318 



several wild flowers," or to draw " a slight sketch of the principles on 

 which the Linnsean classification is founded," But with this diffe- 

 rence, we have a fellow-feeling with Dr. Drummond, for Priscilla 

 Wakefield's Introduction was our first text-book as it was his ; and 

 after a time, when Galpine's Compend came into our possession, we 

 managed to learn the scientific appellations of those lovely works of 

 an Almighty Hand with which we had previously lived in friendship 

 and admiration. Then came Smith's ' Introduction to Botany,' and, 

 more valuable still, that admirable author's magnum opus, the ' Eng- 

 lish Flora.' From these works we for the first time found out that 

 there was something to be learned beyond the mere names of plants, 

 something to be acquired beyond the mere ability to refer a plant to 

 its place in the Liunsean system. We are however free to confess that 

 even with the aid of Sir J. E. Smith's ' Grammar of Botany,' the only 

 book containing an exposition of Jussieu's views of classification we 

 could at that time command, we made but little progress in our studies. 

 Nor was the matter much mended with Gray's ' Natural Arrangement,' 

 which afterwards fell into our hands, or even with Lindley's ' Intro- 

 duction to the Natural System :' and it was not until we met with 

 Jussieu's admirable ' Cours Elementaire,' that we felt any great incli- 

 nation to master the difficulties of classification. In 1846 appeared 

 Lindley's ' Vegetable Kingdom,' which at once opened up a new field 

 of inquiry, cleared away many of the doubts and difficulties under 

 which we had previously laboured, and gave us new ideas of the dig- 

 nity of the science by demonstrating the superior advantages of this 

 mode of studying the natural affinities of plants. 



If we have been somewhat prolix in this detail of our own limited 

 experience, we have but to say in excuse that our only wish has been 

 to show that there are no such insuperable difficulties in the path of 

 the student, even should he be deprived of the assistance of a teacher, 

 as the author of the ' Observations ' encountered in his attempt to 

 master the details of a system which he seems to have found imprac- 

 ticable. 



Reverting now to the earlier portion of the ' Observations,' we find 

 a remark to the truth of which we can most unhesitatingly give in our 

 adhesion, for, like the characters in * The Critic,' when we do agree, 

 our unanimity will ever be found to be wonderful. The author states 

 that — 



" According to an aphorism of Linnaeus, the great and important 

 step in understanding any science is to know things themselves. 

 How can we reason about plants unless we know what these plants 



