ARRANGEMENT OF PLANTS. 315 



or four, as Marrubium, FOUR seeds, Siler FOUR re- 

 ceptacles; or more, as Cicoracece, and Acanacece 

 have MORE seeds, Pinus, MORE receptacles." 



It will be observed that we have here ten classes 

 made out by means of number alone, added to the 

 consideration of whether the seed is alone in its 

 covering, as in a cherry, or contained with several 

 others, as in a berry, pod, or capsule. Several of 

 these divisions are, however, further subdivided 

 according to other circumstances, and especially 

 according as the vital part of the seed, which he 

 called the heart (cor\ is situated in the upper or 

 lower part of the seed. As our object here is only 

 to indicate the principle of the method of Csesal- 

 pinus, I need not further dwell on the details, and 

 still less on the defects by which it is disfigured, as, 

 for instance, the retention of the old distinction of 

 trees, shrubs, and herbs. 



To some persons it may appear that this arbi- 

 trary distribution of the vegetable kingdom, accord- 

 ing to the number of parts of a particular kind, 

 cannot deserve to be spoken of as a great discovery. 

 And if, indeed, the distribution had been arbitrary, 

 this would have been true ; the real merit of this 

 and of every other system is, that while it is arti- 

 ficial in its form, it is natural in its results. The 

 plants which are associated by the arrangement of 

 Caesalpinus, are those which have the closest resem- 

 blances in the most essential points. Thus, as Lin- 



10 Corculum of Linnaeus. 



