Arrangements of Plants. 183 



under different classes with equal claims, or are not reducible 

 to any class whatever. As a nomenclature this defect is fatal; 

 for, unless the inquirer can be confidently assuretl that some 

 part of the system will afford him the information he requires, 

 he is disheartened in his efforts, and relinquishes his search in 

 disgust. 



Here, then, the comparison between these rival systems 

 necessarily terminates ; and whatever may be the merits of 

 Jussieu as a botanist, it is sufficiently clear that they are not 

 exemplified in the superiority of his arrangement as a nomen- 

 clature of the vegetable kingdom. In fact, the inconveniencies 

 arising in such arrangement from its primary distinctions be- 

 ing founded on the mode of germination, from the want of 

 a succinct and explicit division of the classes into orders 

 and sections, and particularly from the unfortunate circum- 

 stance of a considerable portion of vegetables not being in- 

 cluded in any part of the system, compel us to conclude that, 

 as a nomenclature and series of plants, it is greatly inferior to 

 that of Linnagus ; and that, however excellent it may be in 

 some respects, it will never supplant in general use that long 

 established work. 



III. That the work of Jussieu, considered as an illustration 

 of the natural affinities of plants, possesses great and intrinsic 

 merit, we may however readily admit ; but that the study of 

 plants in their natural orders can supply the want of an arti- 

 ficial system, may safely be denied. In fact, these two methods 

 are as distinct in their objects as they are in their means, and 

 should never be confounded with each other. The one com- 

 mences its observations with the obvious and exterior ap- 

 pearances of plants ; and, seizing upon the most striking cha- 

 racters, immediately arranges them into their different classes 

 and families. No distinctions are employed but such as are 

 visible, and present ; and wherever the plant is seen in its 

 perfect state, it bears upon it its own name and character. As 

 the means thus emjiloyed are confined to the exterior of the 

 plant, so the object in view is limited to the mere knowledge 

 of its proper appellation ; and as soon as that is attained, the 

 purpose of an artificial system is complete. — A real natural 

 system, on the other hand, if such a one should ever be prac- 

 ticable, must be founded on a long and intimate acquaintance 

 with the nature of plants, their habits and j)laces of growth, 

 the form and ([ualities of their seed, the manner of their evo- 

 lution, increase, and reproduction, the peculiarities of their 

 radication, their interior substance, whether medullary or con- 

 centric, the infinitely varied formation of their vascular system, 

 by which the plant is not only enabled to circulate the juices 



necessary 



