496 il//\BiciiENO on Systems and Methods in Naturol History. 



division Monocotyledones ; and where the characters are less defi- 

 nite, the plants pointed at might be assembled under a simple 

 asterisk. 



One chief recommendation of the natural system over the ar- 

 tificial, is the liberty which it leaves to the mind. The one shuts 

 it in to the narrowest scope of observation, while the other suf- 

 fers it to range in search of all the properties belonging to created 

 beings ; their functions, their structure, relations and resem- 

 blances, afiinities and analogies. It is speculative and general 

 truth that the natural system enables us to pursue ; and this will 

 never submit to be bound by any fetters which the art of man 

 can invent. Books after all are but a rude mode of holding 

 knowledge together ; and language but an imperfect vehicle to 

 convey with precision the just relations of things. i\t best it 

 bears the image of the earthy, while things themselves bear the 

 image of the heavenly. 



XXIV. An 



