FORMATION" OF SYSTEMS. 383 



the Second ; wno, on liis restoration, summoned Morison to England, 

 where lie became Superintendent of the Royal Gardens, and also of 

 the Botanic Garden at Oxford. In 1669, he published Remarks on the 

 Mistakes of the two Bauhins, in which he proves that many plants in 

 the Pinax are erroneously placed, and shows considerable talent for 

 appreciating natural families and genera. His great systematic work 

 appeared from the University press at Oxford in 1680. It contains a 

 system, but a system, Cuvier says, 36 which approaches rather to a natu- 

 ral method than to a rigorous distribution, like that of his predecessor 

 Cassalpinus, or that of his successor Ray. Thus the herbaceous plants 

 are divided into climbers, leguminous, siliquose, unicapsalar, biccqmdar, 

 tricapsular, quadricapsular, quinquecapsular ; this division being com- 

 bined with characters derived from the number of petals. But along 

 with these numerical elements, are introduced others of a loose and hete- 

 rogeneous kind, for instance, the classification of herbs as lactescent and 

 emollient. It is not unreasonable to say, that such a scheme shows 

 no talent for constructing a complete system ; and that the most dis- 

 tinct part of it, that dependent on the fruit, was probably borrowed 

 from Csesalpinus. That this is so, we have, I think, strong proof; for 

 though Morison nowhere, I believe, mentions Ca&salpinus, except in 

 one place in a loose enumeration of botanical writers, 36 he must have 

 made considerable use of his work. For he has introduced into his 

 own preface a passage copied literally" from the dedication of Ca3sal- 

 pinus; which passage we have already quoted (p. 374,) beginning, 

 "Since all science consists in the collection of similar, and the dis- 

 tinction of dissimilar things." And that the mention of the original 

 is not omitted by accident, appears from this ; that Morison appro- 

 priates also the conclusion of the passage, which has a personal refer- 

 ence, " Conatus sum id prcestare in universa plantarum historia, ut si 

 'jttiJ j)/-<> iiir/enii mei tenuitate in hujusmodi studio profecerim, ad com- 

 rmiacm utilitatem proferrem" That Morison, thus, at so long an inter- 

 val after the publication of the work of Csesalpinus, borrowed from 

 him without acknowledgement, and adopted his system so as to muti- 

 late it, proves that he had neither the temper nor the talent of a disco- 

 verer; and justifies us withholding from him the credit which belongs 

 to those, who, in his time, resumed the great undertaking of construct- 

 ing a vegetable system. 



Among those whose efforts in this way had the greatest and earliest 



* Cuv. Lerons, <fec. p. 486. 36 Pref. p. i. 3T Ib. p. ii. 



