INTRODUCTION. j^ 



I have always been opposed to «h^ r • 

 system and its blunders -hntM. the L.nnean 

 thod has had so long and h^l n i"''^"'^' "''■ 



have partly improved this Labyrinth,' • tuUhe 

 clue to guide us is now in our^ands' Let 

 every genus that does not agree "„ genera 

 frame and characters be removed, andXced 

 elsewhere, as I have done. When thJ^T i . i 

 and generally adopted w^e ml^t^plt re'S 

 perfect classification : while that of L.ndLv for 



fouSofh-^'''"'"" J ^"^^^'-'^^ «'»<=« on« 

 tourth of his genera do not agree to the com- 



Tn" afaT.'""' "'""''"''' ^"^ feme orders £ 

 This is the ambiguity and absurdity carried 

 Irom Species and Genera to the National Or- 

 ders ! unless restricted or exploded in all in- 

 stances, we can have no correct nomenclature 

 nor classification. What absurdity to have an 

 order without dc/?m7eoM, like the patched genera 

 trentiana and Conmllaria for instance! a 

 talse definition that does not apply to all 

 the Genera or Species, is equal to no definition 

 at all . . 



Our North American Botanists were very 

 late in noticing the natural method, and even 

 now hardly admit of it, or else without restric- 

 tion on its defects From 1802 to 1804 I was 

 perhaps the only one that followed that new 

 path, Barton, Muhlenberg, and others of that 



