 

 nitatis ex Libro Naturae observata et detecta, 1680. 



The three distinct treatises of which the Praeludia Botanica 

 consists were written probably at different times, though pub- 

 lished simultaneously in 1669. The first of them is an alpha- 

 betical catalogue, comprising about 2600 species, of the plants 

 in the Royal garden at Blois when under Morison's care : 260 of 

 the species are marked as new, and are fully described in an 

 appendix. But the chief interest of the Hortus Regius Blesensis 

 Auctus lies in the dedication to King Charles II. Morison here 

 narrates how, whilst at Blois, he had framed a system of classifi- 

 cation ; how the King's Uncle, the Duke of Orleans, had 

 promised to undertake the publication of a book to illustrate 

 the system on an adequate scale, and how the sudden death of 

 the Duke in 1660 had destroyed all such hopes; and he ends 

 by appealing to the King to give him the patronage that he so 

 much needed. " Quod si annuere hoc mihi digneris" he wrote, 

 "polliceor Britanniam vestram cum methodo exactissima (quae est 

 naturae ipsius) imposterum, in re Botanica gloriari posse, quern- 

 admodum Italia, Gallia, Ger mania, superiori saeculo, sine methodo, 

 in Scientia Botanica gloriatae sunt" But the King does not 

 appear to have been moved by this dazzling promise. Morison 

 evidently did not suffer from any lack of confidence in himself 

 or in his method, of which he speaks on a previous page of the 

 dedication, as " methodus nova a natura data, a me solummodo 

 (citra jactantiam) observata: a nullo nisi meipso in hum usque 

 diem detecta, quamvis mundi incunabilis sit coeva" language 

 which can hardly be described as modest. And yet, curiously 

 enough, Morison gives not the slightest indication of the 

 principles of this altogether new and original method of classifi- 

 cation. 



The second treatise, the Hallucinationes, is a searching and 

 acute criticism of the published works of the brothers Bauhin : 

 of the Pinax of Caspar, and of the Historia of John. Though 

 he acknowledges in the preface the great value of their botanical 

 labours, Morison did not fail to set out in detail the mistakes 

 that they had made in both classification and nomenclature, and 

 to make corrections which were, for the most part, justified. 



