Oh II. 1 DIFFERENT PARTS OF FLOWERS, 17 



hese organs, or members of the flower; but m st now proceed 

 <o leach you something about analyzing plants ; The word 

 analyze means, to separafe a thing into parts;) in" one sense, 

 therefore, you have now, in considering the different organs 01 

 a flower, analyzed it: but this is only to prepare you for ano- 

 ther kind of analysis, by means of which you will be able to tell 

 where a plant belongs in the botanical system, and what is itg 



otanical or true name. 



41. In the introductory chapter, I spoke of the importance of 

 systematic arrangement ; (when you learn something of Botany, 

 you will perceive that this science could not exist witfcut sys- 

 tem. 



42.x Formerly bocanists endeavoured to give descriptions of 

 plants ; but naving no rules to go by, tr ey were not able to un- 

 derstand ea^h other. If a person wished to learn about any 

 particular plant, he might be obliged to look over a great many 

 pages, or a whole book, before he could find it; because he kid 

 no rule to guide him in his search. 



43. When you look out a word in a dictionary, you search 

 for the first three letters, and as the words are arranged by rule, 

 you can find immediately what you wish. If all the words in 

 a dictionary were thrown together without any order, how dis- 

 couraging would be the task of looking for definitions. 



44. Now it is just so with respect to describing plants ; we 

 must be guided by some rule in their arrangement. What shall 

 this rule be ? Suppose we should arrange the names of plants 

 in alphabetuil order, and then give descriptions of them. But 

 here is one great difficulty ; the names by which people who do 

 not understand Botany call plants, are not the same in different 

 places; persons whose gardens are very near each other, will 

 often call the same flower by different names ; and in differen 

 countries, the names of plants are expressed in different Ian 

 guages ; what we call corn, is in Frencn, ble, and in Latin, ce 

 res. Without some general system, therefore, you perceive we 

 could not learn any thing of the plants of different countries, 

 and could not understand each other even with respect to our 

 own plants. 



45. After a great many attempts had been made to class 



,41. Is systematic arrangement necessary in Botany? 



42. Why were the botanists of former "times unable to understand 

 each other? 



43. By what rule are words in a Dictionary arranged 1 



44. Would the description of plants in alphabetical order, serve a* 

 a rule for botanical arrangement 1 



" 45. How did LinnaBus procose to arrange plants 1 

 2* 



