82 The Life and Writings of 



he early recognized the artificial character of the L-in- 

 nsean system in use in the classification of plants. He 

 was a close student of Jussieu, upon whose system 

 most of his own botanical work was based. During the 

 period of these Sicilian publications Rafinesque pro 

 posed various arrangements and methods of classifica 

 tion, not alone of plants but of all organized bodies. 

 It hardly need be said that these systems were not 

 checked by that wide observation, and by that careful 

 comparison of material, gathered from all the quarters 

 of the globe, which alone could make a system of per 

 manent value. His schemes experienced the same fate 

 that all systems, which are based upon limited obser 

 vation, must have befall them. They are regarded now 

 as scientific curiosities. Of these Rafinesque s Principes 

 Fondamentaux de Somiologie, etc., and his Ordini Eltro- 

 logicl o Definizioni Ordini, etc., easily have the first place. 

 Numerous articles of similar character may be noted 

 in the Specchio delle Scienze, etc.; the Analysis of Na 

 ture, or Survey of the Universe and the Organized 

 Beings, is an elaborate attempt of the same import. 



Another literary venture of Rafinesque, in this period 

 of Sicilian residence, was the proposed reprint or reissue 

 of the Panphyton Siculum of Cupani. This famous 

 and rare work was found by Rafinesque in the library 



