( 234 ) 
leaves familiar. The language of Linneus, as 
applied to the fpecies of plants, muft be fin- 
died, and may be underftood without much 
difficulty. He has taken words expreffive of 
well-known figures, as the words oblong and 
egg, which, fimply ufed, fignify that the leaf 
or feed is one of thofe forms ; by compound- 
ing thofe words a form between both is ex- 
preiTed ; if it partake moft of the oblong, 
that word precedes the egg, and contrariwife ; 
fo that the two words, oblong and egg, are 
made to reprefent forms of four kinds very 
nearly allied. Thus has Linneus compounded 
all the different forms under which leaves 
can appear ; and by having done fo has been 
able, in a few words, to prefent before our 
eyes the effential fpecific characters of a va- 
riety of plants ; which by other authors are 
defcribed with fo little precifion, and fo dif- 
fufely, that we are bewildered by the innu- 
merable difiinctionsj to which we have to 
attend. 
In order to attain a precife idea of thefe 
forms the fludent muft begin by comparing 
the plates. The leaves of daifie (bellis) are 
oblong, thofe of beech (fagus filvatica), and 
pepper-mint (mentha piperita), egg-form, of 
violet 
