2IO EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. pt. hi. 



like a kidney, having often a long tip which is rolled round 

 in a spiral (like a corkscrew). Here we have a definition 

 of the genics geranium ; but many geraniums will answer to 

 this description, so he goes on to describe some more 

 special characters. The sepals in this particular specimen, 

 he says, are joined together in one piece ; the stem of the 

 plant is woody, the joints are fleshy, the leaves are slightly 

 feathered at the edge. These last characters are peculiar to 

 this kind of geranium, which he calls Geranium gibbosum^ 

 and here we have the specific name. Any geranium which 

 has the woody stem, the joined sepals, the fleshy joints, 

 and the feathery-edged leaves, will be the species called by 

 Linnaeus gibbosum. 



You will see that by this system it is always possible to 

 find out easily to what part of the vegetable kingdom your 

 plant belongs and what its name is ; and if, after you have 

 traced its genus, there is no species which exactly agrees 

 with yours, you then know that you have discovered a new 

 species which has not bfeen described before. Linnaeus 

 classified animals after this same plan, quadrupeds chiefly by 

 their teeth, and birds by their beaks, and after his system 

 was complete anyone could discover the scientific name of a 

 plant or animal by exercising a little care and patience. 

 This system is called the Linnaean, or artificial system^ be- 

 cause it only selects a few particular parts of a plant, so 

 as to help you to look it out in a kind of dictionary. It tells 

 you very little of the real or natural life of the plant, and 

 often brings some very near together which are really very 

 diflierent. It is as if you classified people by some par- 

 ticular feature, such as those who had long hair, or short 

 hair, dark or light, curly or straight. This might be very 

 useful for recognising them, but it would be quite artificial, 



