THE TENDENCIES OP SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 
255 
themselves felt. What is true of fungi is true also of Lichens 
and unicellular Algae; it may he also of the higher Cryptogams ; 
certainly the fears expressed by those most capable to judge of 
the aspects of Phanerogamic Botany point unmistakably to the 
same conclusions. 
Every allowance must be made for the extended and universal 
use of the microscope, which has so much increased our know- 
ledge of the minute structure of plants during the past quarter 
of a century. It may be that this continual resort to the micro- 
scope has given to minute structural differences an undue cha- 
racteristic importance in some instances ; but more than all, it 
has induced a method of closer observation; it has fostered the 
faculty of seeing, whilst at the same time it has dimmed the 
power of recognising broad and general affinities. Every minute 
hair and scale is depicted with fidelity, and every cell numbered, 
whilst the general contour is forgotten, and the broad effects of 
light and shade which pleased our forefathers is lost in the pre- 
Baffaelite adoration of the trivial and ornate. 
Some ten or twelve years ago the makers of species ostenta- 
tiously ranged themselves on two opposing sides, so that 44 split- 
ting ” and 44 lumping ” for a time became the watchwords of 
parties ; but the controversy on what constitutes a species has 
subsided into comparative indifference, and theory has given 
way to practice, leaving on record hundreds of doubtful species 
for future generations of botanists to puzzle over and ultimately 
discard. So long as the fashion was in the ascendant for dividing 
one species into twenty, no very permanent injury was threatened 
to the future of botanical science. Labour was largely increased 
it is true, but the old generic distinctions remained, and the 
mischief was at least limited by recognised boundaries. Ulti- 
mately, however, a new direction for activity was discovered, 
and genera no longer received their old respect. The pent-up 
waters burst their bounds, and threatened a new deluge far more 
disastrous than its predecessor. This leads to a consideration 
of the primary tendency of the age, which commenced by ele- 
vating individuals to the rank of species, and now threatens the 
fate of Babel by the confusion of all generic distinctions. 
Anyone who has observed closely the progress of systematic 
botany during the past few years cannot fail to have noticed 
the great and sudden increase in the number of genera, out of 
all proportion to new botanical areas. By a closer inspection it 
will become evident how this great accession has been accom- 
plished. The old genus of Discomycetous Fungi accepted by 
Fries under the name of Peziza in his 44 Systema,” published 
in 1822, was still recognised with very slight modifications by 
the same author in 1846, and at that time no one thought of 
proposing any alteration ; indeed, some of the groups which he 
