444 



method of arranging plants, according to that which is 

 generally termed ihe Sexual System, than it excited con- 

 siderable attention. His elegant and instructive Flora Lap- 

 ponica could not be perused by the philosopher or the 

 physician, without leading its readers occasionally aside, 

 from the immediate objects of their inquiry, into the paths 

 of botanical speculation, and awakening in many a curi- 

 osity, hitherto dormant, on such subjects. But the scope 

 of that limited Flora is by no means sufficient to show 

 either the necessity or the advantages of any mode of ar- 

 rangement. Linnaeus may be said to have grasped the 

 botanical sceptre, when, in the year 1753, he published 

 the first edition of his Species Plantarum; and the com- 

 mencement of his reign must be dated from that period. 

 The application of his system to universally practice, in 

 this compendious distribution of all the known vegetables 

 of the globe ; his didactic precision ; his concise, clear, 

 and certain style of discrimination ; his vast erudition dis- 

 played in synonyms ; and, perhaps as much as any thing 

 else, the fortunate invention of trivial or specific names, by 

 which his nomenclature became as evidently commodious, 

 and indeed necessarily popular, as any part of his per- 

 formance ; all these causes co-operated to establish his 

 authority. An immediate impulse was given to practical 

 botany. The vegetable productions of various countries 

 and districts were marshalled in due array, so as to be 

 accessible and useful. A common language was esta- 

 blished throughout the world of science ; a common stock 

 of knowledge and experience began to accumulate, which 

 has ever since been increasing, and can now never be 

 lost. Of these partial Floras to which we allude, those of 

 Lapland and Sweden, the productions of Linnaeus him- 

 self, were the models of most of the rest, and have never, 

 on the whole, been excelled. 



Hence arose the Linnsean school of* botany, which 

 though founded in Sweden, extended itself through Hol- 

 land, Germany, and more or less perfectly in other parts 



