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traced in those parts. On the other hand, it cannot be 

 concealed that the plants termed monocotyledones have no 

 cotyledon at all analogous to those of the dicotyledones ; 

 what Jussieu and others call such, being the albumen of 

 the seed, absorbed in the first stage of vegetation. The 

 minute plants assumed to be acotyledonous, must be pre- 

 sumed to be furnished with something analogous, or we 

 cannot conceive how vegetation can take place. By all 

 these observations we mean only to show, that the pri- 

 mary divisions of Jussieu's system are at least totally in- 

 sufficient to answer that practical purpose, which a student 

 has a right to expect from any methodical arrangement. 

 If the learned be still uncertain, whether the distinctions, 

 on which such divisions are founded do, in a great number 

 of cases, really exist, how can a beginner regulate his first 

 inquiries thereby? We are not the less ready to confess, 

 that the difficulty in question is rather a philosophical spe- 

 culation, than of any great practical importance. It gives 

 a venerable air of mystery, which may procure respect 

 for other parts of a system, that are more intelligible and 

 more useful, though not free from exception. We allude 

 to the next subdivision of the method of the great French 

 teacher, founded on the petals. This should seem to be 

 obvious and certain, but we soon find ourselves bewildered 

 in an old labyrinth of dispute, concerning the difference 

 between a calyx and a corolla. We are obliged to submit 

 to a sweeping decision, which allows no corolla to mono- 

 cotyledonous plants ; a decision which we cannot safely 

 combat, because of the difficulty of deciding what are 

 such, but which shocks our senses and our judgement, 

 and seems refuted in many instances by Nature herself, 

 as decidedly as any of her laws can be established. JYor 

 do we get clear of this perplexity among the declared di- 

 cotyledonous tribes, where the evident corolla of the Mar- 

 vel of Peru is assumed to be an inner calyx, there being 

 a real perianth besides, subsequently indeed called an 

 involucrutn. Yet we are at a loss to discern why the ter- 



