294 Dr. Lindley^s Natural System of Botany. 



to employ the forcible language of Linnaeus, " Methodus naturalis 



primus et uJtimus finis botanices est et erit," '' Frimum et ulti- 



mum in hoc hotanicis desideratum est.'^ The few persons who re- 

 main at this day unconvinced of its advantages are not likely to be 

 affected by any arguments that we could adduce. A somewhat 

 larger number may perhaps be found in this country who admit the 

 importance and the utility of a natural arrangement in the abstract ; 

 but decline to avail themselves of the advantages it affords in the 

 study of plants, because, forsooth, it is too much trouble to acquire 

 the enlarged views of vegetable structure which are necessary for 

 the application of its principles. It would almost seem, from the 

 views and practice of such botanists, that they considered it the chief 

 object of a classification to afford the means of ascertaining the name 

 of an unknown plant by the slightest examination of its structure, 

 and with the least possible expenditure of thought. 



In the first edition. Dr. Lindley entered into some detailed expla- 

 nations to show the fallacy of the common opinion that the artificial 

 system of Linnaeus is easy, and the Natural System difficult of ap- 

 plication. The sentiments of the public having undergone so great 

 a change upon this subject within the last five or six years, that he 

 finds it no longer necessary to adduce these considerations, and ac- 

 cordingly commences at once with a developement of the principles 

 on which the Natural System is founded, viz. "That the affinities of 

 plants may be determined by a consideration of all the points of re- 

 semblance between their various parts, properties, and qualities ; that 

 thence an arrangement may be deduced in which those species will 

 be placed next each other which have the greatest degree of rela- 

 tionship ; and that consequently the quality or structure of an im- 

 perfectly known plant may be determined by those of another which 

 is well known. Hence arises its superiority over arbitrary or arti- 

 ficial systems, such as that of Linnaeus, in which there is no com- 

 bination of ideas, but which are mere collections of isolated facts, 

 not having any distinct relation to each other." — (Preface, p. vii.) 



We have never met with a more clear and succinct account of the 

 principles on which the primary divisions of the vegetable kingdom 

 rest, than that comprised in the following extract. Those acquainted 

 with the first edition will perceive that the author has changed his 

 opinions respecting the number of these primary divisions, or classes ; 

 the Gymnosperma, or Flowering plants with naked ovules (compri- 

 sing the Coniferse, Cycadeae, and, according to Brongniart and Lind- 



