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ap])ear iinpnssililc tn arrive in a sluirt time at tlie name of siieli a 

 person as Julius Cppsar, Caxtnii, or Li Hung Chang; but it is 

 really ■wonderful to observe Imw quickly it may be done if the 

 questioner is admit with his questions. The first great point is — 

 that there shall be clear delimitation ^between the two sections 

 into which the question divides the suliject, that there shall be no 

 ddulit into M'hich class the subject will fall. You Avill notice, of 

 course, that the subject is necessarily divided bj' the form of the 

 answer into two and only two, classes This is the second important 

 point The third is — the two classes shall be as nearly as ]iossible 

 equal in size, for otherwise, if the object falls in the larger division, 

 we are very little the better for our question. The first question 

 usually asked in the game as I have mentioned it is, " Is the 

 person thought of alive?" This you will see hlls excellently the 

 first condition — that of clear delimitation, the second, and the 

 third. Ha\ing now ascertained to which class we are to direct 

 our attention, we proceed to put a second question on exactly the 

 same lines. Half our work is alreadj' clone, and a second judicious 

 question reduces it to one-fourtli The caution to the beginner 

 is — don't make shots at random at the solution ; proceed steadily 

 along the orthodox way, and you will eventuallj' save time. I'or 

 example, in T)otany we commence by deciding that all plants shall 

 Ije divided into two great cla.sses, viz. : Plants with more or less . 

 visil)le Howers, and ])lants without true flowers, or Phanerogams 

 and Cryptogams, as they are usually called. We ask the cpiestion, 

 has the plant a flower as is usually understood ? This question 

 gives the two great classes. The Phanerogams are then divided 

 into tM'o sub-classes — those having two seed-leaves, and those 

 having but one — the Dicotyledons and the jNIonocotyledons. The 

 Cryptogams are then also divided into tAvo sub-classes — the 

 Acrogens, or summit growers, and the Thallogens, or those having 

 a thallus only — ?>., no distinction between stem and leaf. This 

 jnticess is rejieated and reiieated until at last we arrive at the 

 actual individual ' flower. But you will say the Ijotanist never 

 goes to this trouble to say what a jilaut actually is, he recognises 

 it at once. "Well and good, if he can, but if he cainiot then he 

 goes through every steji carefully and steadily \uitil he arrives at 

 the result, and the great advantage of a system of this kin<l is that 

 if the botanist does not know, he can get to know By and by, of 

 course, the preliminary questions are so rapidly run through that 

 the botanist is scarcely conscious of having asked tliein, Imt he 

 really has done so, or is using the ex]ierience of former ([uestionings. 

 This natural system of classification, then, is excellently exemplified 

 in liotany, and a study of it and of its jirinciples will amply re]iay 

 any student for the time he devotes to it. It is, however, far from 



