Benthani and Hooker'' s Genera PI ant arum 51 



cant compilations, and the tables of Adanson specially rela- 

 ting to families, we must regard the " Institutiones " of Tournefort, 

 published in 1709, as the oldest work upon genera. It is there 

 that botanical genera are for the first time clearly distinguished, 

 defined by character, and even represented by analytical figures. 

 The species are there merely enumerated, and are also strangely 

 mixed up with varieties or monstrosities, so that the merit of the 

 work lies essentially in the definition of the genera. The Genera 

 of Linnseus appeared in 1737. The classical work of Antoine 

 Laurent de Jussieu is of 1789. Almost simultaneously (1790), de 

 Necker brought out under the title of " Elementa " an enumeration, 

 much less remarkable, of the genera then known, with an indica- 

 tion of their characters. A considerable time then elapses, and in 

 1836 two learned botanists, Endlicher and Meissner, separately 

 and simultaneously set about publishing Genera Plantarum, 

 Finally in 1862 Messrs Bentham and Hooker undertake anew 

 that always great and difficult task. 



Was this, then, a work imperatively demanded by the state of 

 the science ? or, in reality, have not the zealous English botanists 

 chiefly consulted their powers, their classical knowledge of classifi- 

 cation, and the extraordinary riches of the materials at their dis- 

 posal ? We rather incline to believe the latter alternative. The 

 Prodromus with its slow but regular step was passing gradually 

 over the large class of Dicotyledons, creating or destroying many 

 genera ; and putting them, one after another, to the proof by a 

 complete revision of species. 



The Genera of Endlicher, a work of remarkable perfection, and 

 of a convenient size, was still in all hands. The division of Ciyp- 

 togams is undergoing profound transformations, which it will be 

 difficult for many years to condense into truly stable genera, or 

 sub-genera, analogous to those of the Phanarogams. Besides, the 

 history of botany shews that more than a quarter of a century has 

 commonly elapsed between the publications of " Genera." On the 

 other hand, few botanists are so well situated as Messrs Bentham 

 and Hooker, for undertaking a work of this nature. Each of them 

 has already published floras of different countries, and monographs, 

 two kinds of works which develope the tact and the judgment in 

 matters of natural classification. They have the necessary coup 

 d'oeil and experience. The disposition of their minds is not to 

 absorb themselves in details. They delight to group facts, and as 

 they have at their hand immense herbaria, with a rich library, it is 



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