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HOW flanxs ark classified. 
Section III. — The Natural System. 
304. There are two kinds of classification in Botany, viz. Natural and Artificial 
They differ in the way the genera are arranged in orders, classes, &c. 
305. An Artificial Classification is one in which plants are arranged for conven- 
ience of reference, or for finding out their names, without any particular care for 
bringing like things together. Tournefort made an artificial classification of plants 
by their flowers, mainly by their corolla, which was in common use in the last cen- 
tury until Linnasus contrived a better one, in which the classes and orders were 
founded upon the number, position, &c. of the stamens and pistils. This was in 
general use for many years. But now we use artificial classifications only in the 
form of Tables or Analyses , as a key for finding out the family a plant we are 
studying belongs to, and so readily referring it to its place in 
306. The Natural System. In this system plants are classified according to their 
relationships, that is, according to their resemblances in all respects. The most 
important resemblances are used for the classes, &c. ; the most important after these 
for the orders ; more particular ones mark the genera ; and matters of shape, pro- 
portion, color, &c. mark the species. So the whole together forms a system , in 
which all known plants are to be ranked in their natural order, each standing next 
those which it is most like in all respects ; the whole forming, as it were, a great 
map, in which the classes and other great divisions might answer to countries, 
the orders to counties, and the genera to towns or parishes. 
307. Such a system is not a mere convenience for ascertaining the name of a 
plant, but is an illustration, as far as may be, of the 'plan of the Creator in the 
vegetable kingdom. And the Botanist sees as much to admire, and as plain evi- 
dences of design, in the various relations of the species of plants to each other 
(i. e. in their resemblances and their differences), as he does in the adaptation of 
one part of a plant to another, and in the various forms under which any one organ 
may appear. The different kinds of plants are parts of a great whole, like the 
members of a body, or the pieces of an harmonious but complex edifice or struc- 
ture ; and this whole is the Vegetable Kingdom. 
308. What the main divisions in the system are, may be gathered from what is 
stated in several places in Part I. In the first place, the whole vegetable kingdom 
divides into two great Series or Grades, — a higher and a lower. The higher 
series contains all 
