PREFAI I.. 



to lead to serious attempts to carry out a plan of Alliances, in 

 imitation of a fen continental writers. These attempts were em- 

 bodied in the second edition of the present work, which appeal 

 m L886, under the name of -/ Natural Syt Botany. N 



withstanding some glaring defects in the method then proposed, and 

 b bosl of errors of a less manifesl description, the news of the Am hoi 

 were favourably received by those best able to judge of their value. 

 On the other hand, they have been severely criticised by writers who 

 show ;i singular want of knowledge of tin- true bearing of such works. 

 Those persons have imagined that ;i natural classification of plai 

 i- something which is suddenly to start into existence, | 

 in all its parts, and their criticisms betray a total ignorance of the 

 difficulties by which such a subjecl is surrounded. The Natural 

 System of B ■• ny may be likened to the plan of a vast edifice, at 

 the construction of which many arc labouring. Certain 

 and quadrangles arc easily Bet out; a particular style of archil 

 turc is agreed upon, and it may be even settled irrevocably in what 

 plan's the state apartments and cellars arc to be stationed. But w hen 

 further details are to be discussed, many unsatisfactory attem] ta 

 must be made by the architects, and many an awkward arrang 



at of the rooms proposed, before a final plan can be produced. 

 It" perfection in such small matters is impracticable, it" it is imp s- 



le so to arrange all the details of even an edifice as to satisfy all 

 critic's, how much more hopeless must he the task of classifying the 

 infinite works of the creation! To demand perfection in a work of 

 that nature is little less than impious ; for perfection i- the attri- 

 bute, not of man, hut of his Maker. 



The Author may now he equally charged with inconsistency in 

 not adhering to his former plan of classification after having pro- 

 mulgated it. Hut he is not couseious of having ever pretended 

 that it even approached permanency. — See Natural System, p. \iii. 

 In fact, there is no such thing as stability in these matt* 



asistencv is but another name for obstinacy. All things 

 undergoing incessant change. Every science i^ in a stat 



ssion, and of all others the sciences of observation most 

 Since 1836 the views of the Author have, of course, b, 

 altered in some respects, although they have experienced but little 

 modification in others. This is inevitable in such a science as that 

 of Systematic Botany, where the discovery ^t a fen new fats or 

 half a dozen fresh genera may instantly change the point vl \ 

 from which a given object is observed. The Author can 



