THEIR CHARACTERS. \ 275 



its general habit or aspect, its uses and qualities, but 

 also by essential characters in its teeth, hoofs, and in- 

 ternal constitution. The lion, tiger, leopard, panther, 

 lynx, cat, &c., also compose, another sufficiently ob- 

 vious and natural genus, and the numerous herd of 

 monkeys, apes and baboons a third. The hippopo- 

 tamus is, as far as we know, a solitary species of a 

 most distinct and striking genus ; and the elephant 

 has, till lately, been thought to stand alone in another. 



So among vegetables, the various species of rose 

 compose a beautiful genus, known to every one who 

 ever lookecl at a plant, merely by a certain combina- 

 tion of ideas, but essentially distinguished, as We shall 

 hereafter find, by clear and decisive characters. The 

 species of Iris form also a numerous genus, and the 

 Willows another ; while the curious Epimedium al- 

 pinum, Engl. Bot. .438, is too singular and distinct 

 to be associated with any known plant besides, and 

 constitutes a genus by itself, . as well as the Adoxa, 

 t. 453, and LiniKza, t. 433. 



The first great and successful attempt to define the 

 genera of plants was made by Tournefort, and in this 

 his transcendent merit will ever be conspicuous, though 

 his system of arrangement should be entirely forgotten. 

 Not that he has excelled in verbal definitions, nor built 

 all his genera on sure foundations ; but his figures, 

 and his enumerations of species under each genus, 

 show the clearness of his conceptions, and rank him 

 as the father of this branch of botany. 



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