CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 207 
the characteristics of each plant. He would every day get 
together the materials out of which he had to form his natural 
orders, which he regarded as the “ philosopher’s stone” of botanists. 
He deferred the publication of his first Essay in his zeal and desire 
to perfect his work. He wrote little, but observed much, and the 
fruits of his labour would perhaps have been lost to science but 
°r a favourable circumstance which obliged him to give his 
ie od of arrangement of plants to the world. Louis XIV. 
aving seen the gardens of Saint Germains, in which the 
