160 SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT OP PLANTS. 



holds in a considerable number, and fails in others; 

 so that Linnaeus, in order to include all plants, was 

 obliged to resort to other considerations, in doing 

 which he occasionally departed from his own principle, 

 and, as his celebrated pupil, Fabricius, says, fell into 

 error by adhering too closely to Nature. The sway 

 which this system continues to hold, notwithstanding 

 the efforts of its opponents to crush it, incontestibly 

 proves Linnaeus, as I have elsewhere remarked, to have 

 been one of those rare master-spirits destined to fasci- 

 nate and dazzle those of inferior mould so far as to 

 make them resign themselves unconditionally to his 

 guidance. The characteristics of his genius, indeed, 

 became apparent from his very boyhood, in his ac- 

 quiring an extraordinary knowledge of plants in spite 

 of every obstacle ; his travelling from Upsal to Lap- 

 land amidst numerous privations, and the publication, 

 at his return, of the Flora of the country, accurate and 

 distinct even to a miracle. It is worthy of remark, that 

 the venerable Boerhaave had penetration enough to 

 foresee his colebrity long before he attained much dis- 

 tinction, forming his opinion, most probably, on his 

 indefatigable perseverance, one of the most charac- 

 teristic marks of genius. As the plainest mode of 

 exhibiting the Linnaean classes, I shall give the fol- 

 lowing outline from Lamouroux as a 



First Linnaean Lesson. 



When a plant in flower is found, it must furnish an 

 answer to one of the following questions : 



