REFORM OF LINNAEUS. 359 



apartment in which he had placed himself, that of 

 Arrangement, is led beyond it, to a point where 

 another light begins, though dimly, to be seen ; -he 

 is brought within the influence of the ideas of Orga- 

 nization and Life. 



The sciences which depend on these ideas will 

 be the subject of our consideration hereafter. But 

 what has been said, may perhaps serve to explain 

 the acknowledged and inevitable imperfection of 

 the unphysiological Linnaean attempts towards a 

 natural method. "Artificial Classes are," Linnaeus 

 says, " a substitute for Natural, till Natural are de- 

 tected." But we have not yet a Natural Method. 

 "Nor," he says, in the conversation above cited, 

 "can we have a Natural Method; for a Natural 

 Method implies Natural Classes and Orders; and 

 these Orders must have Characters." "And they," he 

 adds, in another place 19 , " who, though they cannot 

 obtain a complete Natural Method, arrange plants 

 according to the fragments of such a method, to 

 the rejection of the Artificial, seem to me like per- 

 sons who pull down a convenient vaulted room, 

 and set about building another, though they cannot 

 turn the vault which is to cover it." 



How far these considerations deterred other per- 

 sons from turning their main attention to a natural 

 method, we shall shortly see; but in the mean 

 time, we must complete the history of the Linnsean 

 Reform. 



19 Gen. Plant, in Prcelcct. p. xii. 



