PART II. 



SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



665. WE have now to contemplate the vegetable creation from 

 a different point of view. In studying the structure and physiol- 

 ogy of plants, we have been struck with the countless varieties 

 which they present, the almost infinite number of particular 

 modes or forms in which the general plan of vegetation has been 

 worked out, as it were, in detail. The vegetable kingdom, that is, 

 vegetation taken as a great whole, presents to our view an im- 

 mense number of different kinds or sorts of plants, more or less 

 resembling each other, more or less nearly related to each other. 

 It is the object of Systematic Botany to consider them in respect to 

 these resemblances and differences, to contemplate the relations 

 which the individual members of the great whole sustain to each 

 other (5,6). In this view, the botanist classifies them, so as to 

 exhibit their relationships, or points of resemblance, arranges them 

 in an orderly manner, designates them by proper names, and dis- 

 tinguishes them by clear and precise descriptions ; so that the name 

 and place in the system, the known properties, and the whole his- 

 tory of any given plant, may be readily and surely obtained by the 

 learner. 



CHAPTER I. 



OF CLASSIFICATION AND ITS PRINCIPLES. 



666. Individuals, The vegetables with which the earth is adorn- 

 ed are presented to our view as INDIVIDUALS only, more or less 

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