H 



1 72 Mr. Haworth on the Genus Sedum. 



not be discovered in the heavens. The eclipses of 1 820, hap- 

 pening in March and September, were examples of a contrary 

 kind, being very luminous. It is probable that the moon never 

 entirely disappears, unless the eclipse occurs within a month 

 of the solstice. 



Leaving this hypothesis to be confirmed or refuted by fu- 

 ture observation, 



I remain, sir, yours, &c. 



Aug. 22, 1825. M. Smith. 



XXIV. Further Remarks on the Dichotomotis Distribution of 

 Nature : together with a Binari/ Ari-angement and Description 

 of the Genus Sedum. By A. H. Haworth, Esq. F.L.S, 

 Si'C. t^-c. 



To the Editor of the Philosophical Magazine and Journal. 

 Sir, 



AVING been informed since my last communication to 

 you, by my friend Mr. J. E. Gray, that our great coun- 

 tryman Ray had used a method resembling my binary one, 

 in arranging some of his works on Botany ; I have searched 

 and found (what I must before have seen and forgotten) that 

 not only Ray, but his great coadjutor Willoughby likewise, 

 has used, in various branches of nature, a tabular method 

 which is chiejly binary, yet sometimes irregular and even tri- 

 chotomous, and ever descriptive; whereas mine is always 

 binary, and strongly and strictly definitive (not descriptive), 

 by a single word or name, for every branch or group, how- 

 ever small. And I have further found that Morison also has 

 closely followed the plan of Ray and Willoughby, and used it 

 very extensively in his celebrated and most useful Historia 

 Plantarum Universalis; — thus all together forming and ad- 

 vancing a more powerful plea in favour of the binary distri- 

 bution than any thing that I can add, or than any of our 

 cotemporaries can easily overthrow. 



Greater names than the above, in the whole march of the 

 science of Natural History (considering what had preceded), 

 have scarcely been ; and they have, separately or jointly, laid 

 the foundations of much that is yet stable, and whose super- 

 structure is worthy of enduring for ever. 



I have the honour to remain, sir, yours, &c. 



Queen's Elm, CheUea, Aug. 1825. A. H. Haworth. 



P. S. To render the above litde article rather more worthy 

 of,your Magazine and Journal, I will subjoin to it a descriptive 



account 



