68 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 655 



into 24 classes, the first 23 containing the 

 phanerogams and the last the cryptogams. 

 In the first 11 classes are included plants 

 which have from 1 to 12 free and prac- 

 tically equal stamens ; in the 12tli and 13th, 

 plants with many stamens ; in the 14th and 

 15th, plants with 4 and 6 stamens respect- 

 ively, of which 2 are decidedly shorter; in 

 the 16th, 17th and 18th classes the stamens 

 are united by their filaments; in the 19th 

 they are united by their anthers, and in the 

 20th they are adnata to the pistil; in the 

 21st and 22d the flowers are unisexual, i. e., 

 the stamens and pistils are in different 

 flowers, on the same individual in the 21st 

 and on different individuals in the 22d; 

 and the plants of the 23d class have both 

 unisexual and bisexual flowers. The classes 

 were divided into orders. In the first 13 

 classes the orders were determined by the 

 number of the pistils, in the 14th and 15th 

 by the fruit, and in the 16th and 18th and 

 20th to 23d by the number and distinctness 

 or union of the stamens. The classification 

 of the 19th class is too complex to enter 

 into here. The 24th class was divided into 

 4 orders : Filices, Musci, Algte and Fungi. 

 This system of classification is purely 

 artificial. LinnsKus himself regarded it 

 only as temporary, and expected that it 

 would soon be supplanted by a more ra- 

 tional one, based on natural relationship. 

 The Linnaean system served its purpose, 

 however. It became a means by which it 

 was po^ible to tabulate every known genus 

 of plants. Before this time there had been 

 no systems at all, or such crude ones as we 

 find even to-day in- some popular flower- 

 books, where the plants are classified by 

 the color of their flowers. If the natural 

 systems of DeCandolle, Bentham and Hook- 

 er, and Engler and Prantl are too compli- 

 cated for popular books, why not go back 

 to the simple system of Linnseus 1 It would 



at least give a good insight into the struc- 

 ture of the flower instead of the mere color. 



In his "Genera Plantarum" Linnaus ap- 

 plied this system to all known genera of 

 plants and gave each of them a concise and 

 plain description. 



Clifford had many American plants in 

 his garden, but he sent Linnaeus to England 

 to visit Sir Hans Sloane, Professor Dillen- 

 ius and Philip Miller, in order to secure 

 American plants grown by them. Both 

 Sloane and Dillenius treated Linnseus at 

 first with coolness, because he "confound- 

 ed" botany. On his farewell visit to Dil- 

 lenius, Linnseus politely asked him what he 

 meant by "confounding botany." Dillen- 

 ius took from the library the first few pages 

 of Linnaeus 's own "Genera Plantarum" 

 and showed him where there was written 

 at numerous places "NB. " Dillenius 

 stated that all the genera so marked were 

 wrongly described. The first example he 

 pointed out, if I am not mistaken, was 

 Canna, placed by Linnaeus in his first class, 

 which contains plants with but one stamen. 

 Botanists before this time had described it 

 as having three stamens. To settle the dis- 

 pute they went out into the garden and the 

 living plant showed that Linnaeus was cor- 

 rect. Dillenius then retained Linnaeus for 

 several days and found that the older bot- 

 anists in most cases were at fault and the 

 young Swede correct. From being an op- 

 ponent, he became a friend of Linnasus and 

 let him have all the plants he wanted. 



After his return to Holland Linnaeus con- 

 tinued his work in Clifford's garden with 

 renewed zeal, and completed his "Hortus 

 Cliffortianus, " a large folio, in which are 

 enumerated and described all the plants 

 found in Clifford's collections, together 

 with synonyms and citations of nearly all 

 botanical works then in existence. In pre- 

 paring this work he became thoroughly ac- 

 quainted with almost all the literature re- 



