220 THE VEGETABLE WORLD. 
enclosed in the fruit), from ayyciov, capsuled, and ozéppa, seed. 
The dicotyledonous gymnospermes of De Jussieu formed only five 
families, and comprehended what we call Evergreens; the dicoty- 
ledonous angiospermes were divided into many secondary groups, 
whose distinctive characters were drawn from peculiarities of the — 
reproductive organs. 
Whilst the labours of the eminent men we have named were 
laying the foundations of the science, assisted by others only a 
degree lower, both in France and Germany, English botany was 
laying its own foundations. Robert Brown was no systematist. 
He was much struck with Goethe’s ideas of the morphology of 
plants. Working with the microscope, he applied the theory to the 
development of the tissues of plants; and every new fact served 
to confirm him in the belief that the principle was universal. But 
the man of all others to whom modern science is most indebted 
for perfecting the botanical arrangement of plants, is the late Dr. 
Lindley. His knowledge of vegetable structure was extensive and 
profound. His indefatigable industry and unequalled powers of 
generalisation enabled him to grapple with and bring to perfection 
the vast scheme of re-arranging on physiological principles, after 
careful structural examination, the whole vegetable world. ” 
“Vegetable Kingdom” remains a monument of immense learning 
technical knowledge, and vast industry. The modern school of 
botanists may be said, one and all, to have been his pupils, and 
the system he has framed is probably the nearest to perfection 
which the world has yet seen; and M. Figuier must excuse the 
editor of the English translation when he adopts a system which 
has superseded all others in the British schools. > 
The basis of this system is a close examination of the minuter 
parts of plants, particularly the seeds ; since, of all parts of plants, 
that is the one which displays the greatest constancy- diff- 
culties in comprehending it lie at the threshold ; and in overcoming 
them the student has the gratification of gaining a vast amoun 
of interesting information. The following is a brief condensatio? 
of P. rofessor Lindley’s scheme frcm the “ Vegetable Kingdom : 
(p. lv. e¢ seq.), whose parting advice to his readers is, to bear 
mind that under the natural system the stamens and pi ils play * 
subordinate part, and are only accounted as a portion of the whole : 
