6 M. Flourens' Historical Eloge of 



ed, but the discovery of characters is the more important part of 

 botany." He estabKshed the principle, that all characters are 

 not of equal value ; that there are some which are general, 

 and some particular, some constant, and others variable, some 

 primitive, and others secondary ; sometimes a single one is of 

 more real value than many ; and hence the axiom, that we 

 are not to count characters, but to value them. 



Characters are the indicatory signs of the relations of beings. 

 In every organised existence, whether vegetable or animal, 

 each part has a necessary relation to all the other parts. 

 Consequently we may judge of them all, from any of them ; 

 and the parts which are taken for the signs of the others, — 

 the parts by which we judge of the others, are those which 

 are denominated characters. 



Naturalists began by seeking for these characters — these 

 signs — in all parts nearly indifferently ; ere long, however, 

 they recognised that these parts have nothing like the same 

 virtue in the processes of uniting, or of distinguishing, different 

 beings. Hence, then, arises the process of computing or cal- 

 culating characters, and this calculating gives the solution to the 

 problem of arrangement. About the middle of the sixteenth 

 century, Gessner proposed to derive the principal characters 

 of plants from the organs of fructification : this was the first 

 step, — the pre-eminent importance of the seed, demonstrated 

 by Cesalpin, was the second. 



Perhaps the most interesting problem in the whole science 

 of vegetable physiology has been the determination of the 

 peculiar function of each part of the flower. As every one 

 knows, a flower is composed of many parts. In the middle 

 is the pistil or female organ ; around the pistil are the stamens, 

 or the male organs ; next the corolla, the more brilliant and 

 coloured part of the flower, what is called the flower itself, by 

 Tournefort, surrounds the stamens ; and the calyx, the pro- 

 longation of the external covering of the bark, in other words, 

 the epidermis, envelopes all these parts. A century and a 

 half after the time of Gessner, Tournefort was still ignorant 

 of the true use of the stamens ; he actually denied this use, 

 which was correctly assigned to them by Vaillant. The ideas 

 of Vaillant upon the sexes of plants, which have since be- 



