SYSTEM OF DECANDOLLE. 157 



17. Thunberg, Liljebad, Richards, etc., have proposed 

 alterations in the above system in order to do away as 

 much as possible with some of the incongruities and 

 wants which are experienced in it. They have been 

 little attended to, however ; the original arrangements 

 alone being employed, when the system is called into 

 requisition ; and in no more valuable way has it been 

 done than by Sir W. J. Hooker, in illustrating the Flora 

 of our own country. 



The Natural System of Decandolle. 



18. In the year 1789, just eleven years after the 

 death of Linnaeus, a natural system for the arrangement 

 of plants was proposed by A. L. de Jussieu. 



19. A new epoch in science was thus established by 

 this individual, to whom all praise is due for ena- 

 bling the world to conceive in a philosophical manner 

 the relationships which the members of the vegetable 

 kingdom bear to each other : as time went on, however, 

 it was found that circumstances arose over which the 

 system of Jussieu did not effectually rule, and modifi- 

 cations and alterations of it were made to meet them. 

 From then up to the present moment, the system of natu- 

 ral arrangement has been making rapid advances, the key- 

 stone of the arch being giving by Jussieu ; but unfortu- 

 nately such numberless alterations, modifications, and 

 new arrangements, have been proposed, and, by their 

 authors promulgated in their systematic works, that the 

 arrangement exhibits a new aspect in the hands of every 

 one who aspires to obtaining the soothing consolation 

 of " my system;" and not only this, but the new system 

 is made to speak a sort of provincial dialect which no 

 one but those living under its influence can (if he 

 wishes) understand. 



20. That certain modifications have been most ser- 

 viceable, is no doubt true, and will arise along with, and 



