32 Botanists of Germany and the Netherlands [Book i. 



for natural affinity declares itself for the first time so decidedly 

 as to outweigh if not entirely to set aside all other considera- 

 tions. The fact is disclosed to us in the preface to his 

 'Stirpium adversaria nova' of 1576, where these words occur : 

 ' proinde adversariorum voce novas veteribus additas plantas et 

 novum ordinem quadantenus innuimus. Qui ordo utique 

 sibi similis et unus progreditur ducitque a sensui propinquiori- 

 bus et magis familiaribus ad ignotiora et compositiora, modum- 

 que sive progressum similitudinis sequitur et familiaritatis, quo 

 et universim et particulatim, quantum licuit per rerum varie- 

 tatem et vastitatem, sibi responderet. Sic enim ordine, quo 

 nihil pulchrius in coelo aut in sapientis animo, quae longe 

 lateque disparata sunt unum quasi hunt, magno verborum 

 memoriae et cognitionis compendio, ut Aristoteli et Theo- 

 phrasto placet.' 



We must not indeed expect to find that de l'Obel really 

 produced a natural system of plants ; but his ' Observations ' 

 still more than his ' Adversaria ' attest his efforts to arrange 

 plants according to their resemblances in form ; and in these 

 efforts he is guided not by instinct merely and the general 

 habit, but mainly and with evident purpose by the form of the 

 leaves ; thus beginning with Grasses, which have narrow, long, 

 and simple leaves, he proceeds to the broader-leaved Liliaceae 

 and Orchideae ; then passing on to the Dicotyledons he 

 exhibits the main groups in fairly well limited masses. Still 

 the Ferns appear in the middle of the Dicotyledons on account 

 of the form of their leaves, while on the other hand, the 

 Cruciferae, Umbelliferae, Papilionaceae and Labiatae remain 

 but little disturbed in their continuity by secondary con- 

 siderations. 



The progress of botanical science in the period which we have 

 been considering reaches its highest point in the labours of 



Dodoens and de l'Ecluse, was born at Lille in 15 38 and died in England in 

 1616. A full account of this botanist will be found in Meyer. 



