376 HISTORY OF BOTANY. 



leaves, as the several species of Ranunculus and of Lactuca. Nor will 

 color or shape of the flowers help us better ; for what has Vitis in com 

 mon with CEnanthe, except the resemblance of the flower ?" He then 

 goes on to say, that if we seek a too close coincidence of all the cha- 

 racters we shall have no Species ; and thus shows us that he had clearly 

 before his view the difficulty Avhich he had to attack, and which it is 

 his glory to have overcome, that of constructing Natural Orders. 



But as the principles of Csesalpinus are justified, on the one hand, 

 by their leading to Natural Orders, they are recommended on the 

 other by their producing a System which applies through the whole 

 extent of the vegetable kingdom. The parts from which he takes his 

 characters must occur in all flowering-plants, for all such plants have 

 seeds. And these seeds, if not very numerous for each flower, will be 

 of a certain definite number and orderly distribution. And thus 

 every plant will fall into one part or other of the same system. 



It is not difficult to point out, in this induction of Csesalpinus, the 

 two elements which we have so often declared must occur in all 

 inductive processes ; the exact acquaintance with facts, and the gene- 

 ral and applicable ideas by which these facts are brought together. 

 Csesalpinus was no mere dealer in intellectual relations or learned tra- 

 ditions, but a laborious and persevering collector of plants and of bota- 

 nical knowledge. " For many years," he says in his Dedication, " I 

 have been pursuing my researches in various regions, habitually visit- 

 ing the places in which grew the various kinds of herbs, shrubs, and 

 trees; I have been assisted by the labors of many friends, and by gar- 

 dens established for the public benefit, and containing foreign plants 

 collected from the most remote regions." He here refers to the first 

 garden directed to the public study of Botany, which was that of 

 Pisa, 17 instituted in 1543, by order of the Grand Duke Cosmo the 

 First. The management of it was confided first to -Lucas Ghini, and 

 afterwards to Cassalpinus. He had collected also a herbarium of dried 

 plants, which he calls the rudiment of his work. " Tibi enim," he 

 says, in his dedication to Francis Medici, Grand Duke of Etruria, 

 " apud quern extat ejus rudimentum ex plantis libro agglutinatis a me 

 compositum." And, throughout, he speaks with the most familiar and 

 vivid acquaintance of the various vegetables which he describes. 



But Csesalpinus also possessed fixed and general views concerning 

 the relation and functions of the parts of plants, and ideas of symmetry 



)T Cuv. 187. 



