. served from barbarism, while long and tedious, loose and feeble, ill-contrasted and barbarously-worded definitions, press upon it from various quarters. New terms are invented to express old ideas ; names and characters are changed for the worse, to conceal the • want of new discoveries ; and students are often de terred from adopting real improvements, because they know not which guide to prefer.
From the combined effects of the various causes which we have endeavoured to trace, the study of botany in England has, for a long period, been al most entirely practical. To determine the particu lar species intended, in every case, by Linmeus ; to distinguish and to describe new ones ; to improve scientific characters, and to correct synonyms ; these have been the objects of our writers ; and hence many publications of great utility, especially a num ber of critical and descriptive essays, in the Trans - actions of the Linnse.an Society, not unworthy of the school which gave them birth, have enriched the ge neral stock of knowledge. These are the sound fruits of skill and investigation, the solid-advantages• of real information, applied to practical use. They are independent of theoretical speculation, and will stand unshaken, amidst any possible changes of sys tem. On such principles the Flora Britannica has been attempted, and continued as far as the present unsettled state of some of the latter orders, of the last class, will allow. Such impediments, which de pend on the difficulties of systematic discrimination, among the Lichens especially, it is hoped will soon be removed. Meanwhile the English Botany of the same writer, illustrated by Mr Sowerby's expressive and scientific figures, has finished its course,' and formed so nearly complete a body of local botany, as, we believe, no other country has produced. In this the liberal contributions of numerous skilful ob servers, from the Alpine heights of Scotland to the shores and circumambient ocean of the south, are preserved and recorded ; evincing a degree of gene ral inquiry and acuteness, which hardly any nation can rival. The memory of several benefactors to the science, otherwise in danger of passing away, is embalmed in this national work, which serves at once ' as their botanical testament, and the monument of their fame. Some of our botanists of the present day have thrown great light on several of the most obscure departments of the science ; witness Mr Sowerby's work on English Fungi ; the labours of the learned Bishop of Carlisle on Carices, and, in conjunction with Mr Woodward, on Fu.ci ; of Mr Dawson Turner on the latter tribe, and on the Musci of Ireland ; but especially Mr Hooker's inimitable display of the British Jungertnannite. Nor shall the contributions of a Winch or an Abbot, a Withering,' Knapp, Stackhouse or Velley, nor the more splen did labours of the indefatigable Lambert, be forgot ten. Each, in one way or other, has enlarged the bounds of science, or rendered it easier of access. We cannot, in the compass of our present undertak-' ing, pay the tribute due to every individual, our ahn being a general picture of the whole. From what we have said, the zeal with which this lovely science has been cultivated in England, will sufficiently ap pear. Nor have public lectures, or botanic gardens, been neglected, in order to render the knowledge of botany as accessible as possible, and to diffuse a taste for its pursuit. The popularity of the study has, at least, kept pace with the means of instruction. The garden and green-house, the woods, fields, and even the concealed treasures of the waters, are now the resource of the young and the elegant, who in the enjoyment of a new sense, as it were, in the retire- • ment of the country, imbibe health, as well as know ledge and taste, at the purest of all sources. .
France alone now remains to be considered, in or der to finish the historical picture which we have un dertaken, of the state of botanical science in Europe. To do justice to this part of our subject, we must turn our attention to times long since gone by, or we shall scarcely render intelligible the state of affairs at present.
The great Tournefort, by, the force of his charac- ' ter, his general and particular information, the charms of his pen, and the celebrity which his name gave to his country, through the popularity of his botanical system, was so firmly established, in the ideas of the French, as the Grand Monarque of bo tany, that they would have as soon allowed the great ness of Louis XIV. to be questioned, as that of this distinguished philosopher. So beneficial was this partiality, in some respects, that it gave an unprece dented impulse and popularity to the science; so dis advantageous was it in others, that it placed a formi dable barrier in the way of all improvement. Vail lant, the able and worthy pupil of Tournefort, has never been forgiven for speaking, on some occasions, too freely of his master's defects. Hence his own merit has been kept in the background. The doc trine of the sexes of plants was discountenanced as long as possible, because it was proved by Valliant, after having been rejected by Tournefort. Never theless, when the good seed of science is once sown, it can hardly be totally suffocated by the impedi. meats of prejudice and ignorant partiality. Practical zeal sprung up by the side of speculative jealousy, and the tares withered, while the profitable plants flourished. Some botanists followed the steps of Tournefort to the Levant, exploring afresh those countries which he has forever rendered classic ground. Others visited America, which they tra versed in different directions. The indefatigable Plumier performed three separate voyages to the western world, and though his discoveries have, in a great measure, suffered shipwreck from tardy and imperfect patronage, as a great part of his collections did, by the accidents of nature, yet something of value remains. His Faces are enough to insure his perpetual remembrance, and his Nova Genera are the basis of our knowledge of generic differ ences in West Indian plants. Most of all has been distinguished, among the French botanists who succeeded the times of Tournefort and Valliant,. the family of the Jussieus. One of these investi, gated the prolific regions of Peru, and discovered some things which no succeeding traveller has shared ; other branches of this family, besides being °eminent in medical science and practice, have pur sued the study of botany with no ordinary success, on the most philosophical principles. Of these the most eminent are the celebrated Bernard de Jussieu, the contemporary of the earlier days of Linnaeus; and his nephew Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, the pride and the ruler of systematic botany at present in France. The views and the performances of these great men lead us to a new branch of our subject, which indeed we have bad in our contemplation from the beginning of this essay, the exposition of the principles of a natural scheme of botanical clas sification, as hinted, and imperfectly sketched, by Linnaeus, and brought to the perfection of a regular system by the Jussieus.