90 REVIEW. [March J 



has published on the subject, is the best possible voucher for his 

 sincerit3^ That the author, with all his sincerity, accompanied 

 as it is with laborious investigation, will obtain for his system 

 the currency Avhich the Linnsean rapidly obtained, is barely to be 

 expected. Linnseus's system might have been mastered in an 

 hour by any one who had but a moderate knowledge of the floral 

 organs of a plant. But notwithstanding the great simplicity and 

 facility of his plan, he was not received very cordially in England, 

 and the botanists at the time of his visit turned a deaf ear to the 

 merits of his classification. 



We cordially wish that Professor AgardVs system, which ap- 

 pears to be in reality what it professes, \^z. an exponent of the 

 Natural System, may get a fair hearing : the article the is prefixed 

 with some hesitation. We have had so many pretended Natural 

 Systems that we are like those who have been often deceived, 

 rather shy of trusting to appearances. During the last thirty 

 years there have been many plans proposed, all dignified with 

 this captivating title, and some of them were disowned by their 

 inventors long before they attained notoriety, strangled in the 

 very birth ! Luckless offspring of cruel parents, stepmothers 

 rather [novercce crudeles), who slaughtered the innocents to save 

 the trouble and expense of wet- or dry-nursing them ! ! 



Would that some correspondent of the ^ Phytologist ' who has 

 a taste for systematic botany, and who has more leisure and a 

 better knowledge of scientific Latinity than the Editor has, would 

 seriously undertake the study of this work, and be so generous 

 as give the readers of this periodical the result of his labours ! 

 Whether he approves or disapproves of the author's plan, which 

 we cannot illustrate at present, he will not have any reason to 

 regret the time spent in the undertaking. 



Further, we heartily desire that Professor Agardh himself 

 would freely use this journal as a vehicle for the elucidation of 

 his views. If the learned author would condescend to send forth 

 a brief statement of his plan in our own vernacular (English), 

 we can assure him that he will get a fair hearing. His work will 

 be perused by a select circle of botanical readers. But that 

 many will read his work in Latin is more than can be expected. 

 All scientific works, or almost all, that circulate in this country, 

 are composed in our own language. The few modern Latin works 

 on science we have are treatises descriptive of objects, not expo- 



