the Er'itijh Specks of Mentha. ije^ 



chofeof them in his edition of the Synopjts, but by no means adopt- 

 ed or underftood them all. What he has there inferted, from thefe 

 authorities or his own obfervation, is either marked with an afterifk 

 or enclofed in crotchets. He has added two very bad figures, which 

 have contributed to obfcure the fubjca. Sherard, to whom fpeci- 

 mens of all thefe plants were communicated, followed his favourite 

 propenfity in accumulating fynonyms foe each, but not with accu- 

 rate difcrimination. Whether fuch an undertaking may be too 

 vaft and difficult for any mind, or whether Sherard and Dillenius 

 worked with too little caution, I know not; but, without detra6ting 

 from their eminent knowledge and acutenefs in other refpeds, I can- 

 not but think it fortunate that the celebrated Pinax never appeared. 

 Botany would then have been purfued by the indolent attention ta 

 fynonyms inftead of definitions, and would neither have been ufeful 

 as an exercife for the mind, nor have led to the a6tual knowledge of 

 Nature. As Buddie and Samuel Dale Itudied plants with a view to 

 their medical qualities, it is not wonderful that they Ihould have 

 paid great attention to the various odours of Mints; upon which, 

 added to the fhape of the leaves and the different degrees of hairinefs, 

 their ideas of fpecies were founded. All thefe however are variable 

 circumftances, efpecially the fmell. When Linnseus took up the 

 fubjeft he likewifc depended on the form of the leaves, taking a 

 farther chara6ter from the ftamina being longer or fhorter than the 

 corolla, and in this Mr. Hudfon and Mr. Sole have followed him. 

 Let us inveftigate thefe methods of difcrimination. 



Almoft every fpecies of Mint indeed has in its original wild ftate 

 a peculiar fmell of its own, by which alone the Mentha rotundifplia^ 

 for inftance, is at once known from every variety of the Jylve/iris ; 

 and the M. arvenfa, by its fmelling like blue mouldy cheefe, is dif- 

 tinguilhed from other 'vvhorled mints. But many mints are capable 



of 



