' vances, and tlie intellectual eye will daily measure its 

 * satisfaction by the growing extent and variety of its 

 prospect. 



,:i Having thus traced the progress of botany down 

 the natural to the present times in its systematic form, it will be 

 1 necessary, in order to our having a complete idea of 

 the subject, that we should take some notice of those 

 writers who have- treated it somewhat diflcrcntly, and 

 studied to bring plants together according to their 

 natural affinities. And we might here begin by re- 

 marking, that the older botanists in general made it 

 their endeavour, in forming their arrangements, to 

 deviate as little as possible front the order of nature: 

 a fact, in proof of which the writings of Caesalpinus 

 Jmd Morrison, but particularly of Ray, may be safely 

 appealed to. Our business at present, however, is to 

 glance at those only, who, since the introduction 

 of system, (by which we understand the mixed and 

 artificial methods,) have made natural affinities pro- 

 fessedly the subject of their study, and the basis of 

 their arrangements. And among those, the first place 

 in the order of time (with the exception, perhaps, of 

 Magnol, professor at Montpellier, and author of the 

 Prodromus Hist. Generally Plantarum in yuojftmi- 

 //' Plantarum per Tabu/as disponiintttr) is due to 

 Linnzus himself; who, in 1738, communicated to 

 the public, in his Ctassex Plantarum, a scheme which 

 he modestly termed Fragments of a Natural Me- 

 thod. This great man, like all true philosophical bo- 

 tanists, considered the natural affinities of plants, 

 says Dr Smith, as the most important and interest- 

 ing branch, or rather the fundamental part of syste- 

 matical botany, and of course he bestowed much 

 time in constructing his artificial method: he was yet 

 daily and hourly studying the principles of these af- 

 finities among plants; conscious that no true know- 

 ledge of their distinctions, any more than of their 

 qualities, could be obtained without it. And of this 

 important truth, he was not only the earliest, but 

 even the most strenuous asserter. His own words on 

 the subject are, " Diu et ego circa methodum na- 

 turalem inveniendum laboravi : bene multa qu:e ad- 

 derem obtinui, perficere uon potui, continuaturus 

 dum vixero. Interim qua: novi proponam : qui paucas 

 qua: restant bene absolvat plantas, omnibus magnus 

 erit Apollo." 



ernard The next person who endeavoured successfully to 



wicu. trace the affinities of which we are speaking, was 

 Bernard de Jussieu, Demonstrator of Botany at Paris, 

 and one of three brothers who had all a high reputa- 

 tion for their skill in the science. After much time 

 and reflection devoted to the subject, he employ- 

 ed, in 1759, a mode of arrangement, according to 

 which he distributed the plants in the royal gardens 

 nt France. And although he was prevented, by 

 diffidence, from making it known to the public in 

 any way but conversation, he nevertheless succeeded 

 in laying the foundation on which his nephew after- 

 wards raised the most admirable superstructure. 

 Michael Adanson, another celebrated French natu- 

 ralist and academician, who had beer, a pupil of 

 Jussieu, and is, we believe, still alive, followed in the 

 same tract. And in 1763, after having travelled 

 through part of Africa, examined minutely the prin- 

 v<u. iv. PART i. 



BOTANY. 



.33 



ciples of many systems, and paid the greatest rut n- Ilntor>\ 

 lion to the habit and affinities of vegi-t.ihl -s, Y -' 



lislr-d his very learned and valuable work, Fai.' 

 fA'.v Pliiirtcs. 



The man, however, to whose labours the science Laurence 

 of natural affinities owes most, is Anthony Laurence Juaweu. 

 de Jussieu of the National Intitule, the illustrious 

 nephew of Bernard de Jussieu above mentioned, and 

 his successor in the office of Demonstrator of Botany. 

 The skill and industry of his uncle, under whose eye 

 he was educated, and whose ideas of arrangement had 

 been early impressed on his mind, had prt pared h'm 

 for entering on his task with peculiar advantages. 

 And as he was himself possessed of no less distin- 

 guished abilities, and enjoyed at the same time the 

 best opportunities of procuring information from hi* 

 extensive correspondence and official situation, as 

 well as from the rare and very ample herbarium 

 which he inherited from hia relations, he felt himself 

 encouraged to tread in his uncle's footsteps, and to 

 leave nothing unattempted to correct and fill up that 

 outline of arrangement which had been already sketch- 

 ed out to him. 



He accordingly devoted himself to this object 

 with the most persevering diligence, and at length 

 succeeded so far as to complete and publish, in 1789, 

 his Genera Plar.tarmii ; a work containing the inva- 

 luable result of many years reflection, and of the 

 most extensive and accurate acquaintance with the 

 vegetable kingdom. The degree of success with 

 which the order of nature has been followed in it, as 

 well as the general merits of its author, will be best 

 ascertained by perusing the system, of which an ab- 

 stract will be given in the course of this article. But, 

 in the mean time, we may safely affirm, " that it is 

 the most learned botanical work that has appeared 

 since the Species Plantarum of Linnaeus, and the 

 most useful to those who study the philosophy of 

 botanical arrangement." 



Ventenat, an intelligent member of the National Venteuat. 

 Institute, has lately proved himself to be an able, 

 and, for the most part, a very judicious commentator 

 on the works of Jussieu. 



Before concluding this historical sketch, we shall Writers on 

 shortly notice the principal writers on the physiology tne physi*- 

 of plants. This department of botany was left, in a ~yf * 

 great measure uncultivated, till about the middle of P '""** 

 the 17th century. The ancients had, indeed, paid 

 some attention to it in a general way, as appears from 

 the writings of Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and others. 

 But it was reserved to the sagacity and persevering 

 diligence of Dr Nehemiah Grew and Marcellus Mal- 

 pighi, two celebrated modern naturalists, who, un- 

 known to each other, carried on their inquiries, and 

 published the result of them nearly about the same 

 time, to give the first scientific and interesting view 

 of it. 



Grew, who was born at Coventry, where his fa- Grew, 

 ther was vicar of St Michael's, sometime before the 

 middle of the 17th century, studied medicine on the 

 continent, and on his return home, settled first as a 

 physician in his native town. Being, however, in- 

 duced afterwards, by various considerations, among 

 which the enjoyment of literary society, and a great- 

 er facility of conducting his scientific pursuits, ap- 



