LINN^US. 291 



sifications of our great master as having done more 

 harm than good, judge erroneously; for although 

 they are certainly imperfect, without them or others 

 of a similar kind it would have been impossible to 

 retain any distinct remembrance of the numerous 

 objects which have successively been introduced to 

 notice. It were more reasonable to admire the in- 

 genuity displayed in the construction of so simple a 

 system, than to blame the unsuccessful attempt to 

 classify, according to their essential peculiarities, ob- 

 jects whose multiplied relations have, to the present 

 day, defied the most accomplished naturalists. 



With respect to the nomenclature, it is sufficient 

 to remark, that the classes and orders bear appro- 

 priate names, derived from various circumstances. 

 Thus in ihec\EiSsMammalia,so denominated because 

 the animals composing it bear mammae and suckle 

 their young, are the orders Primates or Nobles, 

 Bruta, Ferce, &c. The generic names are always 

 substantives, as Phoca, Canis, Lepus, &c. ; and 

 the specific names are either adjectives, as Phoca 

 barbata, Canis familiaris, Lepiis timidus, or, in 

 certain rarer cases, substantives, as Canis Lupus, 

 Ursus Arctos, &c. We now proceed to the exami- 

 nation of another kingdom. 



The second volume of the Systema Naturae con- 

 tains an arrangement of all the species of vegetables 

 known to Linnaeus. It is in this department that 

 our author has been generally allowed to excel, and 

 his system, after undergoing some modifications, re- 

 mains in use at the present day ; nor is it likely ever 

 to be superseded by any other merely artificial ar- 

 rangement. 



Before proceeding to a general account of this ce- 



