358 HISTORY OF BOTANY. 



will not be Umbellatce ; and yet they are of the 

 Order." G. " I would place Eryngium among the 

 Aggregates" L. "No; both are beyond dispute 

 Umbellate. Eryngium has an involucrum, five 

 stamina, two pistils, &c. Try again for your Cha- 

 racter." G. " I would transfer such plants to the 

 end of the Order, and make them form the transi- 

 tion to the next Order. Eryngium would connect 

 the Umbellate with the Aggregate." L. " Ah ! my 

 good friend, the Transition from Order to Order is 

 one thing; the Character of an Order is another. 

 The Transitions I could indicate ; but a Character of 

 a Natural Order is impossible. I will not give my 

 reasons for the distribution of Natural Orders which 

 I have published. You or some other person, after 

 twenty or after fifty years, will discover them, and 

 see that I was in the right." 



I have give a portion of this curious conversa- 

 tion, in order to show that the attempt to establish 

 Natural Orders leads to convictions which are out 

 of the domain of the systematic grounds on which 

 they profess to proceed. I believe the real state 

 of the case to be, that the systematist, in such 

 instances, is guided by an unformed and undeve- 

 loped apprehension of physiological functions. The 

 ideas of the form, number and figure of parts are, 

 in some measure, overshadowed and superseded by 

 the rising perception of organic and vital relations ; 

 and the philosopher who aims at a Natural Method, 

 while he is endeavouring merely to explore the 



