TOURNEFORT. 49 



offered him a professorship at Leyden. He was 

 elected to the highest scientific honour in France— 

 to the membership of the Academy of Science. 

 Two years afterwards Tournefort published his 

 first and great work, " The Elements of Botany, 

 or a method of Distinguishing Plants." This work 

 established his reputation all over Europe. It was 

 a very remarkable book. Tournefort travelled in 

 Asia Minor, Circassia, Georgia, Northern Assyria, 

 Candia, and Greece, and was the first man who 

 gave publicity to the truth that the same plants 

 are not found in all countries, and that most 

 countries have many plants peculiar to them. He 

 may be said to have founded the science of the 

 geographical distribution of plants. His descrip- 

 tions of plants were io,ooo in number; their 

 arrangement in species and genera was excellent. 

 Less praise must be given about the manner of his 

 separating the greater divisions of the plants one 

 from the other. Nevertheless, much of the work of 

 this great traveller has lasted until the present day 

 as good science. Plants are arranged in species, 

 which consist of individuals, having a close struc- 

 tural resemblance without any constant differences 

 of the form of the stem, roots, leaves, flowers, and 

 seeds. A genus is a group of species with a general 

 resemblance, some special character predominating. 

 An order is a number of more or less similar genera, 

 and a class contains orders which have greater 

 resemblance than those of another class. 



All this classification relates to accurate observa- 



I. E 



