664 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. >. 



seeds and plants of other lands, which they valued more than the gold of 

 Peru. The Return of a pupil from foreign countries bearing their produc- 

 tions with them was an event that conveyed pure and lofty enjoyment to 

 their great teacher. The results of their researches were always presented 

 to him. The cultivation of the seeds and the arrangement of the plants 

 afforded him the highest satisfaction, while it powerfully advanced the in- 

 terests of his favorite science. But there were many mighty minds at that 

 time engaged in cultivating the science of botany. Drs. Rudbeck and 

 Celsius were eminent for their knowledge, and early discovered the genius 

 of Linnaaus, and powerfully assisted him to rise above the difficulties that 

 beset his pathway to greatness. Frederick Adolphus, too, the then reign- 

 ing- monarch of Sweden, himself a botanist, showed great kindness for him, 

 and the friendship of such men, in connection with his own talents and 

 industry, soon placed him among the most conspicuous in Europe. There 

 were also higiily distinguished naturalists in Holland, France, Great 

 Britain and our country, engaged in botanical pursuits, and by their united 

 efforts the science rose into high repute, and ever since it has been the 

 favorite pursuit of some of the greatest minds that have acted their parts 

 on the theatre of life. 



The great author of Nature has beautifully adapted every plant to the 

 soil, situation and climate in wliich they are found. If we travel from the 

 tropics to the polar regions, we find that every zone has its peculiar plants, 

 and they flourish only in that particular climate. 



But this abstract truth is not the only one taught us by the vegetable 

 world, the character of him who made them is inscribed, as it were, on the 

 leaf of every plant fanned by the wind of heaven. The plant called Nepen- 

 thes distillatoria, may be fitly mentioned as showing his goodness and his 

 bounty. Its leaves bear a covered pitcher full of water by which the thirst 

 of man may be quenched, and how often has the weary, parched traveler, 

 been refreshed by this kind and merciful provision in Nature under the rays 

 of a tropical sun. The Peruvian bark. Gentian, Senna and an endless 

 variety of others, eminently useful in restoring and preserving the health 

 of the human family, all attest the goodness and the mercy of the great 

 Father of our race. The Lapland moss is another plant that furnishes a 

 striking evidence of this truth. The Reindeer, an animal so useful to man 

 in these regions, is provided with the means of sustenance by it, amid the 

 bleak and inhospitable country which it inhabits, without it it would cease to 

 live. Man would thus be deprived of the flesh to nourish him, the skin to 

 cover him, and its strength to bear him, almost with the fleetness of the 

 wind, over the frozen snows of his Arctic home. 



There are two systems by which a knowledge of botany may be acquired. 

 The one i» called the linnean or artificial, the other the natural system. 

 Linnseus founded his system iipon the consideration of the stamens, as 

 more or less numerous; upon their proportion, connection and their absence. 

 Linnteus did not overlook the natural system, but he was persuaded that 

 it did not meet and provide for all the wants of the botanist in order 

 to the attainment of a correct knowledge of the science. Other eminent 

 botanists have sustained this opinion, especially with regard to American 

 plants. But botanists of the highest character, both in this country and 



