HISTOKY OF BOTANY. 



fection of the plant, is the most important part. Hence he 

 divided plants according to the parts of the corolla, but chief- 

 ly according to the regularity or irregularity of its form. But 

 he extended the idea of irregularity so far, that he regarded 

 even the bent form of the pistil as an instance of the irregu- 

 larity of the corolla, without reflecting, that, in the first place, 

 the pistil in some species of the same genus, as Pyrola and 

 Epilobium, is bent downvi^ards, and in others is erect ; and, 

 in the second place, that this bent position is often the conse- 

 quence of dichogamy. This system no doubt suffered much 

 well founded opposition, particularly from Ray and Dille- 

 nius ; but in Germany it was so great a favourite, that at a 

 later period it was with difficulty overcome by the Linnsean 

 system. 



447. 



An excellent French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tourne- 

 fort, who, after having travelled for many years through the 

 South of France, and among the Pyrenees, had also examined 

 the Levant, and died as Professor at Paris 1708, founded a 

 system similar to that of Rivinus, but with more regard to 

 the form of the corolla than to its regularity. He proposed 

 this system in a work which appeared at Paris, under the 

 name of Institutiones Rei Herbarise, in 1719, in three vo- 

 lumes, with 489 plates, in which the characters of most of 

 the genera are given in a masterly manner. An excellent 

 account of his travels in the east. Relation d^un Voyage du 

 Levant, was published at Amsterdam 1718, in two parts; 

 and the new plants which were found there, 1356 in number, 

 were inserted in the Corollarium of his Institutions. 



448. 



Meanwhile, the knowledge of foreign plants was promoted 

 in various ways. The Dutch took Brazil from the Spaniards ; 

 and Count Moritz of Nassau, as governor of the newly con- 

 quered territory, took with him a natural historian, William 

 Piso, and an artist, George Marcgraf, whose observations 

 on the plants and animals of Brazil were published at Am- 



