A lecture delivered in King's College, London, on Tuesday, the 11th of October, 1831, being introductory to the first botanical course of the session opening the institution / by Gilbert T. Burnett.

  • Burnett, Gilbert T. (Gilbert Thomas), 1800-1835.
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A lecture delivered in King's College, London, on Tuesday, the 11th of October, 1831, being introductory to the first botanical course of the session opening the institution / by Gilbert T. Burnett. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    i nite diversity in the structure and functions, the cliaracters and appearances, the properties and purposes of plants, which renders it so difficult to frame a concise definition rigidly in- cluding the whole, and as rigidly excluding all that we think not plants; which circumstance so many have bewailecl, and which some superficial philosophers have regarded as the reproach of Botany, because it suits not their weak and arti- ficial systems of arrangement, so far from being an “ oppro- brium botanicum,” is in truth one of the chief advantages of which the science has to boast; and if I wished for a change at all, 1 would wish (although it is needless,) that the variety were ten times greater: for though the vegetable kingdom, by stretching to such wide extremes, may render the absolute definition of a plant somewhat abstruse and difficult; and, though in some few cases, at the confines of the animal and vegetable reigns, doubts may arise as to whether certain mi- ci’oscopic beings are animals or plants, belong to this kingdom or to that, or in fact to either, still their ambiguity, which has been lamented as a disadvantage, when rightly viewed, be- comes at once an index to elucidate the things themselves; and their very obscurity indicates at once their station, by re- ferring them to the debatable land of natural existence; just as green is neither blue nor yellow, but in the bow of heaven holds an intermediate place. And furthermore, it, of course, will follow that the greater the diversity among decided plants, the stronger will the contrasts be; and, of course, the more easily will they be distinguished from each other; a secondary advantage, which far outweighs any slight inconvenience at- tending the diffuseness of the primary definition. Still, before we presume to talk of plants, it may perhaps be required that we should attempt to solve the question that so continually recurs; viz. what is a vegetable? For plants are the principles on which all botanic lore depends; they are the very subject-matter upon which we must discourse: and although we cannot absolutely, we can relatively define them, which relative definition is, in truth, all that can legitimately be sought in any branch of natural history or philosophy. With this relative definition we shall, therefore, rest content; for the search after the absolute and positive too often be- comes, as Butler has observed, on a somewhat similar occasion, “ An ignis fatuus that bewitches. And leads men into pools and ditches.” Hence, to shew what constitutes this various thing we call a vegetable; i. e. to indicate the various phenomena exhibited by certain physical existences, to note what characters dis-