OBJECTIONS TO THE NATURAL SYSTEM. 183 



could be in nature, any false ones), we find the mul- 

 berry tree side by side with the stiff hemp and the 

 light climbing hop. Now admitting that the seed and 

 the flowers of all these agree in structure, as they 

 nearly do, it must appear obvious that the plants are 

 as incongruously and unnaturally grouped as possible, 

 in reference to their general form and habits; while if 

 we look to qualities, what can be more incongruous 

 than to rank the poisonous upas of Java in the same 

 order with the fig ? In the seventh order of the eighth 

 class, also, we find the wholesome potatoe and the mild 

 shepherd's club ranking with henbane and the deadly 

 night shade. In the third order of the eleventh class, we 

 find not only lofty trees ranked with dwarf shrubs, 

 and tiny slender herbs ; but we have the coffee ranked 

 with the well known emetic, ipecacuana, and this again 

 with Peruvian bark. In the thirteenth class, we 

 have, so far as size and form are concerned, the low 

 growing pinks, violets, and buttercups, ranked not 

 only with the tall sun-flower, but with the stately 

 horse chestnut, the lime tree, and the maple; and 

 these again with the climbing vine, and the waving 

 barberry shrub ; while we could not, I think, " safely" 

 infer the " medicinal properties" of the poppy, from 

 which opium and laudanum are procured, gamboge, 

 .which is violently purgative, and buttercup, which is 

 an acrid poison, from the mild cocoa and marshmal- 

 low, and the wholesome orange. This would indeed 

 be altogether preposterous. The fourteenth class fur- 

 nishes precisely similar discrepancies. In point of 

 size and form, we find the spring chickweed, one of 



