PROGRESS TOWARDS A NATURAL SYSTEM. 367 



succession of extraordinary men laboured at it with 

 no inconsiderable success : and they were seconded 

 by worthy fellow-labourers in Germany and else- 

 where. 



The precept of taking into account all the parts 

 of plants according to their importance, may be 

 applied according to arbitrary rules. We may, for 

 instance, assume that the fruit is the most impor- 

 tant part ; or we may make a long list of parts, and 

 look for agreement in the greatest possible number 

 of these, in order to construct our natural orders. 

 The former course was followed by Gsertner 1 ; the 

 latter by Adanson. Gsertner's principles, deduced 

 from the dissection of more than a thousand kinds 

 of fruits 2 , exercised, in the sequel, a great and 

 permanent influence on the formation of natural 

 classes. Adanson's attempt, bold and ingenious, 

 belonged, both in time and character, to a some- 

 what earlier stage of the subject 3 . Enthusiastic and 

 laborious beyond belief, but self-confident and con- 

 temptuous of the labours of others, Michel Adanson 

 had collected, during five years spent in Senegal, an 

 enormous mass of knowledge and materials; and 

 had formed plans for the systems which he con- 

 ceived himself thus empowered to reach, far beyond 

 the strength and the lot of man 4 . In his Families 

 of Plants, however, all agree that his labours were 



1 De Frudibus et Seminibus Plant arum. Stuttg. 17881791 . 



2 Sprengel, ii. 290. 



3 Families des Plant ex, 1763. 4 Cuvier's Eloge. 



