Lecture on Botany. 343 



He was followed by Herman and Boerhaave of Leyden, but there 

 was also laid the foundation of the artificial system — one entirely 

 opposed to the former, and which was soon to eclipse its rival. 

 Rivinius, professor at Leipzic, constituted the corolla, the most 

 important part for the division and classification of plants, and in 

 the promulgation of this doctrine, he was materially assisted by 

 the distinguished French botanist, Joseph Pitton de Tournefort. 

 It was at this time, the beginning of the 18th century, when bo- 

 tanical gardens flourished in Italy, Germany, France and England, 

 (among which may be mentioned the celebrated gardens at Am- 

 sterdam in the Netherlands, and at Bologna in Italy, the Royal 

 Garden in Paris, the Royal Garden at Hampton Court, near Lon- 

 don,) when native Floras were objects of careful investigation, and 

 when the knowledge of exotic plants of foreign climes was vastly 

 extended by travellers and well-informed naturalists, — it was at 

 this time that Sweden gave birth to one of the most remarka- 

 ble men in the history of Natural Science, Charles Linnaeus, 

 who was born in 1*707. To him is Natural History, in all its 

 branches, especially indebted, as the founder of the historical part. 

 He possessed a peculiar rehsh for Botany, and his writings and 

 works give evidence of his unwearied labours and devotion to the 

 <;ause of botanical science. He established an artificial nomen- 

 clature, gave specific characteis to plants, arranged them into 

 genera and formed a gigantic system of artificial classification, in 

 which high value is put upon the stamens and pistil, and upon the 

 ■corolla. Into the merits of this system we shall hereafter have 

 occasion to enter. Let me merely observe here, that despite the 

 declamations of the promoters of the natural method of classifica- 

 tion, who either greatly undervalue or entirely reject the Linna3an 

 ■system, it stands not merely the historical monument of past ge- ' 

 -nius, but forms a simple key to the naming of plants, and an essen- 

 tial preliminary to the understanding of the intricacies of natural 

 classification. Daring his own time, Linnaeus met with much op- 

 position both in Germany by Haller and the followers of Rivinius, 

 and in France by the disciples of Tournefort, and by Bernhard 

 Jussieu. Other theories and systems were also started and had 

 their supporters. But their influence was merely temporary, and 

 all gave way before the simple and fascinating system of Linnaeus. 

 In process of time, while herbaria were enriched with numerous 

 new plants and systematic works written in Linnsean order, the 

 elementary structure and physiology of plants were more minutely 



