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it is my desire to explain what I propose to call the dynamic system showing 

 the natiiral relations of pLants. In so doing, I shall principally refer to the 

 Angiosparms, although I am perfectly sm-e that the resiilt would I^e the same 

 if I should refer to other classes of the vegetable kingdom. 



2. Natural classification. 



The first question wliich arises in the discussion of the present subject 

 is " What is the natural classification of plants?" We answer that it is to 

 classify plants according to their natm'al relations. In doing this, we firsfc 

 attempt to find whether the individuals which we are going to classify are 

 separable accordiug to tliis view but are united according to that view, i.e. to 

 find the difference or resemblance between or among them. Tlie second attempt 

 in the coui*se of natural classification is to unite the individuals into a small 



or hirge group or groups according to their resembhince, into groups which 



should be subject to alteration as to their outlines as well as to their members, 

 according as we look at the matter fi*om this or tliat point of view. These, 

 for the sake of simplicity, I propose to' call dynamic groups. Tlien, in the 

 third place, we should try to arrange the dynamic groups thus obtained, such 



as species, genera famiUes or series, according to their natural relations, to 



airange them not in fixed orders, such as are determined in the systems of the 

 present day, but to arrange them in orders that vary with diiferent views, or 

 flimply speaking, to arrange them after a dynamic manner. In other words, 

 to systematize plants according to their uatural relations is to distinguish them 

 one from another, to unite them through their resemblance, and finally to 

 -construct a dynamic system (so as to denote their mutual relations) changeable 

 according to difierent views. In so doing, we shall try to understand the 

 relations of all the members of the vegetable kingdom, or simply to understand 

 the vegetable kingdom. Tliis is, according to my idea, the principal object^' 



1) In the coxarse of my stxicTy, I became more and more aware o£ the analogy between the 

 classification of words and that of plants. An artificial system of platits is comparable to the 

 orflinary (lictionary in which words are arranged in alphabetical order. In constructing srich a 

 word list, we merely consnlt oTir own convenience ; while another kind of dictionary like Kogbt'» 

 "Thesauris" somewhat resembles my dynamic system, donoting real relations between plants 



