568 



cause the human intellect must falter in unravelling the 

 intricate mysteries of Nature. But surely, when Plan- 

 tago is placed with Buddlcea in one section of the Jas- 

 mines, and Diapensia with Catticarpa in another ; when 

 the most natural genus of Lavandula is divided and 

 widely separated ; when Cassytha is ranged with Statice, 

 Eriocaulon, and the Proteacea, in one place ; Geoffraa 

 with Melia, Rhus, Sapindus and Rut a. in another, we may 

 be allowed to wonder, and to doubt whether we are con- 

 templating a natural or an artificial system. It does not 

 appear that Adanson made many proselytes. He haunted 

 the botanical societies of Paris in our time, without asso- 

 ciating with any ; nor was his extensive knowledge turned 

 to much practical account. Linnaeus has made but one 

 slight remark, that we can find, in his own copy of the 

 Families des Plantes, nor could he study deeply what was, 

 undoubtedly, very difficult for him to read. He certainly 

 never noticed Adanson's attacks, unless the satirical 

 sketch of the Botanophili, at the end of his Regnum Ve- 

 getable, (see the beginning of Syst. Veg. ed. 14.) be 

 partly aimed at this author. To apply the whole of it to 

 him would be unjust, though much is very characteristic. 

 The study of botany had never been entirely neglected 

 in France since the days of Tournefort ; because one de- 

 partment in the Academy of Sciences was allotted to that 

 and other branches of Natural History, and the seats in 

 the Academy being pensioned places under government, 

 there was something to be got by an apparent attention 

 to such pursuits. Buffon and his pupils engrossed 

 Zoology. Botany was allowed to exist, so far as not to 

 interfere with his honours ; but nothing of foreign origin, 

 and above all, nothing Linnaean, dared to lift up its head. 

 Something of true science, and practical knowledge, did 

 nevertheless imperceptibly work its way. Le Monnier, 

 and the Marechal de Noailles, corresponded, as we have 

 already said, with Linnaeus, ' and acquired plants from 

 England, of which they dared to speak, and to write, by 



