iOi HISTORY OF BOTANY. 



CHAPTER V. 



PROGRESS TOWARDS A NATURAL SYSTEM OF BOTANY. 



E have already said, that the formation of a Natural System of 

 classification must result from a comparison of all the resem- 

 blances and differences of the things classed ; but that, in acting upon 

 this maxim, the naturalist is necessarily either guided by an obscure 

 and instinctive feeling, which is, in fact, an undeveloped recognition 

 of physiological relations, or else acknowledges physiology for his 

 guide, though he is obliged to assume arbitrary rules in order to inter- 

 pret its indications. Thus all Natural Classification of organized 

 beings, either begins or soon ends in Physiology ; and can never ad- 

 vance far without the aid of that science. Still, the progress of the 

 Natural Method in botany went to such a length before it was 

 grounded entirely on the anatomy of plants, that it will be proper, and 

 I hope instructive, to attempt a sketch of it here. 



As I have already had occasion to remark, the earlier systems of 

 plants were natural ; and they only ceased to be so, when it appeared 

 that the problem of constructing a system admitted of a very useful 

 solution, while the problem of devising a natural system remained 

 insoluble. But many botanists did not so easily renounce the highest 

 object of their science. In France, especially, a succession of extra- 

 ordinary men labored at it with no inconsiderable success : and they 

 were seconded by worthy fellow-laborers in Germany and elsewhere. 



The precept of taking into account all the parts of plants according 

 to their importance, may be applied according to arbitrary rules. We 

 may, for instance, assume that the fruit is the most important part; 

 or we may make a long list of parts, and look for agreement in the 

 greatest possible number of these, in order to construct our natural 

 orders. The former course was followed by Gsertner ;' the latter by 

 Adanson. Gartner's principles, deduced from the dissection of more 

 than a thousand kinds of fruits, 2 exercised, in the sequel, a great and 



1 De Fructibns (t Seminibus Plantarum. Stuttg. 1788-1791. 

 9 Spr?ngel, ii. 2r>" 



