XXX IXTRODUCTION. 



from rising to the height of his philosophy. 

 The new practice of figuring the plants 

 had afforded some considerable relief in 

 the sixteenth century. It was a new 

 instrument of verification added to the 

 old instruments of Comparative Descrip- 

 tion and Synonymy. Even in our day, 

 when Description has been perfected and 

 affords the main path of study, and when 

 Figures are often the appKances of the 

 curious amateur ; the real working use of 

 them to the earnest student is still im- 

 mense. But in the sixteenth century the 

 Figures were adjuncts which, once ac- 

 quired, became forthwith all but indis- 

 pensable. An author who neglected both 

 Figures and Synonymy left himself but 

 poor chance of being understood. We 

 need no further reason why Caesalpin was 

 neglected ; and why, as Reftelius said, 

 he dwelt alone in the house he had built. 



Figures had indeed been a great ac- 

 quisition. But nothing can fill the place 

 of Language. The first necessity for science 

 was to know the objects and to know 

 them by their names. The whole study 



