ARRANGEMENT OF PLANTS. 373 



The labors of Gessner in botany, both on account of the unfinished 

 state in which he left the application of his principles, and on account 

 of the absence of any principles manifestly applicable to the -whole 

 extent of the vegetable kingdom, can only be considered as a prelude 

 to the epoch in which those defects were supplied. To that epoch we 

 now proceed. 



Sect. 2. Epoch of Ccesafyinus. Formation of a System of Arrange- 

 ment. 



IF any one were disposed to question whether Natural History truly 

 belongs to the domain of Inductive Science ; whether it is to be 



O 



prosecuted by the same methods, and requires the same endowments 

 of mind as those which lead to the successful cultivation of the Physi- 

 cal Sciences, the circumstances under which Botany has made its 

 advance appear fitted to remove such doubts. The first decided step 

 in this study was merely the construction of a classification of its sub- 

 jects. We shall, I trust, be able to show that such a classification 

 includes, in reality, the establishment of one general principle, and 

 leads to more. But without here dwelling on this point, it is worth 

 notice that the person to whom we owe this classification, Andreas 

 Csesalpinus of Arezzo, was one of the most philosophical men of his 

 time, profoundly skilled in the Aristotelian lore which was then 

 esteemed, yet gifted with courage and sagacity which enabled him to 

 weigh the value of the Peripatetic doctrines, to reject what seemed 

 error, and to look onwards to a better philosophy. " How are we to 

 understand," he inquires, " that we must proceed from universals to 

 particulars (as Aristotle directs), when particulars are better known ?" 6 

 Yet he treats the Master with deference, and, as has been observed, 7 

 we see in his great botanical work deep traces of the best features of 

 the Aristotelian school, logic and method; and, indeed, in this work 

 he frequently refers to his Qucestiones Peripateticce. His book, entitled 

 De Plantis libri xvi. appeared at Florence in 1583. The aspect under 

 which his task presented itself to his mind appears to me to possess so 

 much interest, that I will transcribe a few of his reflections. After 

 speaking of the splendid multiplicity of the productions of nature, and 

 the confusion which has hitherto prevailed among writers on plants, 



Qucestiones Peripateticce, (1569,) lib. L qusest. i. * Ctmer, p. 198. 



