REFORM OF LINN^US. 351 



as we endeavour to carry our assumed principle of 

 division rigorously and consistently through the sys- 

 tem, or as we wish to associate natural families of 

 a wider kind than genera. The former propensity 

 leads to an artificial, the latter to a natural method. 

 Each is a System of Plants ; but in the first, the 

 emphasis is thrown on the former word of the title, 

 in the other, on the latter. 



The strongest recommendation of an artificial 

 system, (besides its approaching to a natural me- 

 thod,) is, that it shall be capable of easy use; for 

 which purpose, the facts on which it depends must 

 be apparent in their relations, and universal in their 

 occurrence. The system of Linnaeus, founded upon 

 the number, position, and other circumstances of 

 the stamina and pistils, the reproductive organs of 

 the plants, possessed this merit in an eminent de- 

 gree, as far as these characters are concerned ; that 

 is, as far as the classes and orders. In its further 

 subdivision into genera, its superiority was mainly 

 due to the exact observation and description, which 

 we have already had to notice as talents which 

 Linnaeus peculiarly possessed. 



The Linnaean system of plants was more definite 

 than that of Tournefort, which was governed by the 

 corolla ; for number is more definite than irregular 

 form. It was more readily employed than any of 

 those which depend on the fruit, for the flower is 

 a more obvious object, and more easily examined. 

 Still, it can hardly be doubted, that the circum- 



