481 



in verjuice, and which, when allowed to remain undisturbed for a 

 length of time, will become as large and as compact in its texture as 

 the vinegar-plant. Mr. Kennedy, of Covent Garden, would, I think, 

 be able to give some more correct information, for I know him to be a 

 successful cultivator of this plant. — John Lloyd. 



About two years ago I inquired of the Rev. M. J. Berkeley what 

 this really was, and found that he considered it a form of Penicillium 

 crustaceum of Fries, which is described in the fifth volume of the 

 * English Flora.' — A. Bloxam. 



* Natural Systems of Plants.^ 



Under this title Dr. Drummond has very forcibly stated, in the pre- 

 sent number, his objections to the term 'natural,' as applied to the 

 physiological systems now universally employed in botanical science. 

 Now, without any idea of strengthening the Doctor's cause, which he 

 is quite competent to defend, but with a desire of making known my 

 own notions on this subject, I venture to express my entire concur- 

 rence in the views which he has expounded with such ability. There 

 must be a natural system, but that system is Divine ; and none of our 

 various systems, however ingenious their construction, can be sup- 

 posed Divine : they are not only apparently but avowedly human ; 

 they are the work of man's brain — the result of his powers of construc- 

 tiveness. But although this general definition obtain with all, still I 

 think a difference exists in the fact that the Jussieuian systems aim at 

 the natural, while the Linnean aims at and achieves the convenient. 

 To those who require more general terms than Jussieuian and Lin- 

 nean, I would venture to suggest the terms ' physiological ' and ' arith- 

 metical,' as not only being inoffensive to those who deprecate the 

 distinction of ' natural ' and ' artificial,' but also as possessing the 

 great merits of being descriptive and truthful. Physiological systems 

 are founded both on the physiological characters and intimate struc- 

 ture of the plant ; arithmetical systems depend on the number of cer- 

 tain parts of a plant. I would, therefore, venture to suggest that, 

 until that distant day when a really natural system shall have been 

 discovered, not manufactured, the terms ' physiological ' and * arith- 

 metical' be employed when there is any necessity of contrasting the 

 merits of these conflicting methods. — Edward Newman. 



VOL. IV. 3 Q 



