282 PRINCIPLES 



and the subordinate, or more peculiar marks of the 

 object before us, ought to close the sentence. On the 

 contrary, in drawing up natural characters of a genus, 

 as well as full descriptions of particular plants, it is 

 proper to take, in the former instance, the calyx, 

 corolla, stamens, pistils, seed-vessel, seed and recep- 

 tacle; and in the latter, the root, stem, leaves, appen- 

 dages, flower and fruit, in the order in which they 

 naturally occur. 



Nomenclature is no less essential a branch of me- 

 thodical science than characteristic definitions ; for, 

 unless some fixed laws, or, in other words, good sense 

 and perspicuity be attended to in this department, 

 great confusion and uncertainty must ensue. 



The vague names of natural objects handed down 

 to us, in various languages, from all antiquity, could 

 have no uniformity of derivation or plan in any of those 

 languages. Their different origins may be imagined, 

 but cannot be traced. Many of these, furnished by 

 the Greek or Latin, are retained as generic names in 

 scientific botany, though neither their precise meaning, 

 nor even the plants to which they originally belonged, 

 can always be determined, as Rosa, Ficus, Piper, &c. 

 It is sufficient that those to which they are now, by 

 common consent, applied, should be defined and fixed. 

 Botanists of the Linnasan school, however, admit no 

 such generic names from any other language than the 

 Greek or Latin, all others being esteemed barbarous. 

 Without this rule we should be ovewhelmed, not only 



