XVI INTRODUCTION. 



in combination ; and these two things are 

 the Method and the System. By Method 

 is here meant the means used to secure 

 the identification of each particular plant, 

 to perpetuate a consistent tradition so that 

 names shall recall plants and plants shall 

 recall names, to provide the learner with 

 a plain path of progress, and learned men 

 with a medium of communication whereby 

 they may be mutually intelligible. By 

 System is meant the arrangement of the 

 parts into a compact scheme which repre- 

 sents the whole field of acquired knowledge, 

 and aspires to represent the fullness and 

 order of Nature. The Method is the 

 means of verification of the several objects 

 studied ; the System is the consolidation of 

 the .knowledge into a whole. Without 

 some method there is no science : the pro- 

 gress of science consists in the ripening of 

 Method into System. 



It is the strength and glory of modern 

 Botany that these two are now completely 

 blended: and it was the weakness of Botany 

 before Linnaeus that it was Method without 

 System, and therefore an inefficient Method. 



