ANECDOTES. 283 



" dcinonstrated the various errors of his predecessors, which had made 

 " their systems totter, and rendered uncertain the delinition ol tlic 

 " plants. Tliis laid the foundation of his authority in the science 

 " of botany, which lie extended still farther in a most extraordinary 

 "manner, by the excellent, concise and plain Diffenti.'e Speci- 

 " i U'/E, by the trivial names^ and a solid and precise synonimy. Aftei 

 " the entire arraaigement and completion of his system, when the de- 

 " nomination and definition of plants could no longer embarrass its 

 " progress, he began to give a great number of the descriptions of the 

 " new species, which are all real master pieces, and the knowledge ol' 

 " which he pardy owed to his travels, partly to his pupils, and from 

 " which the many editions and the important emendations oi' his s} s- 

 " tern have originated. He was, at the same lime, extremel)' cautious 

 " in not mentioning any plant as a species or as a genus, of which he 

 " either did not well know the characlers, or did not find them suf^ 

 " ficiently clear to his understanding. He aQ;ed thus, nicrclv that he 

 " might not prejudice the solidity of his system. 



" The number of his new and important observations in botany is 

 " very great. They are for the most part to be found in the collection 

 " of his academical dissertations. He also took uncommon pains to 

 " finish his Ordines Natu rales, or the natural affinity which sub- 

 '* sists among the plants; but notwithstanding the great extent of his 

 " exertions, those produftions only remained fragments, and many 



plants still are Left, to which he could not assign a place in their 

 " natural order. I wished at the same time to get better acquainted 

 " with the distinftive marks of his natural classes and with his obser- 

 " vations upon them. He subjoined them finally, though with too 



002. " much. 



