MAGNOL, AXD LlNN^US. 277 



How these principles are applied, we shall presently ex- 

 plain ; but some previous observations are necessary. 



Linnzeus first made a distinction between a natural 

 and an artificial method of botanical arrangement. His 

 predecessors probably 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 explain that these were two 

 very distinct things. 



The most superficial observer must perceive some- 

 thing of the classification of Nature. The Grasses, 

 Umbelliferous plants, Mosses, Sea- weeds. Ferns, Lilia-' 

 ceous plants. Orchises, Compound flowers, each consti- 

 tute a family strikingly similar in form and qualities 

 among themselves, and no less evidently distinct from 

 all others. If the whole vegetable 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 another by so many points, 

 as to bewilder instead of directing us. We may seize 

 some striking combinations and analogies ; but the fur- 

 ther we proceed, the more we become sensible that, even 

 if we had the whole vegetable world before us at one 

 view, our knowledge must be imperfect, and that our 

 *' genius" is certainly not *' equal to the majesty of Na- 

 ture." Nevertheless Linnaeus, and all true philosophi- 

 cal botanists since the first mention of the natural affini- 

 ties of plants, have ever considered them as the most 



