The Express.
London, England, 1846-09-08 00:00:00

THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM;
our,
Thy STRUCTUNR, CLASSIFICATION, and 11SE8 of ?LAMS,
illagroted upon the Natural Sratess.
ET JOHN LINDLEY, PH.D., F./L' e. AND L.S.,
Problem of Botany to the Cnivendty of Iradon,snd in the Ito*
limilindon of Great Mk&
This work adgrolood in a desire, as the
Seat part m
of the author,
poised da
to mobs dod
asintrymon signoinial odd tho imignaElpillsostic
daring *hoped= wad daddiay. Who it
appowid, do inked vas Imo Ma WYK Ord the vary mom ol
soar at the hest wilts la the moiliost we messilir toadfish
eds. la gar ewe Ode yr mains distotar; nit tbs
Natural= st piria, altheugh sordmilyinerierd
hodwas farm* rspnikal al the
sposoidlon st • lbw trogoill& dm solhadomo don mod
Mood; andlisid dooms gas advise soussami hp paw= vibe
god at the Mr of Whit Nolory_ ,_lat do astimstiond many Mid*
Namable. Ds dam bat linsitssonlioxporismot do waste(
sods golds to Ms bora et Notard Ilklney, aid las Id madams to
relied odors bad Or lassawasimas whist las had assoniffed ;
the .mssolo dd. he bat digsdnhall liali DinprisMd* of
Wag dm Boteniadanir la dm thalami= Onisarday.dt dasdest
re. dime was nothing diodes odgladdsh immitho
asmalted ; for Itoillses adios had not mad dsgmilsod,"7::2
Zehritsch was =know% as loth it and Apses Clams ware st too
dent a texture to be rogrally weld to any eased lidsaists them-
selves.
The importune of the Natural System in a partied coun-
try like Great Wird was too manifest to isms any dank in the mind
of the Author, Maths goddess ot his somicymon wail bed to its
universal reception when moo rout 'Addis this rash. Nor los he
been disappointed. TM= yams haw diked to Naar Sitar ~..-
=, but superb's/ sal doismodolom. at Linnaeus are maw of
. Fait Dim.
The Natural Syria entriary being founded= then prin-
ciples. that all plod atimombloons hawses the various parts, pro-
perdu% art taillike of plows dud to tam Ws smkbrseks; that
theme= arrangemeat doillogodood la vtishplasals agate placed
next each other width has the pads* topes of simi-
larity in those recreate; and that sammVp the quality
of ea hsperatedy.ksoms rest may hs el by thd st
another obi& is soil boosts, It and ba radar sash a mad
mamas pod Nipsrlasity wow ardidad spolims, Ilho that st I.
nous, in vide h dors is no oamblastito et kids, hat 'ldol are narre
collections at Wild Soak having no ilistiast riditito to each other.
The advantsges st ths Notosarialaram, in_mblog May to useful
purposes, are In alledlad id, who depend so
much upon tholl=is thigina kr their mardial sgoils. A
knowledge of the properdis of ems pint modem do srsollissar to
judge eicientificelly of the qualities at cdor dab astordp died to
it; and, therefore, the physician acquainted with des Natural System
of Botany may direct his inquiries, when ma ladign stations, sot oa
pideally, but upon fixed principles, into guides of do podia
plants which have been provided in every ogles Ihr that allevidint at
the maladies peculiar to it. He 4 than mulied to mad Os Meld
characters with which Nature has ladled all the Medd swim that
spring from her teeming bosom. 11E10,7 ethos hears dowilsi
upon a the uses to which It may he the singers to be
handed from it, or the virtues with w it less bar asidatred.aPC
language in which they sre written is not, Wool,
_lmo= ; it is the
' living hieroglyphics of the Almighty, width the sidll ot man Is per-
' milted to interpret. The key to their meeting as enveloped In the
' folds, of the Natural System, and in to be isond 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 in
. details ; but of that difficulty it may be observed, in the first place, that
it is only such as it is always necessary to encounter in all branches of
human knowledge; and secondly, that It has been much exaggerated
by persons who have written upon the subject without understand-
ing it.
It has been pretended that the characters of the natural
classes of plants are not to be ascertained without much laborious
research ; and that not a step can be taken until this preliminary diffi-
culty is ovem me. But it is hardly to say, that in natural
history many facts which have been or y discovered by minute
and laborious research, ore subsequently ascertained to be connected
with other facts of a more obvious nature; and of this botany offers,
perhaps, the mud striking proof that can be adduced. One of the fir 4
quentione to bedetermined by a student of botany, chewed:in to inform
himself of the name, alliaitiese and usesof a plant, seems to be, whe-
ther It contains spiral newels or not, became some of the great di-
widens of the vegetable kingdom are character reed by the Presence or
&emcee( thou minute organs. Ito true that careful observation,
and multiplied microscopical analyses, have taught botanists that cer-
tain plants have spiral vessels, and others have none ; but it is
not true, that in practice so minute and difficult an inquiry needs to
be Instituted, because It has also been ascertained that plants which
bear flowers have spiral woe* and that such se have no flowers are
usually destitute of spiral vowels, properly so called; so that the in-
quiry of the student, instead of being directed in the first instinct
to an obscure but highly curious microscopical fact, is at once arrested
by the two most obvious peculiarities of the vegetable kingdom.
Then, again, among flowering plants two great divisions
have been fanned, the names of which, Monocotyledons and Dicotyle-
dons, are derived from the former having use* but one lobe to the
seed, and the latter two—a structure math more difficult to ascertain
then the presence or abseuce of spiral vessels. But no Botanist would
proceed to dissect the reeds of a plant for the purpax of determining to
which of those divisions it belongs, except In some very epeeist awe.
He knows from experience that the minute organization of the seed
corresponds with a peculiar structure of the stem. leaves, and flowers,
the meet highly developed, and most easily examined parts of vege-
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.
eotyledon or a Dicotyledon, and rarely finds It necessary to anatomise
ths seed.
The presence or absence of albumen, the structure of the
imitiryo, the position of the seedier ovule', the nature of the fruit, the
modifications of the (tower, are not to be brought forward as other
difficult points peculiar to the study of the Natural System, because,
whatever system U followed, the student must make hinieelf acquainted
with such facts, for the purpose of determining genera. The common
Toad-flux cannot be discovered by its characters in any book of
Botany, without the greater pert of this kind of inquiry being gone
through.
In the determination of genera, however, facility is entirely
on the side of the Natural System. Jussieu has well remarked, "that
whatever trouble is experienced in remembering or applying the cha-
racters of Natural Order", te more than compensated for by the facility
of duermining genera, the characters of which are simple in proportion
IN those of Orders are complicated. The reverse takes place in arbitrary
arrasiceineute, where the distinctions of deems and sections are ex-
tremely temple and easy to remember, while those of genera are In
proportion numerous and complicated."
Hut really all considerations of difficulty ought to be put
aside, when it is remembereil how much m tee eatiefactory. are the
results to which we are brought by the study of Nature Aikeophi-
telly, than those which can possibly be derived from the most inge-
nious empirical mode of investigation.
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 one would have more
readily than the Authsr transferred the labour to another hand, if any
other had been found. Indeed, he confesses that it woo because the
most capable of theme whom he knew belonged to the clam of men
described by Lord Bacon, who "object too much, consult tooting, ad-
venture too litde repent too soon, and seldom drive business home,'
that he undcrtoofc a task for which no man's abilities arc in reality
high'enough. He could not but feel that. "To think nothing done while
anything remains to be done in a good rule for perseverance, hut to
think that nothing should be done while a main thing remains un-
done, would be a meet idle and thriftless maxim. If there be a good
presently practicable, it may be done without any desertion of another
good not en immediately attainable. And in effieting all secondary
amendments, we have the satisfaction of feeling assured that there
is a link between all real improvements, and that every sound reform I
is a to omen, though the omnet may not be broadly d 4.
thdo
The . • Introindidi is the Natural System" was originally
written in illudestion of Os eyelets ef De 04114ffili bit daily
experience Sine s of Wt system, tad the impurity
of forming at do mops at plods higlor dun
their so-eallsdl airs hamoris appovotos to bad to sorb=
attempts to earry out a plus at ollidass, in Wades da lbw odd.
mato' writers. Thus said& was smixdol is Os soma odds; I
of the pretext work, ebb& swam_ al in lad, emir the aims d
"A Natural System of balani.' _ Notwithstanding someiglorieg 1
defects in the method then pospissak soda host of mon a Ima
minlfeet description, the views elf ffiegnenewere favourably noshod
by these best able tojudge dam* Irma Oa the ether hook they
have been severely addled by Wdligrado stow a dtgahr owe st I
knowledge of the true bs~of awl win Them perms haw
' that • vatting issOsa Of dodo la sosnotideg width is
sue enly to dad into tisiolooss, pordstiostilo gob, and their crltl.
comas betray a total lotorsets ile SO a by which ouch a
' subject is sanousided. Theorised Nylinalliblillßy Maybe likened to
the plan of a vast odds% at do • dulgonlion of oda*
many are 'showing. Costal* sorb Noll ingkandlas are essay
set out; a ;ordeal, styis at seohlarretre opal wpay and it may
be even nettled ineveselly in whet *elm the aria aparsears art
cellars are to be sintkmail. Bat ilardor Esti as tab Ms-
saws& tom touridsolley Wards rte be mar by that antilsob,
art NW as awkword arrsagemod of the dads paspossd. Was a
' as ho pied,ihoupapied, If padollot In sae add Madan is
k V is impodlis to snow all do adds aMIL
as is ellaidon bow ask mess radon musit b• dr
task of classiferg do kerb rub ot dr Ilestka I is area
=and aired d dog astuso is idle boars horar t dr pd.
is the attar* use rumba' errs Ibbss.
The Author may now be spay *mod dilitt
in not to his isserreaddrodeillsa Or
sated it. is not sei= et horingswar probated
athodigthse,
,—fliso " Nadal fildiso,p.all.) II
=rniero so , ffity in these maim Oadisidig iOS
another nom . All things erie embrilaba=
P doses. Era Ores lola a Are of
the edsoses of •ipheersadr mar enPalCiald the dews at
the Author
the
d asas..bma abort In soar respect',
&Mee& they but lids aoldtation an
others. This V la walk • Wood art el Syslosatio
mayore the at a be Tow hob or hdta ear Ikeda
gems shams tbs pert al err tom width a givo
oldest bdrairseb Mbar dant
sadospiallie, br
AIMS
of slid igdseWillehms=ys Zs
would Whirrs Old AIMS earestedss thereof d Orr
Lua..t. sal he , hoe he spy sag thea sf 'wry ore dr whei hes
bleallonds• hp re garden ef his, bee ostler to odeblidt •
ruler anis eve, Abli ail bs linambibio, kal ie mien.* " the