316 



zeal to establish a different plan of studying the members of the 

 vegetable kingdom; such a course is, to say the least of it, ungene- 

 rous and uncalled for. We will even go further, and freely confess, 

 that as the most strenuous advocates of the modern plan feel an abso- 

 lute necessity for the employment of some artificial scheme as an aid 

 in their researches into the stations and affinities of unknown plants, 

 we see no valid reason for the utter rejection of the Linnaean artificial 

 system as such an aid. All we contend for is, that the limited amount 

 of knowledge attainable through that system should by no means be 

 looked upon as the sole end and aim of botanical investigation. 



There is so much " admired disorder" in the manner in which the 

 ' Observations ' are mixed up, that it is by no means easy to follow 

 them out to the conclusions intended to be deduced from them. For 

 example ; at p. 3 the author commences a record of his own experi- 

 ence, as well as expresses his intentions in penning the little volume 

 under notice, in the following words : — 



" I have not myself, for many years, been attending to botanical 

 pursuits, except occasionally by fits and starts, and then in a great 

 measure for the purpose of renewing the delightful feelings I experi- 

 enced, when young, in learning my early lessons from Priscilla Wake- 

 field's Introduction to the science; and what has principally urged 

 me to write the present Observations is the hope that, however feeble 

 the effort may be, it may have some effect in assisting to excite simi- 

 lar feelings in the mind of the young botanist, by attracting him, if 

 possible, to study the only easy method of gaining a knowledge of 

 plants that has ever been the offspring of human genius." Then about 

 five-and-twenty pages further on, the author cites the personal expe- 

 rience of Dr. Lindley, as to the perplexities awaiting " a beginner who 

 is unassisted by a tutor," although with fewer difficulties to contend 

 with than most students. " I began," says Dr. Lindley,* " with the 

 Linnaean system, which I was taught to regard as little less than an 

 inspired production ; I had plenty of books compiled according to 

 that system to consult, and was fairly driven to seek refuge in the na- 

 tural system from the difficulties and inconsistencies of that of Lin- 

 naeus." On this quotation we have the following comment: — 



" Now I cannot attach the slightest importance to this confession 

 of the learned writer, for thousands who never had the access to books 

 on Linnaean botany which he had, have not only found it divested of 

 the difficulties he alludes to, but have from only the most limited 



* As quoted in the ' Observations,' at p. 20 



