PREFACE. 9cxiii 



farther than this is not barely a natura- 

 lift, but fomething more, viz. aphyfician, 

 a chymifl, a farmer, a gardener, &c. 

 And he who cannot go thus far to a cer- 

 tain degree, does not deferve the name of a 

 naturaHft, however fklllfull he may be in 

 the vcrtues and properties of bodies ani- 

 mate and inanimate. 



The ufe then and intent of a claflical fyf- 

 tem is nothing more than that of a dic- 

 tionary, where no one complains that 

 words totally unconncded in fenfe are put 

 near one another. The queftion therefore 

 as to the fexual fyftem^ v. g. in plants, is 

 not whether they be ranged, naturally, but 

 whether in the befl: manner poffible in order 

 to be known. Nay farther, it matters not 

 whether the fexual fyflem be founded on 

 nature or not, i. e. whether there be any 



•^ At the end of the preface i have endeavored to ex- 

 plain the meaning of thefe terms in fuch a manner, that 

 i think any curious perfon that will be at the pains to 

 compare my explication with nature, cannot fail to un- 

 derfland perfedly what they mean In general. I thought 

 this method would be more agreeable to the reader than 

 to be referred to other books. 



a 4 propagation 



