OF CLASSIFICATION. 2b? 



real analogy than those which are similar in a great many 

 minor points. You may easily conceive that plants whose 

 seeds are alike, resemble each other infinitely more than 

 those which shoot out thorns of the same nature. For 

 the seed may be considered as the miniature of the plant, 

 from the developement of which all the growth of it must 

 arise ; while the thorn is a mere accidental degeneration, 

 which may or may not take place. 



Emily. This objection is certainly of great weight, and 

 I am afraid that I must abandon my system ; but is it 

 possible to appreciate the relative importance of the dif- 

 ferent organs ? 



Mrs. B. To a certain extent, at least. The method 

 of classification, grounded on this principle, is called 

 " Method of Subordination of Characters." It was first 

 suggested by Bernard Jussieu. 



Emily. How much I should like to read his work on 

 this subject ! 



Mrs. B. He never published any thing : like Socrates, 

 he taught in conversation. His nephew, M. Antione 

 Laurent De Jussieu, who is still living, published, in 

 1789, the results of his uncle's theory. In 1823, M. De 

 Candolle published a work, in which the principles of this 

 mode of classification are fully developed : they are pro- 

 bably the same as those of M. De Jussieu, since his de- 

 ductions from them are similar to those of his predecessor. 



Caroline. Then M. De Candolle must be the Plato 

 of this modern Socrates ? 



Mrs. B. Or even something more : for Plato, I be- 

 lieve, wrote only what Socrates had taught ; but M. De 

 Candolle brought to light those principles from which M. 

 Bernard Jussieu had drawn his deductions. 



Emily. It is a curious thing in science, for the foun- 

 der of a new school not to publish his opinions. But, 

 pray, what are these principles ? They must, I think, be 

 very difficult. 



Mrs. B. We have agreed that all the organs of plants 

 are not of equal importance : now there are three modes 



1439. What may be conceived of plants whose seeds are alike! 

 1440. What is this theory called and who first suggested ill 1441. 

 Who published the theory of Jussieu! 1442. And who published a 

 work in 1823 which involved the same principles of classification'? 

 1443. What comparison does Mrs. B. make between Plato and the 

 younger Jussieu 1 



