IN NATURAL CLASSIFICATION. 59t 
to the study of the heavenly bodies ; he finds their motions, 
in a great measure, correspond to the results of his previous 
speculations, and, in the exultation of his heart, he exclaims 
that * Calculation commands nature." But the boast is un- 
founded; calculation, at the best, only agrees with nature, 
and even in this chiefest empire of the intellect's triumph, 
incongruities are discoverable. However, to eke out the li- 
mits by which calculation finds itself bounded in its applica- 
tions to astronomy, nothing more seems necessary than to 
call to its assistance the immeasurable influence of fixed 
stars, no one knows how distant! and to fill all space with 
an ether, no one knows how subtile ! 
In Mathematics, the progeny of the human mind, there are 
general laws. In Astronomy, where the subject matter is 
independant of the human mind, these laws have to be mo- 
ified. How much more is it difficult, not to say impossible, 
to draw right-lined distinctions among the subjects of Na- 
tural History, which, being present to our immediate obser- 
vation, show us such numberless aspects, and whose actions 
are the products of many forces, interfering with and con- 
trolling each other. 
nowing, therefore, that in the natural classification of 
plants, we cannot hope for logical, but must remain con- 
tented with moral truth, let us apply ourselves to ascertain 
to what extent we may set the characters derivable 
from the pollen. And in this place it is necessary to ob- 
serve, that no character is of equal importance in every 
group. Thus, in that very natural group of families, com- 
posed of the Stylidiee, Lobeliacee, Campanulacee, Goodenovie, 
Columelliacee, and Vacciniee, which agree in being mono- 
petalous dicotyledons with inferior ovaries, hilose radicles, 
central placentz, fleshy albumen, definite stamina, com- 
pound ovaries, and numerous seeds, we find the distinctive 
characters in five out of six to be taken from the sexual 
organs; the Stylidiee being gynandrous, the Lobeliacee syn- ` 
Senesious, the Goodenovie ge? indusiate stigmata, the Colu- 
melliacee diandrous, and the Vacciniee with horned anthers. 
