BOTANY. 
300 
Clathrus; Clavaria; Elvela; Hydnum ; Lycoperdon ; 
Mucor; Peziza; Phallus, &c. as above dated in the arti- 
licial order. ' - 
Under the name Dubii ordinis, Linnaeus clafles all the 
other genera which cannot be reduced to any of the above- 
mentioned orders, and which are nearly one hundred and 
twenty in number, as may be feen by referring to his 
Fragmcnta Methodi Naturalis. 
Such are the Fragmcnta Methodi Naturalis, of Linnaeus; 
which refulted from his endeavours to form a Natural 
Method of Plants; and which he recommends to the no¬ 
tice of tliofe who might have fufficient relblution to follow 
itp the fame purfuit: That a fydem founded on the natu¬ 
ral affinities of planes, would be a valuable acquifition to 
botany, is admitted on all hands ; and therefore it were to 
be wifhed, that, indead of multiplying artidcial fydems, 
the learned and ingenious in chemidry and botany would 
unitedly endeavour to trace out nature’s path in the combi¬ 
nations and properties of vegetable affinities, until this de- 
fideratum diall be obtained. That fitch a difeovery may 
not be far didanf, we have every reafon to hope, as well 
from the avidity with which general learning is now pur- 
. filed, as from the adonidting advances made in the dder 
fciences of chemidry and botany within our own day ; par¬ 
ticularly from the brilliant difeoveries of the ingenious 
but ill-fated Lavoifier ; and the rapid, though recent, in¬ 
troduction of the fexual hypotheds into the fchools. It is 
no longer ago than the year 1762, that Dr. Martyn was 
•appointed to the botanical chair at Cambridge, and fird 
introduced the Linnaean fydem and language in a courfe of 
public ledlures. They were at that time both entirely new 
to the univerlity, and very little known or attended to in 
other parts of the kingdom ; except at Edinburgh, by the 
laudable effects of the late Dr. Hope. 
That ul'eful improvements, and fcientific difeoveries, 
even after they are made, can only advance to maturity by 
degrees, and receive their finiffi from the progreffive labours 
of the many, is a fact which admits not of a doubt. In the 
retrofpedtive view above given of the writers, on botany, 
it is apparent that each one improved on the others’ ideas ; 
but the talent of collecting the mod valuable parts of the 
whole, and of combining them into one rational and claffi- 
cal fydem, was left to dignify the name of Linnaeus. Si¬ 
milar refults may dill arife from fnnilar refearches ; and 
though it is too common a maxim to think and fpeak con- 
temptuoudy of inferior writings and fuggeftions on diffe¬ 
rent topics, yet, as far as any one contributes his mite to 
the general dock, or furnifhes an idea that can be improv¬ 
ed by others, he is judly entitled to a diare of the public 
regard. We have feen, that even in the fcience of botany, 
a journeyman weaver could accomplifh, what the cele¬ 
brated Mr. Philip Miller declared to be impodible; and it 
is obvious that the labours of the meaned individuals are 
found expedient to the comforts of elevated life, and are 
. perhaps the fource of the very bread we eat. This ought 
to convince us how intimately every link of the great chain 
of fociety is connected, and fhould fill our hearts with fen- 
timents of regard for all our fellow men, how didant fo- 
ever their avocations and dations may be; fince mod of the 
gifts of fuperiority feem primarily to have arifen out of 
the inventions or fuggedions of others. How much then 
mud the compiler of this Encyclopaedia owe to the in- 
dudry of thofe who have gone before him, in the arduous 
purfuits of fcience and literature ? But for them, he could 
not do judice to the purchafers of this work, nor can he 
compenfate for the valuable matter felefted from the la¬ 
bours of thofe who have had the happinefs to excel, but 
by placing their works in the mod elevated and refpec- 
table point of view. Doubtlefs the improvements in 
fcience and the liberal arts, have been in a great mea- 
fure owing to the edablifhment of learned focieties, and 
to the mutual communications of didant individuals; 
whence it fhould feem, that the minds of men, like the 
ftars in heaven, were made by turns to enlighten and e- 
clipfe caclt other. 
Of Collecting and Preserving PLANTS. 
Many methods have been devifed for the prefervatiort 
of plants ; we fliall relate only fuch as have been found 
moil fuccefisful. Dr. Withering, in his Arrangement of 
Britilh Plants, recommends the following: Fird prepare 
a prefs, which a workman will make by the following di¬ 
rections. Take two planks of well-feafoned wood, not 
liable to warp. The planks mud be two inches thick, 
eighteen inches long, and twelve inches broad. Get four 
male, and four female ferews ; fuch as are ufed for fecuring 
fafh-windows. Let the four female ferevvs be let into the 
four corners of one of the planks, and correfponding holes 
made through the four corners of the other plank for the 
male ferews to pafs through, fo as to allow the two planks 
to be ferewed tightly together. It will not be amifs to face 
the bearing of the male ferews upon the wood, with iron 
plates; and, if the iron plates went acrofs from corner to 
corner of the wood, it would be a good fecurity againft 
the warping. When a prefs is not at hand, the ipecimens 
may be dried tolerably well between the leaves of a large 
folio book, laying other books upon it to give it the necef- 
l'ary prelfure ; but in all cafes too much preffure mud be 
avoided. Secondly, get a few dieets of drong card pade- 
board, and half a dozen quires of large, foft, fpongy, pa¬ 
per ; fuch as the dationers call bloilbm or blotting paper, 
is the bed. 
The plants you wifn to preferve fhould be gathered in a 
dry day, after the fun has exhaled the dew : taking parti¬ 
cular care to colleCt them in that date wherein their gene¬ 
ric and fpecific characters are molt confpicuous. Carry 
them home in a tin box, which may be made about nine 
inches long, four inches and a half wide, and one inch 
and a half deep. Get the box made of the thinned tin¬ 
ned iron that can be procured ; and let the lid open upon 
hinges. The box fliould be painted, or lacquered, to prevent 
ruding. If any thing happens to hinder the immediate 
ufe of the Ipecimens you have collected, they will be kept 
fredi two or three days in this box, much better than by 
putting them in water ; but the blofToms of fome plants 
are fo very delicate, that they Ihrivel in a very fliort time, 
and often before you can well examine them. In this cafe, 
put the dems in water, cover the whole with a glafs bell, 
like thofe ufed in gardens, or the receiver of an air-pump ; 
expofe them to the fun, and, in half an hour, you will 
find them completely expanded. When you are about to 
preferve them, lay them down upon a padeboard, as 
much as podible in their natural form ; but, at the fame 
time, with a particular view to their generic and fpecific 
characters. For this purpofe it will be advifeable to fe- 
parate one or more of the dowers, and to difplay them fo 
as to fhew the generic character. If the fpecific character 
depends upon the flower, or upon the root, a particular 
•difplay of that will be likewife necedary. When the plant 
is thus difpofed upon the padeboard, cover it with eight 
or ten layers of the blotting-paper, and put it iuto the prefs.- 
Exert only a final 1 degree of preffure, for the fird two or 
three days; then examine it, unfold any wrinkles or plaits, 
rectify any midakes, and, after putting frefh paper over 
it, ferew the prefs a little harder. In about three days 
more, feparate the plant from the padeboard, if it be dif¬ 
fidently firm to allow of a change of .place ; put it upon 
a dry frefh padeboard, and covering it with frefh bloflom 
paper, let .it remain in the prefs a few days longer. The 
prefs fhould fland in the fun-dune, or within the influence 
of a fire, for nothing is fo dedruCtive to the beauty of the 
fpecimens as a long continued dampnefs. Shrubs and 
many of the harder perennial plants will lie much neater 
in the herbarium, if the bark of the principal dent be flit 
up with the point of a fliarp knife, fo as to allow the inner 
woody par-t to be extracted. 
When it is perfectly dry, the ufual method is to fafien 
it down with pade, or gum-water, on the right-hand in¬ 
ner page of a fheet of large drong writing-paper. It re¬ 
quires fome care to fix the plant neatly down, fo that none 
of the gum or pade may appear to defile the paper. Prefs 
