396 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



while the latter, if perfect, should comprise all the points 

 which come within the object of Systematic Botany. The great 

 aim of the botanist, therefore, should be the development of a 

 true Natural System ; but, in its day, the Artificial System of 

 Linnseus has been of great value, and even now, to those com- 

 mencing the study of Botany without the aid of a teacher, it 

 cannot but prove of essential service. Linnseus himself never 

 devised his system with any expectation or desire of its serving 

 more than a temporary purpose, or as an introduction to the 

 Natural System, when the materials for its formation had been 

 obtained. The same may be remarked of all the artificial 

 systems that have been devised. When used in this sense, the 

 Artificial System of Linnseus may still be used with advantage 

 as an index to the Natural System. Its merits have been 

 well remarked upon by the late Professor Edward Forbes in his 

 Inaugural Lecture on Botany, delivered in King's College, London, 

 as follows : — " Those who slightingly think of the Linnsean 

 system, forget in the present to look back fully and fairly on 

 the past. They should remind themselves of the state in which 

 Botany was when Linnseus undertook to make its treasures 

 consultable. The understandirag of things depends greatly on 

 the perception of their order and relations. When that order 

 and those relations require deep study ere we can comprehend 

 them clearly, the man who gives us a clue, however insignificant 

 it may be in its own nature, is not only conferring on us an in- 

 valuable benefit, but endowing the despised instrument with 

 golden value. Such a clue did Linnseus give when he put forth 

 the artificial system. The scientific systematist, surrounded by 

 the stores of his herbarium, should not forget that those treasures 

 were often amassed, in the first instance, by adventurous and 

 earnest men rendering good service by their hands and energy, 

 as good, in its humble way, as that which he gives by his head 

 and philosophy. It was not to be expected of such men that 

 in the field they should occupy themselves with thoughts of ar- 

 rangement or affinity ; their part was to observe and select, and 

 the guide to their observation and selection was, in most cases, 

 no other than the Linnsean system. In the scientific hive, as in 

 the apiary, there must be working-bees and neuters, as well 

 as queens and drones, — it is necessary for the economy of the 

 commonwealth. An easy means of acquiring and arranging 

 information is a great help to the workmen of science; and no 

 department has gained more thereby than Botany, which, through 

 the facilities afforded by the artificial method devised by Lin- 

 nseus, has had its facts amassed in enormous quantity for the 

 use of its more philosophic votaries, and owes its present ad- 

 vanced state, in a great measure, to such humble means. 



" The clue to the labyrinth, then, having served such a noble 

 purpose, becomes a consecrated object, and should rather be 



