jyz Dr. Smith'j Obfervaiions on 



Thefe publications were compofed upon the plan which Ray af- 

 terwards followed. The authors enumerated every Britilh plant, 

 to the beft of their knowledge, not indeed fufEciently difcriminating 

 truly wild from exotic fpecies, and arranged them alphabetically 

 under one or more denominations, taken from any author that 

 came in their way. Their works are therefore equally deficient in 

 fyftem, and uniformity of nomenclature ; for neither had been 

 thought of in thofe days, at lead in this country. Ray introduced 

 a fyflematic arrangement, but was ftill indifcriminate in the books 

 from which he took his fynonyms, choofmg, from any quarter, 

 what befi: exprefled the plant he meant, or probably adopting fuch 

 as happened to be in the mofl general ufe. Hill and Hudfon farft 

 difpofed our native plants under the uniform nomenclature of one 

 writer, Linnaeus ; the former indeed only as far as the genera were 

 concerned, the latter with refpeft to both genera and fpecies. How 

 much is it to be regretted that, inftead of beftowing his talents in 

 building a fyftem, which, however learned and ingenious, is now 

 fuperfeded by a more eafy one, Ray did not undertake to define by 

 words what he fo well underftood, the fpecifi^ differences of plants! 

 We fhould then have quoted him with certainty in every inftance; 

 whereas, if he fhould no^Y have chanced to miftake a fynonym, we 

 are led into an error, unlefs we happen to know certainly the plant 

 he mufl mean, and can judge for ourfelves, as well as he could, of 

 the propriety of the fynonym. Fortunately fuch miftakes in Ray 

 are very rare, but they fometimes occur. Hence it is necefTary to 

 obfer\'e that, though in quoting Ray, Merrett, How, or Dillenius for 

 any plant, we are obliged to name it by the denomination of fome 

 prior writer, under which they have placed it in their books, we 

 never anfwer for its being the plant intended by that writer. If 

 we believe it to be fo, we quote him exprefsly ; if we certainly know 



