CHAPTER XV*. 



CLASSIFICATION. 



By a recent publication it appears, that 50,000 plants 

 have been collected, named and described ; a number 

 so formidable, a subject so vast, that without the aid 

 of science, it would be impossible for one mind to com- 

 prehend the whole. No where else are system and 

 knowledge so intimately blended ; for here they are 

 so inseparable that he who denies the necessity of the 

 one must relinquish all pretensions to the other. With- 

 out system, all would be chaos and confusion ; and the 

 study of plants and the investigation of their character 

 and relations would be interesting only, as it led to the 

 contemplation of beautiful objects. Without system, 

 our subject would be no longer worthy of pursuit ; it 

 would neither exercise nor enlarge the mind, nor would 

 it strengthen the memory. Of the various modes of 

 arrangement that of Tournefort is distinguished for 

 its beauty ; that of Linnaeus for its simplicity ; that of 

 Jussieu for its analogy to nature. 



Tournefort, the most learned botanist of his age, the 

 favourite of Louis his king, the pride and the boast of 

 his country, rendered himself immortal by reducing to 

 order the plants which were at that time known. His 

 classes are founded on the forms of the corolla, and 

 they were more natural, more easily understood, and 

 more usually studied than any others. 



Were it desirable, we might in a little while become 

 acquainted with his classes, for each of them comprises 



