6 INO RE ODUOT ON 
Ler it be underftood that in the Brothiod of nature, the deftruétion of Claffes will be os t- 
ed always by intermediate Claffes, as that of Genera will be by intermediate Plants. The © 
conne@tion which deftroys two Claffes by uniting them, is to be made by a Clafs which 
_ is truly intermediate ; that is, which has part of the characters of the one, and part of thofe 
of the other. Thus the Aggregate Clafs, properly and perfectly formed, having part of 
the Tubulate character, and part of the Umbelliferous, ferves as alink or connecting joint 
between them: being thus difpofed, it deftroys two other Claffes, which before were per- 
fedtly diftin@ ; by uniting them, and itfelf the intermediate Clafs with them, into one 
greater arrangement: this will be again united with preceding and fuceeeding Clafies by 
dike means; till the whole Vegetable world is feen as one great and perfectly regular 
affemblage of Individuals, gradually rifing one above the other. : : 
WHEN the — of the Aggregate Clafs is explained and afcertained as difindily 
as that of the Umbrella’d, we hall not only perfeély underftand the one, but, by the fame 
means, as diftinétly know the other; and having before, with equal care, known the true 
characters of Affembled Florets, we fhall fee shiv progrefs of Nature from thofe Affem- 
blages of imperfect Florets, through the fimply-cluftered perfec Aggregate Flowers, to — 
the more feparated Umbelliferous : and thus know incomes that moft eee part 
of Vegetable Nature. 
An Ageregate Plant has many Flofcules collected into a a head, furrounded bya icrican 
Cup ; in thefe two particulars, it agrees with not only the Tubulate F lowers, but with the 
Radiate, Ligulate, and Affociate, that is with all the four firtt clafles ; but it has F lowers, not 
Florets,to conftitute this head; and each Flower has its /eparate and difiné# Cup; and in thefe 
two particulars, of equal weight with the former, it agrees with the Umbelliferous Plants. 
Here then are two articles of agreement with any one of thefe Claffes, and two with 
_ the other. The Aggregate is ices perfectly feparate from both ; and is placed. at an 
exact diftance between them. It muft be allowed then to be that connecting Link, which 
was wanting to unite the four firft Claffes in our method, with the fixth ; lofing in that 
ofeater ‘view, its own diftinctive character, while, by uniting, it deftroys alfo theirs ; and 
thus far opening a way into a true natural method. — 
Ir is ufeful to know this sarin not only with that higher — but for the leffer 
ufes alfo of an artificial metlrod : for without thefe objects of the natural gradation, the cha- 
racters of this artificial diftinction would never be fo deeply fixed in the ftudent’s memory F 
nor are they fo perfe@ly neceflary in any other place ; fince, for want of a precife determi- 
nation of them, or of an accurate attention to them, thisvery natural Clafs has been ftran gely 
torn and divided ; and a great many Plants truly belonging to it, have been thrown into 
others. Thus the Eryngium and Aftrantia, the Hydrocotyle and Echinophora, have been 
called Umbelliferous Plants, though wanting the true and only diftinctive charaéter of that 
alfo naturai Clafs ; and perfeCtly agreeing in every article of the diftinctions of this. The 
common Thrift might as juftly be called an Umbelliferous Plant as any of thefe; and by 
a very little lengthening of the Footftalks of its feparate Flowers, would be as well en- 
titled to the character as any of them. But neither are they Umbelliferous Plants, accord- 
ing to the true character of that perfectly natural arrangement ; neither could Thrift, by 
lengthening the Footftalks of its F lowers, be made one; if that were the cafe, the union 
of the fix Clafles would not exitt ; and nature woe | be more like art by far; than God 
has made her. 
Tue connection between the four affembled Claffes and the Umbelliferous, is not to be 
fought from the Tubilate kind, as we have feen, for there want three s the four grada- 
5 tions; 
