LINN/EAN CLASSIFICATION. 159 



find his way to the broad highway of true science. 

 What is even worse than this, if worse can be, those 

 who lay down the principles of such systems and 

 classifications, deduce from them practical rules which 

 are not only erroneous, but, if acted upon, may lead 

 to serious mischief, as will be proved below, when 

 I shall briefly consider a few of the excellencies and 

 defects of the two systems of Linnaeus and Jussieu, 

 in their order. 



LINN ^E AN CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS, CALLED THE 

 ARTIFICIAL SYSTEM. 



THE system of .the French botanist, Tournefort, 

 who fixed on the petals of the blossom, as the means 

 of distinguishing his twenty- two clssses, though pos- 

 sessing several advantages, is far out-rivalled, in point 

 of clearness, by that of Linnaeus, who fixed upon the 

 stamens, considering them in respect to their number, 

 their insertion, their length, their union or their sepa- 

 ration. The principle being so simple renders this by 

 far the most distinct and easy method for a beginner 

 to study. The division of the classes into orders, 

 which is taken in a similar manner from the pistil, 

 is equally clear and simple; the young botanist who 

 finds a flower, having merely to count the stamens 

 to find what class it belongs to, and to count the 

 pistils to find the division of the class where it is 

 placed. Now if all plants had been formed according 

 to this principle, there would have been no difficulty 

 at all in learning Linnsean botany ; but this only 



