VI PREFACE. 



sary to have a mental rail-road on which such per- 

 sons may be impelled without any exertion of their 

 own ; then indeed the analytical tables of the French 

 are infinitely better contrivances than the Sexual 

 System : because if well executed they meet every 

 case and lead with certainty to positive results. 



I have, however, been always at issue with the 

 Linnean school of Botany as to their system accom- 

 plishing even the little that it pretends to ; and if I 

 may be permitted to appeal to my own personal 

 experience of the difficulties of a beginner who is 

 unassisted by a tutor, (and few could have had fewer 

 difficulties to contend against than myself,) I should 

 say that it is totally opposed to such a conclusion. I 

 began with the Linnean system, which I was taught 

 to believe little less than an inspired production ; I 

 had plenty of books compiled according to that 

 system to consult, and I was fairly driven to seek 

 refuge in the Natural System from the difficulties 

 and inconsistencies of that of Linnaeus. 



It seems to me that there is a confusion of ideas in 

 what is urged in favour of the Linnean system, and 

 that its theoretical simplicity is mistaken for prac- 

 tical facility of application. That the principles of 

 the Linnean system are clear, and simple, and easily 

 remembered is indisputable ; that student indeed 



