4 AN INTIIODUCTION, &c. 



short lines, to which even a young botanist thus 

 initiated might readily turn, in any competent 

 book, would then be sufficient to afford him the 

 name and history of any plant that should attract 

 his attention, from the humble tenant of the hedge- 

 bank, to the proudest ornament of the conservatory. 



Linneus has divided the vegetable creation 

 into Classes, Orders, Genera, and Species. 



He perceived that neither the stature of plants, 

 their substance, general form, nor any other qua- 

 lities which had been previously considered, 

 denoted with any accuracy the true limits of clas- 

 sification ; but that in every system which had 

 been projected, Fancy prevailed so much, that 

 Science was scarcely to be discerned. 



It was reserved for him to detect, in the 

 minute and latent organs of Fructification, a prin- 

 ciple pervading vegetable life, and admitting va- 

 rious modifications capable of exact definition : and, 

 availing himself of this principle, he has founded 

 upon it the beautiful system which bears his 

 name. 



