Chapter ii

. He states that the leading idea which has been kept in view in the compilation of his work is this maxim of Fries: "Singula sphæra (sectio) _ideam quandam_ exponit, indeque ejus character notione simplici optime exprimitur;" and he is hence led to think that the true characters of all natural assemblages are extremely simple.

One of the leading features in Mr. Lindley's system is that he has thrown the Natural Orders into groups subordinate to the higher divisions of Classes and Sub-classes. He had already attempted this, in imitation of Agardh and Bartling, in his _Nixus Plantarum_ (1838). The groups of Natural Orders were there called _Nixus_ (tendencies); and they were denoted by names ending in _ales_; but these groups were further subordinated to _Cohorts_. Thus the first member of the arrangement was Class 1. EXOGENÆ. Sub-class 1. POLYPETALÆ. Cohort 1. ALBUMINOSÆ. _Nixus_ 1. _Ranales_. Natural Orders included in this _Nixus_, Ranunculaceæ, Saraceniceæ, Papaveraceæ, &c. In the _Vegetable Kingdom_, the groups of Natural Orders are termed _Alliances_. In this work, the Sub-classes of the EXOGENS are four: I. DICLINOUS; II. HYPOGYNOUS; III. PERIGYNOUS; IV. EPIGYNOUS; and the Alliances are subordinated to these without the intervention of _Cohorts_.

Mr. Lindley has also, in this as in other works, given English names for the Natural Orders. Thus for _Nymphaceæ_, _Ranunculaceæ_, _Tamaricaceæ_, _Zygophyllaceæ_, _Eleatrinaceæ_, he substitutes Water-Lilies, Crowfoots, Tamarisks, Bean-Capers, and Water-Peppers; for _Malvaceæ_, _Aurantiaceæ_, _Gentianaceæ_, _Primulaceæ_, _Urtiaceæ_, _Euphorbiaceæ_, he employs Mallow-worts, Citron-worts, Gentian-worts, Prim-worts, Nettle-worts, Spurge-worts; and the terms Orchids, Hippurids, Amaryllids, Irids, Typhads, Arads, Cucurbits, are taken as English equivalents for _Orchidaceæ_, _Haloragaceæ_, _Amaryllidaceæ_, _Iridaceæ_, _Typhaceæ_, _Araceæ_, _Cucurbitaceæ_. All persons who wish success to the study of botany in England must rejoice to see it tend to assume this idiomatic shape.] {412}

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