356 OF A NATURAL MODK 



bably conceived their own systems to bef 

 each most consonant with the order of Nature^ 

 as well as mo^t 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 praceed in this 

 path, we soon find ourselves in a labyrinth. 

 The natural orders and families of plants, so 

 f:U' 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 ana- 

 loo'ies ; but the further we proceed, the more 

 we become sensible that, even if we had the 

 whole vegetable world before us at one view. 



