58 HISTOniCAL liULOGlUM 



foreigners have hitherto disputed with her !" These words 

 reveal a consciousness of his own abilities, which was still 

 more proved by the task that he then proposed to his own 

 mind ; that of subjecting the whole vegetable kingdom to 

 the principles set forth in his two Memoirs; — an immense 

 enterprise, whose result was his grand work On the Families 

 of Plants, and from which may be dated the new spirit whicii 

 now animates all those who occupy themselves with the 

 affinities and classifications of Vegetables. 



The Natural Method is the object towards which all the 

 efforts of Naturalists were tending, even before they found it; 

 and when once found, which became the guide of all their sub- 

 sequent efforts. The ancients, if we except Aristotle (and him 

 alone), paid no attention to the affinities of created objects ; 

 in Natural History, and especially in Botany, they looked 

 only to the use ul, and studied Vegetables solely as connected 

 with domestic economy and medicine. The order, the affi- 

 nities of species, and their arrangement, — all this purely scien- 

 tific department of Botany escaped them altogether; nor 

 could it be otherwise, they knew too iew plants. Tbeophrastus 

 reckons but 300, Dioscoides 600, and Pliny 800 plants. The 

 Natural Order and arranjjement of created beinors has its 

 materials scattered over the whole surface of our globe; and 

 may be aptly compared to the task of collecting and rebuild- 

 ing an edifice, many of whose component parts are wanting. 

 Of course, the greater the proportion of missing portions, 

 the harder would be the task of putting the structure to- 

 gether ; if too many were absent, the work would be imprac- 

 ticable, and to be perfectly certain that the edifice, when 

 finished, was exactly correct, evei-y individual fragment must 

 be there. 



Wonderful are the discoveries made since the Middle Ages; 

 — that of a new world, the most wonderful of all ! The 

 curiosity of men, once roused by great events, leads them on to 

 more energetic and daring researches. Sciences are brought 

 anew into notice, great expeditions are undertaken, and the 

 known number of organized bodies increases with an aug- 



