Xll ANECDOTES OF LINN-EUS. 



rope. That he might render it the more firm and 

 imperishable, he introduced the natural characters 

 of the genera, which he took from all the parts of 

 fructification, and from which he obtained a great 

 number of distinctive marks, which will never fail 

 accurately to point out the genera. He demon- 

 strated the true principles of a botanical system, 

 introduced a solid, certain, and definitive techno- 

 logy, and demonstrated the various errors of his 

 predecessors, which had made their systems totter, 

 and rendered uncertain the definition of the plants. 

 This laid the foundation of his authority in the 

 science of botany, which he extended still farther in 

 a most extraordinary manner, by the excellent, con- 

 cise, and plain Dijfentice Specified?, by the trivial 

 names, and a solid and precise synonimy. After 

 the entire arrangement and completion of his system, 

 when the denomination and definition of plants 

 could no longer embarrass its progress, he began to 

 give a great number of the descriptions of the new 

 species, which are all real master pieces, and the 

 knowledge of which he partly owed to his travels, 

 partly to his pupils, and from which the many edi- 

 tions and the important emendations of his system 

 have originated. He was, at the same time, ex- 

 tremely cautious in not mentioning any plant as a 

 species or as a genus, of which he either did not well 

 know the characters, or did not find them sufficiently 

 clear to his understanding. He acted thus, merely 

 that he might not prejudice the solidity of his 

 system. 



