83 REVIEW. [March, 



The fourth chapter has the title " Be principio dispositionis 

 et ordinandi norma in systemate naturaliJ" And the motto is 

 from L. CI. Richard^ viz. " Facts are only the materials of science. 

 To give thera a suitable form, and to combine them by analogy, 

 is to prepare them for building ; by uniting them we raise the 

 edifice.^' The author proceeds to inform his readers that when 

 the facts Avhich are requisite for the construction of a system are 

 collected, a law is to be discovered whereby species may be com- 

 bined into genera, and genera into orders, etc. So that a cer- 

 tain disposition and order, or distribution of the entire kingdom 

 may be constructed. But he adds, " No law of this nature has 

 as yet been pointed out by any one." 



We find that species are arranged sometimes in one way, 

 sometimes in another. Subgenera and genera are formed, not 

 in accordance with any certain law, but are made and unmade 

 on the very slightest grounds [levissimis rationibus) . A genus 

 becomes either the leader or the centre of a group ; sometimes 

 the ordinal type is represented by one genus, sometimes by an- 

 other. The disposition of families and the arrangement of 

 classes are altogether arbitrary and artificial. The arrangement 

 of the entire system sometimes commences with plants of the 

 highest organization, sometimes with those of the lowest. And 

 this is represented as a matter of no consequence whatever (" hoc 

 fiat an illud nihil interesse existiment"). 



Then there follows a long quotation from Fries, in justification 

 of placing the highest Orders in the series at the head of the 

 classification. 



The Professor appears to incline to the opinion that Orders of 

 the lowest organic development should be placed first. For he 

 says (p. 22), "Impedire non potest quominus imperfectioribus 

 inferior locus quam perfectioribus tribuatur. Nam inferiores 

 plantas re vera a superioribus nasci (transformari) nescio an hac 

 setate nemo velit serio contendere." 



This is not denied by any botanist. The higher Orders, as 

 Ranunculaceee or Composite, are placed at the beginning of the 

 series because they comprehend plants with a more perfect deve- 

 lopment, so to speak, than the Alga and Fungi. All admit that 

 cellular tissue, which is the only organization of the lower groups, 

 enters largely into the composition of the higher. And all admit 

 further that the other tissues constituting the solid framework 



