52 HISTORICAL EULOGIUM 



Stamp of his own mind and genius. Often did he repeat 

 that this Memoir it was which made him a botanist, that the 

 veil was withdrawn, to use his own words, and the great 

 principles which he should constantly labour to enforce and 

 demonstrate, were now first displayed to his eyes. This 

 Memoir struck all those who heard or read it as belonging to 

 a new order of ideas, and the new element and principle of 

 tlie Natural Method was thenceforth to assume its place in 

 the science, and to alter its aspect. Up to this period, much 

 of Science had consisted in nomenclature; Linnaeus leaned to 

 this opinion ; now, by a process which seemed to bring it 

 nearer to its true object, which is the nature of things, the 

 study of characters should supersede the study of names. 

 '• Nomenclature," says our author, "is not to be neglected; 

 but research into characters is a more important part oi 

 Botany." Nor are all characters to be held of equal value; 

 they may be general or particular, constant or variable, pri- 

 mitive or secondary. Often is a single one equivalent to 

 many, so that we should not content ourselves with counting 

 the characteristic marks, but endeavour to appreciate their 

 respective importance. Characters are also indications of the 

 affinities of things; for in every created object, whether orga- 

 nized, vegetable, or animal, each individual part has its 

 necessary relations to all the others. Thus some judgment 

 may be formed of all by any one, and those parts by which 

 we form a judgment of others, are what we call characters. 



Now, naturalists began by hunting for these characters or 

 signs in all the respective parts, almost indifferently. Soon, 

 however, they found that there is not an equal importance to 

 be attached to all, whether as points of union or separation, 

 and hence arose the calculation of characters, which calcula- 

 tion gives a solution to the problem of the Method. 



Gessner, in the middle of the 16th century, first originated 

 the idea of drawing the primary characters of plants from 

 their organs of fructification; this was the first step, followed 

 by Caesalpinus, who demonstrated the pre-eminence in tliis' 



