The Express.
London, England, 1846-10-22 00:00:00

Profee.or of Botany in the University of London, and in the Royal
InstilMAW of Great Britain.
This work originated la a desire, oa the part of the author,
d
to
oraake bis
Bwn, aw,,,,,1=.11911111111.8a WWI Ws propose
provisoa sperearetaerearny. Whin Nara
appeared, the WINO was so UMW atria; Ileit an vay name of
some of the bra well= es the wheat ware aohmeler to
ears. In ow nano tine wee walibling the
Natural Orlon d rad% althea* seeedseally mendemed
as •
fond= of a Nwhane= wesselm. "11"illieulhad="MIbex Iscarnalthe
jtudgmeat; onslaffiobsesams the spades armed by pastas who
stood a: the head of MO* Boarety_ the esdneeleactaiay British
Naturalism. lee Wham elfeearelyeagedened the wand
some ride le Me leara of llierad Many, sal he hit sailor to
Wave Ohms *em the ineaaadinee which he Ind arourelereci ;
the arao eopeekily Oar he lad eel rtaken the reepoesaMy
Sing the leseenNeltbeir In the thenbendon Univerdty. Wait Was,
Ink there weenaking et Nedra arightwhich could be
ad
nowlfwell kw BeedagbOrdiimelted no. reached hassrlild,..l=Ys
Lekrereek wee unknown, and bath It and April's Classes were of too
slight a texture to be generally yard to any except Botanists them-
selves.
The importance of the Natural System in a practical coun-
try likeGrest Britain was too samilkat to leave any doubt in the mind
of the Anther, their" sped are of late countrymen would lead to its
anivansinsosolismishea are reed a :dila their reach. Nor has he
been diespeolnted. MMus yarn have sufficed :o render the once po-
pular, hot eugrakiel end nedwasystcm of Linnocusa mere matter of
history. Felt /limo.
The Natural Span onkeiny being founded on these prin-
ciples, that all pobsi atPrimiiisse between the various parts, pro-
perties, and quanta's at plane shall be taken into consideration; that
thence an arrammeasett den be debased in watch plants must be placed
next each other which have the greatest degree of simi-
larity in Ova respects; and that comeouently the quality
of an impmfWly.known pima may be judged of by that of
another rich Is well known, it must be obvious that such a method
possomea great superiority over artificial systems, like that of Lio-
ness., in which there is no combination of ideas, but which are mere
asiketions of isolated facts, having no distinct relation to each other.
The advantage* of the Natural System, in applying Ikaaay to useful
purposes, ire immense, especially to men, who depend to
much upon the vegetable kingdom for their remedial' agents A
knowledge of tbe properde• of one plant enables the practitioner to
judge scientifically of the qualities of Miser plants naturally allied to
it; and, therefore, the physician acquainted with the Natural System
of Botany may direct his inquiries, when on foreign stations, no. em.
*MOM, but upon fixed principles, into the qualities of the medicinal
plants which have been provided in every region for the alleviation of
the melodic* peculiar to it. He Is thus enabled to read the hidden
characters with which Nature has labelled all the hosts of species that
spring from her teeming bosom. kivg.,
oned of these bean inscribed
upon It the uses to which it may be the dangers to be appre-
handed from it, or the virtues with which it bee been endowed. The
language in which they ore written is no., indeed, human; it its the
living hieroglyphics of the Almiality, which the skill of man is per-
mitted to interpret. The key to tlietr meaning lies enveloped in the
folds of the Natural System, and is to be found in no other place.
The great obstacle to the adoption of the Natural System of
Botany in this country was the supposed difficulty of mastering its
details ; but of that ilMiculty it may be obeemed, in the first place, that
it ia only such as it is always nemaciry to encounter in all brioche" of
human knowledge; and secondly, that it has been much exaggerated
by persons who hare written upon the subject without understand-
ing it.
It has been pretended that the characters of the natural
dames of plante are not to be incertained without much laborious
rowarch ; and that nut a step can be taken until this preliminary daft-
catty is overcome. But it herilly necessary to say, timt in natural
hiotury many facts which have been originally discovered by minute
and laborious search, are aubseouently ascertained to be connected
with other facts of • more obvious maitre; and of this botany offers,
perhaps, the moot striking proof that can be adduce:A One of the first
questions to bedetermineal by a student of botany, who wishes to inform
himself of the motile, alfialUes, and memo; a plant, stoma to be, whe-
ther It contains mind vessels or not, because some of the great di-
visions of the vimeteale kingdom are characterised by the presence or
absenoeof those minute °emus& It Is true that careful observation,
and multiplied microecookal analyse% have taught botanists that cer-
tain plants have spiral vessel., and rollers have none ; but it is
not true, that in practice so minute and difficult an inquiry needy to
be instituted, because it bas also been am:retained that plans which
bear flowers have spiral mewls, and that such as have no dower, are
usually destitute of spiral newels, properly so called; so that the in-
quiry of the istudeat, instead of being directed in the first instance
to an obscure but hishlyeuriowi microscopical fact, in at once arrested
by the two most obvious peculiarities of the vegetable kingdom.
Then, again, among flowering plants two great divisions
have been formed, the names of which, Monocotyledons and Dicotyle.
dons, are derived from the former having usually but one lobe to the
Feed, and the latter two—a structure much more difficult to ascertain
than the presence or absence of spiral vessels. But no Botanist would
proceed todimect the seeds of n plant for the purpose of determining to
which of those divisions it belonms, except in some very special case.
Ile knows from experience that the minute organiza.ion of the Reed
eorrespoads with a peculiar structureof the stem, tease, and flowers,
the most highly developed, and most easily examined parts of verb '
tation; a botanist, therefore, prefers to examine the stem, the flower,
or the leaf of a plant, in order to determine whether it is a Mono-
cotyledon or s Dicotyledon, and rarely fins it mammary to anatomise
the seed.
The presence or absence of albumen, the structure of the
embryo, the moition of the seeds or ovules, the nature of the freit, the
modifications of the flower, arc not to be brought forward as ether
difficult points peculiar to the study of the Natural System, tv,..1.4e,
whateverantent is followed, the student most make himself acquainted
with such facts, for .he purpose of deterruining genera. The common
laul.tiax cannot be discovered by its characters in any book of
Botany, without the greater part of this kind of Inquiry being gone
through.
In the determination of genera,however, facility is ent:rely
on the side of the Natural Spam]. lumieu has well remarked. "that '
whatever trouble is experienced in remembering or applying the cps.
meter, of Natural Order., is more than compensated for by the facility
of determining genera, the charm:tem of which are simple in proportion
as those of Order, arc complicated. The reverectakes place in arbitrary
arrangement-, where the distinctions of classes and sections are ex.
treniely simple unit cosy to remember, while those of genera are in
preportion numerous and complicated."
But really all considerations of difficulty ought to be put
aside, when it is remembered how much mare satisfactory are the
results to which we are brought by the study of Nature philosophi-
cally, than those which can posoibly be derived from the moot inge-
nious empirical mode of inmatigation.
Such were the motives which led to the publication, in 1830,
of the first edition of the present work, under the name of an "Intro-
duction to the. Natural System of Botany." No sue would have more
readily than the Authsr *transferred the labour to another hood, if any
other had been found. Indeed, he confesses that it wits because the
most capable of those whom he knew belonged to the clam of men
Moro ibea by lard Bacon, who " object too much, conault too long, ad-
venture too little, repent too Mon, and *Atom drive business home,"
I that he undertook a tusk for which no man's abilities are in reality
highonough. lle could not but feel that. "To think nothing dune while
anything remains to be done in a gond rule for perseverance, but to
think that nothing should be done while a main thing remains un-
done, would he a most idle and thriftless maxim. If there be a good
presently pnietiesible, it may be done without any desertion of another
goad not ao immediately attainable. Awl in electing all amontlary
amendment , we have the mtiafaction of tiding amured that there
is a link between all real improvement-a, and that every sound reform
is a step to others though the connection may not be broadly dis-
tinguishable."
The "Introduction to the Natural System" %vas originally
written in iitwitration of the popular esotein of De Candolle ; but daily
experience showed the insufflciemy o 7 that system, and the necessity
of forming auhalivisione of the primary groups of plant higher than
their no-called natural orders beeione SO apparent, as to lead to aerieus
attempts to carry out u plan of alliance", in anitation of a few conti-
nental writers. These attempts were embodied in the second edition
of the present work, which appeared in 1816, under the name of
"A Natural System of liotany." Notwithstanding some glaring
defects in the method then proposed, and a host of errors of a less
manifest description,. the view., of the author were favourably received
by those best able to judge of their value. On the other hand, they
have been severely criticised by writers who .how a singular want of
knowledge of the true inning of such work.. Theee persons have
imagined that • *Mural classification of plants is I.onactbing which is
suddenly to stint into existence, perfect in all its parts, and their criti-
cisme betray a total ignorance of the difficulties by a hieh ouch a
subject is surrounded. The natural symem of botany may be likened to
the plan of a vast edifice, at the construction of which
many are labouring. Certain courts and quastriumles arc easily.
set out; a particular style of architecture is agreed upon, and it may
be even settled irrevocably in what places the state mortmenta and
collars are to be stationed. But when further details are to be dia-
-1 mooed, many unsatisfactory attempts must be made by the archilecto,
and many an awkward arrangement of the rooms proposed, before a
final plan con be produced. If perfection in ouch small matter. is
impracticable, if it Is impomible so to arrange all the details of even
an edifice as to satisfy all eritios, how much more hopeless:, must he the
task of classifying the infinite work., of the creation' To demand
perfection in a work of that nature is little less than impious; for per.
fectidm is the attribute, not of man, but of hi. Maker.
The Author may now be equally charged with inconsistency
in not adhering to hie former flan of clamification sifter having promul-
gated it. But he is not conscious of having ever pretended that it crest
approached permanency.—(See " Natural System," p. xiii.) In fact,
there is no such thing as stability in these matters. Consistency LA but
another name for obstinncy. AB thing" are undergoing ineeamnt
change. Every offence is in a state of prom-mien, and of all others
the sciences of observation mart no. Since 1836 the views of
the Author have, of course, been altered in some respect.,
although they have experienced but little [noddle:Mon in
other,. This is inevitable in ouch a science as that of Systematic
Botany, where the discovery of a few new facts or half a dozen fresh
genera may instantly change the point of view from which a given
object tool:served. The Author cannot regard perseverance in error
commendable, for the sake of what is idly culled consistency; he
would rather see Ulm views corrected as the proof of their error maw.
Ills object, and he thinks he may say that of every one elm who has
turned his attention to the question of late, has not been to establish a
system of his own, which shall be immutable, but to contribute to the
extent of hie ability towards that end. He indeed must be a very pre-
sumptuous, person, having a microseopiedly small acquaintance with
his subject, who should ever dream of being able to accomplish such a
purpose. All that we con do la to throw our pebbles upon the heap,
which shall hereafter, when they lime auftleientlyaccum alatoabecome
the landmark of antematical botany.
Having stated thus much by way of preface, it only now
remains to explain the plan of the work in its new form. Its object is
to give a concise view of the state °trimly:naiad Ootany at the present
day, to show the relation or supposed relation of one group of plants to
another, to explain their geographical diatribut ion, and to point out the
various nes to which the species are applied in different countries.
The names of all known genera, with their synonym!,' are given
under each Natural Order, the numbers, of the genera and species are
in every ewe computed from what seem, to be the best authority,
and complete Indices of the multitudes of names embodied in the
work arc added, re) ita to enable a Botanist to know immediately under
what Natural Order a given genus la stationed, or what the uses are
to which any species ha., been applied. Finally, the work is copiously
illustrated by wood mal glypbographic cute ; and for the convenience
of Students, an artificial analysis of the system is placed at the end.
Some of these points demand a few wools of comment.
In offering to the public a view of the present state of Sys-
tematical Botany, the Author has pursued the plan developed
in the succeeding Paffast of first taking certain characters com-
mon to very extensive assemblages of plants, by means of
which classes, have been constituted; and secondly, of breaking up
than Chases into minor groups called Alliances, whose common cha-
racters are also more extensive than those of Natural Orders, and
wider which the Natural Orders are themselves assembled. Very
short characters have been proposed, underline name of Diagnoses,
for both Alliances and Orders ; these arc intended to express the pm.
railing tendency observable in each group, but do not include casual
exception., for which the reader is referred to the descriptions imme-
diately following the Magnums. The alliances are the must important
feature in the arrangement; and it is to be hoped will be found
much better limited than they formerly were. The serious fault
committed in the author's; former work of founding alliances upon
single natural orders, has been molded in every cam except
that of palin which in reality seem to form an alliance by
tbemselvea.The name alliance has been preened in preference to
that delete, family, circle, cohort, &c., because it is not susceptible of
two interpretations, co is the ease with all the others' it is employed
as an English equivalent for the Latin term shrug, which some have
imagined was a misprint for nexus, but which was toted in the sere
of Cicero, and intended to express a tendency to assume some par-
ticular form of structure. If any one should inquire why no synonyms
bare becnquoted to theseallianem, concerning which so many botruiLsts
have lately occupied themselves, the author s anawer la, that they have
hitherto been much too little agreed upon, except in a few verymecial
canes, and that an examination of their history would bivalve an in.
quiry which must extend beck to the Anthemidm of (kesalpinns,
and which belongs to the history of Systematical Botany
rather than to its actual condition The whole practice, indeed, of
quoting synonyms is carried by botanists beyond mein: limits. It is
in many cases a matter of courtesy rather than of utilay ; and for this
reamn, as no one bite and to be courteous to Womb. :he attbor bee
very generally refrained from making references to hitt own writings,
ce expt when mew real necessity of doing so mewed to exist. He
may alasetate in this place, that, throughout the present work he has

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The STRUCTURE, CLASSIYIUTION, and WSES of PLANTS,
Illustrated upon the Natural System.
By JOHN LINDLEY, Pu.D., F.R.S., AND L.S.,