sean HE 
BRITISH- HERBAL. 
sti be irs Mi he 8h Ng Na Ss Sh Ss MO, Ne Se Nh, he De St, Ma a A, Sg Se Ns Ee Se She Ne 
Shee Me Nhe Me Nhe SMe Me, 8 NY MM SM hs SM 
7A ASE TA ANS AS AS OS AROUND "AS TANS ANAS FAN ANS ANS AS SAS 
SS RS AAS PAS ANAS "AS AIS AS AE 
Se She 
"ANTS TARAS ONAN AN A AN RAT TE 
\ 
CL A SLSe: EX. 
Plants whofe flower confifts of rive vevars regular in form and difpofition, 
whofe feeds are contained ina SINGLE CAPSULE, and whofe laves grow 
in pairs. 
HIS is a very large and numerous clafs; nature has perfectly connected together the plants 
/ it comprehends, and obvioufly diftinguifhed them from all others: yet, as in other cafes, 
fo in this, the modern method, eftablifhed folely upon the’ number of threads, and their 
difpofition in the flower, has feparated many of them from the reft, and placed them among others 
with which they have no natural alliance. tS sane : 
Nature is fo uniform, in even her fmalleft traces, that, in general, thefe minute parts are difpofed 
alike in plants of the fame clafles; but not univerfally. This general conformity of the fmaller with 
the larger parts led Linnzus to imagine that a method might be eftablifhed on their number and 
difpofition, which would take in the larger, more obvious, and more effential parts, only as fubor- 
dinate; and, as this would be fure to carry an air of novelty, it was natural to fuppofe it would 
pleafe the ftudent, and do honour to the inventor. : 
Had it proved true that nature was as ftriét in thefe fmaller-as in the larger parts, a method might, 
as ufefully, have been founded on them as on the others : at leaft, it would have been liable to no 
other objection but that of being lefs plain and familiar: but when Linnzus found that, though 
many of the plants in each natural clafs thus anfwered to the characters of his artificial ones, there 
were feveral that did not, he fhould then have given up the defign. ‘ 
That he did find this is certain; becaufe he has fet down innumerable inftances of it under the 
name of exceptions to his generical charaéters ; and he will daily, in his careful attention to the 
fubjeét, find more: but, probably, he had gone too far to recede, before he difcovered that thefe 
exceptions were fo numerous. It appears to me that he formed his characters of the common plants 
principally from Tournefort’s figures, and thofe of the more rare, in general from thofe of Plumier. 
Thefe figures are excellent, and particularly accurate; but, although generally right in the minuteft 
parts, yet they fometimes vary from nature in them; their authors not having been fo careful in 
thefe leffer parts as they would have been, if, like Linnzus, they had intended to ‘eftablith a method 
upon them. j 
This feems to have been the foundation of Linneus’s fyftem: and when, ‘in examining the 
plants themfelves, he found they did not exaétly anfwer thefe figures, and his charaéters eftablifhed 
upon them, he has, with candour equal to his difcernment and affiduity, fet ic down in his fucceed- 
ing works. StS, . 
Upon this view of the Linnzan method, the reader will be able to form a proper judgment 
of it; and not too difadvantageous a one of its author, whofe very faults have been’ accompanied 
with excellencies. ; / * 
With refpe& to the plants of the prefent clafs, all that anfwer the charaéter eftablithed in few 
words, as its diftinétion, are here brought together. } : 
Mr. Ray, who. forms. a clafs of the fame kind, his pentapetale vafculifere, makes it more 
comprehentfive, for he includes in it all that anfwer to that name; placing their other diftinétions 
as fabordinate: but, as we have fet out upon the plan of diftinguifhing the plants by as fuccin& affort- 
ments as nature admits, we have of thefe made three claffes. : 
N¢ 16. Tee The 
