INTRODUCTION. o 



II. Characters. 



CHARACTERS arc the marks or signs by which nat- 

 ural objects are distinguished from each other. The 

 term character in botany is more particularly ap- 

 plied to that set of marks which distinguish any one 

 plant from all others : it is applied also to the marks 

 by which the various divisions of the vegetable kingdom, 

 as the classes and orders, are distinguish. 



Characters are taken from the number, figure, situa- 

 tion, proportion, and connexion of the various parts of a 

 plant. Each individual mark, as the form of the leaf, 

 the number of parts of the flower, &c. is called a SIM- 

 PLE CHARACTER. 



Observation. The object of the following work is to make the 

 student acquainted with these simple characters which serve as 

 an alphabet *of natural letters, by the various combinations of 

 which in each plant, its character, or name, so to speak, is written 

 upon it. This object should be kept in view by the student, other- 

 wise the terms and their definitions will be unmeaning 1 and tire- 

 some. 



III. System. 



SYSTEM, (sy sterna) is an arrangement of natural 

 bodies according to assumed characters ; for the pur- 

 pose of aiding the mind and memory in acquiring and 

 retaining a knowledge of them. 



The principal advantages of system result from di- 

 vision and subdivision, which enable us to direct our 

 whole attention to a part of a subject, to a part of that 

 part, arid so on, without being burthened with things in 

 connexion : and at the same time with the greatest 

 facility to arrange all together so as to constitute one 

 perfect whole. 



Many systems of arrangement of vegetables have 

 been, at various times, proposed ; but the system of 

 the celebrated Linnseus, being founded on principles 

 which are simple and obvious, and such as arc perma- 

 nent and universal in nature \ has had the most gener- 

 al reception. 



