20 Mr. Roscoe on Artificial and Natural 



for its general reception among botanists to the conciseness 

 and certainty of its characters, the number of individuals ar- 

 ranged under each order, and the improved nomenclature by 

 generic and specific names*." To this, however, he adds, 

 " that all such systems are arbitrarily constructed, that tiiey 

 exhibit a factitious science, terminating not in the knowledge, 

 but merely in the defining and naming of plants ; and that, in 

 short, they can only be considered as a j^relude to the science 

 of botany, affording a succedaneous arrangement of plants, 

 until, by repeated labours, they can be reduced into a proper 

 and natural series f ." 



From these and other observations to be found in the wri- 

 tings of Jussieu, it is not difficult to perceive that the system 

 there proposed was intended to replace that of Linnaeus; 

 which from that time was presumed to be no longer necessary 

 to the student; and these pretensions have been enforced by 

 subsequent writers, who have adopted the arrangements of 

 Jussieu. In his Discourse on the Study of Botany, prefixed 

 to his " Tableau du Regne Vegetal," M. Ventenat has not only 

 collected the authorities of several preceding botanists in dero- 

 gation of the system of Linnaeus, but has even made use of the 

 authority of Linnaeus against himself. Li this, indeed, he has 

 in some degree followed the example of Jussieu, who has 

 availed himself of several passages from the writings of Lin- 

 naeus to prove his acknowledgement of the superiority of a 

 natural method X ; but this concession has been carried by 

 both these writers to an extent which Linnaeus certainly never 

 intended, and which it will not in any candid construction 

 bear. If we admit the interpretation put upon the writings of 

 Linnaeus, he has himself acknowledged the futility and pro- 

 claimed the downfall of his own system, and has consequently 

 released his followers from engaging in its defence. 



• Jussieu, Introd. p. 41. 



t " Hagc autem systeniata arbitrario constriicta, scientiam exhibent facti- 

 tiam, non naturaleni, et plantis non penitus cogiioscendis, sed tantiim 

 compendiosi^ definiendis ac certo nomiiiaiulis addictam. JIabenda sunt 

 igilur quasi praeludia botanica, aut repertoria apte digesta, indicisque non 

 alphabetic!, alii aliis comniodiores, in quibus, secundum signa in faciliorem 

 propriae invcstigationis laborem tnutuique Botanicorum commercii nexum 

 admissa pacto ordine disponuntur plantse, donee f'eliciiis iterata medita- 

 tione in scriem vcre naturalem distribuantur." — Jussieu, Ibid. 



J " Classes quo niagis naturales, eo ceteris paribus praestantiorcs sunt. 

 Summorum Botanicorum hodicrnus labor in his sndat, et desudare decet. 

 — Methodus naturalis hinc ultimus finis Botanices est et erit." — Linn. 

 Phil. Bol. n. 206. — " Primum et ultimum in Botanice qusesitus est me- 

 thodus naturalis. — Haec adeo a Botanicis minus doctis vili habita, a sapi- 

 entioribus vero tanti semper aestiinata, licet dctecta nondum iSic." — Linti. 

 Class, p. 485. ap, Jussiai Introd. p. 43. 



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