370 CHARACTERISTIC. . 244. 



tions, which will never cease, and therefore always hinder the 

 character from being infallible, till every thing is known 

 which nature has produced within that kingdom. Nidlus 

 character infallibilis est, antequam secundum omnes suas species 

 directus est. LINK. Phil. Bot. 193. It would be possible, 

 on the contrary, to call the artificial character an essential 

 one, at least in respect to a certain system, since, as it will 

 appear afterwards, it is the foundation of the divisions in 

 that artificial system. The division is effected according 

 to general properties, and every individual necessarily be- 

 longs to one or to the other of these divisions, in as far 

 as it contains the characteristic property. Thus the artifi- 

 cial character is not dependent upon the enlargement of 

 our knowledge by experience. Yet even here it is better 

 to avoid this expression, because commonly it gives rise to 

 accessory considerations, which may lead to erroneous 

 ideas. 



The denomination of the characters corresponds with 

 their object, so that we have Characters of the Orders, Generic 

 Characters, &c. 



. 244. PROPERTIES OF THE CHARACTERS. 



The characters must be sufficient to a precise 

 distinction within their respective sphere, and as 

 short as the necessary degree of evidence in the de- 

 termination of the species will allow. 



The first requisite is an immediate consequence of the 

 very idea of a character. Characters are entirely useless, 

 if they serve for the distinction only of some of the species 

 contained within their genus, or of some of the genera con- 

 tained within their order. If a single characteristic mark 

 suffice for a general distinction, this mark will represent 

 the character itself : if not, several of them must be ap- 

 plied in connexion, and thus form the character. A com- 

 pound character of this kind can only belong to a natural 



