The study of Botany had never been entirely ne glected in France since the days of Tournefort; be cause one department in the Academy of Sciences was allotted to that and other branches of Natural History, and the seats in the Academy being pen sioned places under government, there was some thing to be got by an apparent attention to such pursuits. Ruffen and his pupils engrossed Zoology. Botany was allowed to exist, so far as not to-inter. fere with his honours; but nothing of foreign origin, and above all, nothing Littman, dared to lift up its head. Something of true science, and practical knowledge, did nevertheless imperceptibly work its way. Le Moulder, sad the Marecbal de Notilleei corresponded, as we Lave already said, with Linnaeus, ' and acquired plants from England, of which they dared to speak, and to write, by his names. A most able and scientific botanist and cultivator, Thouin, was established in the Jardin du Rth, who studied the Linntean system, and even ventured, though secret. ly, to communicate new plants to the younger Lin tutus when at Parts. Cels, an excellent horticul turist,' was unshackled by academic trammels. Vile ritier, Broussonet, and .others came forward. An original letter of Rousseau, the idol of the day, in which be paid ttie most flattering homage to Botany and to Linnaeus, was published in the Journal de Paris, and bad a wonderful effect on the public mind, and on the conversation of literary circles. In short, 1,inntean party had been, for some time, gaining ground ; and every thing was done by party at Paris. The old French school was • roused from •ts, slumbers. Of the family of the Jussieus one individual remained, who, though he venerated the names and the pursuits his uncles, had never devoted himself to their studies any further than to sit in their professorial chair. He possessed however an inherent taste for Botany ; he had leisure, opu.. knee, and eminent talents ; and though his religious principles, and his rather strict devotional habits, , might interfere, which they still do, with his credit in certain philosophical circles, and his predilection for animal magnetism might exclude him from the Royal Society of London,. yet• he has risen above all such obstacles, to the summit of botanical fame and authority in his, own country ; . and his name stands conspicuous, as the leading teacher of a na tural classification of plants. The most indefatiga ble study for about five years, and the constant as sistance and encouragement of numerous pupils and correspondents, enabled Professor Antoine Laurent de Jussieu to publish, in 1789, his Genera Plonlaruns whites natarales &mita. This octavo volume was _received by acclamation throughout Eu rope, and bailed as the most learned botanical work that bad appeared since, the Species Planaarlas of Lin naeus.
Before we enter into systematic details, we must remark, that the author of the work before us has judiciously, availed himself of the mode of defining genera, by short magi& characters, as. introduced . by Linnteue in the 10th edition of his.Sysiema lan., and since adopted by Murray, Widuenow, and abeItenerality of botanists, instead of the full or na .
These short characters bows ver are not servilely co pied by Jussieu, but wherever he had materials they are revised and studied, so as to acquire all the me. rit of originality. Secondary characters and re marks ate subjoii:ed,.in a different type, illustrative of the habit, history, or affinities, of the several ge nera. In his nomenclature Jussieu almost entirely follows Linnaeus, retaining only here and there a name...,of Tournefort's in preference, and swerving
from classical. taste and correctness poncipally with regard to. the new genera of Auhlet, e hose intolera bly barbarous names are nearly all preserved. But a .note in. the preface, p. 24, informs us, that this atdoptiosia only temporary, till the gencratbesmelvea shall be perfectly-ascertained and defined. • Where Jussieu differs from Linnaeus, in certain generic ap pellations, it is principally because the latter tails in respect for his own laws ; as in the use of adjectives, like Gloriosa, Mirabilis, Impatiens. The inordinate abuse of generic names in honour of botanists, of which Linnaeus is, too justly, charged with setting the example, meets with due reprobation from the French teacher; but he has not as yet stemmed the muddy torrent, nor prevented a great additional se. cumulation of subsequent impurities. His commen• dation of Linnaeus, as the author of a new and con. =odious system of specific nomenclature, as well as of technical definition, on the best principles, is li. bend, manly and just, no less honourable to the writer, than to the illustrious subject of his remarks. The whole preface of Jussieu is a concise and learn ed review of the physiology and distinctions of plants, more particularly explaining the progress of the au thor's ideas and principles of botanical classification. The main end of the whole book, besides defining the characters 'of all known genera, is to dispose them in a natural series, in various classes and orders, whose technical distinctions• are throughout attempted to be fixed and contrasted. With this view, copious expla nations and commentaries accompany each other. We learn more from the doubts of Jussieu, than from the assertions of Adanson. 1 he latter has presented us with a finished system, where every genus is referred, at all hazards, to some place or other. Jussieu, as the contrary, has not only a large assemblage of . Plantar incertss sedia, at the conclusion of his system, like ',litmus ; but at the end of most of his indivi duai orders we find some genera classed as akin thereto, without answering precisely to the character, or idea, of each. This circumstance, though highly creditable to the candour and good sense of the author, greatly interferes with the practical use of his book, except for the learned. His judicious doubts, critical remarks, and especially the laxity, and consequent feebleness, of his definitions, though eminently instructive to those who want to define, os to class, a new, or obscure genus, could only be wilder a learner of practical botany. A person must already be deeply versed in plants, before he could, by the work of Jussieu, or by any book, that we have seen, classed according to his method, refer any genus to its proper place, or detect any one that may be there described. iSior does the difficulty to which we allude consist so much in the intricacy of the subject, as in the uncertainty, hesitation, and in sufficiency of the guide ; because that guide, learned as he is, chooses to conduct us by a path, to which neither he nor any other mortal has a perfect clue. His index indeed must be the resource of a pug botanist ; who, if he knows a Rem, a Convoloolas, or an Erica, may, by finding their 'places and their cha racters, trace out the allies of each, and proceed step by step to acquire more comprehensive ideas.. The analytical mode of inquiry, which serves us in the artificial system of Lipman, is here ohms avail but to an adept. This will abundantly appear as we trace the leading • principles of this :celebrated . method, Cl which we shall Row attempt . a concise impri• lion.