ON FACT VS. THEORY 
at most, but a few hundred years. It has behind 
it, who shall say, how many tens of thousands of 
generations of ancestry which, coming before 
man, went by unobserved—yet which, under new 
environment, are continually bursting forth to 
confuse us. 
How can man, with only one ten-thousandth 
of his subject revealed to him, be expected to make 
charts or maps which shall withstand onslaught, 
or be superior to criticism? 
For the sake of ready understanding, we may, 
however, summarize plant life into the broad 
classifications outlined above. 
First, the vegetable kingdom, which includes 
all plants. 
Second, the subkingdom or phyla, six or seven 
in number. 
Third, the class, which ranks above an order 
and below a phylum. 
Fourth, the order, which ranks between the 
class and the family. 
Fifth, the family, which ranks below an order 
but above the genus. 
Sixth, the genus, which ranks below a family 
but above the species. 
Seventh, the species, which ranks below a 
genus and above the variety. 
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