210 PHYSIOLOGICAL BOTANY. 



poison our whole existence. We might with more truth 

 accuse social life altogether, which no doubt frequently 

 renders dissimulation necessary to prevent one being 

 thrown upon the street (obliged to beg). 



The author, whilst combating dogmatism in his ' Me- 

 thodological Elements' (p. 23), passes the following incor- 

 rect judgment upon Endlicher and linger' s ' Principles of 

 Botany' (Vienna, 1843). "This false plan is carried out 

 to its utmost extent in the recent work of Endlicher and 

 Unger, and its appearance under the protection of siich 

 names can only be seriously regretted. It appears to me 

 that independently of many of the details being objec- 

 tionable, to which we shall allude hereafter, the authors 

 in writing then- book in a rigidly scholastic style, at the 

 present day, have committed a great mistake. From 

 beginning to end, it contains mere explanations of names 

 arranged systematically, and what renders them especially 

 useless, is that the authors have rarely taken the trouble 

 to name examples. Anatomy, physiology, and the history 

 of development, which alone should constitute the peculiar 

 value and true foundation of the details, are very meagre 

 and unimportant, the figures, which are appended at the 

 end, are neither formally nor essentially brought into 

 connexion with the details which are deducible from them 

 only." All knowledge in the natural sciences depends 

 upon definitions, for every fact is comprehended as a 

 definite conception. Merely because the perception of an 

 object or occurrence is repeated, does it become absorbed 

 as manifold, in the unity of the idea, and in this form, we 

 become acquainted with it. In all sciences, and espe- 

 cially in natural history, we must commence with defini- 

 tions. We must first obtain a definite idea of a part of 

 an organic body ; the external form and the connexion 

 with other parts are the first and the most important 

 points to be regarded, for by them we recognise the part ; 

 the internal structure, the anatomy, certainly must be 

 known, but it is entirely a subordinate matter. Then 

 follows the doctrine of development, for I must first know 



