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are ? We must first have a knowledge of the things we speak, or 

 write, or think, or philosophise about, before we can do any of these 

 to a good purpose, and, therefore, the most useful and important 

 introduction to any science is that which leads fairly to a knowledge 

 of the thinys themselves.''^ — P. 3. 



Granted ; but then it must be borne in mind that this knowledye, 

 as applicable to the vegetable kingdom, is not limited simply to the 

 ability of determining the name of a plant and its place in a system, 

 as too many botanists of the Linnaean school understand it ; on tTie 

 contrary, in the words of Linnaeus himself, " The knowledge of spe- 

 cies involves an acquaintance with every kind of science — physical, 

 economical, and medical ; indeed, with the whole range of human 

 learning." Now at this point issue is joined between ourselves and 

 the author, who affirms with a voice of authority that the Linnaean 

 system is " the only easy method of gaining a knowledge of plants 

 that has ever been the offspring of human genius;" and again, that it 

 " is pre-eminent over all other introductions to a knowledge of plants." 

 On the contrary, we hesitate not to declare from experience, that the 

 Linna^an system by itself is neither the only, nor the most pre-eminent 

 introduction to a knowledge of plants, as that knowledye is to be 

 rightly understood. In this opinion we are fully borne out by Sir J, 

 E. Smith, perhaps the most able expositor of Linnsean principles our 

 own or any other country has produced, and one, moreover, whom the 

 author of the 'Observations' will hardly reject as an authority on this 

 subject, since he cites him as a botanist who can on no account be 

 considered superficial. This eminent man, in the Preface to his 

 * Grammar of Botany,' has lucidly stated the respective merits of both 

 the Linnaean artificial system, and the more philosophical method 

 promulgated by Jussieu. The former he says expressly, " is to be un- 

 derstood merely as a dictionary" to enable the student "to make out 

 any plant that may fall in his way. He will learn to reduce such 

 plant to its proper class and order in some systematic work, where he 

 will trace out in progression its genus and species, with everything 

 that any author has recorded of its history or use." Aye ! there's the 

 rub. " Everythiny that any author has recorded of the history or 

 use" of such a plant may thus easily be traced out; but supposing 

 no author has ever before met with the plant under examination, and, 

 as a consequence, that no record has been made of its " history or 

 use," how then is the student to proceed ? He may readily enough 

 refer it to its Linnaean class and order — Pentandria Monogynia, De- 

 candria Trigynia, or anything else, as the case may be; but here 



