356 OF A NATOKAL MODE 



bably conceived their own systems to be 

 each most consonant with the order of Nature, 

 as well as most commodious for use, and it 

 was reserved for him to perceive and to ex- 

 plain that these were two very distinct things. 

 The most superficial observer must per- 

 ceive something of the classification of Na- 

 ture. The Grasses, Umbelliferous plants, 

 Mosses, Sea-weeds, Ferns, Liliaceous plants, 

 Orchises, Compound flowers, each constitute 

 a family strikingly similar in form and quali- 

 ties among themselves, and no less evidently 

 distinct from all others. If the whole vege- 

 table kingdom could with equal facility be 

 distributed into tribes or classes, the study of 

 Botany on such a plan would be no less easy 

 than satisfactory. But as we proceed in this 

 path, we soon find ourselves in a labyrinth. 

 The natural orders and families of plants, so 

 far from being connected in a regular series, 

 approach one anotfier by so many points, as 

 to bewilder instead of directing us. We may 

 seize some striking combinations and ana- 

 logies ; but the further we proceed, the more 

 we. become sensible that, even if we had the' 

 whole vegetable world before us at one view. 



