8o THE APOTHECARIES' GARDEN 



tribution to A Natural System the aim of 

 generations of botanists a link in a long chain 

 of endeavours to make the truest and most 

 natural grouping of plants. 



Attempts at a natural order had been made 

 even by Gerard, when he wrote of a plant 

 " and its kindes " ; by those who divided 

 plants into trees, shrubs, undershrubs and 

 herbs ; by Ray and others, who carried natural 

 classification very much further. Linnaeus, 

 knowing well the complexity of the problem, 

 seized on that important part of a plant the 

 flower and made the arrangement of stamens 

 and carpels the foundation of all grouping of 

 flowering plants. 



It was an imperfect classification all botan- 

 ical classifications are but it was a well- 

 forged link in the long chain of attempts \o 

 form a reasonable sequence of plant life. 



Lindley, like Linnaeus, added but another 

 stout link to the chain a chain which was 

 further lengthened when Sir Joseph Hooker 

 (an examiner for prizes at the Physic Garden), 

 brought his wide experience to bear on the 

 subject, and George Bentham his logical faculty 

 and clear use of words (worthy of his uncle, 

 Jeremy Bentham) in separating essential from 

 non-essential resemblance. And the chain 

 will continue to lengthen as the whole life 

 history of plants becomes better known, and 

 the " testimony of the rocks " reveals their 

 long ancestry. 



But English botanists were slow to accept 

 the new teaching, and face the great discomfort 

 of changing their opinions. They knew their 



