CLASSIFICATION. 233 



one of the various forms of the corolla which have al- 

 ready been enumerated. But unfortunately for Tour- 

 nefort and his system, the various forms were not suffi- 

 ciently distinct, and it was frequently difficult to say- 

 under which class an individual plant should be arrang- 

 ed It therefore received different names, some of 

 which being extremely barbarous, would have deterred 

 all but the most devoted iovers of natural history from 

 pursuing this its most interesting portion. 



In a few years it would have been discarded had not 

 Linnaeus appeared, its prince and its saviour, to re- 

 deem it from the corruptions of former, and to guard 

 against the innovations of future ages. With an eye 

 which could at a single glance discern the peculiar 

 features of any object ; with firmness to encounter, and 

 with talents to overcome, the greatest difficulties, he 

 planned, he accomplished more than all his predeces- 

 sors, and his works which remain at this day unrivalled, 

 will probably long continue unequalled. 



The number, situation, and proportion of the sta- 

 mens were the foundation of his primary divisions. 

 These organs, so constant, so essential to the comple- 

 tion of the flower, so necessary for the preservation of 

 the vegetable kingdom, were happily selected to fur- 

 nish each of his Classes with an obvious immutable 

 character. The Orders into which his classes are 

 subdivided, are established on a basis equally constant, 

 on the number and situation of the pistils, or on some 

 other circumstance equally obvious and invariable. 

 But this system, like that of Rivinus is artificial, and 

 though it enables us with great facility to learn the 

 name of any unknown plant ; it does not pursue the 

 order of nature, nor does it, like that of Jussieu, exhibit 



the affinities of the vegetable kingdom. 

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