METHODS OF C.ESALPINUS, RIVINUS, ETC. 269 



Classes Plantarnm he has drawn out a regular plan of 

 the System of Ca?salpinus, the chief principles of which 

 are the followini>; : 



1. Whether the embryo be at the summit or base of 

 the seed. 



2. Whether the gcrmen be superior or inferior. 



3. Seeds 1, 2, 3, 4, or numerous. 



4. Seed-vessels 1, 2, 3, 4^, &c. 



The work of Caesalpinus, though full of informa- 

 tion, was too deep to be of common use, and excited 

 but litde attention. A century afterwards Morison, 

 Professor of Botany at Oxford, improved somewhat 

 upon the ideas of the last-mentioned writer, but has 

 been justly blamed for passing over in silence the 

 source of his own information. Ray, the great En- 

 glish naturalist, forined a considerably different system 

 upon the fruit, as did Hermann, Professor at Leyden, 

 and the great Boerhaave ; but in these last there is 

 litde originality. 



Rivinus, Ruppius and Ludwigin Germany proposed 

 to arrange plants by the various forms of their Corolla, 

 as did Tournefort the illustrious French botanist, whose 

 system is by far the best of the kind ; and this having 

 been more celebrated than most others, I shall give a 

 sketch of its plan. 



In the first place we meet with the old but iiighly 

 unphilosophical division into Herbs and Trees, each of 



