Page:Reflections upon ancient and modern learning (IA b3032449x).pdf/294

 Order (i) something Alphabetical, others (k) he digests according to their Virtues, others he (l) puts together, because they were discovered by great Persons, and called by their Discoverers Names; all which Methods, how much soever they may assist the Memory in remembring hard Names, or in retaining the Materia Medica in one View in a Man's Head, signifie nothing to the Understanding the Characteristical Differences of the several Plants; by which alone, and not by accidental Agreements in Virtue, Smell, Colour, Tast, Place of Growth, Time of sprouting, or any mechanical Use to which they may be made serviceable, Men may become exact Botanists: Without such a Method, to which the Ancients were altogether Strangers, the Knowledge of Plants is a confused thing depending wholly upon an uncommon Strength of Memory and Imagination, and even with the Help of the best Books scarce attainable without a Master.

Conradus Gesner, to whose Labours the World has been unspeakably beholden in almost all Parts of Natural History, was the first Man (that I know of) who hinted at the true Way to distinguish Plants, and reduce them to fixed and certain Heads. In a Letter to