LINN^US. 261 



aphorisms, in imitation of the different divisions 

 of the year, — a puerile conceit, with which his ene- 

 mies have not failed to taunt the illustrious author. 

 Had there been a hundred days more he might 

 have found aphorisms for them all ; and any one 

 conversant with zoology might engage to construct 

 a classification of animals on the very same prin- 

 ciple. Since he was so attached to numerical ana- 

 logies, it is surprising that he did not form 12 classes 

 of plants, 52 orders, 365 families, and a number 

 of genera corresponding to that of the hours in a year. 

 On such an arrangement might, with due calcula- 

 tion, have been founded a system of botany as per- 

 fect as any that had appeared before his time. The 

 distribution of his materials, however, is the only 

 childish part of the book ; for in other respects it 

 must be acknowledged to be a model of perspicuity, 

 precision, and force. 



The first chapter gives an account of the principal 

 writers on botany ; the second, of systems of classi- 

 fication ; the third, of the roots, stems, and leaves 

 of plants ; the fourth, of the parts of fructification. 

 In the remaining chapters are discussed the doctrine 

 of sexes, the characters of the classes and subdivi- 

 sions, the names of the genera, the specific differ- 

 ences, varieties, synonymes, the descriptions of the 

 species, and the virtues or uses. At the end of the 

 volume are several curious fragments, containing 

 directions to students of botany, the method of 

 forming herbariums, a plan to be followed by na- 

 turalists in travelling, and other matters of a like 

 nature. 



" The Genera Plantarum," says Linnaeus in his 

 private memoirs, '' the most important of all the 



