Adanson was of the opinion that one day it would be possible to treat botany as a rigorously mathematical science, and that it would prove permissible to pose botanical problems in the same way as one does algebraic or geometrical ones: 'find the most obvious point that establishes the line of separation or discussion between the scabious family and the honeysuckle family'; or again, find a known genus of plants (whether natural or artificial is unimportant) that stands exactly half way between Dog's bane and Borage.