XXXVlll INTRODUCTION. 



supplied by an arrangement which gave 

 every plant its place in the system, and 

 a name indicative of its relative position. 

 What was done for geography by lines 

 of latitude and longitude was done for 

 Botany by the Linnsean system ; for in 

 the one case as in the other it was rendered 

 possible to speak of the object-matter of 

 the science in unraistakeable terms. 



While the disputes of corollist and fruti- 

 cist filled the scene, there lay in the back- 

 ground a notion that had rather acquired 

 the character of an old romantic fancy; 

 and that was the notion of sexual analogies 

 in plants. We have seen the mention of 

 it in Pliny. Tournefort utterly scouted 

 it. Linnaeus however discerned in it not 

 only a natural truth, but also the main- 

 spring of a classification, which might indeed 

 be 'artificial' in so far as the principle 

 would have to be driven beyond its right ; 

 but which, besides being of immediate 

 utility, would at the same time be the 

 greatest stride ever made towards a truly 

 natural system. So he founded, not merely 

 a System, but an organised System, with 



