220 TRANSLATIONS AND SELECTED ARTICLES. 



since it must have, as its indispensable foundation, a complete know- 

 ledge of the relations which unite plants one to another. Conse- 

 quent;ly> classification must connect itself with all the branches of 

 botanical science. Organography, or the description of the external 

 characters of the parts of plants, without doubt supplies it with the 

 distinctive marks most easily determinable, and on that account most 

 frequently employed ; but Teratology [the description and explana- 

 tion of abnormal developments], Organogeny [the account of the 

 origin and earliest condition of organs], and Vegetable anatomy, 

 should also come to its aid, and supply it with useful materials.* 



In 1810, at the commencement of the present century, Mirbel 

 proclaimed anew this great principle, which seemed to have been 

 already forgotten, in making an application of it to the study of the 

 natural family of the Labiatse [^Ord. Lamiacese]. 



This botanist at that time thus expressed himself {Annales du> 

 Museum d" Histoire Naturalle, vol. xv.) : "The only means of per- 

 fecting our knowledge of natural families, is to unite with the study 

 of botanical characters that of all anatomical and physiological facts. 

 I have said that the importance of characters depends much less on 

 their constancy than on the necessity of their co-existence. I have 

 affirmed that the greater number of botanists, after having too long 

 much neglected the organs of reproduction, have committed an error 

 almost equally great, in pretending that these organs should alone 

 furnish the principal bases of a natural classification." 



We should, then, apply ourselves to gain a knowledge of vegetables 

 at once, in every part of their organization : and on this view it may 

 be truly said, that among the vast labours undertaken during the 

 present century, by the eminent men who have devoted themselves to 

 the study of plants, there is not one which does not directly assist 

 classification; ; which, however, can never be absolutely perfect until 

 we know all plants, or at least some types of each family, as well 

 viewed in respect to the organogeny of the flower and fruit, and 

 the anatomical structure, as in respect to a merely organographic 

 description. 



Science is as yet very far from having reached this result. Great 

 labours have, however, been accomplished during the present century, 



• It would perhaps be more correct to regard Teratology and Organogeny as only auxiliary 

 departments of Organography, assisting us to form a juster view of the real nature, origin, 

 and position of certain T^axts.— Translator. 



