KEMINISCENCES. Ixix 



the Encilish Ilora (which first appeared in English in 1829) was 

 sufficiently convenient in size, the descriptions were meagre. 

 Hooker's British Flora, which first appeared in 1830, successfully 

 supplied the demand for a compendious handbook, as is shewn by 

 the fact that four large editions were exhausted in less than twelve 

 years. These were all arranged on the Linnean system, but the 

 fifth edition, published a year before the Manual, followed the 

 natural arrangement. But by this time Sir William Hooker had 

 become Director of Kevv Gardens, and it is not astonishing that 

 his new labours left him but little time for British botany. Save 

 in its rearrangement, this edition shews little advance upon its pre- 

 decessors ; and the time was ripe for the appearance of a new book. 

 Other important reasons for the production of such a work are 

 well set forth in the preface to the first edition of the Manual — 

 a thousand copies of which, as of subsequent editions, were printed. 

 Babington tells us that, having taking up British botany, he "had 

 not advanced far in the critical examination of our native plants 

 before he found that a careful comparison of indigenous specimens 

 with the works of eminent continental authors, and with plants 

 obtained from other parts of Europe, must necessarily be made, 

 for it appeared that in very many cases the nomenclature employed 

 in England was different from that used in other countries, that 

 often plants considered as varieties here were held to be distinct 

 species abroad, that several of our species were only looked upon as 

 varieties by them, and also that the mode of grouping into genera 

 was frequently essentially different. The discovery of these facts 

 produced considerable astonishment, and the author was led to 

 consider what could have been the cause of so remarkable a 

 discrepancy. The following appears to be the most probable 

 explanation. It is well known that at the close of the last 

 century Sir J. E. Smith became the fortunate possessor of the 

 Herbarium of Linnaeus, and was thus enabled to ascertain, with 

 very considerable accuracy, the British species which were known 

 to that distinguished man, and to publish, in the most improved 

 form that he had given to his system, a remarkably complete 

 and excellent Flora of Britain. Then followed the long-continued 

 separation of this country from France, and indeed from most of 

 the European nations, by which we were almost completely pre- 

 vented from observing the progress which botanical science was 

 making in other countries, and at the same time our own flora was 

 continually receiving accessions of new plants which it was nearly 

 impossible to identify with the species detected and published in 

 France and Germany. At the conclusion of the war we had become 

 so wedded to the system of Linnaeus, and, it may even perhaps be 

 allowable to add, so well satisfied with our own proficiency, that, 

 with the honourable exception of Mr. Brown, there was at that 

 time scarcely a botanist in Britain who took any interest in or paid 

 the least attention to the classification by natural orders which had 



