14 Rev. Mr Ramsay's Biographical Notice of 



But to attain that " ultimus finis," Linnaeus considered the 

 study of plants by an artificial method, in order to gain a 

 knowledge of individuals, the best preparation. Every bota- 

 nist will look to the natural system, as the point to which his 

 labours tend, and a knowledge of which will be his ultimate re- 

 ward. Such was the opinion of the late president, and such his 

 object in the ^'English Floral and let it be remembered that he 

 wrote for those who were commencing the study of botany in the 

 Flora of their country, and to commence with the study of na- 

 tural relations of plants before plants are known, is obviously 

 absurd, or, as he judiciously remarks, " the knowledge of na- 

 tural classification, being the summit of botanical science, can- 

 not be the first step towards the acquirement of that science," 

 and to arrange the Flora of any country, except by the artifi- 

 cial method, is to show the " membra disjecta," rather than 

 the symmetry of a perfect and complete body. Surely it is 

 the most philosophical mode of study to ascend to system from 

 a knowledge of facts, and in a close observation of nature in 

 detail by an easy and artificial arrangement, is the best exer- 

 cise for those who seek to discover her general analogies and 

 extended principles of arrangement ; and if the Linnaean bo- 

 tany be, (as I humbly apprehend it will be admitted by the 

 candid and the studious to be) the best introduction to a study 

 of the great combinations and universal analogies of nature in 

 the formation of plants, we cannot hesitate to give Sir J. Smith's 

 botanical writings a \exy high rank amongst those works which 

 have contributed to extend an accurate knowledge of nature. 



The last point to which I shall advert is the great influence 

 which the late president's writings have had in promoting the 

 study of botany in general, and diffusing through society the 

 pleasure it is capable of giving. This is a very important fea- 

 ture in the character of the man of science, whose object, let 

 it be remembered, is twofold : 1^^, to advance the progress of 

 science by extending its boundaries into new fields of inquiry, 

 or by perfecting that which is already known ; and ^.dly^ to dis- 

 seminate a love of science generally, and encourage the study 

 of it as a branch of a liberal education. In the first instance, 

 he addresses men occupied like himself in deep research and 



