326 HISTORY OF BOTANY. 



the materials, thus destitute of order, went on accu- 

 mulating, it was inevitable that the evils which Cae- 

 salpinus had endeavoured to remedy, should become 

 more and more grievous. "The nomenclature of 

 the subject 34 was in such disorder, it was so impos- 

 sible to determine with certainty the plants spoken 

 of by preceding writers, that thirty or forty different 

 botanists had given to the same plant almost as 

 many different names. Bauhin called by one appel- 

 lation, a species which Lobel or Matthioli designated 

 by another. There was an actual chaos, a universal 

 confusion, in which it was impossible for men to 

 find their way." We can the better understand 

 such a state of things, from having, in our own time, 

 seen another classificatory science, mineralogy, in 

 the very condition thus described. For such a state 

 of confusion there is no remedy but the establish- 

 ment of a true system of classification ; which by 

 its real foundation, renders a reason for the place 

 of each species; and which by the fixity of its 

 classes, affords a basis for a standard nomenclature, 

 as finally took place in botany. But before such a 

 remedy is obtained, men naturally try to alleviate 

 the evil by tabulating the synonyms of different 

 writers, as far as they are able to do so. The task 

 of constructing such a Synonymy of botany at the 

 period of which we speak, was undertaken by Gas- 

 pard Bauhin, the brother of John, but nineteen 

 years younger. This work, the Pinax Theatri 

 S4 Cuv. 212. 



