18 Mr. Roscoe on Artificial and Natural 



ence*. If such a system could be established, it is evident 

 that it must render that of Linnseus of no value; or, rather, 

 must exhibit it as calculated only to mislead the student, and 

 amuse him with words, instead of communicating to him sub- 

 stantial knowledge. 



In the execution of his task the younger Jussieu had pecu- 

 liar advantages. Since the time of Linnaeus the accessions to 

 the science have been immense; not onh' from the introduc- 

 tion of new genera and species, which to him were wholly un- 

 known, but from the greater attention which has been paid to 

 the examination of the individuals of the vegetable kingdom ; 

 the modes of their existence, oeconomy, and reproduction, 

 and various other particulars connected with botanical studies. 

 To enumerate merely the writers on these subjects whose 

 works are entitled to approbation, would be to form a consi- 

 derable Cjitalogue. That the mass of information thus ob- 

 tained has thrown great light on the physiology of plants, can- 

 not be doubted ; and no undertaking could be more com- 

 mendable, or more worthy of the talents of the illustrious 

 scholar who engaged in it, than that of endeavouring to apply 

 such knowledge to general use, and showing the affinities and 

 connections which nature has established between the indivi- 

 duals of her vegetable kingdom. The great utility of such 

 a work is obvious ; its foundations are deeply laid in the prin- 

 ciples of nature ; and in order to make a proficiency in such 

 study, it is necessary to examine far beyond the exterior phee- 

 nomena which are requisite for an artificial arrangement. 

 Hence the science acquires new dignity; and, instead of be- 

 iii"- conversant merely with exterior forms and nominal di- 

 stinctions, becomes acquainted with the laws and opei'ations of 

 naluie in one of the most important of her functions; that by 

 which she elicits from unorganized matter the means of sup- 

 port for animal life. 



Of the ability with which Jussieu has executed his task, and 

 the impulse which he has given to these pursuits, every bota- 

 nical student is well informed ; nor is it possible to recommend 

 his writings, and those of several of his countrymen who have 

 adopted, and jierhaps improved upon his system, too earnestly 

 to their attention, as elucidating the natural characters and 

 relative connections of a considerable portion of the vegetable 

 kin<»"(lom. This, however, is not the whole to which these 

 authors lay claim. It is not sufficient that we admit, in its 



* " His geniiina mox siibstituitur scientia, quas vegetantium non moilo 

 nomlnn, scd et naliiram inqiiirens iiitegram coruni organisationem cunctos 

 4-:iractcres prospiciat, <S:c." — Tusnien, Intioduc- p. fi7. 



fullest 



