Systems of Botany. 419 



tables,— the greatest possible extent of investigation is neces- 

 sary ; not only a just account must be taken of the obvious parts 

 and their constant properties, but refined optical contrivances 

 must be resorted to, in order to discover the true structure and 

 internal arrangement of those obvious parts. In this analysis, 

 a knowledge of chemical and mechanical laws is frequently re- 

 quired, and not unfrequently, when human art is at a stand, 

 analogy, under the guidance of sound judgment, is the only light 

 at hand ; for although wc may know much of organic structure, 

 of the nature of organic life we know very little. 



Of life, we can assert little more, than that the motion con- 

 tained within the organic structure depends upon it, as the con- 

 tinuance of the form and arrangement of all the parts of the 

 structure, depends upon the motion. The solid parts are for the 

 preservation of the forms of bodies, but the whole of these solids 

 are curiously constructed tissues of net-work, fibres, laminae, and 

 other contrivances, whereby the fluids can have free passage 

 through them, bringing accessions to their growth, repairing the 

 waste, and carrying away what is superfluous. Whether the 

 forms of bodies at maturity, are but extensions of what was la- 

 tent in the germ before vitahzation, or whether they are due to 

 the vital power peculiar to each individual, — for some species 

 reproduce lost parts, — still, each individual is what it is, in conse- 

 quence of this complication which we call organization ; and it 

 is clear that the properties and functions of species can only be 

 understood by comparative anatomy, which is the study of the 

 organic elements of individuals. 



Assuming, therefore, that this is the only true method of es- 

 tablishing a classification of animals, it will not be difficult to 

 show, that the arrangement of vegetables must depend upon the 

 same principles, being organic bodies, elaborated by a vital power. 

 Of this we shall give proofs, first briefly noticing the Linnasan 

 scheme, which no doubt is familiar to most of our readers. 



About a century ago, when Linnaeus constructed his celebrated 

 artificial system, founded upon the parts concerned in the fruc- 

 tification of plants, the investigation which the structure of 

 plants had received, was very limited. Cumbrous descriptions 

 in the Latin tongue, derived from external characters, stood in 

 the place of the precise trivial names which Linnaeus substituted. 

 Rousseau ridiculed the pedantic practice of answering for the 



