12 M. Flourens' Historical Eloge of 



Families des Plantes, from the publication of which dates the 

 new spirit which, at the present time, animates all those who 

 are engaged with the alliances and the classification of beings. 

 The natural method of arrangement was the grand object to 

 which all the efforts of naturalists had tended, previous to its 

 discovery ; and, once discovered, it has since become their polar 

 star in every subsequent effort. 



The ancients, if we except Aristotle, and Aristotle alone, did 

 not concern themselves with the relations of beings. They 

 made researches in natural history, and especially in botany, 

 only on the score of utility, and studied vegetables only as 

 they bore upon domestic economy, and upon physic. The 

 order, the relation of species, the arrangement, which is the 

 expression of this order and these relations, — all, in short, in 

 botany, that was purely scientific, escaped them ; and it was 

 scarcely possible it could be otherwise, as so few plants had 

 been brought under their cognizance. They amounted only 

 to 500 in the days of Theophrastus, to 600 in those of Dios- 

 corides, and to 800 in Pliny's time. 



The natm'al order, — in other words, the time order of beings, 

 — ^has its materials dispersed over the whole surface of the 

 globe. It may be compared to an edifice, of which we have 

 only the disjointed and overturned fragments ; nay, of which 

 we are very far from having all these, and of which we are, 

 nevertheless, solicitous to determine the reconstruction. It 

 will readily be understood, that the greater the deficiency of 

 the fragments, the greater will be the difiiculty of the resto- 

 ration ; and that this deficiency may still be so great, that our 

 object will be unattainable ; and that the only way in which 

 we can be rigorously certain that it is perfectly accurate, 

 would necessarily be the possession of the whole. 



At the close of the middle ages, astonishing discoveries ra- 

 pidly succeeded each other ; and the most wonderful of all 

 was the discovery of the New World. The curiosity of man- 

 kind, awakened by these great events, excited them to bolder 

 and more energetic researches. The sciences were reani- 

 mated, extensive voyages were commenced, and the ascer- 

 tained number of beings augmented with a rapidity which 

 increased its o\^'n speed, and in a ratio the more worthy of 



