219 



there should i)c, he says, a great work describing all genera 

 under the natural families. 



Bernard de Jussieu attempted to lay out the Royal Gardens 

 at Versailles by a natural system. Following Jung, he abandoned 

 the groups woody plants and herbs. He adopted Linnaeus 's 

 natural families, but grouped these according to suggestions 

 from Ray, Tournefort and his own observations. He was con- 

 tinually improving his system and did not publish anything. 

 "What does it signify," he said, "who gets the credit, so long 

 as the truth becomes known?" His nephew, Antoine Laurent 

 de Jussieu (1748-1816) came to Paris to assist him, and further 

 Improved his uncle's system. At the outbreak of the French 

 Revolution he published Genera Plantarum secundum Ordines 

 Naturalis Disposita. The last sheets were drawn from the press 

 on July 13, 1789, the day before the fall of the Bastille. His 

 groups are: 



AcoTYLEDONES (fungi, ferns, mosses, algae, and naiades, i) 

 MoNOCOTYLEDONES (hypogynae, 2, perigynae, 3, and epig>^nae, 4) 

 DicoTYLEDONES (apctalac, 5-7, monopetalae, 8-1 1, polypetalae, 

 12-14, and diclines irregulares, 15) 



The numbers refer to his fifteen classes, under which one hundred 

 families are distinguished, and under them the genera are de- 

 scribed. His work was for long unfavorably received, the Lin- 

 naean system being more effective to find quickly the names of 

 plants. The Jussieus are justly regarded as the founders of 

 the conception of natural plant families, in fact of the first 

 approximation to a natural classification. 



{To he continued) 



