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it is my desire to explain what I propose to call the dynamic system showing 
the natural relations of plants. In so doing, I shall principally refer to the 
Angiosperms, although I am perfectly sure that the result would be the same 
if I should refer to other classes of the vegetable kingdom. 
2. NATURAL CLASSITICATION. 
The first question which arises in the discussion of the present subject 
is “What is the natural classification of plants?” We answer that it is to 
classify plants according to their natural relations. In doing this, we first 
attempt to find whether the individuals which we are going to classify are 
separable according to this view but are united according to that view, i.e. to 
find the difference or resemblance between or among them. The second attempt 
in the course of natural classification is to unite the individuals into a small 
or large group or groups according to their resemblance, —— into groups which 
. should be subject to alteration as to their outlines as well as to their members, 
according as we look at the matter from this or that point of view. These, 
for the sake of simplicity, I propose to call dynamic groups. Then, in the 
third place, we should try to arrange the dynamic groups thus obtained, such 
as species, genera families or series, according to their natural relations, —— to 
arrange them not in fixed orders, such as are determined in the systems of the 
present day, but to arrange them in orders that vary with different views, or 
simply speaking, to arrange them after a dynamic manner. In other words, 
to systematize plants according to their natural relations is to distinguish them 
one from another, to unite them through their resemblance, and finally. to 
construct a dynamic system (so as to denote their mutual relations) changeable 
according to different views. In so doing, we shall try to understand the 
relations of all the members of the vegetable kingdom, or simply to understand 
the vegetable kingdom. This is, according to my idea, the principal object? 
1) In the course of my study, I became more and more aware of the analogy between the 
classification of words and that of plants. An artificial system of plants is comparable to the 
ordinary dictionary in which words are arranged in alphabetical order. In constructing such 
word list, we merely consult our own convenience ; while another kind of dictionary like Roast’s 
“Thesaurus” somewhat resembles my dynamic system, donoting real relations between plants 
