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there any deficiency of zeal among the leaders and pro- 

 fessors of this science. Systems, and branches of systems, 

 sprung up over the whole of this ample field, each aspi- 

 ring to eminence and distinction above its neighbours. 

 Many of these, like the tares, that fell by the way side, 

 soon withered for want of root ; others, like the herb a im- 

 pia of the old herbalists, strove to overtop and stifle their 

 parents ; and all armed themselves plentifully with thorns 

 of offence, as well as defence, by which they hoped finally 

 to prevail over their numerous competitors. This state 

 of scientific warfare did not, in the mean while, much pro- 

 mote the actual knowledge of plants, though it prepared 

 the way for a final distribution of the numerous acquisi- 

 tions, which were daily making, by the more humble, 

 though not less useful, tribe, of collectors and discoverers. 

 The success of the Linnsean artificial system is not alto- 

 gether, perhaps, to be attributed to its simplicity and fa- 

 cility ; nor even to the peculiar attention it commanded, 

 by its connexion with the striking phaenomenon, brought 

 into view at the same time, of the sexes of plants. The in- 

 sufficiency, or at least the nearly equal merits, of the many 

 other similar schemes that had been proposed, began to 

 be most strongly felt, just at the time, when the great 

 progress and success of practical botany, rendered the 

 necessity of a popular system most imperious. While 

 the cause of system was pending, some of the greatest 

 cultivators of the science were obliged to have recourse 

 to alphabetical arrangement. This was the case with 

 Dillenius, the man who alone, at the time when Linnseus 

 visited England, was found by him attentive to, or capable 

 of understanding, the sound principles of generic distinc- 

 tion. These he probably understood too well to presume 

 to judge about universal classification. It was the fashion 

 of the time however for every tyro to begin with the lat- 

 ter; and the garden of knowledge was consequently too 

 long encumbered with abortive weeds. 



Linnaeus had no sooner published and explained his 



