ANECDOTES. 
2 S3 
44 demonstrated the various errors of his predecessors, which had made 
44 their systems totter, and rendered uncertain the definition of the 
44 plants. This laid the foundation of his authority in the science 
44 of botany, which he extended still farther in a most extraordinary 
44 manner, by the excellent, concise and plain Diffenti^ Speci- 
44 Fic^, by the trivial names, and a solid and precise synonimy. After 
44 the entire arrangement and completion of his system, when the de- 
« nomination and definition of plants could no longer embarrass its 
44 progress, he began to give a great number of the descriptions of the 
« new species, which are all real master pieces, and the kno- ledge of 
44 which he partly owed to his travels, partly to his pupils, and from 
44 which the many editions and the important emendations of his sys- 
44 tern have originated. He was, at the same time, exremely cautious 
£4 in not mentioning any plant as a species or as a genus, of which he 
44 either did not well know the characters, or did not find n suf- 
« ficiently clear to his understanding. He a£ted thus, merely that he 
44 might not prejudice the solidity of his system. 
44 The number of his new and important observations in botany is 
44 very great. They are for the most part to be found in the colle&ian 
44 of his academical dissertations.* He also took uncommon pains to 
44 finish his Ordines Naturales, or the natural affinity which sub- 
“ sists among the plants ; but notwithstanding the great extent of his 
44 exertions, those productions only remained fragments, and many 
44 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 
44 with the distinP ve marks of his natural classes and with .his obser- 
st vations upon therm He subjoined them finally, though with too 
“-much 
o o a 
