Ex LIBRIS
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
LIBRARIES
Gift of Ellen B. Wells
In Memory of
JOHN WEST WELLS
nt io ween HA PRAY ironed LONI
P Heath feulp?
Po aeil
rede een Sat LAE NDTIS
THE. LIFE
. OF SIR .CHARLES LINNEUS, e “* KNIGHT OF THE SWEDISH ORDER OF we POLAR STAR, &c. &c.
TO aaeoe Is ADDED, A COPIOUS.LIST OF HIS WORKS, AND A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF HIS SON:
& 5 ie.
BY
gor ts “STOEVER, PH.’ D.
TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL GERMAN
BY JOSEPH TRAPP, A.M.
& oe « LONDON: * a hed Printed hp &, Wobson, Belt-Hard, a YOR B. AND J. WHITE, FLEET-STREET. 1794; *&
F274
CMH RB
TO THE LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON, THIS TRANSLATION OF THE BIOGRAPHY OF LINNAUS I$ |
MOST. RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,
BY THEIR MOST HUMBLE, MOST SINCERELY " DEVOTED SERVANT;
JOSEPH TRAPP.
s
a: Aone ben : mgt ATE emer ci a layman mane MIRE TN AE irae ery
pa ssrtoigan MIAN PENIS
*
3 . : | ‘ silees i “il Per: 2; ii - 4 ie iG e004) CURE, 2Ov aot. ‘ he ee es “e \ 2h ‘ by oon ak fo. SUSAR IGG CY NRE Topereer) sero suet
eae » aaah omic " rite all 5 ga PY ‘aed ee as ee Le
: ar i.% ici “{T, ¢ bE 7
es Hage af,
see s ' by , ¥ r .
TO DEE, ..PUBLIC.
THE great approbation which Dr. STorver’s Biography of Linn£us has met with in Sweden, and in almost every country of Europe, became my mo-- tive for undertaking this Translation. The original has been read on the Continent with an avidity bor- dering upon enthusiasm. Every impartial and well- informed person will readily allow, that no complete Lire of Linnzus, except the present, has. ever yet made it’s appearance. As the fruit of the most inde-. fatigable literary diligence, this work can also boast the distinction of containing a great number of no- vel and valuable faéts and documents, communi-.
cated to the author by such persons as are surviving
pupils.
ev pupils and friends of Linnzus, or otherwise emi- nent characters in the literary world. @
Under these favourable circumstances I present it to the Public, and shall be ever grateful and happy if they deem it a performance worthy their enlight-
ened taste and patronage.
It is generally a matter of regret, that into pro- ductions of such extent typographical errors» and inaccuracies will imperceptibly find their way ; but I trust, that the indulgent liberality of those of my readers, whose attention may be attracted by similar imperfections in-the present work, will kindly excuse
them wherever they occur.
THE TRANSLATOR.
PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR.
Linn us, if we consider the extent of his scientific fame, and its influence over the empire of learning and knowledge, holds, doubtless, the first rank among the geniuses Sweden could ever boast of. He belongs to that small number of lumi- ries, who made a fresh epoch in the annals of literary great- ness, raised their merit beyond the limits of their age, and rendered imperishable the splendor of their name. But as universal as the fame.of Linn £us 1s acknowledged to be, as unknown are, upon the whole, the thorny and difficult paths on which he reached the pinnacle of his eminence. Needless would it be to mention to the learned any thing respeéting that barrenness and biographical want, which the modern history of literature exhibits, with regard to him. How voluminous are not the writings on the learned of our age, whether great or little, and how small and disproportionate is the measure ef every thing modern and essential relative to Linnzus! —Yet the life of this great man was superlatively rich in
merits’
Vili PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR.
merits, abounding with singular and remarkable incidents, . and most celebrated for wonderlul vicissitudes and personal achievements. |
Biographical essays and traéts on Linn aus, we certainly are not deficient in. The subjoined List contains a review of all those which I could procure knowledge of. A variety of authentic and valuable information has not yet been no- ticed by the literary world. Of this description are the ac- counts published at Hamburgh, those contained in the letters to Baron Hauer, &c. No collection of fa€ts had ever been made, hecause no plan for a perfeét and complete biography had till now been projefted. The richness of those mere'y nominal biographical tra€ts, is therefore reduced to a small number of materials of real intrinsic value, consisting of frag- ments and sketches, the purport of which is a mere repetition, or a copy of two original portraits in miniature. These have, | however, been so much mutilated and disfigured by false fea- tures'and imperfeét skill in foreign countries, that the original touches of the pencil of truth scarcely remain distinguish- able. False statements are always the more prejudicial to ge- nuine fa&, if time has so strongly stamped them with credit, that they ultimately convert history into fiction. f
But in this work a favourable circumstance intervenes— the surviving friends, pupils and evidences of Linnaus. I
had
PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR. 1X
had the good fortune to colleét many valuable fats, which would, in all probability, have otherwise been totally lost. I feel also great pleasure to premise here, that even in Sweden my design has given birth to an enterprise, which will refleét
fresh honour on the memory of Linn us.
That a detailed portraiture of that great Juminary was no trifling labour, needs, from what. has already been alledged, neither mention nor proof. As a friend to the history of lite- rature, as an admirer of literary merit which it is destined to record, I took upon me to draw this picture, with the humble, modest wish, that a better one may start *. The resources which I used in the performance of this arduous task, were documents in different languages, partly printed, partly in ma- nuscript. I collated and profited by them with critical keen- ness, and chose Truth to be my guide. Through many tortu- rous windings was I obliged to seek her; yet I found my industry truly rewarded. Some generous men, friends of truth, and privy to many minute circumstances relative to Linn us, offered me with pleasure an helping hand, for which I thus publicly acknowledge my warmest and most heartfelt gratitude. I farther confidently declare, that the Public, in whose esteem they have long held a distinguished
rank, will think themselves more obliged by their combined
* Salvo meliori.
b assistance
X, PREFACE OF THE: AUTHOR.
assistance than by my own feeble exertions. In justice to
them, I find it incumbent on me to name here the following
conspicuous perfons :
The Chevalier Tuunserc, of Ufsal, successor of LInNa&usS in his academical dignity.
Doétor A. O. Knoes, of the same University, who commu- nicated to me the rare and valuable apology of Linn aus, and his letter to the Academy of Sciences at Parzs.
James Epwarp Situ, M. D.and F.R.S. proprietor of the LINNEAN Colleétions, and President of the LiInNEAN Soe ciety of London.
CHARLES NreBuHR, Counsellor Justiciary of his Danish Ma- jesty, and travelling companion of the celebrated ForskAL.
P. D. Gresexe, Doéor and Professor at Hamburgh.
Francis EnruArT, Botanist, at Herrenhausen, near Hano- ver.
Nemnicu, L.L. D. of Hamburgh, Editor of the Catholicon or the Encyclopedic Di€tionary in all the European languages, who has communicated to me several fatts in the Spanish and Portuguese tongues.
Doftor E. C. Scuutrz, of the same place.
Dotior S.... R at H—.
To these are to be added two friends at Stockholm, and two eminent German literati, who would not leave to gratitude the
2 satisfaction
PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR. xi
satisfaction of giving them this public testimony of their kind favours.
In some of the first sections, on the journey through Dale- carlia, &c. I must beg the reader to compare the annexed Supplements and Notes. Two of them I received at so late a period as to have found it impossible to insert them with my own text. Upon the whole, their authenticity entitled them to a plain and literal communication. In other respeéts, it would be an important and meritorious undertaking for any na- turalist to bestow farther labours on the materials which con- tain a full explanation of the hypotheses of Linn £us, on the subsequent elucidations which either refuted or confirmed them, on the whole and separate parts of his reform, and the progress made after him. The result of such an undertaking would offer an interesting view and comprehensive account of the formation and improvement of natural science since the epoch of our great luminary.
With regard the annexed list of the writings of Linn us, I have neither spared labour nor trouble to render it it as com- plete and as satisfactory as possible. In point of the academi- cal treatises, I have mentioned those only which have received translations or commentaries. The motto beneath the por- trait of Linn aus, which has been drawn from a most striking impression in plaster of Parzs, will not, itis humbly presumed,
offend the religious opinions of any reader. It originates with b 2 a man
xii PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR.
a man who has lived many years in the closest ties of intimacy with the deceased, who combines _ with the rarest qualities of the heart, an universal sctentific renown. fad
I hope the addition of the following observations will not be deemed extraneous to my subjeét.
It is well known, that the works of Linn us are charatte-. rized with his religious sentiments. Nevertheless, they had the misfortune of being considered at Rome as heretical.and materialistic productions. In 1758 they were inserted in the catalogue of forbidden books... No ‘one’ durst either print or sell them, under pain of having every copy confiscated or pub- licly burnt; this proceeding was opposed by a fine contrast during the reign of the excellent and truly enlightened Gan- GANELLI, or Pope Clement XIV. Linn aus himself men- tions this occurrence in a letter to the Chevalier THUNBERG, in the following words: “ The Pope, who fifteen years ago “ ordered those of my works that should be imported into his * his dominions to be burnt, has dismissed the professor of bo- “ tany who did not understand my system, and put another in
‘his place, who is to give public leures according to my *€ method and theory *”
* Pafven, som for 15 ar sedan befalt, at) om mina béker dit komma, skulle de brannas, har afsat Professor Botanices, some ej férstod min method, och tillsatt en
annor some skall lasa publice min method och theorie.—See Collectio Epistolarum Car. A Linn, &c, edid. D. H. Srozver, Hamb. 1792, o€tavo.
What
PREFACE. OF THE AUTHOR. xii
What Baron Haxier’s opinion was of Linnaus, after their friendship had been cooled by the assertions made by the latter in his Flora Suecica, will appear from the following ex- tract of a letter, never printed before, and written by HALLER from Goettingen, to his friend Nits Rosen pe ROSENSTEIN, dean of the college of physicians at Upsal:
“ The inclosed letter I beg you will deliver to Linnaus. “ Should he not return to more friendly sentiments, it may * be the last I shall write to him. He has lately apolo- “« gized to me in a letter, but in such a manner, that I had “rather been without his apology. I have, in many in- « stances, shewn myself his friend, indulged his failings, con- “tributed to his reputation; but do not find that return for « my kindness which I had a right to expeét. I shall hereafter « publish a Prodromus Flore Germanice, in which I will treat ‘¢ Linn £uS in such a manner as he shall then have merited on * my account. The man is aftive I cannot deny, anda zea- “ lous lover of nature, for which I love him; but his charaéter “ has for me a something—I know not what to call it, of aspe-
« rity, fickleness and unevenness.”
+ Linno nuper per litteras se purganti, sed ita, ut mallem, abstineret purga- tione, has litteras trades, forte, nisi ad amiciorem sensum redibit, ultimas. Mul- tum ipsi tribui, peperci erroribus, famam auxi: non invenio eum mez comitatis fruétum, quem sperare poteram.—Edam deinde Germanice Flore Prodromum, in quo de Linn £0 ita agetur, ut interim de me merebitur. Laboriosus certe homo est et Nature cupidus, hinc mihi carus, sed cujus mores mecum nescio quid inzequabile habent et inconstans et asperum.—(Communicated from Stockholm).
4 The
XiV PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR.
The botanical gardens in France, England, Spain, &c. are all arranged according to the dire€tions pointed out in the Lin- N£AN method. The two keepers of that of Madrid have published after it the following work: Curso elemental de Bo- tanica, theorico y pratiico, dispuesto para la ensenanza del Real Jardin Botanico de Madrid, de orden del Rey, nuestro senor, por e Dr. D. Casim1ro GoMEz DE ORTEGAYD. ADTONIO PALAU y VERDERA Catedraticos primero y segundo del mismo Jardin. Madrid, en la wmprenta Real, 1785. Il. tom. 8ma. The Termint Botanict of Dr. GiEsexe, at Hamburgh, have like- wise been used with advantage in the above work. A similar course of le€tures, according to the Linnean method, has since appeared at Parma, and is the produétion of Dr. Giovan Bart. CNATTERI.
The Linnean Society at Lezps7g was founded by Professor Lupwie on the gist of January, 1789. The Lite- rary Journal of that city, written in German by Professor Eck, and published in 1792, gives farther particulars respett- ing the constitutions of that society.
LIST
BIOGRAPHICAL WRITINGS ON LINN-EUS.
I. HAMBURGISCHE Berichten von gelehrten Sachen, or the Ham- burgh Literary Miscellany, 8v0. published by Dr. J. P. Koznr. The three first years of this periodical work, from 1732 to 17355 contain also the first biographical accounts of Linn 2us, whose authenticity is the greater as they came from himself. These accounts are communicated at large in
the supplements, with a few relevant observations.
Il.
Orbis Eruditi Judicium de Carorr Linnat, M. D. Scriptis; or the Opinion of the Learned World on the works of Cuarres LiNN&vS, M. D. Upsal, 17415 only one sheet in small 8v0. This as the rarest among all the biographical writings on Linn Avs, deserves to be mentioned here, since it contains not only the panegyrics, but also the principal bugra-
hical particulars of his life. ? f i fs ELI. Frz-
xvi BIOGRAPHICAL WRITINGS ON LINN ZUS.
III. FREDERICK BoerNeER’s account of the lives and writings of the cele- brated German and Foreign Naturalists; in German. Wolfenbuttel, —
1749, 8vo. part 1st. from page eigty-five to ninety eight.
LV. English Originals 2m prose and verse, colleéed by J. L. Scuurrze. Halle, 1760 and 1766, 8vo.—contains a short biographical essay.
We: MoeEuseEn’s description of a collettion of Medals at Berlin, mostly con- sisting of those which have been struck to honour the menory of celebrated
Physicians ; German. Berlin, 1 vol. 1773.
Wal. Epistole ab eruditis Viris, ad ALz. HaALLerum Scripta, or, Letters fromthe Learned to Baron Arpert Harrer. Berlin, 1773 to 17755 six vols. large 8vo. The three first contain the Letters of Linnaeus, from 1737 t0 1749, making altogether twenty-five in number. These biogra- phical literary articles called Letters, which LinN &us probably never expected would be made public, are truly valuable for the air of confidence
with which they seem to have been communicated, and for their authenticity.
Vit,
Amminelse Tal 6fver Hr. Arch. och Riddar Cart. von Linn, Ge, by ApnanHAM Back; or Commemorative Speech on Sir Cuarves Lin- nN &uS, delivered in presence of the late King of Sweden, in fie Academy of Sciences of Stockholm, on the 5th of December, 1778, by the Chevalier ABRAHAM Bick, Dean of the Royal College of Physicians: published
at
BIOGRAPHICAL WRITINGS ON LINN AUS. XV1i
at Stockholm and Upsal, zn the year 1779, in 12m0. one hundred and fifty-eight pages. An excellent though little performance, by the Chevalier BAcx, who was one of the oldest and most intimate friends of
LINN&US.
NLU,
J. A. Murray’s Prattical Medical Library, 1780, vol. iii. in small 8v0. German—contains from page one hundred and fifty-eight, to six hundred and sixty-five, a short account of the death of LiNN#&Us, and several tributes paid to his memory at Stockholm and Paris. The Author who is since dead, had it in his power to have said much more of
his former Professor.
LX.
More minute particulars of the Life of Sir Cuarres Linn gu, by Joun CuristiAn Fasricius, Professor at Kiel, in the German Museum ; Leipsic, 1780.—German; No. 5, from page four hundred and thirty-one to four hundred and forty-one ; and No. 7, from page thirty-nine to forty-eight. These are the only particulars published in Germany, by a disciple of Linnaus. This biographical contour is short but valuable on account
of the anecdotes annexed to it.
a, Eloge de M. de Linné, par M. Le Marquis de Condorcet, * in his History of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, 1778, avec les Me- motres de Mathematique, et de Physique pour la méme année, a Paris,
1781, 4to, sixty-eight pages.
* The same who was one of the Leading Members in the Freneh National Conyen- tion.
c Reprinted
xviii BIOGRAPHICAL WRITINGS ON LINN AUS.
Reprinted in the Journal de Physique, par M. Roztsr, vol. xiv. page 1. Linnaeus sent himself, a few years before his death, the biogra- | phical materials for this panegyric to the Academy. The whole is more an oratorical and scientific statement than a biographical accownt.—TIt only contains common places, and erroneous denominations and false assertions. For instance, page sixty-seven, Convorcer calls Linnaus while he was Ruppecx’s substitute, le Professeur, qui quitta bientot Upsal, mais en conservant sa chaire. Il avoit fait un marriage heureux, qui lui a
donné trovs filles et un fils; Linné& mourut vers la fin mois de Fanvier, 1778, Ge. Ge.
9
Eloge de M. de Linné, par M. Fexiix Vicg d’Azyr—in the second part of Histovre de la Socicte de Médécine ; a Paris, 1780, 4fo. ;
The unjust and false assertions in this panegyric, are refuted by M.C.M. Brom, M. D. in the Swedish Fournal, entituled Samling of Rén och Uptikter uti Physique, Sc. Gothenburgh, 1781, 8v0. andby M. Henin,
in his dissertation: Quid LinNa&o Patri debeat Medicina.
XII.
A short wiew of the Life and memorable adventures of Linna&us; German, im ScuroepeEr’s Physical Journal, pudlished at Weimar, 1780, sce vol. vi. page five hundred and fifty-five to five hundred and
sexty-nine—a mere extrac from the Commemorative Speech of the Chevalier A. Back.
AITE,
BIOGRAPHICAL WRITINGS ON LINNAUS, XIX
XL A Biography of Linn zus, taken from some English writers, and tran- slated into German ; see No. 3 of the Orta Povripa, 1780. The whole
takes up but five pages, and is full of false names.
XIV.
A Biographical Sketch, with a Genealogical Table, published likewise wn English, inserted in the Hanoverian Magazine; published at Ha- nover, 1782, from page one thousand two hundred and twenty-two, to one
thousand two hundred and thirty-two.
XV.
Some short accounts of LiNN&us in SCHLOETZER’S Correspondence ; an German, No. xii. page three hundred and thirty-five; No. xiii. page forty-seven; No. x\. page two hundred and fifty-two; and his Genealogy
an No. xix. Goettingen, 1779.
XVI.
General View of the Writings of Linn 2us, dy Dr. Ricnarp Put- TENY, M. D. and F. R. S—London, 1781, 8v0. This work begins with a general biographical sketch ; in the list of the works of our Great Botanist, the anonymous Apology of Linnaus: Orbis erudite judicium de Carour Linna scriptis, is, among many others not mentioned ; it is in several other respeéts imperfeét and deficient. The learned Author ought to have had recourse to BARON HA.ver’s Bibliotheca Botanica, tom. ii. What follows is a translation of this work.
c2 XVII,
xx BIOGRAPHICAL WRITINGS ON LINN AUS.
AV ID.
Revue Générale des Ecritsde Linné; Ouvrage dans lequel on trouve les Anecdotes les plus interessantes de sa vie privée, wn abrégeé de ses sys- temes et de ses ouvrages, Gc. parR. Putteney, tradwiét de | Anglois par L. A. Mitiin de Granpmatison; avec des notes et des additions du Traduéteur ; a Lonpres et a Paris, 1789, Vol. 1. three hundred and eighty-six pages; Vol. ui. four hundred pages, small 8v0. The most in- teresting Anecdotes from his private Life, mentioned in the title, rt would bein vain for us to look after in the present work, wnless we choose to take for such those given by Professor Fasricius, which the Translator has partly copied in the Second Volume, from page one hundred and seventy-six to page one hundred and eighty-three, from another French work entitled Melanges de la Litterature Etrangére. The original and translation might both have been very successful, had the Swedish Commemoration Speech and the German Authors been consulted. The Supplements of M. de GranpMAISON, Zo the Second Volume of his work, from page one hundred and seven to two hundred and sixteen, are valuable as Botanical and Literary documents, but replete with errors and false chronological dates. To the Extratt made by Dr. Putreney from the seven volumes of Amoenitat. Academ. the French Translator has added the substance of Tom. viil. and ix. published by the Aulic Counsellor Scureser. It is asserted that DR. Situ of London, has communicated several Anecdotes to the Editor, but this assertion, Lam authorised to assure my Readers, is
totally unfounded.
P XVUL
BIOGRAPHICAL WRITINGS ON LINN XUS. xxl
oN ELT.
J. ByGanstauc Resa til Frankrike, Italien, Tyskland, &c. Stock- hom, 1784, contains a few original Annecdotes of Linnxus in the i. lil. and Vv. part.
XIX. CEconomical and Physical Library ;-German, by BeckMANN,, vol.
xii.—Goettingen, 1783, page five hundred and ninety-three.
RX.
Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden and Denmark, by Wm. Coxe, A.M.F.R.S. ThreeVols. London, 1782—contains a biographical sketch of Linnaus, besides a few additions from Bkcx and Fasricius.
The Author who is in other respeéts an excellent traveller, and was at Upsalin 1779, might, of a Biographical Essay had at first been his design,
have obtained more ample and better information.
2, @ The above work was translated with some additions, par M. Witiemes Le Fits, who went tothe East-Indies in 1788, as Physician to Tiproc
Sais, and inserted in the Melanges de Litterature, ErRANGERE tom. ile 9 g 9
XXII.
For an abridged copy of Mr. Cox £’s account, see the Historical Magazine for Nov.1790. London, from page four hundred and seven, to four hundred and nine, with erroneous names, as in the greatest part of the English and French accounts.
XXIII.
Biographical Sketch of Linnaus; in English. The author 1s anonymous.
ihe work equally deficuent.—Berlin, 1783.
XX11 BIOGRAPHICAL WRITINGS ON LINNAUS.
XXIV.
Dissertatio: Quid Linnzo patri debeat WMeticing, dissertatione Aca- demicd breviter adumbratum, quam venid ordinis experientissimi Med. Upsal. publice proponit ventilation, Suzeno AnpREAs Hepin, Asses- sor Reg. Colleg. Med. Holmensis et ad Aulam regiam Medico Prim. Reg. Societ. Medice Hafniensis Membr. Respondente, C. CARLANDER; it Academ. Gustav. Audit. Maj. die 14°. April. 1784. Upsaliz typos, J.
EDMANN ; twenty-six pages, in 4to.
XXV.
Observationes Botanice circa Systema Vegetabilium Divia Linné, Gottinge, 1784, edztum ; quibus accedit just@e in Manes Linneanos Pie- tatis specimen, Autore ANDREA Dau1, Westgothie—Sueco. Havnie, 1787, in 4to. The Dissertation of Inauguration of the Author, who was five years a disciple of Linnaeus andof his Son. The conclusion contains an animated apology against the critique of the Supplementum Plantarum, zn the Commentaria de rebus in Scientia Naturali et medicina gestis,
Vol. xxv. Lipsie.
XXVI. A Biographical Sketch in the introduétion to the edition of the Funda- menta Botanica; Lyons, 1788, 8vo.—Extraéed and inserted in the Journal Encyclopedique. June, 1788, Vol. iv. page two hundred and
twenty-three.
XXVII. Caro. Linnat Philosophia Botanica et Critica Botanica; Colon. Allobrog, 1788—£d:t. a J. E. GitrBerr.
2 XXVIII.
BIOGRAPHICAL WRITINGS ON LINNAEUS. © xxiii
XXVIII.
The present Age; or a Review of its most interesting Events and Occur- rences, with an account of the greatest men it has produced; German, by D. H. Srorver—Altona, 1791, Vol. i. contains a concise charaéter of Linnaeus, from page four hundred and eighty-five, to five hundred and four.
AK MEXS
Separate accounts extratted from the Works of Linnaeus, especially from the Amoenitat. Academ.—in the Prefaces, Gc. German.
XXX,
Separate particulars in the Literary Notices ; German—Goettingen, 1758, page six hundred and eighty-seven; 1779, page three hundred and thirty-four.—In the Almanna Tidningar ; Swedish, by Assessor Gyorrweii.—Others in the Archives of Swedish Literature by Dr. Lupexe.—A particular Anecdote in the Magazine of the Arts; German,
by Meuzex Leipsic, 1781; refuted by Dr. BALDINGER.
XXXI. Viva dE Linneo, traduzida da que em Latino corre impressa na Philosophia Botanica, dada a Luz no anno de 1787, em Genova, por Atcino Sincero LusiTAno; in the Jornal Encyclopedico, &c. des-
tinado para instruaccdo general, &c. Abril, 1789; Lisboa. Portuguese.
KAXATL
XXIV BIOGRAPHICAL WRITINGS ON LINNAUS.
XXXII.
Flore Lusitanice et Brasiliensis Specimen, et Epistole ab eruditis viris, CaroLo A Linnéi Antonio da Haun, Gc. ad Dominicum
Vanvexti Scripte. Corimara in Portugal, 1788, 2 4¢o.
XXX EEL:
Collecion de Cartas de D. Grecorto Mayans Siscar R.P. F. Martin Sarmento, D. ANpRES Majorat, Arzobispo de Valencia el Senor Pruer. Docr. Joser FinistREs; el major juris Consullo.de Europa, 1 los Senores: ScHEIDENBURG, VERGER, VISENE, GoEssELs Hore, BARON DE HALLER, LINNEO, BERGIN; pE Murry, SCHREBER, Barer, €c. A Carpevita, Professor Real de Botanica, Socio, de la Real Sociedad de las Sciencias de Gottingen, ©&c. y de este a agus En Madrid, 177.—Spanish
* XXXIV.
Collectio Epistolarwm, quas ad viros Illustres et Clarissimos scripsit Carotus A Linné. Accedunt opuscula, pro et contra virum immorta- lem scripta, extra Sueciam rarissima. Edidit Docr. D. H. Sroever, Hamsurci, apud B. G. Horrmann, 8v0. This work contains the Letters of Linnaus to Hauer, to the Chevalier E. P. Tounsere, Professor GiESEKE, the Academy of Sciences at Paris, &c.—also Jou. Gotscu WALLER Decades bine Thesiummedicarum (against L1NN £US.) Upsal, 1741. The Defence of Linnaeus, under the title: Orbis eruditi judicium de Car. Linn a1, M. D, Scriptis.—Upsal, 1741. Quid Lin- nao Patri debeat Medicina, Dissertatio Auétore, S. A. Hepin, &c.
ON
[eae |
ON
PROFESSOR LINN ZUS JUNIOR.
PRISTE Tal ofuer Herr. Cary. von Linné, M. D. Prof. Medicin. och Botanik vid Kongl Akademien i Upsala, &c. Swedish.—Upsala, 1784, 8vo. or, A Speech in Memory of the Noble Cuaries DE Lin- nz&us, Dottor and Professor of Physic; Professor of Botany at the University of Upsal, delivered in the Cathedral at Upsal, Nov. 30th, 1783. by C. H. ReicueEn, thirty-eight pages.
- a) : } i slsas “ysinnhaah tak ae caida ie Raed to Sete ee otk Aa aD ae : me saab ge
Teel es
a8 or genio’, Ap peor ae
e8r apes soo bas tid ta sting» sis nt bowl ei
hee
( xxvii ]
THE
CHO Ne he Neer hs iS,
=
S:E Ceor-ELO.N I,
Birra, descent, and name of Linneus—His early love of nature— Singular inducements to that extraordinary passion—His domestic educa- tion—Is destined for the pulpit—Goes to the school at Wexicoe—Gathers flowers instead of learning his phraseolozy—Is received in the College of Wexicoe—Complaints of his Professors—Dotor Rothmann saves his genius, and prevails on his father to let him study Botany—The Doétor meets with obje€tions, especially on the part of the mother of Linnaeus, who feels averse to his design— Anecdote of the brother of Linnaus— Linnaeus is received in Rothmann’s house—Gets acquainted with the writings of Tournefort—Lays the foundation of his subsequent greatness.
S:E C.7FI10ON II.
Linngzus goes to the University of Lund—Depends on the support of Pro- fessor Humerus, his relative, resident there—The latter is buried on his ar- rival—Linnazus insinuates himself in the favour of Professor Stebeus—Is received in his family—Collects an Herbarium—Is in danger of losing his
d2 life
PAGE
“XVII CONT EN TS.
Pacs life in one of his excursions—His uncommon dilirence—An anecdote—
Goes to the University of Upsal=-His teachers—His poverty—Is obliged to. mend his shoes with the bark of trees—Gets acquainted with Olaus Celsius—Some account of this learned man—lIs received in his house— Reads a work of Vaillant, the French Botanist—Forms the idea of creat- ing a New System of Botany—Gets acquainted with Olaus Rudbeck— Biographical illustration respecting the latter—Linnzus goes to live with him—Reads Le&ures on Botany for him—Lays the foundation to his New System—Forms a connection with Peter Artedi—Their reciprocal emula- tion—History of their friendship—The Royal Society of Sciences at Upsal— Linnaeus is chosen to travel in Lapland. 3
S.E_C TIT O N. Ill.
Linnaus receives a sum of money to defray his travelling expences—Difficul- ties attending the Science of Botany—Description of his journey—Dangers and obstacles—Visits that part of Lapland, where some French astrono- mers ascertained some years after the figure of the earth—Continues his pere-
-grination through the northern Alps—Anecdotes—Comparison with: Baron Flaller’s journey on the Alps—Linneus returns to Upsal—Extent of his journey and of the good whiclrresulted from it—-The diary of his travels res mains unprinted—Publishes his first work, the Flora of Lapland—ls eleted a member of the Academy of Sciences at Upsal—Begins to-read leCtures—Gains applause—Is envied—licholas Rosen becomes his ad& verfary—They forbid him to read le€tures-—-He conceives the design of stab- bing Rosen—Anecdote—F atal sensibility of his mind—Stifles it—Biogra~ phical account of Rosen—Distressed and unfortunate condition of Linnaus— Makes friendship with Baron Reuterholn at Fahlun—Makes a journey through Dalecarlia—Historical account of his journey—Journal un- printed—Linneus returns to Fahlun—Gives le€tures on mineralogy—~ Contra&ts friendship with Dr. Moreus—Falls in love with his daughter— This lady gives him money to enable him to take his degree of doctor at a Dutch University—Prepares for his departure. te 29
SECTION
CON TEN TS. XXIX
Sy C.F LON BY.
A SHORT, HISTORY OR BOTANY. Pace Among the Greeks—Theophrastus, the father of Botany—Hippocrates—
Dioscorides—Among the Romans—Pliny—View of the progress of Bo- tany—Obstacles—W ant of systematical division—Fate of this science in the middle age—Its regeneration in the fifteenth century by the Germans—Brun- felsx—Bock—Fuchs—Sixteenth Century—Conrad Gesner, the father of mo- dern Botany and natural History—His singular destiny—Cultivation of the botanical gardens—Botanical excursions—The Germans are the first that published Flora, or Collections of the Plants of certain countries—Cluszus, the greatest botanical Tourist in the xvith century—A fluence of botanical materials—Want of a system—Czgsalpini, an Italian, forms one—Caspar Bauhin, a Swiss, the first universal writer on Botany, in the xviith cen- tury—Professor Fungius—V arious travels tending to promote Natural His- tory—Morison and Ray, Englifhmen, the first authors of modern systems— Rivinies and others—Tournefort, the modern legiflator in Botany—Accounts respecting him and his system—Vaillant his pupil, makes ingenious observa- tions on the genera or sexes of plants. 49
SEC TION ¥:
Linneus goes to Holland—His residence at Hamburgh—‘enisch, Kohl, Spreckelsen—+The seven-headed serpent of the latter—Liuneus proves it to be no phenomenon—Takes his degrees as doctor of medicine at Har- derwyk—His dissertation of inauguration—Goes to Leyden—His ac- quaintance with Van Royen, Van Swieten, Lieberkuhn and Gronov—Publishes his Systema Nature—Waits on Boerhaave—Biographical Stri€tures— Anecdotes—Linneus resolves to return to Sweden by Amsterdam— Gets acquainted there with 9 Burmann—Anecdote—Linnaus stays with Burmann—Works in his botanical Library—Is recommended by Boerhaave to Clifford, Burgomafter of Amsterdam—lIs charged to arrange the botanical garden at Hartecamp—Anecdotes—Accepts of the offer—His happy condition—Meets unexpectedly with his friend “rtedi—Tragical exit of the latter—Linnaus rescues his fame from oblivion—His residence at
Hartecamp—His works in the beginning of 1736—Commencement of the 2 reform
XXX C ON) DT Ein: as.
PACE reform of Botany—Is received a member of the Imperial Academy of Natu-
ralifts at Vienna—Goes over to England—Sir Hans Sloane, Bart.— Ph. Miller, Botanist at London; and Professor Dillenius at Oxford—Re- ception—Anecdotes—Account of D¢llenius—Linnaus forms several other connexions—Returns to Holland—His zeal of reform—His herculean la- bours—His works in 1737—Sensations and refutations occasioned by hem—Opinions on his works by Professor Ludwig and the celebrated Ff. F. Rousseau—Offer made to him to go as physician to Surinam— He proposes his friend Bartsch—-Unhappy end of the latter—Lin- — neus goes to Leyden—Is attacked with the home-sicknefs—Leaves Hartecamp—Subsequent decline of this place—Van Royen—Linnaus be- comes the author of the latter’s System of Botany—Anecdotes—Linneus publifhes the Ichthyology of 4rtedi—The Dutch are the first whodo homage to his reform—Linneus longs to see again his eountry—His illnefs—Its caufes—His vain resolution of making a tour in Germany—Takes a trip to Paris—His acquaintance in that capital—Is eleéted corresponding member of the French Academy of Sciences—Anecdotes—His returntoSweden, = 72
S hic TF BON VI.
Opponents and literary contests of Linuaus—Baron Haller—First letter of Linneus to the Baron—Connexion between these two great men—Friend- fhip, rivalfhip, and opinions of Hal/er—The younger Baron Haller writes against Linnaus—Lawrence Heister at Helmstaedt—His resentment againft Linneaus—Excites Professor Siegesbeck at Petersburgh againft him—An ac- count of this man—His contentious writings—Their ridiculous contents— Is refuted: by Gleditsch, and Door Browallius of Abo—Heister enters the lists againft Linneus—Seeks to destroy his celebrity by a work of Burkhard—Sexual system of Linnaus—Ideas of the ancients respect- ing the genera of plants—Fungius—Sir Thomas Millington—Camerarius and Burkhard—The latter starts ideas on this head, yet without any success—-Linnaus Was unacquainted with ‘fungius’s works—Anecdote— A list of the other principal opponents of Linneus—Klein, Cranz, Alston, Poniedera, Andanson, Count de Buffon, &c.—Exquisite politeness of Buffou to the younger Linnacus—Wallerius, the public antagonist of Linnaus in Swe- den—Publifhes an academical treatise against him—The contents of. that
work
CG Or Nea HN TS, XXXi
Pace work—It turns out to the author’s own prejudice—Anecdote—Anonymous defence of Linnaus—Contents—His method of revenging himself on his ad- verfary—His prudent conduct in every attack. - 109
Seer C Til ON Vil.
RESIDENCE OF LINNA:US AT STOCKHOLM, BEGINNING OF HIS ACADEMICAL LIFE AT UPSAL, MEMORABLE OCCURRENCES TILL 1750:
Linnaus returns to Sweden—Setiles at Stockholm—Is ridiculed and calumnia- ted—Begins to practise physic—Unpleasantness of his situation Haller ob- tains for him the professorship of Botany at the University of Goettingen— The Baron’s letter to Linneus—Answer made by Linneus—Happy crisis of his fate—The cure of the cough makes his fortune—Is introduced to Count Tessin—Anecdote—Is appointed physician to the Admiralty and Botanist to the King of Sweden—Is joined in wedlock with Mifs A/orzus—F oundation of
~ the Royal Academy of Stockholm—Is concerned in this Institution—Is elect- ed first President—Speech delivered on the resignation of the Presidency— Other learned labours—Death of Olaus Rudbeck at Upsal—Linneus endea- vours to succeed him but to no purpose—His journey to the iflands of Ocland and Gothland—Professor Roberg at Upsal resigns—Linneus succeeds him—
- Speech of Inauguration—Exchanges his functions as Professor of Anatomy for the Professorship of Botany—Birth of Charles Linnaeus, jun.—Botanical garden, its wretched state, its total amelioration and defcri ption—T he garden is beautified and enlarged in our time—Letter of donation of Gustavus III. late King of Sweden—Honourable mention of Linnaeus in that letter—Fresh accounts of the botanical garden at Upsal—Collection of foreign treasures— Flourishing state of that garden under Derrick Me/zel of Hamburgh, gardener under Linneus—Celebrity of the University of Upsal—Foreign pupils of Linnaus—t stablishment of a Cabinet of Natural History—Presents—Lec- tures of Linnaus—His further learned labours—He publishes Herrmann’s Her- | barium—Travels through West Gothland and Scania—The Flora and Fauna Suecica—Linnaus is elected member of the academies of Montpellier, Tou- louse and Berlin—Several medals struck by the Swedish Grandees in ho- nour of Linneus—Medal of Count Tessin—Is appointed Dean of the Col-
" lege
XXXII ‘GLUON: EF BINDS, PAGE
lege of Phyficians—Motives of his preferment—Death of the father of Linneus.
141 |
&
SJEVC TON Vill.
EXCURSIONS OF THE NORTHERN LITERATI.—HISTORY OF THE TRAVELLING PUPILS OF LINNAUS.
Extensive sphere of the operations of Linneus—The unhappy destiny of Na- turalists—Patriotic exertions—Opportunities of travelling for the pupils of Linngus—Count Tessin—The East-India Company at Gothemburg—Tern- stroem, the first itinerant pupil of Linneus—His tragical end-——F. Hasselquist’s ‘Travels in Palestine; dies at Smyrna—Preservation of his colle€tions— Narrative of his Travels—P. Forskal travels with Miebubr and the rest of the Danish Society in Arabia—His fatal end—His last Letter to Linneus— Peter Loefling goes as Botanist to Madrid, and thence to America—Dies in the flower of youth—F. P. Falk, tutor to the younger Linnzus, goes to Russia—Shoots himself at Casan—Byoernstabl dies at Salonichi—More for- tunate peregrinating pupils of Linnaeus—Toren—Osbeck—C. P. Thunberg— Dr. Solander—Sparrman—The two latter sail round the world—The fame and name of Linneus are spread all over the globe—He has even a disciple among the Mahometans—Disciples of Linnaeus travelling through Europe— Disciples of Linnaus in Germany—Schreber—Fabricius—Gieseke—Ebrhart-- Special allegations—Anecdotes—Ferber—Murray—Linnaus’s peculiar mode of honouring-his friends and other men of merit—Names of plants—Baron Haller’s critique on that subject. 171
Se Oy IX.
REMARKABLE EVENTS OF THE LIFE OF LINNAEUS, FROM 1720 TILL 1760.
Linneus describes the Natural Cabinet of Count Tessin—Ulrica Louisa, Queen of Sweden—Her extraordinary love of Nature—Establishment of the Royal Cabinets of Natural History at Ulricsdale and Drottningholm—Jinneus arranges and desciibes them—lIs attacked with the gout—cures that disorder
with
Doxkxy 2]
LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS.
[N.B. The Initials F. L.S. denote Fellow of the Linn an Society.]
A
ABBOT, Charles, Rev. M. A. F. L. S. Bedford. Allen, Joseph, M.D. Dulwich.
B Baker, Sir George, Bart. M. D. F. R. S. President of the Royal Col- lege of Physicians, Physician to their Majesties, Jermyn-street. Blackburne, John, Esq. M. P. Par k-street, Westminster, Bourne, Ebenezer, Mr. Anderson’s Buildings, Holborn. Bourne, F. Esq. Lombard-street. : Burnham, T. Mr. Bookseller, Northampton.
C Chesterman, William, Mr. Man-midwife, Streatham. Coyte, William, M. D. F. L. S. Ipswich. Craufurd, Patrick, George, Esq. F. R. S. F. L. S. Soho-square. Cullum, Sir Thomas Gery, Bart. F.R. S. F. L. S. Bury.
F D
XXXV1 A LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS.
D Daval, Edmund, Esq. F. L. S. Orbe, Switzerland.
Dickson, James, Mr. Covent Garden.
Ja D’Engestrém, Lawrence, his Excellency, Chancellor of the Court of the King of Sweden, and his Envoy. Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to his Britannic Majesty. Ewer, Samuel, Esq. F. L. S. Hackney.
F Favell, Charles, Rev. M. A. F. L. S. Brington, Huntingdonshire, Forster, J. F. jun. Esq. :
Freeling, Francis, Esq. General Post Office. Two copies.
G Gisborne, John, Esq. F. L.S. Wooton, near Ashbourne, Derby. Two
copies.
if Hanbury, William, Esq. F. L. S. Kilmarsh, Northampton. Harbridge, Thomas, Mr. General Post Office. lawkesbury, the Right Honourable Lord. Heriot, John, Esq. Catherine-street. Six copies. Hodson, James, M. D. Hatton-Garden. Howard, Samuel, F, R. S. Southampton-street. Hoy, James, Mr. F. L. S. Gordon Castle, Scotland. Hoy, Thomas, Mr. F. L. S. Sion-House.
A LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. XXXVI
ui
Johnes, Thomas, Esq. M. P. Princess-street, Westminster. L Lambert, Aylmer Bourke, Esq. F. R. S. F. L. S. Lower Grosvenor- street.
Lettsom, John Coakley, M.D. F. R.S. Basinghall-street. Lewisham, George, Viscount, F.R. S. F. L. S. Hayes, Herts.
M March, Thomas Orlebar, Rev. F. L. S. Bedford. Marsham, Thomas, Esq. F. L. S. Upper Berkeley-street. Maskelyn, George, Esq. General Post-office. Mather, John, Esq. Shefford, near Biggleswade. Mathew, William, Esq. F. L. S. St. Edmund’s-Bury, Suffolk, Maule, Captain Alexander, British Head Quarters, Flanders. Miller, Miss Sarah Amy, Bedford.
P Plymouth, the Right Honourable the Earl of. Pultney, Richard, M.D. F. R. SS. Lond. & Endinb. Honorary
Member of the Medical Society of Edinburgh, and of the Philose- phical Society of Bath, and F. L, S. Blandford.
R Rivers, Lord. S Smith, James Edward, M. D. F.R.S. President of the Linn aan
Secicty of London, Great Marlborough-street. 2 Sowerby,
fintviti A LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS,
Sowerby, James, Mr. F. L. S. Mead’s Place, Lambeth. Spry, Digory, Esq. Surgeon of Plymouth Dock.
Spry Edward, 1A, es BPR Ot a Zeyine nts
Stafford, William, . Esq. r Swainson, Isaac, Esq. Frith-street, Soho. ;
Symmons, J. Esq. Paddington House.
i Taylor, John, Esq. Oculist to the King, Hatton-Garden.
V Vaughan, Walter, M. D. Rochester.
i Warren, Richard, M. D. F. R.S. Physician to the King and to the
Prince of Wales, Sackville-street.
Watkins, Mr. Samuel, Surgeon and Man-midwife, Drury-lane. Williams, David, Rev. Great Russel-street, Bloomsbury. Williams, Thomas Amphlett, Esq. Surgeon. Woodward, Thomas Jenkinson, Esq. F. L. S. Bungay, Suffolk.
Y Young, Mr. Thomas, F. L. S. Little Queen-street, Westminster. Younge, William, M.D. F. L.S. Sheffield.
TZ, Zouch, Thomas, Rev. A.M. F. L. S. Wychcliffe, Yorkshire.
T-HE
tes, Fe
SIR CHARLES LINNAEUS, KNIGHT.
09006209
SECTION I.
BIRTH, DESCENT AND NAME OF LINNAZUS.—HIS EARLY LOVE OF NATURE.—SIN- GULAR INDUCEMENTS TO THAT EXTRAORDINARY PASSION.—HIS DOMESTIC EDUCATION.—IS DESTINED FOR THE PULPIT.—GOES TO THE SCHOOL AT WEXI- COE.—GATHERS FLOWERS INSTEAD OF LEARNING HIS PHRASEOLOGY.—IS RE- CEIVED INTO THE COLLEGE AT WEXICOE.—COMPLAINTS OF HIS PROFESSORS.— DOCTOR ROTHMANN SAVES HIS GENIUS, AND PREVAILS ON HIS FATHER TO LET HIM STUDY BOTANY.—THE DOCTOR MEETS WITH OBJECTIONS ESPECIAL- LY ON THE PART OF THE MOTHER OF LINNAUS, WHO FEELS AVERSE TO HIS DESIGN.—ANECDOTE OF THE BROTHER OF LINNZUS,—LINN-ZUS IS RECEIVED INTO ROTHMANN’S HOUSE.—GETS ACQUAINTED WITH THE WRITINGS OF TOURNEFORT.—LAYS THE FOUNDATION OF HIS SUBSEQUENT GREATNESS.
"THE Northern part of Europe stands, originally, and in a great measure, indebted to the Southern for the present culture of science. From the latter, the Muses transmigrated into the former. All the prin- cipal revolutions in the fields of knowledge took birth there, and were transplanted and fostered here. No genius of the North—excepting
B the
2 INFANCY?) OF
the original and more Southern Empire of the Britons, and the most penetrating of their philosophers, Sir Isaac Newron,—had as yet, reared his head in the learned world, as a new legislator and universal reformer of any one science. The discoveries and merits ofa Tycuo ) Braue, whose country borders so nearly on that of Linnaus, will not stand a comparison here. Theage we live in, is the first that made ) anew epoch in the course of national learning. Among the great ap- paritions, which the literary heavens have exhibited and rendered eter- nal, a star from the North has shone forth, the brightest and most illu- mining. Without comparing here Lersnirz, who run the best part of his immortal career in the last century, Switzerland found in Hat- LER, the greatest and most solid universalist; Hol/and, in BoERHAAVE, the greatest physician; France, in VoLTaireE, the greatest wit and first favourite of the literary graces ; but Sweden, the most systematical genius of the age, the most intimate and scrutinizing minion that ever graced the bosom of Nature; who rendered her knowledge the most regular and the most cultivated, and became her teacher in all parts of the world. Never was the name of any Literatus of his nation, or of Northern Europe at large spread so far, honoured so devoutly, and rendered so immortal as his. However distinguifhed and uncommon his merits were, as extraordinary and memorable became the vicissitudes of his fate, and as rugged and thorny the paths on which he attained the climax of his greatness.
Cuarves Linn aus was born on the third of May, 1707, at Rashult, a village in the province of Smaland. Nixs, or Nicuoras Linnaus, his father, who took birth in the year 1674, held the sacred funétion of
pastor of the village, two yeaxs previous to that event. He was joined
Cy ol ane
LINNAUS. 3
in the banns of wedlock with CuristinA BropERsON, the daughter of his predecessor in office. His ancestors were peasants. Several of his re- latives, who had quitted the plough for the Muses, in the last century, changed their family name with their profession, and borrowed the names of Linpe rus, or TrtranpeEr, (Linden-tree-man) of a lofty Linden- tree, which still stood in our time, in the vicinity of their native place, between Tomsbodaand Linnhult; a custom not unfrequent in Sweden, to take frefh appellations from natural objeéts. The father of Linnaus, as the first learned man of his family, could not withstand following the example which his kindred had fet before him. He likewife borrowed of the fame tree a name which his son rendered afterwards famous and immortal in every quarter of the globe.
Our Cuarces was the first pledge of the young couple’s mutual love. He was destined for the pulpit; a destination which his parents con- sidered as the happiest, and through which they flattered themfelves their son would one day become the prop of their old age. But, fortunately for science, this plan was overturned, even by those who felt its execution nearest to their hearts 3—they themselves sowed, as it were, in the cradle, a seed in the infant’s breast, which, in process of time, yielded the finest fruits,
The father was a singular lover of gardening. The smallness of his income, obliged him, at the same time, to make the best of husbandry. Flowers were the first things they gave the smiling babe, and it seemed to take a natural delight in the variety of their colours, The fragrant play-things thus instilled in the infant’s breast an early passion for the beauties of Nature, which a concurrence of favourable circumstances fostered and increased during the subsequent stages of his infancy. In
B 2 the
4 INFANCY OF
the year 1708 he obtained the living of Stenbrohult, a benefice rather more lucrative than that which he enjoyed before, and in which he continued until his death. The greatest pleasure annexed to his new tenement, was a good, extensive garden, in which he used to spend his leisure hours. He was a professed lover of flowers, and when a few years had elapsed, rendered his garden the finest and most variegated in the whole distriét. It contained upwards of four hundred fpecies of flowers*, many of which were of foreign growth.
This darling passion of the parent, became transcendent in the son. The latter, in want of play-mates, made the garden the circle of his ju- venile diversions. Whenever the father planted and cultivated the gay parterre, he was sure of finding Cuarvey skipping by his side, to share the pleasant toil, and to water the beds. The parent to reward and en- courage the fondness and care of our infant florist, assigned to him, when he reached the eighth year, a separate spot in the garden; which, in honour of his son, was called Coarves’s GARDEN. This landed property strengthened the love and inclination of the young free-holder. Resolved to make his as diversified and copious as possible, he made little excur- sions in the neighbouring fields and woods, to colleét flowers and plants to enrich it with. He carried this colleétion so far as to gather all kind of weeds and wild herbs,—a treasure which his father found afterwards a painful job to eradicate. The a€tive youngster brought even wild bees and wasps in the garden, who by their hostile demeanour began
to desolate the paternal hives. Some severe reprimands deterred
* LinnZus himself says of his father, in a letter to BARON HALLER, dated May 28, 3748, in which he announces his death: ‘* Fuit summus estimator plantarum rariorum, et ‘¢ semper habuit seleétum hortum plantarum non vulgarium.”
He was an uncommon lover ef rare plants, and had a select garden of several rare species.
him
LINNAUS. 5
him from farther attempts of this sort, which his innocent simplicity had induced him to consider as an aét free from mischief. Meanwhile his colle€tions and excursions increased his little stores of knowledge, and roused in him that love of Nature, which at his farther advance into life, derived additional energy as he gradually became more acquainted with her beauties. Thus minute and accidental circumstances have frequently become the sources of great results!
The father was the more willing to indulge his son in those botani- cal occupations and wanderings, since they constituted the most inno- cent and best of diversions, became serviceable to his health, and did not interfere with his diligence in receiving instru€tion. He initiated him in the elements of the Latin tongue, religion, geography, &c. All this was done to qualify him for the pulpit; and in order to conduét his studies more systematically, and to foster his love and desire of science, he resolved to send his Carxes to the Latin school in the adjacent town of Wexzcoe, in the province of Smaland.
At the epoch of this determination Linn «us had seen his second Justre. He arrived at Wexicoe in 1717. The love and pursuit of his favourite occupation did not quit him on his journey thither. He spent in it every moment which respited him from his studies. On holidays no pupil was so little found at home as Linnzus. The boy took more delight in gathering plants, and examining them, than in learning his phraseology, or writing out his themes. Had he re- mained under the immediate dire@ion of his father, his zeal for the science of which he was once to shine the luminary, would have much suffered by lessons of divinity ; but it fortunately so happened, that
the rettor of the school at Wexicoe, whose name was LANAERIUS,; was
6 INFANCY OF
was also a lover of botany. He grew fond of a youth who at so early an age displayed the most extraordinary talents; he formed a proper judgment of his genius and application, while Cuyarues’s school-fellows considered him as a vagabond truant, who wasted his time in useless pur- suits and running about. Upon the whole, Linn 2us was much behind in the different instru€tions which were to qualify him for his future clerical avocation.
This backwardness manifested itself in a particular manner, when after having been in the grammar-school during seven years, he was received in the superior college at Wexicoe, in 1724. Dog- matical acquirements, the Hebrew language, and the more solid branches of scholastic science had been forgotten amidst the allure- ments of the goddess Flora, and still continued to enjoy their usual share of oblivion. All admonitions to a closer application to the studies of theology, were bestowed in vain. The passion strongly in- grafted by Nature combated against them, and proved vittorious. The slowness of his progress induced at last some of the professors and le€turers of the college to complain to his father, and furnish him with bad testimonials. This his parents took much to heart, as they foresaw only a prospeét of having their fondest hopes undermined. Linn «us stood bordering on the brink of the decision of his des- tiny. With filial obedience he avowed his readiness to study divinity ; but owned at the same time, his want of inclination, and his great aver- sion to that sacred pursuit. His father, therefore, resolved to make his son take absolute leave of the Myses, and to bind him apprentice
to an honest shoe-maker and cobler.
The
LINN AUS, 7
The case of Linn us, whose parents had resolved to make him embrace a calling quite opposite to that prescribed to him by nature and genius, has likewise been that of no small number of other men, who have afterwards raised their name to immortality. Luter was intended for a lawyer, and became the reformer of the church. Tycuo Braue, was to have studied politics, and by his own inclina- tion acquired the celebrity of one of the first astronomers of his time. SHAKESPEARE was to have wielded the yard-measure of a linen-dra- per, which his father had wielded before him; but his unrivalled parts rendered him the first pattern of tragical po¢sy: In short, to recur to the moderns, VoLTAIRE was to have been a barrister and counsellor of parliament ; but instead of the pandeéts he studied the writings of the beaux esprits, and became himself the first of the age he lived in. Tournerort and BorERHAAVE were destined to wear the cassock, but the former rose to be the greatest botanist of the last, and the latter the greatest physician of the present century.
The resolution of the parent of young Linnaus, who preferred binding his son an apprentice to a shoemaker to letting him become a botanist, sprung at leaft, considering a man of his circumstances, from a pure sentiment of parental fondness. What prospe& of a solid in- come could he flatter himself for his son, if the latter applicd to botanical study ?>—What reason had he to think that his son would once shine as the firft connoisseur and reformer of that science ? And had he adopted medical pursuits as an additional exertion of his mental faculties, how much more arduous and uncertain must have proved a career in which he would have erred unsupported by fortune >— To acquire eminence in those sciences a proper competence was absolutely
| Te-
8 INFANCY OF
requisite—and this competence he could not expeé from a father, whose circumstances bordered more on penury than opulence. His father was also destitute of that interest and those favourable conneétions which could hold forth the gilded prospeéts of preferment in the church.
These considerations and scruples could not therefore be deemed quite unworthy of paternal foresight. Fortunately, however, those objeétions were all done away. A physician arrogated to himself the merit of first forming the genius who afterwards raised himself the pride of Sweden and the boast of the learned world. The name of this man ought never to be forgotten in the history of his pupil. It was JouN Rotumann, physician at Wexicoe, a man of consummate skill, who gained celebrity among his countrymen by divers learned produétions. He was also professor of medicine in the college of that city. Here he took notice of the genius of Linn aus, of that spirit of penetration and knowledge so unusual to the youths of his age. He got intelligence of his father’s design of removing him from col- lege—a flower which was on the point of yielding the most luxuriant blossom was to be cropt by the profane and rustic hands of those who could not foresee its future utility. Such an event could never be in- different to the fond sensations of a professor of science.
RotuMAnn applied to the father of Linn aus, described the dili- gence of his son, his peculiar endowments for his favourite studies, and conjured him, by the most persuasive and the most urgent reasons, to let him study physic and botany, since his inclination and genius pro- mised, that he would once become eminent in those professions. En- comiums, so new, so well founded, mixed the joyful transport of the father with regret and gloomy irresolution. Had the Doétor sent him
tes~
LINN AUS. 9
testimonials, purporting that his son analyzed Hebrew better than his fellow-students, that he excelled them in his theological progress, he would have been far better pleased than with his improvement in botany.
Young Linn aus was not remiss in joining his intreaties to the kind intercession of his prote€tor. His eagerness, his enthusiastic zeal for his favourite studies, had shut his eyes against the painful prospeéts of futurity. Many times had he heard his father say, that a young man ought to learn that which he felt the greatest inclination for, because the natural propensity of a person always advanced him most in point of perfeftion; Linnaus therefore supplicated his father to extend this lesson, this pattern of Nature to himself, since he felt but little in- clination for all other studies, but the greatest propensity to the ex- clusive study of Nature.
The peculiar fondness and benevolent disposition of RoTHMANN, at last struck the balance in the struggle between the opposite wishes and designs of the father and son. The good natured Doéor pro- mised to take Linnaus into his own family during the rest of his scholastic term, to find him in every necessary ; and that he might make a more rapid improvement in physic, to initiate him himself in the elements of medicine.
The parents of Linn £us yielded to these kind propositions, though with reluétance and little satisfaétion. The mother especially, felt her- self much hurt to give up the hopes of once seeing her darling son in a pulpit. The discontent of both remained manifest a great while after. In the year 1718, their family was increased by the birth of a second son, SamMurt Linnaus, who was the only brother our
c hero
10 INF'AN CY FOF
ever had. As her Cuarves had renounced the cassock, she hoped at least to have the pleasure of seeing it one day on Sammy’s shoulders. But this stripling began likewise to imitate his brother’s example, and to love flowers better than books of divinity. His mother, to suppress this rising inclination, forbade him most carefully the garden and the ga- thering of flowers. Her prohibition, however, would but little avail with Samue to root out the impulse to the knowledge of Nature, which he afterwards made his favourite study, besides husbandry. He shone as one of the most eminent connoisseurs and authors in one of the branches of natural science. In the year 1768 he published a work on the breeding of bees, which met with so favourable a reception, that they gave the author the name of King of the Bees (Bi Kung). The spiritual wishes of the mother were, however, ultimately accom- plished in her second son. He became a preacher in the year 1741, and seven years after, on his father’s demise, succeeded him in the reGtory of Stenbrohult.
Meanwhile our Linn £us entered with freedom the career, in which he could thus far advance only by secret and interrupted steps. The certainty and limitation of a settled plan of pursuits doubled his zeal and spirit, which were under a sure and dire&t guidance. RorTHMANN became his leader. He gave him private instruétion in the elements of physic, a circumstance particularly advantageous, and soon at tended with happy consequences. Linnaus found in RoruymMann’s library the first resources, that procured to him erudition and elucida- tions in the science, which he had till then studied without a plan, or any scientific insight. Among these resources was the principal work of
TourNnerort, entitled, Elements of Botany (Institutiones Rei Herba-
Tle,
LINNAUS. 14
ria, Paris. 1700.)” This book became the torch which illuminated the path of the youth, and opened new prospeéts to his eager views ; it was at the same time the source of the purer and greater light which he afterwards himself diffused. He now contemplated Nature, and that part of her creation which he loved so much, in a quite different point of view than he had done before! How little could RorHMann imagine that the young pupil then under his auspices, would one day be greater than the greatest botanist of his time—greater than even Tournerort himself! The more Linnaus began diving into the wonders of Nature, the more extensive became his admiration and love of her study. As in his father’s house, so he now continued at Wexicoe, to make the colle&ing of flowers, plants, inseéts, &c. the chief aim and result of his rural excursions. By which means he soon gained a considerable pre-eminence in botany over his fellow- students.
After having frequented college three years, and completed the twentieth year of his age, he prepared himself to go to the university; to that career which became so rough and thorny in the beginning, but so
honourable and grateful at its conclusion.
€ 2 SEC.
- YWoHst aid ers yasind rit shenites) oat atte es
i 4 7 <i
Botniizasisi i sitdnihges scl ree Benda | Ceaiy tone zai hee Bogue’ eet Lenog®bive iaenges daity 4: ol org: beta Tovlng’ ols be sine on) omadt tease et 8 ba Pik ilies baile: Sener writ ou erin iat ae and aarti na Bis vob ane él nied Reet toa ~~ rn
- Wi SID eg wastignuns “lid vobestl at Ligon fet ined qn jcars joigteniT ‘tied oe telnet d i
athatat privity sened tuntand siere'ad PS ut tien a , is: mowstinsbs aide | onisaod ovienoind “exit Siieisn anaes hich iw WOR BE 08) ‘artiod: efotadt bith rho ‘bates job 25 (ants paisley este: are gh Ralien aA “ene oy
do gamba ‘ibidwe ahs ainihetired eared Pceacks ise Chie, nye
4 “4. jf a ibe PP! ‘agit ee EX jihad PGES yan Pe bey ye 2 Sell 0a" Bh ami aa es =r Pee ve
“ ‘ i Y th ¥ " us 7 ae ‘ste byyakqareo ‘bir ‘etesy Saailt palit Bema 3 dierdl. of ee yuna sh eres i THoeneit Bs: amen, ou i ree a ey admmniviniigod sii ni ero bei" gO. Re oteoId nich’ tial
ey! T i ek ‘a , yr ‘get aie it Mi ‘shah i ohh
se F iat Re 7 £ 4 ¥ * i ex P - Py ice vne" + . . ah ‘ f PaLy rh eh {ah aye ey yp ‘ Ree eas TEN ee a et the | nee eis vid We Ea f hal Sens re } Poe : i + a aoe Veber DSM, - ee NR eo MTL ak ee NOR: RY SoS i , =) ae ’ PS LW wet Fy aa ieee a i) ‘ee ’ : / ~ aces Was rs hs the Bae ae oS er ' eo ota ae ‘ 7 ’ . ™i ‘ s > * ae . , — &* j . fos hs ra
S:Ey¢ T1L0 N. IL
LINNZUS GOES TO THE UNIVERSITY OF LUND.—DEPENDS ON THE SUPPORT OF PROFESSOR HUMARUS HIS RELATIVE, RESIDENT THERE.—THE LATTER IS BURIED ON.HIS ARRIVAL.—LINN AUS INSINUATES HIMSELF IN THE FAVOUR OF PRO- FESSOR STOBAUS.—IS RECEIVED IN HIS FAMILY.—COLLECTS AN HERBAL.—IS IN DANGER OF LOSING HIS LIFE IN ONE OF HIS EXCURSIONS.—HIS UNCOM- MON DILIGENCE.—AN ANECDOTE.—GOES TO THE UNIVERSITY OF UPSAL.— HIS TEACHERS.—HIS POVERTY.—IS OBLIGED TO MEND HIS SHOES WITH THE BARK OF TREES.—MAKES ACQUAINTANCE WITH, OLAUS CELSIUS,—SOME AC- COUNT OF THIS LEARNED MAN.—IS RECEIVED INTO HIS HOUSE:.—READS A WORK OF VAILLANT, FHE FRENCH BOTANIST.—FORMS THE IDEA OF CREAT- ING A NEW SYSTEM OF BOTANY.—GETS ACQUAINTED WITH OLAUS RUDBECK, —BIOGRAPHICAL ILLUSTRATION RESPECTING THE LATTER.—LINNAUS GOES TO LIVE WITH HIM.—READS LECTURES ON BOTANY FOR HIM.—LAYS THE FOUNDATION OF HIS NEW SYSTEM.—FORMS CONNECTIONS WITH PETER AR- TEDI.—RECIPROCAL EMULATION.—HISTORY OF THEIR FRIENDSHIP.—ROYAL SOCIETY OF SCIENCES AT UPSAL.—LINNZUS IS CHOSEN TO TRAVEL IN LAP.
LAND.
OF the two universities in the kingdom of Sweden, narrow- ness of family circumstances constrained Linn us to fix his choice on that of Lund, situate in the province of Schonen. A certain pro- fessor Humanus, was his relative there, and had promised to support him. Under such auspices Linn aus set out for Lund in 1727, with the most pleasant prospeéts before him. But these all at once vanished. He scarcely had arrived there, and prepared himself to wait on Hu- MRvUs, when he was informed that the last- duty had just been paid to
the
14 LINN ZUS
the lifeless remains of his prote€tor and friend. Thus all his hopes were lost—but fortune soon compensated for this unmerited event.
Kir1an Srosaus, professor of physic and botany, and afterwards one of the physicians to the royal family of Sweden, who was then one of the most celebrated and eminent professors of that university, be- came the oracleof Linn us. The lcétures of this learned man enriched and rendered more exaét the scientific knowledge of our young student, and procured him the first systematical acquirements, the principles of which he had began to cultivate. Among all his pupils Linn aus dis- played the greatest diligence, the utmost attention to his professor, and a judgment in botany rare and egregious in a beginner.
These qualities endeared him to Sropzus. He was apprised of and saw his indigent condition, and animated by the same generous and beneficent motives as RoTHMANN, resolved to afford him accom- modation free from all expence in his own family.
In so good a situation Linnaus found fully fostered his love of science, the only objeét of his desire. Here he met, for the first time, with a well arranged colle&tion of natural history, got acquainted with curiosities he had never seen before, and began to keep a regular herbal himself. This, though a small matter of itself, proved to bim an obje& of great importance. It gave him an opportunity of observing plants more closely, of colle€ting them more diligently, of examining more carefully their internal struéture, distin&tive marks and properties, of giving short descriptions, and comparing them with those of Tournr- FORT, whom his ambition made already his pattern, and of having more frequent occasions to make new observations by his penetrating genius. To enrich his herbal he took excursions into all the neigh-
bouring
AT LUW’D. 15
bouring distri¢ts, and explored not only the vegetable, but also the animal reign, especially the lower classes of the latter, which had al- ready been an objeét of his attention during his residence at Wexicoe. He had once like to have fallen a viétim to his curiosity. An excursion hurried him on to the very brink of the grave. He was stung by a venomous worm, not rare in Sweden, and to which he afterwards gave the name of Furva infernalis (the Hell-fury) in his system of Nature*, No. 353. .The poison circulated the faster, as he had gone farther into the country, where it was impossible for him to obtain speedy medical relief. He was obliged to keep his bed, and all hopes of his recovery were finally given up. The skill of Stospzus, however, saved him. This perilous accident, which might have terri- fied him for ever, only served to increase his courage and curiosity to get nearer acquainted with the inferior classes of the creation; and the success which attended his studious perseverance, is universally known. The vegetable reign remained above all his favourite pursuit. His experimental knowledge, drawn from Nature, was rendered regular, ex- a€t, and more extensive, by that obtained from books. The library of Sroszus contained the most valuable works on botany. Lin- nus procured them secretly, and impelled by his desire of learning novelties, he read and studied to the last glimpse of the midnight
lamp.
* Linnzus inhis System of Nature, edit. xii. p. 1325, gives the following ‘account of this worm: ‘ Habitat in Bothnia, Suecie Septentrionalis vastis paludibus cespitosis; ex ‘* ethere decidua sepe in corpora bominum animaliumque momento citus penetrat summo omnium “* dolore, immo interdum intra quadrantem hore pre dolore occidit, quo et ipse Lundini 1728 “laboravi. Animal! nonnisi rude siccatum vidi. Animalibus chaoticis videtur proprietatibus S* affine. Quomodo era petat, unde decidit a solstitio estivali in hyemale, nullus dixit.”?
SToBaus
16 LINN AUS
Stoszus, by some means or other obtained intelligence of the vigils of his pupil, and did not know what to think of him. Linn«us wasal- ways a brisk student, fond of company, and of a merry convivial turn. The professor took it therefore into his head, that he set up so late to play at cards with his upper servants, or take some other diversion with them. His well-meaning mind resolved to disuade him from such an indecorous conduét for a young gentleman. In consequence of this resolution, he quite unexpe€tedly entered the apartment of Linnzus at a very late hour. But, what was his surprize, when, instead of finding him engaged in the company of the quick, he found him surrounded with the produétions of departed great men; and intrenched, as it were, with the works of the greatest botanists, such as Casatrinus, BAUHNIUS, TourNerort, &c. By this unexpeéted scene he grew still fonder of the youth, and gave him full and entire permission to make use of his library.
Linnaus did not negleét profiting by these literary treasures, and by the instru€tion of his professor and benefaétor. During the time he had spent at Lund, his mind had become more enlightened; but, at. the same time his desire of seeing and learning was more increased. The first, and most ancient seat of the Swedifh Muses, the University of Upsal (distant seventy-five Swedi/h miles from Lund) presented fresh opportunities to gratify his laudable wishes. He certainly could not expect there to be immediately so well circumstanced as he had been at Lund, which he had resolved to quit. Notwithstanding his passionate love of study conquered all other considerations. His resolution being san€tioned by paternal consent, Linnaus took his departure for Upsal, at Michaelmas, 1728, a place where he at first suffered many
misfor-
A STUDENTGAT \UPSAL. 17
misfortunes and adverse chances, but ultimately became the theatre of his greatness.
He arrived at Upsal, with a considerable store of knowledge; but his finances were slender, and such as they were, from the vivacity of his temper he could hardly manage them to advantage. Meanwhile he pursued his favourite study with all possible zeal, free from care and anxiety respe€ting his bodily support. His professors were Oror or Ovaus RupsBeck, jun. and RoBERG. They were both old men; a circumstance, which, in several instances, proved fortunate to LINN aus. The greatest adept in natural history, and especially in botany, in Sweden, was OLaus Crisius, a clergyman, first professor of divinity, and afterwards head of the chapter of Upsal. When Linnaeus first began to reform natural history he described him in a letter to Barow Hatter, as the only botanist of his country*. At first the youth hoped, in vain, to profit by the learning of this great man, who was then at Stockholm on official business. He was, therefore, obliged to continue his career without any guidance except that of his own genius. The works of the immortal men of the two last centuries now served to enlighten his progress.
A twelvemonth had scarcely elapsed, when Linn us saw himself reduced to the most calamitous and distressed circumstances. What little substance he had brought with him was expended, he could expeét no supplies from home, his debts and the cares of providing for his liveli-
hood increased, and no chearing prospe& promised a mitigation of his ?
* In Suecia nullus est botanicus, preterquam Ot. CELSIUS, primarius Theologie Pro-
fessor, qui absque generibus plantas amat, muscos sedulo quarit. Rudbeckius enim decrepitus
est. This letter to-Baron HaLLeER js dated from Hartecamp, near Leyden, May 1, 1737-
D hapless
18 LINNAUS
’
hapless fate. In the compassionate beneficence of his countrymen and fellow-students, he found, however, some temporary relief in his in- digent state. He picked up a meal here and there, and was glad to cover himself with their left-off clothes. He had not even a sous to purchase a pair of shoes. Imperious necessity compelled him to have recourse to the trade which his father had once resolved to bind him to. He put cards in the worn-out shoes which were given him by his comrades, and stitched and mended them with the bark of trees, to enable him at least to go out to colleét plants. No great, or eminent man of our age, not even BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, the American printer, ever struggled with so many difficulties and adversities, while endeavouring to reach the towering height at which his genius made him aspire. VoLTatrREey Haurer, Newron, and Lersnirz, had parents who were possessed of property to smoothe their path. In the installation-speech made by LiINN4£US in 1741, On entering on his office of professor, he offered public thanks to Providence for having so wonderfully supported and relieved him under the hardest pressure of poverty, and in other mis- fortunes *, |
Difficulties and adverse circumstances have frequently been the school in which great men have been formed, and they also helped to build the greatness of Linnzus. A less energetic charaéter would have been crushed by despair; but our hero found in them fresh in- centives to perseverance and fame. The struggle against fate roused his every endeavour. He continued his vigils and exertions in his
darling science. “ Methinks,” says the celebrated Dean Back, “ Lin-
* Gratias tibi, Deus omnipotens ago, quod in vite mee cursu, inter gravissima pauper- satis onera et alia quavis incommoda omnipotento auxilio tuo mibi semper adfuisti.
4 66 N EUS
A STUDENT AT UPSAL. 19
‘¢ ~#us saw Fiora in all her beauties on a throne, he saw her holding «¢ forth a wreath to crown his head; all Nature inher magnificence bade ¢¢ him draw nearer; but he saw the whole, as it were, at a most remote ¢¢ distance. He was obliged to penetrate the labyrinth of Dzpatus «* to seek the thread which could guide him to the right path through * so many wanderings.”
When the poverty of Linn aus had risen to its highest pitch, fortune and his distinguished conduét offered him at once a charming prospeét. Oxaus Cexsius had returned from Stockholm. He visited the bo- tanical garden. Linnavs was present, spoke of the plants, described them with an exaéiness surprising in a student, and upon nearer conver- sation displayed such extensive knowledge as struck Cextsius with astonishment. He made farther enquiries into the circumstances and conduét of the young man, heard of his distress, and became his bene- factor.
Linnaus was received into his house, where he obtained, gratis, board and lodging. Cexsius was likewise a great adept in the Eastern languages, and then prepared his Hrerobotanicon, a work in which the plants and trees mentioned in Holy Scripture were to appear, and which was published in the years 1745 and 1752, in two volumes, did great honour to its author, and forms an appendix to the Hzerozoi- con, published by Bocuarp upon the animals whose names appear in the Bible. Linnaus bore an a€tive share in the colle&ion of this learned work, and gave such literary assistance as no other student could have better afforded. This was one of the chief motives which made Cerxstus take him into his house. To complete this task, Lin- n £us had the free use of the library of Cexstus, which in botanical
D2 works
20 LINNAUS
works was one of the richest and most valuable in Sweden. He also had the advantage of receiving the immediate instru€tions of his prote€tor, and of being able to take his advice in all dificult cases. Upon the whole, Cexrsius treated him with paternal care, and gave him various proofs of his benign favour on many subsequent occasions. In return for such kindness, Linn 2us, among all his patrons cherished most the memory of this venerable man. He never spoke of him without expressing his reverence and gratitude. Crxsius died, like Linnus, in the full enjoyment of his celebrity, on the twenty-fourth of June, 1756, at the advanced age of seventy-six years, and found al- ways among his academical colleagues in his former pupil the warmest and most grateful of friends.
Tournerorrt was the only botanical author to whom Linnaus stood thus far indebted for the greater and more solid part of his know- ledge. The sovereign empire which that great writer had acquired in botany, since the latter end of the last century, began now to totter. The young student at Upsal conceived the idea of creating a new system of doftyine. It was a Frenchman who inspired him with this new thought. It was VarLLant, one of the most penetrating bo- tanists, who died too soon for his scientific fame, and for the botanical discoveries and elucidations which he gave as demonstrator of the royal botanical garden at Paris, where he departed life in the year 1722. We shall have occasion, in the course of this work, to make more ample mention of him.
Thus far the division of the vegetable reign had been made from the various parts and properties of the plants, from their fruits, from the number of the petals of their flowers and blossoms, é&c. Till then,
TouRNEFORT,
A) STUDEMMARIUPSAL. 24
Tournerort, the professor of Vairtant, had been the greatest systematical botanist. This man founded the system of division upon the form and quality of the flower or blossom, a side from which French- men are apt to consider many things; and his method was predominant at that epoch.
By some lucky incident a small work of Var1LuiantT on the struc- ture of flowers, fell into the hands of Linnaus*. Till now he had examined the plants by their bloom, according to TouRNEFORT’S sys- tem; but without granting implicit faith to the received usage and autho- rity, he direéted his attention and enquiries on the remaining parts of the plants, especially on their generative parts, the stamina and pistilla, which had, to that very hour, been considered as insignificant. The flowers contain threads with a head at the top, commonly called the stamina, on which reposes a dust bag. The latter contains a floury dust, which, in point of its destination is very analogous to the male seed of animals. In the middle we generally find protuberances, which are frequently jagged and glutinous in the upper part. These are the pis- tillay or dust-ways, which, with the stamina, or dust-threads, are the most essential when a plant is to bear fruit. If the fruit is to turn out well, the dust must fall out of the bag from the stamina or dust-threads on the cicatrice or jagg, by which the fruétification is effe€ted. The sta- mina or dust-threads are therefore the male, and the pistil/a or dust-
ways the female parts of plants.
* VAILLANT’s Sermo de Siru@urd Florum, Lugd, Batav, 1718.
a The
22 LINNAUS
The ingenious observations which VarLtLANnr made on the sexes of the plants attra€led the notice of Linn us, refined and confirmed his own remarks, kindled a fresh light, and soon, in a lucid interval, put into the young man’s mind the thought of a New System, by whicha better order in the division of plants might be introduced, if this divi- sion were made from their sexes, from the number of stamina or dust-threads and pistilla or dust-ways, a system—(SysTEMA SEXUALE) —of which he became afterwards the creator, which bears his name, and was acknowledged in course of time as the best and most exa& me- thod, universally adopted by botanists, and even preferred to the most modern ones.
The ideas of a better theory, which VariianrT had hinted, guided now Linn us in his botanical observations. He began to consider the plants, especially from their new and unimproved side, by their sexes, by the number of stamina, and compared them with the ancient system, and the divisions which had till then been used. The farther he brought his enquiries, the more deficient did he find the ancient system, and the more consistency did he discover in his own thoughts; in short, the greater, the more powerful were the attractions of his own plan. The sexes of plants now occupied his thoughts day and night ; and the fresh knowledge which he obtained by this survey, soon paved him the way to a better fortune.
In the summer of 1730, a disputation was held before Bishop Wa.tin, on the copulation of trees (de nuptiis arborum). Linnaus was present. The subje€t of the controversy was quite familiar to him, None found it more pleasant, nor had any one
at
A STUDENT AT UPSAL. 29
a
at Upsal studied it better than himself. He composed, therefore, a small written treatise on the sexes of the plants, replete with new and cu- rious observations. Ouaus Rupseck, jun. then professor of botany, heard of this treatise. He was struck with the spirit of observation, and the solidity and novelty of the knowldege of our young author, which advanced him farther in his academical career.
The father of the new friend of Linnaus was Otaus Rup- BECK, who died at Upsal on the 12th of December 1702, as professor of botany. Sweden had long been without a man of such great eru- dition, and such bold and heterodox a spirit of enquiry as his. He was the first celebrated naturalist of his country,-and became the foun- der of the botanical garden at Upsal. He travelled at the expence of Queen Curistina, and collefted a vast quantity of herbs and plants. He intended to publish these in twelve volumes with wood cuts, under the title of Camp: Elysiz; and bestowed for aconsiderable time the utmost pains and diligence on their description and publication; but the great fire which broke out at Upsal in the year 1702, destroyed this literary treasure, of which nothing remained but two folio volumes, which af- _ terwards became a great curiosity *. His grief at this loss accelerated his death in the same year. He was also author of the famous histori- cal work, intituled Atlantica, sive Manheim, vera Fapheti posterorum sedes ac patria, consisting of four volumes in folio; a work equally rich in
learning and singular paradoxes, in which Rupsecx attempts to prove
* They were published at London in July 1789, by Dr. James Epwarp Smitu, Proprietor of the Linnzan Museum and Herbals, under the title of—Reliquia RUDBECKIANA, sive camporum Elysiorum libri primi, quae supersunt, adjectis nominibus LINNZANIS—folio.
that
24 LINN AUS
that Sweden is the Atlantis of Puaro, the Paradise of Anam, and the native country of the ancient northern and southern nations, including the Greeks and Romans.
Oxraus Rupseckx, the son of the former, born on the 15th of March 1660, who had taken his degrees at Utrecht, succeeded his fe ther in his academical fun€tions. During the first years he made botany his chief pursuit. He afterwards applied to philology, in which he made great progress, and intended to publish a great philological work, intituled Lexicon Harmonicum, when death arrested his career on the 23d of March +740. When he first took Linn 2us under his protection, he had attained his seventieth year. Going out and giving le€tures became equally difficult for him, and he wished for an assistant. In point of botany he could have found none more able than Linnezus. The perusal of his treatise, and a nearer trial of his abili- ties, determined Oxaus to fix his choice upon him.
He took Linnus into his house, where he gave leétures for him in the botanical garden in the year 1730. It did great honour to a young student only twenty-three years of age, to become the re- presentative of a venerable academical institutor. He supplied his place with every mark of approbation. The vivacity of his instruc- ‘tions, the novelty of matter, charmed his audience, and this charge, ad interim, became to the young leéturer a fresh incentive to improve- ment, and aschool of his own cultivation. He stood indebted to the venerable old man under whose roof he was placed, for a more exten- sive knowledge of ornithology ; he had a colle&tion of all the Swedish
birds, and gave le€tures on them. Linnaeus always continued to make
Va
A STUDENT“AANT!UPSAL. a5
make botany his principal study ; but it was decreed that he should like- wise establish a better order in the other reigns of Nature, especially among the different classes of the animal reign. The new plan of a bo- tanical reform, and the theory of the sexes of the plants, consequently remained the objeé of the thoughts and enquiries of Linnaus. He became acquainted with the difficulties and infinite trouble that would attend the introdu@tion of a new order ; but the charms of invention, the prospeéts of honour and fame, doubled his zeal, and rendered pleasant his labours. He began to build the foundation of his system, and wrote several treatises on the classes and genera of the plants, which afterwards were published in Holland, and served to disseminate his system of reform.
Linn us, during his abode at Upsal, had the good fortune to meet with a young friend, to whose zeal and rivalship he owed a great deal. This was Peter Artepi, equally conspicuous for his eminence in a certain branch of natural history, and his unhappy fate. He was born in the year 1705 in Angermania, likewise of poor parents, and behaved at the college of Hernasand in the same manner as Linnaeus did at Wexicoe, preferring the study of nature, especially that of fishes, to all other accomplishments. In 1724 he came to Upsal, to study divinity, but he soon exchanged this science for natural history. Linnzus himself describes the history of this friendship with those sentiments of liveliness and cordiality which fully evince its value. ¢ In the ‘6 year 1728, says Linn aus, “ I came to Upsal. I asked what student *¢ was most eminent for his knowledge in natural history. The name of “6 Anrep was heard every where ; he had studied there several ycars ‘before me. I felt the most ardent desire to see him. On paying him
B 66 a visit
26 LINNAZUS
* a visit I found him pale, downcast and weeping because his father had *¢ just died. Our conversation soonturned upon plants, stones and ani- * mals. The new remarks he made, the knowledge he displayed, struck «me with amazement. I solicited his friendship, he wished for mine. *¢ How valuable, how happy was our intercourse! With what pleasure * did we see it cemented! ‘If one of us made some new observation, he « communicated it to the other; not a day elapsed without our re- “ ceiving reciprocal instruction. Rivalship increased our diligence and s¢ researches; though we lived at a great distance, yet it could not pre- ¢¢ vent us visiting each other every day.’ Even the dissimilitude of our ‘‘ charafter turned out to advantage. His temper was of a more 6 serious cast. Heexcelled me in chymistry, and I outdid him in the 6‘ knowlege of birds and insects, and in botany.”
Argent finally confined his botanical studies to that division of the vegetable reign which treats of the plante umbellifere, (umbelliferous planis), in which he pointed out a new method of classification, which. was afterwards published by Linnzus. But the chief obje& of his pursuits, which transmitted his fame to posterity, was the empire of Neprune; or the knowledge of the natural history of fishes, called Ichthyology. Even in this branch of. science Linnaus first stood. up his rival, but found himself so far exceeded in point of abilities. by his friend, that he relinquished to him this ‘province, on which the latter afterwards bestowed all ‘his juvenile labours. Thus,” says. Barcx, “ these two young rival geniuses divided among themselves « natural history, as the Romans once had done the domination of
& the world.” 3 ARTEDE.
A STUDENT AT UPSAL 27
Arrtept had projeéted the happy plan of introducing a new method and classification in Ichthyology, which cheered and strengthened Lin- nus in his design to effeét the same in botany. The zeal of reform animated both in: their new hypotheses, and both were equally fortu- nate in their exertions and discoveries, but not in their fate. Fate, relentless Fate parted them—they once more had the joy to meet, but far from their country; the imperious mistress of men tore, by the most melancholy accident, a friend from Linn 2us, who was the com- panion and promoter of his studies, and the delight of his academical life,
Meanwhile a new prospeét opened itself before Linna&us, to ex- tend his learning. In 1710, when the plague raged at Upsal, and forced the students to fly from this university, a private literary society was instituted under the auspices of OLaus Ce sius, which was fully incorporated in 1719, and confirmed by royal san€tion and privilege in the year 1728. This society was in its flourishing infant state, and for this reason the zeal for public researches and enterprizes was the greater at that period. Its chief tendency was to objets of domestic natural history. Among all the Swedish domains, none was more unknown in point of its produétions and natural curiosities than the remote, vast, and wild region of Lapland. Already in the preceding century pains had been taken to remove this want of know- ledge. Oxaus Rupseck senior, undertook in the year 1695 to travel through this extensive northern province at the expence of Cuarves XI.king of Sweden. He colle&ted many natural curiosities, which were, however, destroyed by the great fire at Upsal in 1702, with
B 2 the
28 LINN EUS, &e.
the Campi Elysia. It was proposed to compensate for this loss. Under the immediate proteétion of the States, the Academy of Sciences came to a resolution in 1731, to send another traveller to make discoveries in Lapland. Cxrxsiusand Rupsecx had proposeda young gentleman for this purpose, and their choice fell on him, who united their good
wishes and the greatest abilities—our Linn aus.
SECTION
SECT LON, III.
LINN £US RECEIVES A SUM OF MONEY TO DEFRAY HIS TRAVELLING EXPENCES.— DIFFICULTIES ATTENDING THE SCIENCE OF BOTANY.—DESCRIPTION OF HIS JOURNEY.—DANGERS AND OBSTACLES,—VISITS THAT PART OF LAPLAND WHERE SOME FRENCH ASTRONOMERS ASCERTAINED SOME YEARS AFTER THE FIGURE OF THE EARTH.—CONTINUES HIS PEREGRINATION THROUGH THE NORTHERN ALPS.—_ANECDOTE.—COMPARISON WITH BARON HALLER’S JOUR- NEY IN THE ALPS.—LINNAZUS RETURNS TO UPSAL.—EXTENT OF HIS JOURNEY, AND OF THE BENEFITS WHICH RESULTED FROM IT.—PUBLISHES HIS FIRST WORK, THE FLORA OF LAPLAND.—JOURNAL OF HIS TRAVELS REMAINS UN- PRINTED.—IS ELECTED A MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF UP- SAL.—BEGINS TO DELIVER LECTURES.—GAINS APPLAUSE.—IS ENVIED.—NICHO~ LAS ROSEN BECOMES HIS ADVERSARY.—THEY FORBID HIM TO READ LEC- TURES.—HE CONCEIVES THE DESIGN OF STABBING ROSEN.—DISTRESSED. AND UNFORTUNATE CONDITION OF LINNAUS.—ANECDOTE,—FATAL SENSIBILITY OF HIS MIND.—MAKES FRIENDSHIP WITH BARON REUTERHOLM AT FAHLUN.— MAKES A JOURNEY THROUGH DALECARIA.—HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF HIS JOURNEY.—JOURNAL UNPRINTED.—LINNAUS RETURNS TO FAHLUN.—GIVES LECTURES ON MINERALOGY.—CONTRACTS FRIENDSHIP WITH DR, MORAUS.— FALLS IN LOVE WITH HIS DAUGHTER.—THE YOUNG LADY GIVES HIM MONEY TO ENABLE HIM TO TAKE HIS DEGREE OF DOCTOR AT A DUTCH UNIVER. SITY.—PREPARES FOR HIS DEPARTURE. .
A Journey through Lapland is certainly one of the most difficult and most disagreeable that can be made in Europe. A thousand might have declined the offer of going such a journey. But Linnzus, from his love of fame, and fired with an enthusiastic desire of making some farther progress in his favourite science, deemed himself happy in such an opportunity. No premium or reward having been of- fered for making this journey, and the travelling money being very small, were additional motives to have rejeéted the offer. In-
deed the whole sum devoted to this expedition did not amount
tc
30 JOURNEY TO LAPLAND.
to more than one hundred Swedifh platens, or to seven pounds ten shillings sterling at farthest.
If there be a science which to raise its votary to celebrity requires the courage of enthusiasm, and the patience of labour and difficulty, that science is botany. The divine, the lawyer, the philosopher, the bel-esprit can become great men in their own closets; the astronomer by observing the spheres of the worlds from the observatory can gain an immortal name; but it is not thus with the botanist and natural historian. Nature requires the personal contemplation and scrutiny of her secrets and curiosities. Hence the goddess of no science had ever so many zealous lovers, no science so many who fell viétims to their devotion of study, as that of natural history.
Linn us accepted the proposal of the journey in autumn of 1731, and visited in winter professor Stoszus, his late benefa€tor at Lund, and his parents, who were now more reconciled to him, and smiled at his progress. ‘Thence he returned to Ufsal in April, to prepare every thing for his peregrination in the S:beria of his country. |
Immediately on the return of spring, which seldom chears the year at Stockholm before May, he commenced his journey on horseback, on the second day of that month, that he might not be over-fatigued when he arrived at the place of his destination. He took his route to Gevali, through the North-eastern province of Norland, along the gulph of Bothnia. From thence he was to proceed North-west to the Southernmost province of Lapland, called Umea Lapmark; but spring had not visited this distriét at the latter end of May. The country was replete with the dreary scenes of winter, and threatened the traveller with disappointment and destru€tion. People persuaded Linn.2vs not
te
JOURNEY TO PAPLAND. 3
to expose himself, but wait the full return of summer. His courage was blind to difficulties, and so impatient his desire of making some new discovery, that he was irresistibly induced to visit those traés which had seldom or never been visited before.
Having waited a few days at Hernafand, the chief town of Anger- mania, on the Bothnian gulph, in expe&ation of milder weather, he commenced his wanderings on foot, and travelled alone through the above-mentioned province of Lapland. ‘Trees, herbs, animals, moun- tains; in short, every novelty and curiosity of Nature which offered itself, became the objeéts of his observation and attention. The pro- phecies made to him respeéting this undertaking he now experienced to be but too well founded. Every difficulty which could be thought of
occurred to cross his enterprize. The rivers which he was to pass over
being still swelled, and as rapid as torrents, he frequently found his life in danger; the country which is every where interse€ted with bogs and forests could not stop him; all these obstacles were heightened by the inclemency of the climate, the want of provisions, and fre- quently by that of a sheltering place to rest his head upon in those desert traéts. Linn aus thought himself the happiest of men if when tired and exhausted with his daily peregrinations he could at night find the cot of some Laplander, to still his hunger and to repose his weariel limbs !
Undaunted by all these obstacles and dangers he continued his. jour- ney through the other provinces of Lapland, through Pithea and Ulna Lapmark. If we consider that this Canada of Sweden does not con- tain a single town, but thirty-two scattered dweilings or villages, we
ahall be able to form to ourselves some idea of the inhospitable and. desert
32 JOURNEY TO LAPLAND.
desert state of those regions. Linnaus did not travel through cul- tivated fields, but through a country whose surface is deeply covered with snow during the greatest part of the year, containing a few solitary huts, abodes of the greatest poverty, but contentment, whose ten- ants have no notion of. superfluity, nor of many wants; in short, through a country where the human race is still in a rough, unculti- vated state. The manners of the inhabitants with whose language he soon got acquainted, their hospitality and good-nature which he praised, the diseases which he found among them, and their modes of cure, ceconomy, &c. became the obje& of our traveller's attention.
The same northern distri€ts through which Linn 2us was now travel- ling, were visited four years after by that celebrated society of Southern astronomers and philosophers who ascertained the figure of the earth, and glorified Sir Isaac Newron in his grave. This great man had maintained in the last century by an ingenious theory, that the earth was flat and pressed inwards about the poles. The great Italian astro- nomer Cassin1, whom the liberality of Lours XIV. brought to Paris from Bologna, by several mensurations attempted -to . refute Newron’s hypothesis. To decide this contest, this learned expedi- tion was undertaken at Paris, through the endeavours of Count Mavrepas, an expedition which will ever be memorable in the annals of literature. ;
ConDAMINE was dispatched from Paris to Peru with another so- ciety, to measure there the degrees beneath the equator, and Mav- PERTIUS, Oururer, Crairnaut, Camus, and Mountrsr, repaired to Tornea in Lapland, whither they were accompanied from Up-
sal by ANDREW Cexsius, the Swedish astronomer. The result of both
JOURNEY TO LAPLAND. 38
both these voyages and observations, was a full confirmation of New- TON’s opinion, that-the earth is a spheroid, higher towards the equator and more depressed about the poles.
‘6 Newton in the starry sky,
‘¢ Newton saw them, and from the heavens, ‘¢ Bade them confirm his discovery
*¢ To the astonish’d world.”
Let us return to our traveller. Having explored the interior parts of the provinces of Lapland, Linn £us dire€ted his steps to the al- pine mountains which part Norway from Sweden and extend from the Frozen Sea to the southern province of Warmeland, in a latitude of between ten and twenty, and a longitude of two hundred Swedish miles. The obstacles and dangers which he had overcome, could not at all be compared with those presented by this steep and rocky region, whose summits are the throne of winter, and whose remote and interior parts were seldom trod by the foot of man. But even this dreary distri& had the greatest allurements for LInNzavS.
He continued courageously those arduous travels, bidding defiance ‘to dangers and difficulties, disregarding the nipping frost of the moun- tains and the heat of the vallies. He turned his most serious attention to the third part of natural creation, the mineral reign, to the better order and division of which his reform was likewise to extend; and having reached the northern boundaries, he visited the mines and ob- tained fresh knowledge. The fruits which he reapt from his excursions, were so attractive to his mind, as to induce him to go as far as the shores of the North Sea, whither two good-natured Laplanders fol- lowed him as his guides and interpreters. He then set out on his re-
F urn
34 JOURNEY T:O° LA PTAAIND:
turn by a different way, through the mountains, and exhausted with . hardships, fatigue and hunger, reached Lulea on the eleventh of Au- gust.
«* All my food in those fatiguing excursions, which cannot be eased ** by voluntary repose or riding,” says Linn £us in the account which he gave of his travels in the year 1771, to his worthy friend and pupil, Door and Professor Giese at Hamburgh, “ consisted for the most part “< of fish and rein-deer’s milk ; bread, salt, and what is to be found every ‘‘ where else, did but seldom recreate my palate. One of the greatest “¢ nuisances which I met with in Lapland, was the immense number of “¢ flies. I used to keep them off by drawing a crape over my face. “% For want of this necessary article I must have been forced ‘to ‘¢ swallow numbers of these inseéts with every breath. The Laplanders ‘have a specific of their own against those unpleasant intruders; * they besmear their hands and face witha kind of rosin. This num- ‘¢ berless quantity of teazing inseéts is not without its utility; they ‘¢ serve as food to the birds of passage; and the latter are a valuable «¢ branch of the Laplander’s subsistence. I remained a whole fortnight *¢ on the banks of the river, which is about four times as broad as the * sround on which Upsal is ere€ted. I found it, as far as my sight could ** reach, entirely covered with wild geese, ducks, &c. The Laplanders «“ have nothing to do. but to catch and kill them, a resource which ‘¢ affords abundant supplies both in winter and summer.”
He chose at Upsal the motto, Tantus amor Florum—Tuus CREAT Is THE LOVE OF FLOWERS; and if ever a motto was verified and con- firmed, Linnazus has done it by the present. Surely, he,” says
BaEck,
JOURNEY TO LAPLAND. 35
Barcx, “ must be a faithful lover of FLrora who suffers so much in ss her service, and is contented with a favourable smile of his beloved «¢ one, as LinN £us was with a plant growing on the brink of some steep ss waterfall, to which he climbed up in danger of his life, or with some ¢¢ unknown moss concealed in profound caverns or clefts.”
The journey through Lapland was the first and most difficult of the six different travels of Linnaus. He spoke himself of it afterwards, when he assumed the funétions of his academical office in the year 1741, in the following expressions: *¢ There is no important nor considerable ‘6 province of Sweden through which I have not roamed with great fa- “© tigue and bodily exertion. My journey through Lapland was particu- larly toilsome: and I own that I was obliged to sustain more hardships *¢ and dangers in this sole peregrination through the frontier of our * northern world, than in all the travels which I undertook in other s¢ parts, though not without fatigue and weariness. But having once sus- ¢¢ tained the toils of travelling, I buried in the oblivion of Lethe, all the s¢ dangers and difficulties which I had suffered. The invaluable fruits *¢ which I reaped from these excursions, compensated for every toil*.”
The best comparative image of the Alps of Lapland, is presented by
those of Switzerland. But how many excellencies and prerogatives
& Nulla facile est nobilior Suecie Provincia, quam ego non perreptavi, perlustravi, ets? non sine corporis viriumque defatigatione eximia. Iter quidem Lapponicum maximi mihi con- stitit laboris ; et fateor, necessum mihi fuisse, plus devorare molestie ac periculi, vagando per unam hanc mundi nostri arétoi oram, quam per reliquas omnes, quas unquam genitum contigiz mihi obire terras in extero orbe, nec tamen et ipsas absque delassatione viriumque jaclura a me calcatas. Sed—exatlantis itineribus, mox omnis defunGi discriminis ac molestie me quast Lethad cepit oblivio, compensante hacomnia fruciu inestimabile, quem ex bis viarum errori- bus reportavi. Linn. AMOENITAT. AcaD. Vol. II,
F 2 have
36 JOURNEY TO LAPLAND.
have not the latter, in preference to the inhospitable and desert traéts of Lapland! The description given by Baron Haver of his Alpine tour, and of the hardships which the botanist must encounter in Switzerland, is the.only apt comparison which can be drawn with the Lapponian journey of Linna#us; a description, that in most in-
stances can be applied to the latter, except in the narrative of hard-
ships, which the reader must fancy to have been greater and more
complicated in Lapland.
« Among all the botanists,” says Hatter, * the botanist of . Switzerland finds the greatest difficulties. That country exhibits an ‘6 infinite variety ; and the excursions made there cannot be deemed ‘6 pleasure-walks. M. VaitLtanr, who composed the catalogue of s¢ plants in the environs of Paris, and a great many other botanists who «¢ have written similar works, only found pleasure. They ‘visited fine dis- sé tri€ts, villas, parks, pleasant woods, and returned from their excur- és sions in the full enjoyment of every domestic comfort; their labour ‘6 was mere recreation. But it is quite another case in Switzerland. «© The traveller must climb up the Alps through dreadful cliffs, descend 6 from these with still greater danger, suffer on the summit of the moun- 6 tains the most piercing frost, which almost chills the blood, and re- © turn afterwards to the vallies, where he is almost suffocated with heat. sé In all these excursions one is exposed to a constant intemperature of “6 the climate. For the clouds, which generally rest on the Alps, é emit almost every day, hail or thunder; or the brows of those huge «« mountains are covered with thick fogs, which prove still more ** dangerous, because they conceal the paths, or rather the slightest
* Baron HALLER’s Biblotheque Raisonnée, tom. ix, p. 266. © tracks,
JOURNEY TO LAPLAND. 37
“tracks. For regular highways and roads are not to be found in “those wild regions. The least cloud or fog can mislead the travel- “ler: and if he loses his only right track, for there is seldom “more than one, he may surely give himself up as lost. In all this she is deprived of every commodity, and must go without bread “or bed. The night is spent in huts. The inhabitants are, indeed, as ‘hospitable as the Greeks of yore; they share with ftrangers their
« usual food—nay, even their dainties. But what dainties !—Milk, and
on
«6 sometimes curds. For those who drink water it is an excellent beve- ‘¢ rage, being the purest and finest in the world. But the nights are very
“unpleasant. The coldness and roughness of the boards, which supply
o
‘ the place of beds, render them almost insupportable. Notwithstanding &* such hardships, there have always been persons who wished to face “them. Those mountains, covered with perpetual ice, those rocky py- “ ramids, covered with everlasting snow ; those awful, obscure valleys, “from which pour down a great number of torrents among a thousand * cascades ; those natural fountains and reservoirs, which surpass by far, * every thing which the most powerful monarch could procure; those s¢ deserts, whose calmness and solitude is not even interrupted by the song of birds, those numerous flocks, the image of innocence. In short, “ all this has asomething moving, splendid and majestic. One remem- “ bers it with pleasure, and feels, by some secret magic, a desire of re- “ turning and renovating such lively and pleasant ideas by fresh contem- *¢ plation. Every other journey of a similar extent is but uniform, if «6 compared with the present.”
All the hardships enumerated in this description, cold and immoderate
heat, hunger, want of commodities, and numberless dangers attending the
38 JOURNEY TO LAPEAMDD.
the trackless wilds, presented themselves in the journey of Linnaus, but none of the above mentioned charms and rural delights, of which Lapland is entirely destitute.
Linn us arrived-at Lulea, where he took. rest for a few days, and then continued his travels. Coming thither he had visited “the western provinces on the Gulph of Bothnia, and he now direéted his way to- watds the eastern distri¢ts through Zornea into Finland.
' Having passed through Carleby, Vasa, Christianstadt and ‘Bjoerneborg, he reached Ado, the capital of the grand dutchy, where he crossed over the Gulph, and after six months travels, of more than eight hundred German leagues in extent, he returned to Ufsal, towards the latter end. of O&ober 1732. He had so well managed his travelling money, as to have been able to defray out of. it the expences of get- ting made a large fur dress, called by the Swedes Lapmud, and for which he brought rein-deer-skins with him.
The intention of his journey was most completely fulfilled. Lap- land is a country as poor in plants as in other produdtions. Linn aus had, however, discovered upwards of one hundred of the former, which were either entirely unknown or undescribed before. But the objeéts of his attention were not only confined to plants ; they included also the curiosities of the animal reign; the domestic arrangements and -usages: of the inhabitants, their mode of living, and many other civil and moral subjeéts. He set down all, these remarks ‘in the diary which he kept on his journey.. This valuable produétion has likewise remained unprinted. It is written in the Swedish language ; and after the author's death it became, with his natural colleétion and other manu-
scripts,
— eda
JOURNEY FO LAP AND. 39
scripts, the property of Doétor J. E. Smiru, of London. Several auditors of Linn us obtained this manuscript for their use in their medical and ceconomical treatises and labours. Its contents, with regard to botany, have, however, been made public by Linnaus himself in two works.
One of these works became the first which appeared in print with the name of Linnaus, and is an official document, in which he pre- sents an account of his journey. It is a catalogue and short description of the plants of Lapland, under the title of Florula Lapponica. Even in such a small work Linnaus had already relinquished the system of Tournerort. He described the plants not by their flower or blos- som, but according to his own favourite plan, by the sex, the number of stamina, or dust-threads, and the pistilla or dust-ways, which he was obliged first to examine himself. From this small work, the beginning ‘of the epoch of botanical reform, and the introdu€tion of the mo- dern sexual system is to be dated. But this first stone towards the raising of the new Colossus, was too little and too unimportant to de- serve particular notice; the more so, as it was concealed in a remote and distant country. Much more was required to be done in order to excite general attention, to make this new strutture better known, and to render it the general pattern.
The Royal Academy of Sciences received very favourably this first specimen of the ‘exertions of the juvenile tourist. The two dif- ferent parts of the Flora of Lapland, were inserted in their transa€tions 1732 and 1734; and to give Linnezus a token of their gratitude and esteem they eleGted him one of their members. Some recent increase of knowledge derived from those travels, and the honour of being eleéted
academician,
40 JOURNEY TO LAPLAND.
academician, were the only rewards which Linn aus obtained for his toils. Having surmounted so many dangers and difficulties, he hoped to find repose and better fortune at Upsal; but instead of these, fate overwhelmed him with fresh adversities. '
Ambitious to shine in the science which he professed, and endea- vouring to secure the means of decent support, he began in the year 1733 to give leétures on botany, chymistry and mineralogy. On the latter science he was the first at Ugsal that ever gave regular le€iures. | Novelty of matter, the different view in which he represented botany, and the solidity and clearness of his do€trine, gained him uncommon approbation.
This very distingétion, so justly acquired, turned out to his pre- judice. Envy and rivalship, combined with self-interest, gave rise to all the violence of animosity. Linnaus had not taken his degrees, which excluded him from the right of delivering public le&tures. Had he been a genius of the second order, he might have expeéted to meet with indulgence ;_ but as matters stood, he became too obnoxious to his com- petitors, who were determined to check his rising fame. A young man became at once the rival and accuser of Linna&us. His name was Dodtor Nicuoras Rosten. He had succeeded professor RubDBECK in his anatomical and physical office. The applause which Linneus received militated against Rosen’s reputation. He informed against him before the senate of the university, and insisted that, in virtue of the academical statutes, Linnaus be no longer suffered to give public le€tures. He was summoned to appear before the senate; several mem- bers were in his favour; but Rosen pleaded the inviolability of the
2
statutes,
ADVENTURES OF LINNXUS. 4i
statutes, which the senate were bound to enforce, by forbidding Lin- N £us to continue his le€tures. °
This was a blow which hurled down in a moment the brightest hopes of our hero. His glad prospects changed into dreary views. His ambition was hemmed in the sphere of its operations, and his a€tive diligence at once bereft of the only means by which he could support himself. No wonder if the wrath of Linwzus burst forth in a most unbounded manner. In the access of his rage he forgot himself, his future happiness, and every moral consideration. When Rosen left the senate, Linna#us waited on him, with desperate fury drew his sword, and was ready to runit through the body of his enemy, had not the bye-standers fortunately wrested from him that instrument of his vengeance. ‘This violent step excited universal notice. RosEn, who was a member of the academy, complained of this gross assault, and of this daring violation of the laws of public safety. The drawing of the sword was alone sufficient to annihilate the whole subsequent plan of botanical reform. The rigor of the law threatened Linnaus with proscription, and he could never afterwards have made his ap- pearance at Upsal. The bad consequences of this decree were, however, warded off by the friends and prote€tors of Linnaeus. Oxaus Cet- stus interposed, allayed the resentment occasioned by this event, and brought matters so far that punishment was changed into a bare repri- mand.
Linna&us was now spared, but he still cherished the idea of ven- geance. His sanguine temper almost drove him to desperation. Still did he meditate the design of stabbing Rosen if he should meet with him in the streets. While this desperate resolution had insinuated
G itself
42 ADVENTURES OF LINN ZUS,
itself into his mind, he awoke one niglit in agonizing consternation— his fancy replete with dreadful images—he- once gave a serious thought to the horrid idea, and reason conquered the effervescence of passion. From this moment he became more fortunate—as he himself confessed afterwards—and this very occurrence induced him to write a particular diary, under the title of Nemesis Divina*.
Linnaus and Rossen became afterwards professors almost at the same time, and both were men of eminence. The recolle€tion of this. scene of animosity became as little extin& as the secret rivalship which. attended the career of their studies, when they once became colleagues. Rosen acquired a well merited reputation, both in the branches of physic, and as an author, he was appointed Dean of the College of Physicians like Linn.zus, and created a nobleman by the name of Rosen von Rosenstein. He died the 16th of July 17737.
bi
4 I have collected this anecdote froma conversation which Linnzvus once had with a celebrated pupil of his, and which he related in these words :—‘ Hoc interficiendi consilium «<quum in animo volverem, noéte quondam e‘somniis emergens, altius reputavi—et inter-
*« mittere statui. Ne facias dixi; Deus windex erit. Et ex eo tempore omnia in melius ver- $¢ gebant.”?
+ Rosen was born on the firft of February, 1706, in a village near Gottenburgh, where he frequented the college in 1718. His father was a preacher; Rosen was destined for the church, but disliked the studies of divinity as much as Linna&us. Physic was his favourite science. His principal professor was Kinian Sros#@us at Lund. Having resided four years” at the university, he went to Stockholm, and became tutor in a nobleman’s family. In 1728, assessor MARTIN died at Upsal, when Rosen became substitute professor of physic. Before he took upon himself this new office, he madea tour through Germany, Switzerland, France and Holland, where he was made doétor at Harderwyk, in 1730. In the spring of the follows ing year he entered on his professorship at Upsal, became member of the Society of Sciences there, was received a member of the Royal Academy of Stoskbolm, in 17393 in 1740, he bes came ordinary professor for Rudbck; in 1757, he was createda knight of the order of the Polar Star, and ennobled in 1762; when Queen Louisa Utica gave him the name of
RosENSTBIN,
ADVENTURES OF( LINNAEUS. 43
If Linnaus had chosen to continue his le€tures, he must have taken his degree of do&tor; but this was not in his power for want of money. He had more than enough to do to support himself. Amidst these adverse circumstances, there was still one hope left for him. The office of substitute professor of the university of Lund had become vacant. He took pains to obtain this charge, and Sros aus and other professors supported his claims; his efforts proved, however, fruitless, and another obtained that wished-for happiness.
His situation now became as wretched as before, but his courage and serenity continued the same. The consciousness of his eminence, the remembrance of the darker but still more pleasant prospeéts of fu- turity, the idea of his bold plan of reform which he still continued to work upon, and the hope of a future comfortable subsistence, animated his resolution and fortitude in combating adversity.
These virtues allayed likewise the rigor of his fate. The former pupils of Linn zus lamented his situation. Several of them resolved in the year 1733. to make excursions in the mountainous countries, and they put Linnavus at the head of the enterprize, which had for its ten- dency a farther knowledge of the mineral reign. This excursion ex-
tended to Garpenberg, Averstal, Bitzberg, and especially to Fahluny
ROsENSTEIN, and chose his coat of arms. He gained great celebrity as a physician to the Royal Family of Sweden, and received in the year 1769, for his inoculation of the small pox at court, a reward of 100,000 rix dollars, from the states of the kingdom. His motto was, Without Thorns, “ Sine Spinis.”’—In his last illness he requested the medical assistance of Linn£us. His country lost in him one of the greatest physicians. The academy of Stockholm had a medal struck to his memory, with this inscription: S@culi decus indelibile nostri. He published the Method of Curing the Diseases of Children, translated into German, English, Dutch, French, and Italian; also, 4 Medical Repository of Domestic Medicine for Families and Travellers...
G 2 the
44 REMARKABLE’ OC CURREN GES.
the capital of Dalecarlia, famous for its rich copper-mines, the most celebrated in Sweden.
This was the place, where he laid the foundation of his temporary and subsequent prosperity. He was introduced to Baron ReuTER- HoLM, Governor. of the Province. This nobleman delighted in the studies of nature; and chiefly spent his leisure hours with the pro- duétions of the mines. His charge as dire€tor of the mines became more lucrative in proportion to his knowledge of their produce. He saw Linn 2us, admired his-uncommon talents, and grew very fond of him. He had two sons, whom he felt a strong desire of having in-
structed and improved in all the principal ceconomical and mineral pro-
cesses. He resolved, therefore, to let them travel: Linnazus had al=
ready explored Lapland, acquired experience, and made observations and discoveries. The Baron’s sons could not have found an abler guide, and his choice fortunately fell upon him.
Several other young men associated with those young nobles in the excursion. Ittook place in the spring of 1734, under the dire€tion of
Linnaus. Each of the young travellers had assigned to him.a par-
ticular and separate branch of observation. ‘Their way was direGted to
the Eastern part of Dalecarlia, thence to Norway, through the moun- tains, where the mines at Roraas occupied their attention for a long time. To view them was the chief objeét of their journey. From hence they returned, by another road, through the West of Dalecarlia, to Fahlun.
It was at first projeéted to publish all the observations of the travel- lers in a colleétion, but this plan was never executed. Linn aus
kept a particular journal; but this, like that of his journey through 1 Lapland,
une
REMARK ABLESOCGCGURRENCES. A5
Lapland, was never printed; partly, because he was prevented from pub- lishing it by other occupations; partly, because he did not choose to publish his juvenile observations after he had gained such universal celebrity. His Dalecarlian diary was consulted as a manuscript by his pupils, and the botanical remarks were inserted in his own works. A particular fruit of this journey was a list of the pasture herbs, which was afterwards prepared for the public eye under the ttle of Pan Suecus, and inserted in the second part of the Amenitates Aca- demice.
Linnzus, having no prospedt of support at Ursa, remained on his return from this journey, at Fahdun, where he established a little col- lege under the auspices of Baron Reureruoitm. He began to give leGures on the art of assaying metals, and upon other branches of mine- ralogy. In a town situated in the mountains, like Fahlun, the novelty of those instructions excited interest. Theory came to the assistance of the near occasion of practice and experiment. Linn &us, considering the smallness of the place, found a sufficient number of pupils, and earned applause, money, friends, and prote€tors.
The most interesting and most important connexion which he formed here was with a young lady. It was she who fixed his wavering career, and became afterwards his consort and companion through life. Lin- N&us wrote. to Baron Hauer the history of this connexion and courtship ;—and who would not wish to hear it in his own words.
“© Returned from my journey*,” says he in this letter, “ I took up «¢ my residence at Fahlun, the capital of Dalecarlia, began to give lec-
** tures
* Fado itinere redii in primariam urbem istius provincie Dalecarlie, Fablunam; docuié
mineralogiam, amatus ab omnibus permansi per mensem. Erat ibi medicus quem divitem : dicere
46 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES.
tures on mineralogy, was universally beloved, and remained there a
« whole month. The physician of that distri€t passed for a rich man.
na
«6 Considering the poverty of the province, he could justly be deemed
6
Oy
opulent. His name was Morus, eminent for his learning and skill
6
n
among the Swedish physicians (Linn aus called him afterwards in
4
o
one of his dissertations the great physician of the Swedes, magnum
¢
a
gentis nost@ medicum). Physic, especially pra€tical medicine, was the
é
a
science which he esteemed and preferred above all others. He grew
«‘ fond of me. I visited him frequently, and always met with an amicable
G
o
reception. He had two daughters. Saran Exrizasetu, the eldest,
4
eo
was a beautiful girl. A certain Baron had paid his addresses to her,
é
o
though without success. I saw her, was amazed, smitten, and fell
o
«¢ in love. My caresses and representations won her heart. She promised
‘‘ her consent, and vowed to be mine. But as a poor young man I was
¢
Oy
much perplexed to ask her of the father. At last I ventured. Mo- «¢ Rus consented and refused. He loved me, but not my uncertain *¢ and adverse fate. He finally declared, that his daughter should re-—
‘¢ main unmarried three years longer, and at the expiration of that time
4
n
he would give his ultimate decision.” Thus Linn aus had a bride in the twenty-seventh "year of his age.
Little did old Moraus think, how great a man his son-in-law would
dicere non erubescebat vulgus, immo erat inter omnes in ista pauperrimd provincia ditissimus, aomine MOREUS, vir etiam inter Suecie medicos, doctrinam si spectes, facile primus. Vir iste nullum vita genus medicine inferiorem (praxin hic spetans) esse, millies pronunciavit 3 me interim amabat, Adit domum ejus, non semel gratus.ipsi hospes. Filiam habuit (et aliam etate inferiorem ) pulchram, quam ambiebat Liber Baro quidam frustra; vidi, obstupui, precordia intima sensi attonitus novis intumuisse curis. Amavi, illa tandem vidta blanditiis votis, Sc. Gc. et me amabat, promisit, dixit fiat. Patrem adloquie rubcescm pauperrimus, dixi tamen j— Voluit et noluit, me amabat pater, non mea fata, dixit: intafla permanebit per tres annes, dicam tum demum, Letter to HALLER, Stockholm, September 12, 1739.
once
REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES. 47
-oncé be! Botany appeared to him too uncertain a branch of fame and support. He, therefore, advised Linn £vs to apply himself more ex- clusively to the theoretical and pra€tical study of physic. It then became necessary for the latter in order to see crowned the most ardent of his wishes, by the possession of his beloved, to take his degree of Do€tor be- fore the expiration of the limited period. Want of money had rendered. this impossible, notwithstanding his multifarious learned exertions. Love helped him to conquer these dimiculties. In the year 1733, he had the good fortune, through the friendship and influence of professor Wa tt- RAVE, to obtain a pension arising from a foundation made in the uni- versity of Upsal, by one Wrepe. This pension amounted to sixty dollars. per annum*. He strained every nerve to obtain a continuation of this benefa€tion, but his efforts proved unsuccessful. His Er1zaseru became
‘however his support. She procured him about one hundred dollars out of her savings, arising from the liberality of her father. To this, Linnaus added what little money he had laid by from his pension and le€tures*. With this stock he was to travel into a distant country, and to acquire the title of doGor. At that time it was customary in Sweden for stu- dents to take up their degrees in foreign universities, a fashion in some respe€ts attended with expence, in others produttive of utility. The Swedish physicians used then to become graduates in Holland, and generally at the University of Harderwyk, which was the least expen- sive. Linnzus was therefore, preparing for his departure to that
* The pensions granted by the crown to the students at Upsa/, amount to forty-five. Private pensions, called Stipendia Magnatum, there are now thirty and some odd.
+ Ina letterto BARON Hatter already mentioned, Linnus himself says: Exivi pa- triam 36 nummis aureis dives. By Nummi aurei, Linn&us always meant ducats, the usual gold currency of Sweden. According to FaBRicivs, it made a sum of one hundred
ducats, country,
“ a
48 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES.
country, which by the concurrence of auspicious circumstances be- eame the abode of his fame, and the theatre of his primary greatness. But before we can follow him on his journey, and in the career of his reform, it is necessary for the sake of a better view, to promise an his- torical episode, or a concise history of the fate and state of the science
of botany at that time—a science which has since been entirely changed by his discoveries,
SECTION
[49]
SECTION -IV.
A SHORT HISTORY OF BOTANY.
AMONG THE GREEKS.—THEOPHRASTUS, THE FATHER OF BOTANY. —HIPPO- CRATES.—DIOSCORIDES.—AMONG THE ROMANS.—PLINY.—VIEW OF THE PRO- GRESS OF BOTANY.—OBSTACLES.—WANT OF SYSTEMATICAL DIVISION.—FATE OF THIS SCIENCE IN THE MIDDLE AGE.—ITS REGENERATION IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY BY THE GERMANS, — BRUNFELS. — BOCK.—FUCHS.— THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.—CONRAD GESNER, THE FATHER OF MODERN BOTANICAL HISTORY. —HIS SINGULAR DESTINY.—CULTIVATION OF BOTANICAL GARDENS.—BOTANI- CAL EXCURSIONS.—THE GERMANS ARE THE FIRST WHO PUBLISHED THE FLORAS, OR COLLECTIONS OF PLANTS OF CERTAIN COUNTRIES.—CLUSIUS THE GREAT- EST BOTANICAL TRAVELLER IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.—AFFLUENCE OF BOTANICAL MATERIALS.—WANT OF A NEW SYSTEM.—CAESALPINUS, AN ITA- LIAN, FORMS ONE.—CASPAR BAUHIN, A SWISS, THE FIRST UNIVERSAL WRITER ON BOTANY.—THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.—JUNGIUS.—MANY JOURNIES TO PROMOTE NATURAL HISTORY.—MORISON AND RAY, ENGLISHMEN, THE FIRST AUTHORS OF MODERN SYSTEMS.—RIVINUS.—TOURNEFORT, THE MODERN LE- GISLATOR IN BOTANY.—ACCOUNTS RESPECTING HIM AND HIS SYSTEM.— VAILLANT HIS PUPIL.—HIS INGENIOUS OBSERVATIONS ON THE GENERA, OR SEXES, OF PLANTS.
Tuat same region of Eastern Europe, whence the Muses by ferocity and warlike rage were driven, towards the middle of the fifteenth cen- tury, to seek an asylum in other districts of this part of the globe, and which has been the seat of Ottoman ignorance and barbarism ever since ; that same region which, in the time of the Greeks, became the genuine soil of all the sciences, was also the cradle of botany. it owes its first cultivation to Tueopurastus, that eminent philosopher
H whe
50 HISTORY OQ j,BOMAN YY?
who acquired immortal fame by his moral charafteristic sketches. He was born at Eresus, in the island of Lesbos; lived in the third century before the birth of Curisr (between the g7th and 123d Olympiad);, and was a disciple of Prato and Arrisrotis. Through his distin- guished talents he became dear to the latter, who constituted him heir to his library, and successor in the Peripatetic school. He preferred the love of Nature to the abstruse pursuits of philosophy. He undertook. several journies for the purpose of promoting natural knowledge; and. the fruits of his labours terminated in two valuable works on natural history and the generation of plants*, which have been preserved to this day. In these he gives a descriptive account of upwards of 500 plants. A century before him Hippocrates had already been. the pride of his nation; but the studies and discoveries of this origi- nal genius were almost exclusively confined to the human frame, its diseases and cures. As the oracle of the sick, whose advice and at- tendance was requested from all quarters, he chiefly bestowed his atten- tion. on those produétions of Nature, which, by their medical virtues, were calculated to engross his principal concern.
Thus THEOPRASTUs Was and remained the first learned botanist who. flourished in Greece during its independence and republican freedom. The fall of the latter had’ for its mediate consequence the decline of the sciences. Several centuries elapsed without Furorurastus hav-
ing a successor or rival of his. fame. At last an Asiatic arrogated to
* Tlegi Qutwy sogrxs, seu Historia Plantarum, lib. ix. cum commentar. J. C. SCALIGERI et J. Bopzi a Stapel, Amsterdam 1644. Of the xth book we have only fragments. Qurrry aay autiav BrBrve », Seu de Causis Plantarum, lib. vi. | His complete Greek works first appeared with those of ARISTOTLE at Venice, by A. Manuce,. from 1495 till 1498, six volumes in.folio, The best Latin translation is that of Dan. Heinsius, Leyden, 1613.
himself
HISTORY OF BOTANY. 54
himself the merit of pursuing farther the career of the celebrated “‘Lessran. This was Dioscoripes, a native of Anazarbe in Cilicia. He lived in the first century after the birth of Curist. Medicine was his profession. He was the first who bestowed the utmost attenuion by enquiring into the medicinal properties of plants. He made them the objeét of several travels through various provinces in Europe and Asia. His work on the medical virtues of the plants *, which rendered him the literary father of the Materza Medica, remains as a valuable monu- ment of his greatness. His travels into remote countries had enabled him to make more observations than TuEopurastus. He described upwards of 600 plants.
The Greeks were in all sciences, especially in natural history, and in the scientifiic representation of botany, the original predecessors and teachers of the Romans, their conquerors. The latter, at the most flourishing epochs of their universal monarchy devoted them- selves more than ever to the Muses. The less known and less culti- vated goddess Frora, found only among them one great votary, who, by hismeritorious exertions, preserved his name even beyond the grave. This was Piiny the elder, of Verona, a man universally eminent in Roman literature, and especially in natural history. The large classical work which he wrote on this subjeé is principally appropriated to the vegetable reign, which it occupies from the 11th tothe 19th book. In point of rich colle€&tions and keen observations he excelled all the
Greeks. By his own avowal, his natural history is a compilation from
* Tlegt bang iaretxns, de Materia Medica, lib. vi. first published by A. MANUCE at Venice, 1499, in folio; afterwards by J. A. SARACENUS at Frankfort, 1598, folio. The most mo- dern and best edition is by the late Baron Von Kouuar, Vienna, 1770, with plates.
H 2 about
52 HISTORY OF BOTANY.
about 2500 different authors. This, in some measure, proves that the Romans were not without naturalists, though their fame had perished with their works. PLiny was too soon wrested from the lap’ of the science which he cultivated with so much zeal and’ success, for he: fell a victim to his curiosity on Mount Vesuvius, in the 56th year of his. age, and the 7gth after the birth of Curisr.
These were the most emirient and most celebrated botanists of anti-. quity. The pains they took, the colleétions and. discoveries by which. they. first opened the career of this science, however meritorious, could: not but be considered as the etforts of beginners. No study was less. susceptible of being brought by them to.a certain. criterion of. perfec-. tion than that of botany and natural history in general. Rome was not. built in-a day; nor could the edifice of this science be raised in so. sudden a.manner. It required materials from all countries on earth,, which demanded to be minutely viewed, examined, and.arranged. The Romans were the masters of the ancient world; but they had only a. slight and superficial knowledge of the smallest part of it; in propor-. tion to the Greeks they had but. few connexions with foreigners; every body was. uncultivated but themselves; the art of printing, and that of, engraving on copper and wood, had not yet been invented ;—all these. were material obstacles to a. successful and marked. progress in natural. history.
The plants which were known and discovered by the ancients, though, they amounted to fome thousands, were still but very few, and an almost imperceptible part of an infinite whole. They solely consisted of the plain colleétions of southern produce, mostly gathered on the
frontiers of two parts of the world, Europe and Asia. The number of ‘ all
“pet
HISTORY OF BOTANY. 53
all the plants growing on our globe is certainly unlimited, and can only be alledged upon supposition and conjeéture. Linneus counted after- wards 10,000 species of them, and described upwards of 8,000. One of his subsequent adversaries, the French botanist, Apanson, who made several discoveries in his African travels, estimated the number of those plants which were known, but not properly discriminated, at 18,000, and that of the unknown ones at 25,000. If we admit this calculation, which bears.every plausibility of being too high in number according to ApANson, and too low according to the Linnzan scale, only choose a medium between both extremes, the result arising ' from it will furnish a decisive proof of the scanty provision which the ancients have made for this division of the store-house of natural know- ledge. They described the plants; but required longer and more. va-- rious observations to represent their internal stru€ture, properties, and distin€@tive’ marks. In other respeéts they formed their colleétions. without order, -without any particular classification; a circum-- stance which proved extremely. painful and laborious to the sub- sequent lovers of botany. The small quantity of materials amassed by the ancients, remained ‘a rough chaos, which waited to receive: its more direét limitation and arrangement from some creative hand. There was no branch in which such a chaos could be more de- trimental than in the history of Nature, the mother of so many nume- rous families, races and offsprings, among which a limited distin@ion. and classification could alone elucidate the original descents, and their various branches and affinities. |
In a state thus debile and infirm, botany was handed down to a bar- barous and superstitious era, in which the cultivation of the sciences
Was
54 HISTORY OF BOTANY
was the least of all concerns. The Mahometans and Arabs were the only nations who would give them a partial reception. But they were fonder of pra€tical physic than botany, which was almost totally forlorn, and abandoned of course.
After a lapse of near fifteen ages, botany was rescued with other sciences in the middle of the fifteenth century from her widowed state. The printing and engraving on wood, and the discovery of America, came to her assistance. The Germans were the foremost to draw her from oblivion. The first representation of plants in wood-cuts made its ap- pearance at Menéz towards the latter end of the fifteenth century, and an Jtalian Flora in 1485 was printed at Padua*. |
In botany the ancients could less be the guides and patterns of the moderns than in the other sciences... The latter were too little ac- quainted with the discoveries of the former; their descriptions were unintelligible, and mostly related to unknown southern plants. They had no classification, no system; it was not known where they classed this or that plant, which of either they meant in their description, and of course their discoveries remained unprofited by and lost. Hence it became necessary to regenerate, as it were, the whole science of bo- tany, and to colleé& and describe fresh materials for that purpose.
In this point the Germans likewise were the first in setting an ex- ample to other nations. A native of Mentz, of the name of Oruo BRUNFELS; professor at Strasbourg, and afterwards first physician in
the city-of Bern, who died in the year 1534, became the first modern
* Hortus Sanitatis seu de Herbis ac Plantis, in quarto, printed at Mentz, by P. SHOEFFER. Herbarius Patavie impressus, anno Domini 1485, also with wood-cuts.
restorer
HPSTORY* OF: BOTAN Y. Be
restorer of botany at the commencement of the sixteenth century. He published a colle&tion of plants faithfully drawn after nature *, At the same time Evricrus Corpus, a Hessian, professor of the university of Marbourg, who died at Bremen in 1535, signalized him- self by his botanical merits. Vatertus Corpus, his son, who died on his travels through Jtaly, was a conspicuous naturalist, and torn too early from the bosom of science in the 29th year of his age.
The footsteps of the latter were followed by two other Germans, Jexome Bock, physician in the small town of Hornbach in the Dutchy of Wurtemberg; and Leonarp Fucus, a Swabian professor at Ingolt- stadt, and afterwards at Tubingen, whom Cuarves V. Emperor of Ger- many, created a nobleman on account of his rare talents. The former departed life in 1554, the latter in 1566. Both of them had made col- le&ions of plants which they published t. Thus was botany restored by the southern Germans in the first half of the sixteenth century. They were, however, all excelled in point of copiousness of knowledge, in- genuity of observations, and richness of materials, by a Swiss, their co- temporary. This was the Polyhistor of his age, and especially the prince of modern natural history in general, Conrap GzesnerR, a name, whose splendid celebrity has been propagated by many learned and merito-
rious descendants and successors down to this present day. Adversity
* This work was printed at Srasbourg in 2532, in two volumes, folio, in German; after- wards in Latin, under the title ‘¢ Herbarum Hieal Icanes ad Nature Imitationem Imitate.’” Strasbourg, 1532, three volumes, folio.
+ Von Fucus De Historia Stirpium Commentarii Insignes, Bazil, 1542, infolio.—JEROM Bocx’s New Herbal, in German, printed at Strasbourg, 1539 ;, and a second edition printed: at the same place in 1546, folio. Baron HALLER gives the following charaéter to Bock: “* Nemo tot plantos ante vidit et descripsit, nemo. vires veriores addidit illo.”
also
56 HISTORY OF BOTANY,
also raised him to greatness. He was born at Zurith in 1516, and in- tended at first to study divinity. He came to Strasbourg, but so great was then his poverty, that he thought himself very fortunate in being received as servitor to a professor. Love became the umpire of his destiny, and direéted all his subsequent enterprizes. He entered the state of matrimony in the goth year of his age, though without having wherewithal to support himself. His poverty rose to the higheft pitch. He resolved to quit the theological career which he had hitherto pur- sued. He went to study physic at Montpellier; was made dottor, and afterwards professor of physic in his native place. No country but Switzerland could have furnished him with better opportunities of making botanical observations, nor did Gesner let them escape. Among his botanical works there is a remarkable catalogue of plants*. ' His great philological knowledge first enabled him to give them a no- menclature in several languages. He was also the first who introduced the method of classifying plants by their flowers and fruit. No literatus
of his age was more diligent and more fertile than Grsners and the nu-
merous works which he published, were, as I may say, but a beginning _
of his scientific harvest. He left behind a much superior number of writings, part printed, part in manuscript. He was prevented finishing them by the plague, which swept away, his valuable existence in 1565, in the forty-ninth year of his age.
After the Hessian literatus E. Corpus, who was the first professor of physic in the university of Marburg, Gxsner was also the first who cultivated a private botanical garden for his own use. But. the first
* Catalogus plantarum, Latine, Grace, Germanice, et Gallice, Tigur. 1542, in quarto His posthumous works were published by ScHmipet, under the title of “* Gesneri Opera
6¢ Botanica, Norimberga, 1754 and 1759,” 2 vol. folio.
2 public
HISTORY ‘OF BOTANY. 87
public establishment of this kind, was made at the university of Padua, in 1540. This public example set in Ttaly—an-exaniple so evidently use- ful to physicians and natural philosophers, was imitated’ before the close of “the sixteenth century by medical gardens at Zurich, Turin, and Montpellier. In this manner the science of botany now became a re- gular academical study. mit
During the latter half of the sixteenth ‘century, its novelty and pleasantness g gained it several lovers in most of the Southern countries of Europe. Collections were made, plants described, voyages of natural discoveries in other parts of the world undertaken, and the charms of Flora created an enthusiasm, which bade defiance to all dangers and ‘dif- ficulties. Mr. WisLanp, born at Koenigsberg, in Prussia, who after- wards assumed the name of GurtLanpinus in Italy, made a voyage into Asza and Africa, under the proteétion of a rich patrician at Venice 7 but on his succeeding voyage to America he was captured by a Bar- barian pirate, and carried a slave to Algiers. A lover and professor of a science to which he afterwards fell a martyr, FaLiopro, pro- fessor of Botany at Padua, generously paid his ransom. Guitanpr- nus became the successor of his deliverer in his professorship, and died at Padua in 1589. | |
PROSPER ALPINUS; a Venetian, who a few years after succeeded GUILANDINUS as Reotessany became equally eminent for his ‘zeal in botany and natural history. He made a voyage to Egypt, as physician to the Consul of the Republic, and brought back with him several learned produétions*; he died in the year 1617. One of the first and
* De Plantis /Egypti, Venet. 1592, quarto,—De plantis Exoticis, Libr. II, Venet 1627,’ quarto.—Historial Naturalis Egyptiorum Lib. IV. Leyden, 1735, quarto.
£ MOst
58 HISTORY -OF BOTANY.
most expensive public voyages to America was made by Don Francis HERNANDEZ, a Spaniard, first physician to PHixtie II. King of Spain. The obje& of this voyage was. a physico-natural exploration and de- scription of Mexéco, on which the Spanish government bestowed 60,000 ducats. The result of this voyage was not published till some time in the seventeenth century *
Among the learned of the different nations, the Germans also dis- tinguished themselves by travels undertaken for the improvement of natural knowledge. Among others, Leonarp Rauwo tr, a native of Augsburg, who died as physician to the army in the Austrian ser- vice, in 1596, became eminent as a diligent observer on his travels in Asia, and the Eastern countries of Europe, from 15737 till 1588.
They were likewise Germans, who conceived the useful idea of ren- dering the curiosities of nature, and the indigenous plants of certain provinces, the exclusive objet of their attention, and to describe them in separate colle€tions. The first who set an example in this. respe@t, was Grorce Faszricrus, the Saxon historian, who died in the year 1571. In his historical description of Misniay, he gave a short cata- logue of the indigenous plants and animals of that province. But this
was only one single good idea of a secondary plan. The first regular
* Franz. Ximenes 4 libros della Naturaleza y Virtudes de las plantas y animales, que estam recevidos en él uso de Medecina en la Nueva Lspanna, &c. &c. con lo que el Dr. HERNANDEZ escriyio en lengua latina, Mexico, 1615, quarto.—The whole works of HER- WANDES were afterwards published under the title: Plantarum, animalium, mineralium Mexicaniorum historia, Rome, 1651, folio, with 800 cuts.
+ Description of his travels through the East, especially Syria, &c. in German, 1583, four parts in quarto.—His dried. colleétion of plants was afterwards published by the Dutch Botanist J. T. GRonoy, under the title of « Rauwolfi Plona Creme, Leyden, 1755>
oftavo. LL sud , Ric ¢ ~ Rerum Misnicarum, lib. ‘vii. Lib: 1569 and 1660, quarto.
1 and
HISTORY OF BOTANY. 59
and original pattern in this branch, was published by Caspar Scuwenk- reLp, born at Greifenberg in Silesia, who died as physician at Gorliiz, in 160g. He gave a full description of the animals, plants, and minerals of Silesia*. ;
Among the itinerant naturalists of the sixteenth and all preceding centuries, none distinguished himself more by an indefatigable zeal, and a variety of observations and discoveries, than a Belgian. His name was Cuarxes Ecuuss, born at Arras, in 1526. He was to have studied law, but bestowed all his diligence and the resource of his for- tune upon botany, travelled almost through the whole East and West of Europe, including Portugal, Spain, France, England, Germany, Hun- gary, &c. had several times his arms and feet fra€tured, owing to the zeal and curiosity which guided his peregrinations, and died finally at an advanced age in 1609, as professor of botany at Leydent.
During a period of about one hundred and fifty years, a consider- able provision of materials for natural history had been made. These materials were more considerable than any ever before colle€ted, dis- covered, and published by the ancients. Notwithstanding all these ad- vantages, botany remained an uncultivated republic. Threatened with troubles in proportion to the increase of its population, it wanted what the ancients had never introduced—a constitution, a colle€tion of laws to preserve order, and the necessary divisions and distin€tions between
the numerous species, races, and families, in order to fix the preser-’
* Historia Stirpium Silesia—et ejus Fossilium. Lipz, 1600.—Theriotropheum Silesiz ix quo animalium vis et usus perstringuntur, Lignicii, 1604, quarto.
+ He wrote the following works: Historia rariorum plantarum per Hispanias observatarum, Antw. 1576, in oftavo.—Per Pannoniam, Austriam, &c. Antw. 1533.—Historia plan- tarum Rariorum, 2 vol. folio, Answ. 1601, &c.
I 2 vation
Go HISTORY OF BOTANY.
vation and closer kaowledge of the whole. The plants were jumbled together, those which were analogous were separated, and the hetero- geneous ones united; no part of them had the special privilege of being. considered as the distin€tive mark of its species; their internal struc- ture had. been but little examined, and the use of their names applied without system, appeared so confused and corrupted, that this ae resource proved rather a burden than a help: to memory.
The natural politics of an Italian, first felt after Gusner the incon- venience occasioned by this defeét. This was AnprRew Casapinus, born at Arezzo, in the distri@: of Florence, in 1519, first professor of physic and botany at the University of Pisa, and. afterwards first physician to, Pops Cremen’t VIII. at Rome, where he died 1603. The idea of such a want, being besides a lover of order, which he had learned to value in the school of Anrstorie,.made:him conceive the thought of rendering himself the legislator of the confused: botanical commonwealth, . This task, however, baffled his strength. His. genius was) inventive, but his knowledge of botany neither original nor uni« versal. He missed, both :Jeisure and opportunity. Crusius had dis- covered more fresh plants: than he ever was acquainted with. His ‘her-’ bal did not contain nine hundred ‘species, a fa€t: fully proved «by. the: . Florentine: Botanist: MicuHx1iy who-had>:it in’ his possession..'» A‘ pro- vision of thisikind..was too: small to give a comprehensive view of bo: tany, and the knowledge which Czsarrinus acquired of the internal: structure of plants, was too, secret and too defeétive to point out the most perfeet order. He was only direGed by the fruit, and mostly by that part on which the shoots or germins repose. This system had its defe&ts, butiit brought \C zsaLPin wus much nearet to the truth, and he
~ discovered
‘
: HISTORY OF BOTANY. 64
discovered more real similarities, more natural classes than all the bo- tanists who preceded, and many who followed him. His work on plants (De Plantis, Lib. XVI. Florent. 1583.) still remains a valuable monument of ancient botany. “ CasaLpinus was a great man,” says Linn «us with enthusiastic affe€tion, “ What signal service did he
«‘ not render by first opening the career!—His short descriptions,
-
‘by which he distinguishes himself from all. others, please me parti- “ cularly. He has always some oddity of his.own*.”
With the close of the sixteenth century a man appeared, who. had long ago been expetted by botany in its confused state, who- did not shrink from.the herculean labour of colle&ting into one regular mass its numerous and scattered treasures, of exhibiting them at one view, and giving a knowledge of the botanical world and all its dis- coveries. This was Caspar BAuuin, the second great botanist pro- duced by: Switzerland. He was born inthe year 1560, at Basil, made a tour through Jtaly and Germany, and was appointed professor of botany and.anatomy in his native place, where he died: in 1624.
His elder brother, Jonn Baunin, first physician the Duke of Wur- temberg, acquired also a great literary reputation in botany. The prin- cipal works, by which he gained a lasting name in the annals of that science, were his representations of plants, and especially what he called the exhibition of the botanical theatre +, a work which took up. almost all his life-time, and was the fruit of fourteen years colleétions.
and labours. It served to facilitate the study of botany. and to promote,
* Cesalpinus mihi magnus; quantum erat, primam condere gentem !---I]le mihi maxime. placet, ejusque breves descriptiones, quibus discedit ab omnibus aliis, tamen semper habet aliquid singulare. Epistolz ab eruditis viris ad Hallerum scripte, Vol. I. Berne, 1773.
$ Phytopinax, Bas. 1596, quarto.---Pinax Theatri Botanici, 7b/d. 1623.
it’s
62) HISTORY OF BOTANY.
its knowledge. Bauuin was not the creator of a system, but he re- formed many abuses and defeéts, especially the confusion of names.
He colle€&ted the synonymous terms of 6000 plants, which various authors had assigned to them of their own accord. This prevented the manifold mistakes which had till then been made by botanists, who took several descript plants for non-descripts, and gave them new names, only because they had been described too much and too va- riously. Bauunuin himself made several mistakes in this new method, which are however, considering the whole extent of his merits, worthy of being overlooked.
Linn aus himself represents the fate of botany under an ingenious simile: ‘* Botany,” says he*, ‘is a plant of the genus of the palms, *¢ which sometimes do not bloom for a whole century, and bear fruit 6 at a late period. Botany first put forth some shoots in the reign of “© ALEXANDER, was afterwards transplanted to Rome, continued to ‘¢ prosper, but grew no farther, and began to fade, when they ceased ‘to foster it. It was then transported into Arabia, and yielded, for ‘the first time, in the sixteenth century, a slight frail blossom in “© Italy—(Carsarpinus)—a blossom which could be blasted on its “ short and thin stalks by the least gust of wind, and bore no kind of “ fruit. In the seventeenth century it began to germinate, pro- “duced only a few leaves and no mark of bloom; but in the ‘© spring of this golden age, when the snow had scarcely been melted the trunk put forth blossom, and the latter a fruit—(Caspar, Bau-
‘6 y1N) which almost came to maturity,”
* In the preface of his Bibliotheca Botanica, Amsterd. 1738.
This
HISTORY Of BOTANY. 63
This fruit procured contentment. A pause ensued in the farther cul- tivation of botany. The learned thought it was sufficient, if they knew and called the plants by the names which Bauurn had given them. The ravages of the thirty years war, the theatre of which was chiefly in Germany, had no progressive influence on the arts and sciences of peace, especially on botany. Among those men who thought freely of botany, and consulted their own spirit of inquiry, there was one at this period in Lower Saxony, of the name of Joacuin Juncius. He was born at Lubeck in 1586, first professor of Mathematics at Guesen and Rostock, afterwards professor of Physic at Helmstaedt, and died as Reétor at Hamburgh, in 1657. His spirit accustomed to mathematical accuracy, bestowed more attention on the internal stru€lure of plants, he made more ingenious remarks in * his writings, and was the first who had some of the fundamental ideas of the system, which was finally introduced by Linneus.
But during the latter half of the last century, a new epoch com menced in botany as well as in many other sciences. The former ac- quired more enthusiastic lovers, even among those nations who till then had hardly taken any notice of it. Thus far its empire had solely been extended to the produfions of Europe; but now the first zealous beginning was made, to obtain knowledge from the other parts of the world. The English, Dutch, and French, being the first commercial nations, had the best opportunities, and took care to profit by them. Rumpnius, HerrMAN, RHEEDE, KAEMPFER, MARGRAF,
SLOANE, PLUCKENET, Brown, SHERARD, CATESBY, CLAYTON,
* Isagoge Phytoscopica, Ham 1678, quarto.—Farther, Doxoscopize Physicce Minores, seu Isagoge Physica Doxoscopica, Hamb. 1662.
TOURNEFORT,
64 HYST. ORY OF - BOTANY.
Tournerort, Doparr, PLumier, FevrLiter, Boccone, and many others travelled to remote countries and islands, and acquired merit in natural history. With the love of colleéting natural curiosities, which spread more and more throughout Europe, the botanical gardens be- came also more numerous. In England, those of Oxford, Chelsea, and Kew; and in Holland, those of Amsterdam, Leyden, and the Hague were established.
The advantage accruing from these voyages and travels, augmenited to an uncommon degree the botanical materials, and rendered them twice as copious as they had been before. , Hence a proper systematical
method became the more necessary to avoid a Babelonian confusion
among the different writers in that science. It required a better com-,.
pass to extricate oneself from sucha labryinth, and according to these wishes the epoch of systematical botany arrived.
The Britons were the first who opened this systematic traé& in Ro- pert Morison and Joun Ray, or, as he called himself in Latin,
Rajus, both of them originally divines. Morison was a native of
Aberdeen in Scotland, born there in 1620. He remained a staunch loy-.
alist during the civil wars which distraéted England, and served even as a soldier; a situation of life which he could never forget, owing to a dangerous wound he had received. He afterwards went to France, where he was made director of the royal garden at Blois, returned to England in 1660, and was appointed professor of botany at Oxford. His end was tragical. While riding ina curricle through the streets of London, it was overset, and himself thrown on the pavement, by which fall he fra€tured his skull in 1683. Linn us drew his charaéter and merits in a letter to Baron Haver, written in the year 1737, in the
following
HISTORY OF BOTANY. 65
following expressions: “ Morison was a vain, self-conceited, but s¢ nevertheless, a meritorious man, since he revived an antiquated «¢ method*, If you compare the genera of Tournerort, you will ‘¢ easily see what the latter owed to Morison ; it was at least an obli-
¢ gation as great as that which Morison owed to Casa.pinus, even
* allowing Tournerorr to have been a most scrupulous enquirer.
¢¢ With all the good things which Mortson borrowed of C#satpi-
«© nus, he seems to have differed from him in point of a systematical
‘© knowledge of Nature, whereas Casaxtrinus paid greater atten-
“ tion to the distinlive marks of plants +.”
Ray, an Englishman, born in the county of Essex 1628, the rival of Morrison, was a much superior genius. Divinity was his professional study; but this sacred pursuit did not make his fortune, owing to the spirit of opposition which he manifested in the contentions of the church. He travelled through Germany, France and Italy, and after- wards diretted his exclusive application to botany and natural history,
in which he wrote more than any other of his countryment. He died
in
* MoRisonvs vanus fuit et inflatus, tamen nunquam non laudandus, qui viviviscere fecit methodum demortuam. Confer Genera ToOuRNEFORTIHI, et quid Mortsonio debuit facile agnoscas; tantum certe ac C&saLpino Morisonivs, licet fidus fuit examinator Tour- NEFORTIUS, MoORIsONIUS © sonia sua, que bona 4 CamsaLpPino habuit, videtur in eo dis- cessisse, ut observaret concatenatam affinitatem, nature magis quam chara¢teres.—B
aron HALLER gives the followiag opinion of his system:
“€ Methodus Morisonit penes Q : ‘ ce ' 5 : : nulla eff. WVeras errores vix detexit, nisi quando ad genera veriora stirpes revocavit. Id
*¢ vero habet commodi, quod plures stirpes habeat quam BAUHINUs.”
T a Monrsonis Plantarum Historia Universalis, Oxon. 1678, two vols. folio; and Hor- tus Regius Blesensis, London, 1669, octavo.
+ Methodus Plantarum emendata, London, 1703 and 1733) in octavo. K
Synopsis Me- thedica
66 HISTORY OF BOTANY.
in 1705, in the 77th year of his age, after having acquired great cele- brity.
Linn aus gavea still more unfavourable opinion of him. He draws his character in the above mentioned letter as follows: ¢ Ray cer- ‘© tainly was a most laborious man in colle€tions and descriptions; but ‘6 in that branch of botanical knowledge which relates to the genera of ‘¢ plants, he was less than nothing; and in the examination of flowers a “6 mere nonentity. Compare the first edition of his botanical system ‘¢ with the second and third. Every thing it contains he borrowed from % TouRNEFoRT. Iamat a loss to divine why nobody takes notice of * the discoveries of Casaxtpinus,-and wishes to ascribe every thing “to Ray*. Both Morison and Ray derived their botanical systems ¢¢ from the fruit of plants.”
To these authors of systems may be added Aucustus Rivin, a Saxon, professor of botany at Leipzick, where he died in 1723, m the seventy-first year of his age. He classified the plants by the number of their petals or the leaves of their flowers, and divided them into eighteen classes—a division subjeét to many material defeétsT.
thodica Stirpium Britannicorum, London, 1690. Historia Plantarum Generalis, London, 1693.
* Certe vir laboriosissimus in colligendo, describendo, &c. at in gewericis minus nihilo, in examinandis floribus plane nullus. Queso, confer ejus primam editionem Methodi cum se- cunda et tertia, ubia TouRNEFORTIO edoétus fuit omnia. Nescio cur nullus C&#saLPini observare potuit inventa.—See a full opinion on the merits of Ray in Dr. Ricu. PuLre- NEY’s Historical and Biographical Sketches of the Progress ef Botany in Exgland, from its origin to the introduction of the LInN#@aAnN system. Vol. 1, London, 1790, octavo.
+ His principal botanical writings are—TIntrodudfio Generalis in rem Herbariam. Lips.
1690. Ordines Plantarum Irregularium Flore Monopetalo, Tetrapetalo et Pentapetalo. Lips. 1690. ‘
1 Thus
HISTORY OF BOTANY. 67
Thus different stru€tures were raised to reduce into order the ftores of natural productions, and to facilitate a comprehensive view of them; but, as in all former fabrics, there was no formal and regular perfection in them. The chambers were not sufficiently commodious for common use, and the division of the whole was destitute of solidity and preci- sion.
A greater archite&t arose, who excelled all his predecessors. This was JosrepH Pirron pE TournerortT, a Frenchman, born at Azx in Provence in 1656, whose genius was wholly created for botany. His parents had destined him for the church, but Tournerort, like our Linn ©us, ranged through the fields and colleGed plants instead of going to school. He was left fatherless at the age of 21. He now de- voted himself entirely to his inclination, studied at Montpellier, where the botanical garden was of great service tohim; made a tour through Languedoc, Dauphiny and the Pyrenees; was appointed professor of the royal botanical garden at Parzs in 1683; visited Spain, Portugal, Eng- Jand and Holland ; undertook to travel from 1700 to 1702 at the ex- pence of Lovrs XV. into Greece and Asia, whither he was accompa- nied by A. GuNDELSHEIMER, a native of Anspach, and physician to the King of Prussia, and died-at last in a state of celibacy in the year 1708. " His death was occasioned by a catastrophe similar to that which befel Morison, his chest being crushed by a carriage which suddenly passed by him.
Before he set out on his travels he published a new botanical sys- tem which soon attra€ted universal attention. He divided the plants
into twenty-two classes, which he determined by the different forma- K 2 tion
68 HISTORY “OF BOTANY:
tion of the flower, and their orders he ascertained by the fruit. His system of reform principally consisted of the following points and topics :
He divided all the plants, which were known to him, from the qua- lity of the flower (corolie) into classes, which his predecessors had limited by the fruit, and these classes he subdivided into orders. He arranged the genera by solid, distinétive marks, which he borrowed of the fruit; gave them fixed generical names, and placed the species, with their manifold variations, under the genera*.. Thus, when the lovers and professors of botany met with a flower or plant unknown to them, the guidance of this system enabled them to get acquainted with the class by the stru€ture of the flower, with the order by the quality of the fruit, and by the examination of both fruit and flower with the species. This classification was of infinite service, in affording uncom- mon aid to the memory and judgment ft. His system also remained in general acceptance to the time of Linn aus; and many learned men took pains to mend its defeéts.
While Tournerort was still dignified with the title of the oracle of botany, one of his pupils made himself conspicuous by his heterodox in- genuity. Too soon, however, was he torn from the lap of the sciences
to have ere€ted himself a throne upon the ruins of that of his master.
* See Reformatio Botanices, LINNEO proposita a J. M. REFTELIO, 1762; in Amoeni- tal. Acad. vol. vi. page 306.
+ The work which contains this system, is the master-piece of ToURNEFORT, entituled Elemens de Botanique, ou Methode pour connoitre les Plants. Paris, 1694, three vols. o€tavo, and rendered afterwards more complete, under the title of Institutiones rei Herbaria. Paris, 1400, three vols. quarto.
; ‘ This
HISTORY OF BOTANY. 69
This was SesastiAN Vaitiant, a Frenchman, born at Vigny in Isle de France, in 1669. His poverty made him apply rather late to his favourite study. He first was an organist, then a surgeon, and after- wards secretary to Facon, first physician to Lours XIV. He learned a great deal of this man, made his fortune through him, being ap- pointed demonstrator of the plants in the royal botanical garden at Paris, under ANTHONY DE Jussieu, professor of botany, whom he soon afier excelled by his superior talents and merits. VarLiant died at Paris in 2722. He only published two small pamphlets in which he did not en- compass with peculiar judgment the whole reign of botany, although he displayed many new and original observations in them. Linn aus stood much indebted to his ingenuity and observations upon the inter- nal stru€ture of plants and their sexes, and always remained his warmest defender. “ I own,” says Linnaus, in a letter to Baron Hatver, ¢¢ that I never read an author more accurate than VaILLANT, nor one « who invented more novelty in botany, laboured more, and obtained * less reward than him *.”
Tournerort was and remained the prince of botany; but upon nearer investigation there were many imperfe€tions and flaws found in his system. Soon after him many articles of his were changed, new names and new classes introduced, and fresh methods planned. But those who embarked in such enterprizes were men not half so inge- nious nor half so penetrating as Tournerorr. The botanical com- ‘monwealth was threatened with fresh barbarism and ravages, had not a different legislation brought about a total reform.
* Ego fateor, me nullum adhuc legisse, qui VAILLANTIO accuratior fuit, qui plura nova invenit in botanicis, qui plus laboravit, qui parcius preemium reportavit.
Such
70 HISTORY °-OF (BOTAN:
Such were the fates of botany—such its state—when Linn aus pre- pared to travel to Holland, where he undertook the reform, which pro- gressively extended to the two other reigns of Nature, both animal
and mineral.
SECTION
Brew
SECTION V. eS
LINNAUS GOES TO HOLLAND.—HIS RESIDENCE AT HAMBURGH.—JAENISCH, KOHL, SPRECKELSEN. — THE SEVEN HEADED SERPENT OF THE LATTER.—LINNAUS PROVES IT TO BE NO PHENOMENON.—HE IS SUDDENLY FORCED TO QUIT HAM- BURGH.—TAKES HIS DEGREE AS DOCTOR AT HARDERWYK.—HIS DISSERTA- TION OF INAUGURATION.—GOES TO LEYDEN.—HIS ACQUAINTANCE WITH VAN ROYEN, VAN SWIETEN, LIEBERKUHN, AND GRONOV.—PUBLISHES HIS SY- STEMA NATUR&.—WAITS ON BOERHAAVE.—BIOGRAPHICAL STRICTURES.— ANECDOTES.—LINNAUS RESOLVES TO RETURN TO SWEDEN BY AMSTERDAM.— GETS ACQUAINTED HERE WITH J. BURMANN.—ANECDOTE.—LINNAUS STAYS WITH BURMANN.—WORKS IN HIS BOTANICAL LIBRARY.—IS RECOMMENDED BY BOERHAAVE TO CLIFFORD, BURGOMASTER OF AMSTERDAM.—IS CHARGED TO ARRANGE THE BOTANICAL GARDEN AT HARTECAMP.—ANECDOTES,.—AC- CEPTS THE OFFER.—HIS SALARY.—MEETS UNEXPECTEDLY WITH HIS FRIEND ARTEDI.—TRAGICAL EXIT OF THE LATTER.—LINNEUS RESCUES HIS FAME FROM OBLIVION.—HIS RESIDENCE AT HARTECAMP.—HIS WORKS IN THE BE- GINNING OF 1736.~COMMENCEMENT OF THE REFORM OF BOTANY.—IS RE- CEIVED A MEMBER OF THE IMPERIAL ACADEMY OF NATURAL HISTORY AT VIENNA.—GOES OVER TO ENGLAND.—SIR HANS SLOANE,.—MILLER.—PROFESSOR DILLENIUS AT OXFORD.—RECEPTION.—ANECDOTES,—ACCOUNT OF DILLENIUS. —LINNAUS FORMS SEVERAL OTHER CONNECTIONS.—RETURNS TO HOLLAND.— HIS ZEAL OF REFORM.—HIS HERCULEAN LABOURS.—HIS WORKS IN 5737.— SENSATIONS AND REFUTATIONS OCCASIONED BY THEM.—OPINION ON HIS WORKS BY PROFESSOR LUDWIG AND THE CELEBRATED JEAN JACQUES ROUS. SEAU.—OFFERS MADE TO HIM TO GO AS PHYSICIAN TO SURINAM.—HE PRO- POSES HIS FRIEND BARTSCH.—MELANCHOLY END OF THE LATTER.—LINN EUS GOES TO LEYDEN.—IS ATTACKED BY. THE HOME-SICKNESS.—LEAVES HARTE- CAMP.—SUBSEQUENT DECLINE OF THAT PLACE.—VAN ROYEN ANECDOTE.— LINN AUS BECOMES THE AUTHOR OF THE SYSTEM OF BOTANY PUBLISHED BY THE .LATTER.—PUBLISHES ARTEDI’S ICHTHYOLOGY.—THE DUTCH ARE THE FIRST WHO DO HOMAGE TO HIS REFORM.—LINN.ZUS LONGS AFTER HIS COUN. TRY.—HIS ILLNESS —ITS CAUSES —HIS VAIN RESOLUTION OF MAKING A TOUR IN GERMANY.—HE TAKES A TRIP TO PARIS.—HIS ACQUAINTANCE IN THAT CAPITAL.—IS ELECTED A CORRESPONDENT MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACA. DEMY OF SCIENCES AT PARIS.—ANECDOTES.—HIS RETURN TO SWEDEN.
Havinc spent his winter months in visiting his friends and _rela- latives, in preparing his academical dissertations, and arranging the colle€tions of his materials of reform, which he considered as his most valuable treasures, Linnaus began in April, 1735, his travels to
foreign
72 LINNAUS AT HAMBUREH. »
foreign countries, which the laws of love and ancient custom had ren- dered necessary, and which became pleasant by the happy prospeéts of his farther improvement and the enterprizes he had planned. But he could then as little foresee the advantageous circumstances thrown in his way by auspicious fate to favour his remarkable career, as he could measure the long space of time which he was to pass afar from his country.
He set out on his tour to Holland from Fahlun, through the Southern provinces of Sweden, Copenhagen, Futland, Schleswick, and Holstein to Hamburgh. Here he rested himself for some time. His zeal of know- ledge outweighed all other considerations. He saw the literary cu- riosities and natural colle€&tions at Hamburgh, and met with a most ami- cable reception on the part of the respeétive proprietors and other con- noisseurs and lovers of natural history.
Among these was Dr. Joun Peter Kout of Altona, afterwards professor at Petersburgh, who when advanced in life returned to the former place, where he became the benefa€tor of the college, and en- riched it with a large and fine library. .At Hamburgh, he found the Burgomaster Joun Anperson, Doftor Gzorrry Janiscu, and Joun von SpreckeELsen™*, all eminent men, with whom Linnzus carried on a literary correspondence. The great library and collection of natural curiosities which belong to the latter, chiefly engrossed his attention—afforded him utility and entertainment—but at the same
time involved him in a pleasant dilemma.
* Several foreign literary productions have very improperly represented SPRECKELSEN, by the title of Burgomaster; he was only Secretary of Council. Professor DILLENIUS of Oxford has also mistated his death in a letter to HALLER, written in 1746. SPRECKELSEN had a correspondence with the greatest Naturalists and Botanists of the age.
It
LINNAUS AT HAMBURGH. 73
It had till then been universally believed, that SPRECKELSEN Was pos- sessed of a singular phenomenon; but the keen eye of the young traveller, replaced this pretended prodigy into the rank which it should never have relinquished, namely that of a curiosity and a fine pro- duétion of art. It represented, and was deemed to be a serpent with seven heads. Upon close inspe&tion, Linn aus discovered that those seven and extraordinary heads, far from being natural, were merely fa€titious. He found that they consisted of nothing but the jaw bones of weasels artfully covered with serpent’s skin, regardless of the pal- pable difference which subsists between the stru€ture of the jaw bones of weasels and of serpents.
Thus the phenomenon of Hamburgh all on a sudden ceased to be a wonder ; a circumstance which proved somewhat fatal both to Sprec- KELSEN and Linnazus. ‘The seven heads had stamped a great value on this serpent. It had been the pledged security for a loan of ten ’ thousand marks, and now it became scarcely worth one hundred. This event occasioned many schisms and embarrassments. It was finally insisted on, that Linnaus should prove before an academical Forum, that the serpent was not a phenomenon. In this crisis Dr. JAENIscH gave him the friendly advice to quit Hamburgh with all possible speed, in order to avoid all useless delays and litigations. Linn aus followed this advice, and was frequently after heard to say: “ I only had one ‘friend at Hamburgh; this was Dr. JazNniscu; for he was a true ‘¢ friend to me*.”. Thus commenced the travels of Linn us with ad: ventures and unexpeéted accidents, thus was he obliged, on account of his genius and better penetration to leave a city where he had so-
- * Doctor JHNISCH unicus fuit amicus, quei® Hamburgi habui; verus enim fuit amicus.”
L journed
yi: ey EINN2’US IN 4h OLD AWN D.
journed with great pleasure for about a month, notwithstanding such a delay little corresponded with his pecuniary resources.
He now continued: his journey to Holland, and at the end of May reached Harderwyk in Guelderland. Botany had always been his chief study, and physic that of his leisure-hours. Even in the latter he dis- played his original spirit of investigation. He had chosen for his thesis of installation a new hypothesis of the causes of the cold intermitting fevers, especially in his own country. In this dissertation he assigns as one of the principal causes, the water impregnated with argillous sub- stances ;—an hypothesis, which he took pains to render valid by many arguments and ingenious asseverations. “ These,” Barck says, ‘ make “one willing to credit the author, though the principal point might «¢ still be subje& to doubt.” The envy of the celebrated Wau.er, his countryman, raised afterwards a thousand obje€tions to this dis- sertation. After a triple examination and public defence of his treatise) Linnaus obtained on the 24th of June, in the 28th year of his age, that dignity which he had long ago deserved*. Baron Hauer, one of the greatest geniuses of our age, whom Linnaus respetted as a friend and dreaded as arival, had it conferred upon him nine years before at Leyden, in the 18th year of his age.
The chief end for which Linnaus had. undertaken this journey with the assistance of his future bride, was. now accomplished. His intended father-in-law had advised him to return to Sweden immediately after he had taken his degree of doétor, to settle there as a praétical physician. Linn aus was willing to comply, but he would not quit
* Hypotuesits Nova de Febrium intermittentium causa, quam pro gradu doéoris obti- nendo proposuit CAR. Linna&us, Suecus ; Harderovici Die 24. Fun. 1735.
Holland
LINNAUS IN HOLLAND. 75
Folland before he got acquainted with its principal literati and other remarkable objeés.
He went from Harderwyk to Leyden, which is the first Dutch uni- versity. Having lived too high at Hamburgh, his poverty now con- strained him to hire a garret and live extremely low. At the same time he looked out for friends and acquaintance, and soon found them. Among these were Aprran vAN Royen*, Professor of Botany ; ‘Doétor, and afterwards BARON VAN SWIETEN, one Of the oldest and most favourite pupils of BouruAave; young LieBerKuuHN from Ber- din, then a student at Leyden, afterwards celebrated by his accurate microscopic observations and anatomical curiosities ; farther Isaac Lawson, a Scotchman, whose loss like that of LizrperKuun, the sciences had too early to mourn, and Doétor Joun Freperick Gronov, afterwards senator and burgomaster of Leyden,
The latter, who was also a well versed lover of botany, encouraged and induced Linneaus to enter the lists as author, in which, having been supported by a concurrence of many favourable circumstances, he soon formed a great and splendid epoch. Among the various writ- ings which he had long ago colleéted and projected in Sweden, he first published the plan or prospeétus of the classical work which became afterwards the universal code of natural history. His Systema Natur T appeared on fourteen folio pages. It was the foundation stone of the edifice, which was on subsequent occcasions so symmetri- cally and so beautifully finished and aggrandized by its architeét, and enlarged by foreign artists.
* He was made Professor after BOERHAAVE, who resigned his Professorship on account of his age, in 1732; he was born in 1705, and died in 1779.
+ Systema Nature, sive regnia tria nature, systematicz proposita, per classes, ordines, genera et species. Lugd. Batav. 1735. folio 14.
L 2 LINNAUS
76 LINNAUS IN HOLLAND.
Linneus had only given a view of the three reigns of nature, with a better division and order, but this already manifested his vast and inventive genius. The small work, which made the be- ginning of his reform, created universal attention, and was re- ceived with the greatest applause. The author, however, could not conceive the least hope of making his fortune in Holland. His pecuniary resources were almost exhausted. He was preparing to re- turn to his native country, although no charming prospeét invited him thither. The most eminent man then at the University of Leyden, and who made a great epoch in its annals, was HERMANN BoernHaave, the general oracle of medicine. Linnaus had particularly wished to see and converse with him, but it was in vain. Indeed there was no room for surprise at his disappointment. No Minister could be more overwhelmed with intreaties and invitations, nor more difficult in granting an audience than Borruaave. His menial servants reaped advantages from this circumstance; for them an audience was always a profitable money- job; by the weight of gold it coul@alone be accomplished. Without a douceur it was hard for any stranger or foreigner to gain admittance. LiNN£us was quite unacquainted with this method, and had it not in his power to make presents. Owing to BozruAAve's infinite occupations, and the stri€t regularity which he observed, Ambassadors, Princes, and Peter the Great himself, were obliged to wait several hours in his anti-chamber, to obtain an interview *. How much more difficult must it
have
* The following historical and chacteristic anecdotes of this great man, will perhaps not be unpleasant to the reader. BOERHAAVE was born in 1668, at Voorhout, near Leyden. His father wasa preacher, and had destined his son for the same. sacred funétion. But the inclinations of the latter to study divinity ; however great his progress appeared in_the be- ginning, was rather more compulsive than spontaneous. Like LurHer, who, vowed to study divinity, during a tempest in which a friend of-his was struck dead by a flash from the bursting element, so BOERHAAVE met with an accident which made him resolve to renounce
his
LINN AUS IN HOLLAND. 77
have been for the young Northern Doétor, allowing him his usual spirit of liberality, to aspire at the honour of admittance. Notwith- standing all these obstacles he obtained it last. He sent Bozrnaave a copy of his new-published system. Eager to know the author of this work, who had likewise recommended himself by a letter, he ap- pointed:‘Linnaus to meet him, on the day before his intended de- parture, at his villa, at the distance of a quarter of a league from Leyden, and charged Gronov to give him notice of his intention.
This villa contained a botanical garden, and one of the finest col-
le€tions of exotics. Linnzus punétually attended to the invitation.
his theological career. One day, in an excursion, some man wholly engrossed the conver- sation on divinity, especially on SP1nosa, whom he called the Heretic of Amsterdam. BoER- HAAVE, who had long heard with silence the rantings of this stranger, asked at last, “* whether “he had ever read Sprnosa ?”—‘ the stranger answered in the negative ;” every person pre- sent laughed at him. This man to avenge himself, called our ingenious enquirer a Spinosist, which involved him in disagreeable disputes. BOERHAAVE, immediately upon his father’s death, which happened in 1683, began to apply himself exclusively to the study of physic, in which he afterwards became the most eminent man, not only of the age he lived in, but of many preceding centuries. He took his degree of door in the 25th year of his age, and was appointed professor of Physic, at Leyden, in 1701. Here he remained, declining the most advantageous offers made him from abroad. His celebrity extended from Europe to other parts of the globe. He even received a letter from China, direéted A Lillustre BoERHAAVE, Medecin en Europe. His school became the seminary of the greatest physicians. Extremely active and plain, he was in other respeéts a downright Dutchman. His whole wardrobe consisted of a couple of suits, which he used to wear till they became threadbare. His Dutch-built stature, his old shoes, his loose hair, and the large crab-stick, which he had always with him, made him pass for some person of a low description, though he was one of the richest individuals at Leyden. He left his daughter, who was married to Count Toms, upwards of a million of florins. His necessitous circumstances, during his youth, had rendered him very parsimonious. He was, however, extremely beneficent to the poor. After having accumulated the greatest merits in medicine, and benefited mankind in general, he died in the qoth year of his age, on the 3oth of September, 1738. See the following works respecting BoERHAAVs :—Account of the life and writings of H. Boruaave, by ‘Dr. Burton, Lond. 1746, octavo.—A, SHULDEN’s Oratio Academica in memoriam H. BoERHAAVII. Lugd. Bat. 1738, octavo.---Essay sur le Caractére du Grand Medecin; ou eloge critique de M. H. BoERHAAVE, (par M. MaTy) a Cologne, 1747, in o€tavo,
1 BoERHAAVE
78 LINN AUS IN HOLLAND.
BorrHAAVE, who was then sixty-seven years old, received him with gladness, and took him into his garden for the purpose of judging of his knowledge. |
He showed him as a rarity the Crategus Aria, and asked if he had ever seen that tree before, as it had never been described by any be- tanist. Linnaus answered that he had frequently met with it in Sweden, and that it had also been already described by Vaitianrt. Struck with the young man’s reply, Borrnaave denied the latter part of his assertion, with so much more confidence as he had published himself that work of VariLtiant’s (Botanicon Parisiense, Lugd. Batav. 1727, fol.) with notes of his own, and firmly believed that tree had not been described in it. To remove all doubts, and to give all pos- sible sanftion to what he advanced, Borruaave immediately fetched the work itself from his library—and to his extreme surprise found the tree fully described in it, with all its distin@tive marks. Admiring the exa& and enlarged knowledge of Linn «us in botany, in which he seemed even to excel himself, the venerable old man advised him to remain in Holland, to make a fortune which could not escape his talents. Linn «z£us answered that he would fain follow this advice, but his in- digence prevented him from staying any longer, and obliged him to set out the next day for Amsterdam, on his return to Sweden. He took his leave of Borrnaave, and this visit unexpeétedly became the source of his fortune, of his eminence, and of that botanical reform which the frowns of fate, and the cares of providing for his daily subsistence, had not thus far permitted him to accomplish.
What the Italian poet MerasTasio says, respecting the happiness or misfortunes of man, and the vicissitudes of destiny by which the greatest
enterprises
LINNAUS IN HOLLAND. 79
enterprises are so frequently decided, may be with great propriety ap-
plied here to Linnaus.
¢¢ Nel cammin di nostra vita, ‘¢ Senza i rai del ciel cortese ‘¢ Si smarrisce ogn’alma ardita, ‘© Trema il cor, vacilla il pié.
‘¢ A compir le belle imprese
*¢ L’arte giova, il senno ha parte ; ‘¢ Ma vaneggia il senno ¢ l’arte
«© Quando Amico il ciel non é,
Linnaus set off from Leyden to Amsterdam, there to embark for his country. Borruaave had given him a letter of recommendation to his pupil Joun Burmann, then Professor of Botany in the capital of Holland. Burmanw was then occupied in completing a description of plants of the island of Ceylon. On account of Borruaave's re- commendation, Linnus met with a friendly reception; but he hap- pened to surprise his new patron, just at a time when he was over. whelmed with. occupation, and the latter begged, therefore, Linn aus to come to see him once more before his departure, and to excuse him then for not being at leisure. Linnzus complied. At this second visit the conversation turned upon botany. * Would you wish to see my “ plants?” asked Burmann—so Linneus relates this anecdote— «¢ With great pleasure,” replied I. Burmann showed me a shrub— adding: “ This is a rarity.” I took one flower, examined it, and observed that it was a species of bay. “ No, no,” replied BuRMANN. ¢ But indeed it is,” observed I; these are the blossoms of the Cinnamon tree, Laurus Cinnamonum.— To be sure they they are,” said Bur-
MANN, butas to bay”’—-Here I interrupted, and convinced him that it
2 belonged
80. LINN 2US* TN“ OSE Ane:
belonged to the species of bays. “We examined other flowers; he objetted, but I refuted his objeétions, and persuaded him. At last, he asked me; & Will you help me in my Ceylon colle&tion ? Will and “6 can you stay at Amsterdam 2?” Linn «us informed him that his poverty rendered it absolutely impossible. Burmann had already grown so fond of him and his acquirements, that he generously offered to board and lodge him in his own house, free from all expence.
Linnaus, enlivened with the hope of making perhaps his for- tune in Holland, and delighted with a situation which could pro- cure him so many opportunities of enlarging the knowledge which had been constantly the objeét of his exertions, accepted with gratitude the hospitable offer. Though fortune offered him no settled prospeéts, yet he could return to Sweden in spring with both more advantage and greater convenience. He entered the house of Burmann, where he found a considerable colle&tion of natural curiositics, and what was more valuable still, a seleét library of books relative to botany and natural history in general. These became of service in the completion of several of his works, among which was comprised his Botanical Library (Bibliotheca Botanica), published by him three years after, and dedicated to the friend who had shown him so much kindness. He found an opportunity partly to requite those favours to the son of Bur- MANN, who studied under him at Ufsal, in the year 1759, and in- herited the dignity and fame of his father. Among the many distin- guished members of Burmawnwn’s family, we deem it proper to mention the meritorious Philologist Peter BurmMaAnny, who was a son of the protector of Linnaus.
With
LINNAUS IN HOLLAND. 81
With labor and social recreation the winter-season glided very pleasantly away in Holland, and the ensuing year 1736 opened with a prospe&t which totally changed for some time the resolution of Linnaus to return to his country. Bozruaave, who had been informed that he was at Amsterdam, having already evinced towards him affe€lion and esteem, now granted him his patronage. Do€tox Grorcs Ciirrorr, Burgomaster of Amsterdam, and one of the Di- re€tors ‘of the Dutch East India Company, the most zealous lover of natural science, expended vast sums of his princely fortune to pro- cure plants and natural curiosities; and was, in this respe&t, like Sue- Rarpd in England as a private gentleman, the most distinguished and most extraordinary person in Holland, and perhaps even in all the world. These treasures, brought from all quarters of the globe, he he hoarded up in his Museum and botanical garden at Hartecamp, a villa belonging to him near Harlem. But these valuable articles were still left without order or scientific description. Ciirrort wished for aman adequate to fulfil this task. |
BoreRuHAAVE was his physician. Ciirrort one day paid him a visit at Leyden.~ « Shall I give you some good advice,” said the former. -& Youhave plenty of every thing, yet there is one thing alone you have ‘¢ not got to render your life completely happy. You are accustomed to “‘ live high, hence you are so frequently troubled with hypochondriac *‘ complaints. You must keep a physician of your own, to prescribe and ‘‘ order your diet, and to take daily care of your health—in cases of a « more serious nature he may consult me.”—“ Well proposed!” replied Crirrort, “ but where shall I find sucha clever and skilful man ?”— «‘ Never mind, this I shall make my own business. I know a young & Swede, who is now at Amsterdam, it is him I shall recommend as the
M 6 best
82 LINNAUS IN HOLLAND.
*‘ best toanswer your purpose. Besides, he is also an excellent botanist, ‘© and will arrange your garden at Hartecamp.”
Criirrorr quite charmed with this proposal, lost no time in having it executed. Burmann and Linn us were invited to come to Harte- camp. They went into the garden, and saw the plants and hot-houses, which contained many rare and curious produ€tions from the Cape of Good Hope. Linn aus examined and pointed out those which were known, and those which were new. His display of knowledge struck and en- raptured Ciirrort. The conversation on botany was prolonged, and the parties then went to the library. Burmawnn found there the se- cond part of an excellent work written by Sir Hans Stoang, entitled The Natural History of Famaica, which he had not yet seen. “ I have “ two copies of this work,” said Cuirrort, “ and you may have this, “if you will give me Linn aus by way of exchange.”
CuiirrortT now offered terms to L1nN aus, consisting in a proposal of free board and lodging, and a pecuniary allowance of one ducat a day, or 1000 florins per annum. An offer of this nature could not leave room for hesitation. Who could have been more rejoiced than LinNn £Us, at finding a sphere of operation so eligible for, and coinci- dent with his wishes.
Before we accompany Linn us to his new residence at Hartecamp, which became the school of his greatness, we shall first mention a ca- tastrophe which rendered the year 1735 for ever memorable to him..
When he still resided at Leyden, he had the unexpeéted pleasure of meeting there Artezp1, the friend of his youth, and the companion of his studies. The latter had left Sweden before Linn «us in 1734, and went over to England for the purpose of making greater improvement
1 ; in
LINNAUS IN HOLLAND. 83
‘in ichthyology, the science to which he had wholly devoted his labours. From England he came to Holland, where he wished to take his degree of Doétor, but want of money prevented him, and his family circum- stances were still more unfavourable than those of Linnaus. The latter became his patron. He recommended him to the celebrated apothecary Sega, at Amsterdam*,a peculiar loverof natural history, who had colleéted a great quantity of natural curiosities, and began to describe them, but needed some assistance owing to his advanced stage of life. SeBa received ArTep1 as his assistant. “ Nosooner,” says LinN£US, “had I finished my Fundamenta Botanica, than I hastened to commu- «¢ nicate them to ArrEep1; he shewed me on his part the work which . * had been the result of several years ftudy, his Philosophia Ichthyologica, “ and other manuscripts. I was delighted with his familiar converse; « meanwhile overwhelmed with business, I grew impatient at his «¢ detaining me too long. Alas! had I known that this was the é¢ Jast visit, the laft words of my friend, how fain would I have tarried ¢ to prolong his exiftence !”
In a short time after, on the 25th of September 1795, ARrTEDI was in company at Sepa’s—he left his house to return home—the night was dark, unknown the way—he comes to the brink of a canal not inclosed with rails, in which he falls—his shrieks and moans are not heard—the struggles of his agony are unwitnessed—he falls, far from his native land, in the bloom of youth, a viétim to that ele-
ment the inhabitants of which were so familiar to him, and to the better
* Sepa died on the 21ft of May, 1736, in the 74th year of his age. The work which chiefly distinguished his name in the scientific world, is entituled Locupletissimi rerum Na- turalium thesauri accurata descriptio, et iconibus artificiosissimus expressio; Amstelod. tom. iv. with 449 plates.
M 2 knowledge
84 LINNAUS IN HOLLAND.
knowledge of which he had devoted the whole diligence of his life, and spurned all obstacles. Next day his. body is found; Linn aus in- formed of his fate hastens to the spot, and with a torrent of tears beholds the inanimate remains of the best of friends, and causes them to be ccmmitted to the tomb.
When Arteni and Linnaus were at Upsal, they had already reci- procally constituted themselves heirs to each others books and manu- scripts. Linn aus was now ready to assert his right, that he might rescue, at least, the fame of his deceased friend from oblivion. But the landlord of ArreEpt, at whose house his situation had compelled’ him to contraét some small debts, would not deliver up his effeéts, which he threatened to sell by public auétion. Through the generous liberality of Crirrort, the wish of Linnus was accomplished. Criirrorr purchased the manuscripts, and made him a present of them. The principal one was the general work on fishes*; which Linn us pub- lished in 1738.
‘6 Who could have been more adequate to this task,” says LINN zuS, ¢¢ in the preface, “ than the man to whom the style, the ideas, and whole «© method of Artep1 were so familiar? How fortunate shall I deem «¢ myself, if I have perpetuated the memory of my deceased friend, and 6&¢ rescued from oblivion a work which is one of the best and most & meritorious of its kind. Akrtep1 has rendered his science the most & easy, though it is one of the most difficult. May there be more
& Arrepis to describe the animal reign with similar exa€tness !”
® Perri Artept, Sueci Medici Ichthyologia, sive opera omnia de piscibus—Edid. CAROL. Linn 4us, Lugd, Batav. 1738, in small quarto,
In
LINNAUS._ IN. HOLLAND. 85
In the beginning of the spring 1736, Linnaus went to the villa of Hartecamp, where he passed so many glorious and pleasant hours. There study was his greatest delight. Surrounded by treasures from all quarters of the globe, a great part of which he had never seen before, encircled with a most sele& and valuable library devoted to his use; uncontrouled in all his arrangements; seconded by a patron equally beneficent, and ready to procure every thing which could be either missing or wished for; plants, good living, Leyden, Amsterdam, and Harlem in proximity—how could Linnaus, thus situated, wish for a more charming and more advantageous situation any where else! In this Paradise, as he cafled it, the great projeéts he had conceived were brought to maturity. Hesitating, whether he should dedicate his ser- vices to AXscuLapPius or to FLora, he resolved to consecrate them wholly to the latter.
When he sojourned at Amséerdam, he finished a small work which he had begun while a student at Upsal, and which was considered as the har- binger of his reform. It consisted of his Fundamenta Botanica, which appeared in 1736, on 35 pages in twelves. The theory of the science of botany was reduced by it to 365 aphorisms, and he displayed in these the basis of his new system. Fifteen years after the same work ap- peared, augmented with elucidations, and a description of the parts of plants, and their technical terms, under the title of Philosophia Bota- nica.
Nearly at the same time, when this elementary book appeared, Linnaus published his Bibliotheca Botanica (in 153 pages in twelves), for the perfection of which he stood chiefly indebted to the libraries of SPRECKELSEN at Hamburgh, BURMANN at Amsterdam, Gronov at
Bi Leyden,
86 LINNAUS IN: HOERVAND:
Leyden, and Curirrort at Hartecamp. Though it contained some imperfetions, yet there was not a completer nor better digested reper- tory extant to that period. Linnzus gave in it a system of botanical researches, divided into sixteen classes, extra€ted from upwards of 1000 books, all the materials being systematically arranged. ‘
The publication of the third work of Linn aus was occasioned by a rare foreign plant in Cuirrort’s garden. This was the banana-tree (Musa Paradisica), the blossoms of which had only once or twice ap- peared in Europe. He gave a better and more methodical description of it under the title of Musa Ciirrortiana, Florens Hartecampt, prope Harlemum, Lugd. Batav. forty-six pages in quarto, with two plates, one of which exhibits the whole plant, the other its parts of fru€tifica- tion.
These were the learned produétions of the diligence of Linnaus in 1736. With them was diffused his celebrity ; while his innovations attra€ied universal notice. But nobody could then suspeét that great revolution which was to subvert the domination of TourNEFORT, and to hurl down with it so many grandees and plebeians in the republic of botany. The Germans did justice to the egregiousness and merits of our Swede, and the Imperial academy of naturalists at Vienna, which is one of the most ancient learned bodies, was the first of the foreign socicties which admitted him that same year as a fellow- member, under the honourable title of DioscoripEs THE SECOND, names which have at all times been customary in that academy, and were made to keep pace with the celebrity of each member.
The amenities of the summer of 1736 were considerably heightened
for LINNAUS, by a journey to England, which he undertook towards | the
ae ‘i
LINNAUS IN ENGLAND. 87
the latter end of July, at Crirrort’s expence. No country could offer greater aliments for his desire of knowledge, nor was there one _ he had more anxiously wished to visit than this happy island. Curr- FORT’s intention of enriching his garden with foreign, and especially with North-American plants, which were cultivated in the nurseries of Oxford and London, and of establishing fresh connexions for the bene- fit of his museum and garden, coincided with the desires of Linn aus. Ciirrort, who did not like to be long deprived of the latter, limited the time of his absence to the short period of eight or twelve days. But Linnzus was eight days on his passage from Rotterdam to Har- wich. He arrived at London with a letter of recommendation from Boreruaave to Sir Hans Stoans, Bart. then the greatest amateur and colleétor in natural history, and afterwards founder of the British Museum. This letter is still carefuliy preserved among the archives of that museum. The substance of this letter, to the honour of Lin- N £uSs, and as an exaét opinion of that great man, respecting the genius of our young botanist, deserves particular mention: * The bearer of & this letter,” says BOERHAAVE, ‘ 15 alone worthy of seeing you—alone “© worthy of being seen by you. He who shall see you both together, shall 6 see two men, whose like will scarcely ever be found in the world*.”
But notwithstanding a recommendation couched in such expressions as BorrHAAVE, whose mind was unsullied by flattery, had never written before, and which Sir Hans Stoane had never received of any foreigner, Linnaus did not meet with that warm and friendly reception which he had fancied. The old Baronet did not seem quite
* Linnzus qui has tibi dabit Litteras, est unice dignus, Te videre, unice dignus, a te vi- deri. Qui vas videbit simul, videbit hominum par, cui simile vix dabit orbis.
pleased
88 LINNAUS IN ENGEAND.
Pleased with Bozruaave’s compliment and the presence of the young man, who wished to raise his learning above all others, and to subvert
the orthodoxy of botanical science f.
He
+ Sir Hans SLOANE was a native of Ki/lyleagh in Iveland. He early distinguished himself by his peculiar talents in, natural history. Ray and the celebrated SypENHAM were h's professors and friends. In 16$s5 he was chosen member of the Royal Society and of the Royal College of Physicians at Loxdon. Two years afier he accompan.cd the Duke of ALBEMARLE as governor to Jamaica, and was the first who distinguished himself by his knowledge of the natural history of that island. He described its physical curiosities in two valuable works, Catalogi Plantarum, quae in Insula Jamaica, sponte proveniunt, Lond. 1696; and The Natural History of Famaica, two vols. Lond. 1707 and 1725, with 174 copper-plates. On his return in 1689, he was elected physician of Christ Hospital, created a baronet, appointed first physician of the army, first physician to GeorGeE II. and in the year 1726 president of \ the Royal Society, in the room of Sir Isaac NEwron. Thus the greatest man was re- : placed by the most remarkable. Sir Hans had been admitted a member of the Royal Aca- demy of Sciences at Paris in 1708. He was the Hippocrates of London; his activity was indefatigable, and as a fortunate inventor of many medicaments, he extended his fame beyond the grave. He terminated his celebrated career in the year 1753, in the 93d of his age, Philanthropy and patriotism were the leading features of his character. The beautiful bota- nical garden at Chelsea was left by him to the Company of Apothecaries, on condition of their introducing every year fifty new plants, till their number should amount to 2000. Whenever he had two copies of the same work in his own library, he presented one of them to the library of the College of Physicians of Londan, or to that of Oxford. His colleétion of natural curiosities was the richest a private individual was ever possessed of. His library consisted of 50,000 volumes. The catalogue of his natural colle€tion formed eight volumes in quarto, in which 69,352 curiosities were described. This treasure, which, according to his own expression, was destined to magnify Gop and benefit mankind, he made over by his will to the nation, on condition that his children should receive the sum of 20,000/. sterling. The nation acceded to the terms proposed by the testator. Parliament granted the sum required, and the whole of those precious collections were incorporated with the British Museum. The sums which Sir Hans had expended upon them amounted to upwards of fifty thousand pounds, and those articles which he received as presents to ten thousand pounds. If his ’ Britannic Majesty would have hesitated to accept of his cabinet at the rate of twenty thousand pounds, his will ordained that it should be offered at the same price, 1. To the Royal Society of London. 2. To the University of Oxford. 3. To the College of Edin- burgh. 4. Tothe Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris. 5. To the Imperial Academy of Petersburgh. 6. To the Royal Academy at Madrid. 7. To the Royal Academy at Berlin. 8. In case all these academies should have declined the offer, article by article was to have been sold by auction. The British parliament passed an act on the 5th of April 1753, to pay the
LINNAUS IN ENGLAND. 89.
He had followed Ravy’s system ever since the last century, and observed the alphabetic order in his colle€tions. He was too old, in fa€&t, and too self-sufficient to feel any inclination to learn the innovations of our young man, and to do homage to the laws of his system. He very readily permitted Linn us, as he did other fo- reigners, to see his cabinet ; a treasure unequalled in its kind all over the world. He also showed him his herbal, which consisted of near 250 divisions.
- One of the principal motives of the journey of Linnaus to Eng- land, was the botanical garden at Chelsea. Ciirrort wished to pro- cure;some foreign plants from it. The great botanist Puitrie Mit- LER, who died on the 18th of December, 1771, in the 80th year of his age, was then keeper of that garden, Linn«us waited on him, Miter conduéted him into the garden, showed him the plants, and gave them their ancient and inaccurate names. Linn«us was silent, his silence was ascribed to ignorance, and Mixiier jocosely said to one of his acquaintance: Sure, the botanist of Burgomaster Cut¥FORT 4s a great many—he knows nothing at all of plants—Linn aus heard of this, and saw MiLxerR again, firmly resolved to teach him to know better. Mrizrier made use a second time of the anciert names. s¢ Why do you apply these, pray?” asked Linnaus, “ we have better * and conciser appellations.”—-M1Lver still retained the ancient terms, was somewhat offended at the lesson he had received, but began how- ever, to conceive more esteem for the knowledge of Linnaeus. the said sum to his two daughters, to purchase at the same time the manuscripts collected by Har ey, to add to these collections Corron’s library; to erect a particular edifice to keep
them in, by raising the expences by means of a lottery of seven hundred thousand pounds ster- ting—this is the origin of the British Museum.
N The
Te) LINNAUS IN ENGLAND.
The latter visited hima third time, and met with a more pleasant and polite reception, obtained the plants which he requested for Cur1r-- rort’s garden, kept up ever after a friendly acquaintance and cor= respondence with Mixxer, and the garden of Chelsea was finally ar- ranged according to the Linn awn system.
From London, Linnaus went to Oxford. The greatest and. most: ingenius botanist in that University, was, at that time, Joun JAMES. Dixtvenivs,. by birth a Hessian, formerly professor of botany at the: University of Gzessen, who died in 1747: He met. with the same pa- ironage on the part of a rich Englishman, which Linn 2£us did on the part of Cuirrorr. This patron was Wititam: SHERARD, whose brother James was also a great lover of natural history. SHERARDs,. as a private man, was the most zealous-promoter of natural ‘science: England could then boast. of. He had long resided: at Smyrnaas Consuls. and he colleéted a great number of plants. and natural curiosities. On: his return to England he established the celebrated botanical gardens at his seat at Eltham, which was described:by Ditienius. (Hortus: Elihamensis, Oxon, 1732.) He intended to continue the great work of: Bavuuin (avez Theatr: Botanicz), but death arrested him in his enter-- prize in 1738. To render his colleétions useful to posterity, he de- posited a sum of money to establish a professorship at. Oxford, for the: purpose of describing and arranging those colleétions. DiLLEeNius: obtained this office, he took upon him the prescribed literary labour,, but could not accomplish it. His time was mostly taken up by his. natural history of Mosses, ( Historia Muscorum, Oxon. 1741). a classical. work, in which more than 600 species of mosses are described, hy,
which
LINNAUS IN ENGLAND. gt
which he made an epoch in natural history, and raised a lasting monu- ment to his fame. .
Linn aus waited on Ditientus, and found him in company with another gentleman; who, as he afterwards learned, was no other than Witiram Suerard. He addressed Dittenivus in Latin, and apo- logized for his ignorance of the English language. After some short conversation, Dititenius said to SHeraRp in English:—See, this ts the young man who confounds all botany —LinNn £us understood this, as the word confound, so analogous to the Latin of confundere, was made use of ; he feigned, however, not to understand him. They then went to the garden. Linnzus took great notice of a plant which he had not yet seen (Anthirrhinum Minus). He asked Dittenius what plant it was? ° That is more than you can tell me?” answered the latter.— «© Yes I can tell, if Imay be permitted to take off a flower and ex- ¢ amine it.”—“* Take one and welcome,” said Dittenivs. Linnaus took one and gave it the right name. DitLeNivus prepossessed by the pride of his own knowledge, continued to treat our luminary with great coolness and reserve.
The latter despaired of ever gaining his friendship, and obtaining presents of plants for Ciirrort’s garden. His travelling money was also very nearly expended. He went therefore on the third day to DiLuENius, and intreated him to let his servant hire a coach for him to return to London, as he could not speak English. The servant was dispatched. ‘ Before I go,” said Linnaus, “ I have one favor more & to request: pray tell me candidly, why did you tell the man who «¢ was with you the day before yesterday, that I was the person who 66 confounded all botany.” Astonished and thunderstruck! Ditienivs
N 2 endeavoured
2 LINNAUS IN ENGLAND.
i) endeavoured to deny _ what he had said, and to turn the con- versation on some other subjeét, but Linnzus insisted on an ex- planation.
“© Well,” said Dittenius, “ come along with me.” He went to his library and showed Linnazus his work: entituled Genera Plan- tarum, of which Gronov, without his knowledge, had sent him one half of the printed sheets. Every page was marked in different places with the letters N. B+ What do these marks signify?” asked Lin- nNa&uS.— They signify all the false genera of plants in your book.” — ‘¢ They are not false,” replied Linnaus, * or if they are, I beg you ‘¢ would teach me better; I will thankfully receive your correétion.”— & Very well, let us try.”—They went in the garden. Dittentius took up a plant called dlitum, in his and others opinion it had three stamina. Linnaus examined the flower, and found, according to his asser- tion, that it only had one.—¢ Psha! such a thing may happen in one flower,” exclaimed DiLLeN1us,—but it was so with all.—Several plants were now examined, and the genera given by Linnaus proved to be accurate. This effeéted an entire change in the conduét of Di1- Lenius. You must not be gone so soon,” said he “ I wish you s¢ would assist me in arranging and classing SHerarn’s collections.” Linna&vs saw those colleétions, remained some time longer. at Ox- ford, and received of Ditienivs all the plants he wished to have for CLirrort’s garden.
Dittzentus would not however publicly accept the Linnzan system. Old age added to the pride of experience, scouted the idea
of reform, and sought rather to follow error than truth. But this li-
terary discordance did not diminish the esteem which Dititenivus had
2 conceived
BOTANICAL REFORM. 93
conceived for Linnaus, though it was not preserved quite uncon- taminated by envy.*
To this. interesting, acquaintance may be added several other con- ne€tions at Oxford and London, which were useful to Crirrort, and in process of time equally advantageous to Linnaus. A friendly in- tercourse was cultivated and improved between the latter and professors Cotiinson, Martyn, Rano, Eunret, and other persons who make a conspicuous figure in the annals of literature. Enriched with know- ledge and a colle€tion of natural treasures, he returned to Holland, towards the end of September, and was most joyfully received by CLIFFoRT.
Impelled: by his celebrity, by the contradi€ions he had experienced, and animated with the flattering idea of becoming the creator of a new system, and the legislator of botany, Linn £us now began to pur- sue with all possible exertion the career which conduéted him to great- ness. Newron had conceived the original thought of splitting the rays of light. To prove its possibility, and to render valid a new truth, he spared no expence in having the finest instruments made, and be-
stowed days and nights on the objeé of his invention. Such is the
* The following passage of a letter, which DiLLENius wrote to BARON HALLER, on the 13th of October, will sufficiently evince the acrimony of his temper. Linnai Floramn Suecicam nondum vidie Non est unius hominis conscribere Floram universi regni. Canis fes~ ° tinans, Sc. Vidisti procul dubio Orchides in adis Suecicis, partum egregium, quem facile pessumdabis. Vereor tamen, ne nihil agas; est enim homo, - - - - - - ne quid gravius dicam. Scribit ad me quotannis fere semel, nil nisi semina effiagitans, licet ipse nulla mittit. Misi plurima; sed an fecerim opere pretium, haereo. Inhiat tanium generibus novis et mulia petit, que nunquam apud nos semina, immo nec flores ferunt ; ignarus rei bortensis. Spe- cierum ipsi parca cognitio; novi tamen bene merita et a morem in plantas ob que ipsi beng cupio. Epistol. ad HALLER. Vol. II. p. 299. To understand this answer, we find it incum- bent on us to say, that Linnzus had criticised Hauwer in the Flora Suecica ina strong and pointed manner.
activity
94 BOTANICAL REFORM.
aétivity and enthusiasm which charaéterize genius, and without which no great enterprise can be encompassed. % A system which is to bear ** our name,” says Hauer, “ an opinion issued from our own head, ‘¢ effe€ts with the learned what ambition has effe€ted with ALEXANDER. «6 Labor, time, skill, all the energy and force of mind are applied “¢ cheerfully and without contradiétion as soon as our system becomes ‘6 more certain, more pleasant, and more probable. Who would have «6 counted and fixed the stamina.in flowers almost numberless, had they “ not been the essential part of the new sexual system of Linnaus, «¢ and the principal source of rendering it perfett and universally ,pre-
¢¢ dominant !”
It required a strong and forcible progress to bring about such revo-
lution. And in faét, no time, during the whole life of Linnaus, was more distinguished by an extraordinary a€tivity, none more fertile for the republic of science than the year 1737. It was in the course of this same year, when Linnaus published about 200 printed sheets. Such a deal of writing would have been no novelty, and the young Swede had long before been excelled in it. But what constituted its pre-eminence was, that the six works, which Linn zus published in the course of this year, and which diffused the reform of botany from Har- tecamp throughout Europe, were all originals, and by more than one half large classical works; replete with the most difficult researches, new representations, and accurate critical do€trines. It would have done infinite honour to his diligence, had he only produced one of those works in a whole twelvemonth. The plans and materials for some of them had certainly been previously colleéted ; but the whole required to be digested and arranged. All those labours could not prevent him
from
BOTANICAL REFORM. 95
from giving proper attendance to Crirrort’s garden, and receiving the frequent visits of strangers from Leyden and Harlem.
The Genera Plantarum was the first work of Linn aus, which made its appearance after his return from England, in the beginning of 1737; and in the completion of which he had spent the last months of the preceding year. It was published at Leyden on 384 pages in o€tavo.
Te limited. in it the charaéters of the genera of plants, accord- ing to the number, form, situation: and proportion of their generative parts, re€tified the names of the genera by those distinétive marks: -which were always true to nature, and applicable to any system which might have been adopted for the limitation of the classes and orders. Had*he not done this, such a change would only have created more confusion and disorder. Having thus applied proper names to the genera, he also began to alter the names of most of the species. Lin- N£uUs, according to his own assertion,. had till then, examined the characters of near 8000 plants. The labour and extent of such cir- cumstantial researches at such an age as his, deserve reflexion. Upon the whole, he had: described in the above work, upwards of 935 genera of plants. This number was afterwards augmented by one half in the eleven different editions, with his own and foreign addi- tions. In the same year he published a supplement to it, (Corollariwm Generum) in which he described 60 new genera. To this he also added a:concise view of the sexual system (Methodus Sexualis). Linnaus, as we had occasion to observe before, had already inserted after his return from Lapland, a concise list of the plants of this extensive Nor- thern region in the transactions of the royal society of Upsal. In the month of April 1737, a precise description of them appeared at Am-+
B} sterdam
gS BOTANICAL REFORM.
sterdam on 372 o€tavo pages, which from motives of gratitude he de- dicated to that learned body of his country. The plants were described in it agreeable to the new sexual system, with a special index of their native soil, and their utility in medicine and husbandry, and embel- lished with a striking representation of fifty-eight of the most curious plants, on twelve large copper-plates, engraved at the expence of that academy. In the introduétion the author gave a brief physico-geo- graphical description of Lapland, and in the work itself many interest- ing remarks on the manners, diseases, and mode of living of the in- habitants, interspersed with other miscellaneous stri€tures. “At the so- licitation of Gronov, he permitted one of the Lapponian plants, called campanula serpillifolia, to be, after his own name, denoininated Linnea, and represented on a plate of that work*.—An honour which he so well deserved !
LinN&us soon after conferred similar honours on other celebrated men, in the valuable work by which the objeét of his residence at Har- secamp was completed, and a flattering monument raised to the name of his patron. This was the description of Cuirrort’s garden, Hor- ius Cliffortianus, printed at Amsterdam, on 501 pages in folio. It was first intended to be published in quarto, and some sheets still in the pos- session of Doétor J. E.Smiru at London, printed off in that form, corroborate this. assertion. The size was, however, soon found im- proper and inconvenient, and Ciirrorgr spared no expence to bring forth the repertory of his treasures in a most elegant shape. The re- presentations of the plants were engraved on thirty-two plates, by the
* This plant which is generally called Linnea Borealis, has been engraved in the frontis- piece, after nature, from a specimen which the Translator procured of Dr. J. E. SmitH,
the proprietor of the Linn £an collections. ; celebrated
BOBDANICALIREFOR M. 97
celebrated Enret, which rendered the work dearer than any other ever published by Linnaus. Cuiirrorr made presents of copies of this work to his friends and principal acquaintance. The few copies which were left-to the booksellers, were sold by them at twenty-three crowns per copy.
_ Linn aus had arranged the plants in this work after his own syste. A meritorious undertaking—as, by it, more light and greater order were diffused. The celebrated Swiss botanist Grsner*, one of the foreign friends of Linn aus, gave the following opinion of the Hortus Cliffor- tianus, inaletterto Baron Hauer. “ Anexcellent production indeed, ¢+ full of ingenious opinions, and as replete with erudition as any bo- ‘¢ tanist can possibly display. What pleases me most, is, that the author « —(a thing never done with regularity by any preceding botanist)— «¢ eave besides the names of the species their principal charaéteristicst.”
One of the greatest evils in botany, which had thus far rendered that science a maze of difficulties, and threatened it with Babylonian confusion, was the vague and barbarian technology which prevailed in it.
’
«It resembles a chaos,” said Linn aus, * the mother of which is ig-
* norance, the father custom, and the fosterer prejudice.”—Bold enough to hurl into ruins that gothic stru€ture to which several living old artists had contributed, and to exhibit the grounds of his innovations
and reforms, he published his Critica Botanica at Leyden, on 228 pages,
* Joun Geswer was born at Zurich, onthe 18th of March, 1719, and died on the 6th of May, 1790.
t+ Opus sane egregium et acerrimi judicii, nec minoris eruditionis, quo difficulter Botanicus carebit; mihi perplacet, ab eo (Linnzo) in nominibus specierum notas earum essentiales ex- hiberi, quoa ante quisquam botaincus recte prastiterit. See Epist, ad Alb, HALLERUM, vol. il. Berna, 1773) Ps 6.
oO of
98 BOTANICAL REFORM.
oftavo.—This was a full and classical commentary on the fourth part of his Fundamenta Botanica already published. He examined in it the names of the genera, species, and bastard species of plants, pointed out inaccuracies, confirmed the good ones, rejeéted the bad, and established certain rules, and a new method for the denomination of plants.
J
‘¢ Botanists,” says Linnaus, in the third letter which he wrote to Baron Haxver, on the 8th of June, 1737, * have hitherto wholly ne- *¢ slected the language of their science. Since TourNEFoRT, more than a thousand generical names have been changed and introduced. ‘¢ What cause have I to change them? None, but because they are ‘¢ not founded on proper grounds and definite laws. The greatest part ‘¢ of the names of the species of plants are, doubtless, wrong, and if « these are to be changed, why should not the same be done with the “¢ false names of the genera! Our successors in the republic of botany és will ultimately cease to give implicit credit to the authority of the 6 ancients. Why should we retain the ell-long names of Monolasiocal- 8 Jenomenophyllorum, Hypophylocarpodendorwm, &c. and other barba- ‘ rian jargon?” :
This reform, however rational and meritorious, met with many con-
tradi€tions at first on the part of those whose pride and self-love were
aggrieved by it, and who thought it beneath their dignity to receive in- struction from a youth. We shall hereafter speak more amply on this subje&t. The celebrated professor Lupwic, at Leipzig, wrote soon after the following letter to Baron Harrier: * What is your opinion s¢ of the Critica Botanicaof LinNa&us? He certainly is a severe, but s¢ sometimes a fortunate censor of botanists. I like his representations,
“¢ yet
Sea”
BOTANICAL REFORM. 99
yet I cannot inall points agree with him*.” The energy of truth and and the goodness of his cause soon got the upper hand. Opposition could not triumph over the majority of the impartial, and the reform of Linn us was introduced with his ameliorated botanical technology. One of the greatest philosophers of this century, who found the ut- most delight in nature, expresses himself in the following manner re- spe€ting this new technical language: ¢ It has been objeéted,” says J. J. Rouss£Au, * that this nomenclature was not Ciceronian. But this ob- ¢¢ jection would only then find any reasonable grounds, if Crczro had ‘‘ written a complete treatise on botany. All those terms are, whether, « Greek or Latin, expressive, concise, sonorous, and by their great pre- * cision, form even elegant construtions. In the daily praétice of the ¢¢ art we find all the utility of its new language, which is as much conve- *¢ nient and necessary to botanists as algebra to the geometricians.” Linnaus published another little work, which was a description of Currrort’s orchard (Viridarium Cliffortianum); and he then resolved with impatience to return to his future bride, by quitting Hartecams, which had till now been his elysium, at the expiration of the year 1737. He had rendered this villa the most curious in Holland, but the period of its fame was but of a short duration. Ciirrort, by his liberal sacrifices to nature and art, found himself at last in unpleasant circumstances, and the glory of Hartecamp vanished with him. The villa itself remained in possession of his family. His son, who was chosen
afterwards Burgomaster of Amsterdam, did not follow with equal en-
* Professor Lupwic, who by his medical talents acquired such high diftin€tion, says in his letter to HALLER, ‘* Quid de Critica Botancia Linnai sentis ? Rigorosus quidem, sed sae- « pissime felix botanicorum censor est; non displicent que protulit, licet non in omnibus cum “ipso sentire queam.”
t See RoussEav’s preface to his botanical dictionary.
oO 2 thusiasm
100 BOTANICAL REFORM.
thusiasm his father’s inclination. In remembrance of Linnaus, his portrait, after life, and in a Laplander’s dress, is still preserved there. From the original, drawn at Ciirrort’s, several copies were exe- cuted. In these portraits’; Lrnnaus had the most grotesque appear-
ance. It representedhim with boots of rein-deer-skin, about his body a
girdle, from which was suspended a Laplander’s drum, a needle to make’
nets, a straw snuff-box, a cartridge-box, and a knife; his neck was bare ; his head was covered with a grey round hat; his hair was’ of a stiff brown colour; over his hands he wore Laplander’s gloves; and in his right he held a plant, red from within and white from without*.— This portrait did not bear the least resemblance to Linnaus in his age and maturity of manhood, except the piercing hazel eyes, and the wart on his right cheek. ; Borruaave had thus far been the author of his good fortune in Holland, and resolved farther to become his promoter and benefactor. The charge of a physician in ordinary in the Dutch colony of Surinam, in South America, had become vacant. It was only in BorrHAAve’s power to recommend a successor. He offered this place to Linn us, who, owing to a desire of propagating and enjoying his celebrity in Europe, and deterred by the unpropitious climate of that colony, thought proper to wave it. He proposed a friend of his, a German, of the name of Barrscnu. This was a youth of great parts, and a most amiable chara€ter. Linn a«us had got acquainted with him at Leyden; grew as fond of him as of Arrep1, and instrutted him farther in bo- tany, of which he became a rare and most enthusiastic professor.
Baarscu gladly accepted the charge, and sailed in the summer of 1737 * This was the plant called after his own name, Linnea Borealis.
1 for
BOTANICAL REFORM. 101
for Surinam, where he’fell six months after a viGtim to the climate, and a worthless and bad’ treatment.~ Greatly moved at the loss of a friend, with whom he had spent many an agreeable hour, of whose happiness, diligence and fri¢ndship he had such high expeétations, and from whom he hoped to receive so many curiosities and discoveries from that part of the world, Linnavus resolved to render his memory immortal, by giving to a plant the appellation of Barésza, after the deceased’s own name. Linnaus left Hartecamp to go with Crirrort to Amsterdam on private business, and thence, at the end of Oftober, to Leyden. - there; he visited among others, his friend professor Van Rovyen. Boer- HAAVE had also been Van Royen’s patron, and resigned many years before, the professorship of botany in his favour. Wan Royen had for many years been welcome in Borruaave’s family; but love at last broke and destroyed all those friendly connexions. He made proposals of matrimony to Miss Bozruaave the sole heiress of the great man of that name, and beyond doubt, the greatest fortune then at Leyden; but his offer was rejeéted. He now became quite embittered against Boxr- nAAveand his family. The botanical garden at Leyden had long before been arranged and described agreeable to BozrrHaAve’s own method *, Van Royen did afterwards every thing he could do against him and his memory, and resolved to regulate the academical garden by the Lin- N.EAN system. ~ While he ‘was occupied with this projeét, Linn £us waited on him. Van Royen offered him board and lodging free, and an annual salary ef 800 florins, if he would stay and assist him in the performance o
his plan. “ Fain would I stay with you,” replied Linn£us, * butI do
* Indices Stirpium Horti Academici Lugduno—Batavi, Lugd. Bat. 1710 and 3720, quarte,
66 not
10% BOTANICAL REFORM.
“¢ not choose to arrange the botanical garden after my own method: «6 My obligations to BozrHaave are too great, and I have too «© much respe€t for his memory.” Van Royen insisted on having the garden altered. “ Well,” said Linnazus * let us proje€t some new sé system, which shall be neither Bozruaave’s nor mine, but which ‘¢ may be considered as your own.” This proposal pleased, and thus originated, after the publication of CLtirrort’s garden, the new de- scription of the botanical garden at Leyden, and Roven’s new system of botany, of which, striély speaking, Linnaus himself was the au- thor *.
Linnaus profited by his stay at Roven’s to publish two other works. The one friendship imposed on him as a duty, and the other had for its tendency to put in a clear light the prerogatives of his system, and to establish its predominance.
The first was the produion of the diligence of his ill-fated friend, the ichthyology of Arnrrp1, which appeared in the beginning of 1799 at Leyden; a work, which in Linn 2us’s own opinion, is unequalled in the natural history of fishes. The second was the Classes Plantarum, which Linnaus published in the same year on 656 pages, oftavo, In this work he presented a general and circumstatial view of the six- teen universal and thirteen partial systems till then introduced in bo-
tany, from Gesner and Casaxtpinus, the first systematical botanists
down to his own time. He criticised the classifications of Morison,
Ray, Ditrenius, Knaut, Rivinus, Rupp, Lupwie, HERMANN,
BorruAAveE, TOURNEFORT, VAILLANT, SHEUCHZER, Macnou and
* Flora Leydensis Prodromus, exhibens Plantas que in Horto Academico Lugduno—Batavo aluntur. Ludgd, Bat. 1740.
PONTEDERA,
BOTANICAL REFORM. 109
PonTEDERA, shewed the errors and excellencies of each, and added the genera of plants according to the different authors in the margin of his own system.
He soon had the pleasure to see his aspiring ambition gratified, and the sway of his method acknowledged. His friends; Van Royvenx and Gronov were the first who followed his diélates. The former published in 1739 a description of the plants of Virginia (Flora Vir- ginie), in the completion of which he had been assisted by Linnausy, and his technical nomenclature and descriptions. Thus with Sweden *, the Dutch were the first who did homage to this new botanical constitu- tion, though it was reje€ted by some proud aristocratic malecontents.
The great number of friends and connexions whom Linnaus had found in Holland, afforded him fine prospe&s and secured his subse- quent welfare. The Dutch wished to prevail on so valuable a man not to leave their country. It was proposed to him to make a botanical voyage at the expence of the republic to the Cape of Good Hope, with the promise of giving him on his return, a professorship of botany in a Dutch university. But Linn us also: slighted this offer, because he violently longed after his country, and after those bright hopes which he flattered himself to realize there.
The beginning of the year 1738 was the dullest time Linn aus pas- sed in Holland, Formerly he always was of a serene, unruffled and cheerful temper; but now disquietude and melancholy preyed upon him. The celebrity which he had gained, the remonstrances of his friends, in short, nothing could raise his depressed spirits. The hercu-
* At Stockholm was. published J. Eseru. Ferper, Medici, Hortus Agerumensis, Se-
eundum Methodum Sexualem Linnei. 1739, oétavo. 2, lean.
iO4 BOTANICAL’ REFORM.
lean labours to which he had dedvoted the elapsed year, could not but aét with malign influence upon his health. Towards the close of Ja- nuary he was seized with a violent fever, which lasted upwards of six weeks. In March he visited Hartecamp for the last time, to enjoy the sweets of the vernal year, and to effet a complete restoration of ‘his declining health.
Currrort had visited him during his illness at Leyden, and seemed displeased with his residing in that city. %¢ If it was your wish to stay “‘ longer in Holland,” said he, * I had the first right to your company, « and could have paid you your annual stipend as formerly.”——During the latter part of the time Linn aus resided at Hartecamp he received a ducat per day.
His extreme application to study, was considered by his friends as the source of his discontented and sickly condition... But the sole and real cause of his disquietude and illness was Saran Exisaspetuy his intended bride. He had corresponded with her during the whole time of his stay in Holland. Her letters to him were constantly forwarded by one of his? friends. As we have already observed, his future father-in-law had fixed the marriage at the expiration of three years, which were already elapsed, and Linn us still remained abroad in the fourth year. His friend,to whom the letters of hisEL1sasETH were entrusted, and for whom he had obtained a professorship, endeavoured to take advantage of this long absence, and to obtain the hand of Miss Morus for himself, by representing that her lover would never return to Sweden, and by so doing he almast had his wishes sanétioned by her father’s consent. ‘For- tunately another friend of Linn us interposed for him, confirmed the reliance upon his constancy and fidelity, and thus dislodged this trea:
cherous
‘ds
BOTANICAL REFORM. 105
cherous rival. Linnaus himself related this threatening incident, which was like to have proved sinistrous to his passion, in a letter which he wrote a twelvemonth after to Baron Haier *,
He intended to pay a visit to Hater at Goettingen, and to profes- sor Lupwie at Leipzic, on his way back to Sweden, and had proposed to himself to pass through Upper and Lower Saxony, and the Danish dominions. Both, according to his promise, expetted him with impa- tience. But he altered his resolution. Being so near the confines of France, he would not miss this opportunity of seeing Paris, where he had previously made several acquaintances by his correspondence.
He reached that capital in the beginning of May, where ANTHONY and BERNARD DE Jussieu, two brothers, were the principal botanists. The former was the successor of Tournerort, and died in 1758, and his brother in 1777. They gave Linn zus a most kind and flattering reception, though AnTuony was a bigotted adherent to TouRNEFORT’s system, and too old to begin to learn anew one. Through them he be- came acquainted with the most eminent French literati, and saw all the botanical and other natural curiosities at Paris. He also saw the herbals of TouRNEFORT, VAILLANT, the two Jussitzus, and of Surran, a French physician, who had made two voyages to America with PLUMIER the jesuit. He visited the public libraries, and the private ones of Is-
arp and others; was introduced to the great entomologist ReEaumuR,
* Permansi in Belgio, us novisti; interim amicus meus summus, Cl. B... Litteras amice mez ad me per tabellarios continuo transmittebat ; sanéte prestitit. Ultimo anno 1738, quo apud Van ROYEN vixi, (quod erat quarto anno; non enim socer plures quam tres concessit annos) et hoc quidem nutu sponse, sibi proximum judicavit B... esse, mea enim recom- mendatione factus fuit professor ; mox me non reversurum in patriam demonstrabat ; Spon- sam meam ambiebat, fere obtinuit ni intervenisset alius, fallaciam qui prodidit ; punitus et ipse fuit mille fatis adversis, Epistol. ad Hallerum, vol. i. p. 415.
P who
106 - BOTANICAL REFORM.
who invented*the new thermometer; examined’ with BERNARD Dg ‘Jussreu all the curious plants in the botanical garden; and in a word, every thing which his curiosity could wish to have seen in so short a time. He wrote to Harter “I have seen here so many public and ‘ private libraries in natural history, that I am already enabled to pub- s¢ lish a second edition of my Bzbliotheca Botanica, since my fresh know- ledge of books is much greater than it was before.”
Paris, from its predileftion for Tournerorr and VAILLANT, gave but little credit to the botanical reform of Linn aus: “He is a young ‘«¢ enthusiast,” they would say, « who confounds all, and whose sole ‘6 merit consits in having plunged botany into a state of anarchy *.” “ Don’t laugh, good people,” said the French naturalist GuerrarD, who penetrated deeper than the rest into the spirit of the LINN#an me- thod, « don’t laugh at’ Linnaus, the time will come when he will laugh at you all.” A truly pathetic anticipation—for the same young Swede who now afforded them merriment, became afterwards, in de- spite of their sarcastic jokes, the master of his science in France,—and the late royal garden at Trianon was arranged according to his own sys- tem, in preference to that of the French botanists.
Linnaus was treated in the most friendly, cordial and affe€tionate manner by BERNARD DE JussiEU, whom he never ceased to corres- pond with. “I heard with pleasure,” says Dean Barcx, who was at Paris in 1743, “ in what high terms Bernnarp pz Jussieu spoke of
“© Linn aus, whom he always used to greet by the title of our good ¢ friend.”
* C’est un jeune enthousiaste, qui brouille tout, n’a d’autre merite et de gloire, que d’avoir mis l’anarchie dans la botanique.
It
au
LINNAUS IN FRANCE. 107
It was to his friendship Linn aus stood also indebted for an honour which was so rare and distinguishing for a young foreigner. He was admitted a correspondent member of the French academy of sciences, He left with some reluétance a city where he had enjoyed so much plea- sure and entertainment. He had promised Baron Havver to visit him on his return from thence; but the impatience and constancy of his amorous flame recalled him to his country. After one month’s resi- dence in the French metropolis he went on board a ship at Rouen, in which, after a passage of five days, he reached Helsingburg in Scania, whence he set out to Stockholm.
Never was there a genius of the North who returned from foreign
countries to his home, loaded with so many encomiums and laurels.
P 2 SECTION
=:
vibe
STeiis
7 aD -
4 Lire
5 Pye sh ry y ‘ ‘te 2 ay. r aves trac ha a
, 5" s at ieee ;
*
[ 109 |
SECTION Vi.
8
OPPONENTS, AND LITERARY CONTESTS OF LINNAEUS.
BARON HALLER.—FIRST LETTER OF LINNEZUS TO THE BARON.—CONNEXION BETWEEN THESE TWO GREAT MEN.—FRIENDSHIP, RIVALSHIP, AND OPINIONS OF HALLER.—G. F. HALLER, HIS SON, WRITES.AGAINST LINNZUS.—L. HEISTER AT HELMSITADT.—HIS RESENTMENT AGAINST LINNAUS,—EXCITES HIS PUPIL, PROFESSOR SIEGESBECK, AT PETERSBURG, AGAINST HIM.—AN ACCOUNT OF THIS MAN.—HIS LITIGIOUS WRITINGS.—THEIR RIDICULOUS CONTENTS.—IS RE- FUTED BY GLEDITSCH AND PROFESSOR BROWALLIUS.—HEISTER ENTERS THE LISTS AGAINST LINN ZUS.—SEEKS TO: DISPLAY HIS CELEBRITY BY A WORK OF BURKHARD.—SEXUAL SYSTEM OF LINN ZUS.—IDEAS OF THE ANCIENTS RESPECT-= ING THE SEXES OF PLANTS.—JUNG.—MILLINGTON.—CAMERARIUS AND BURK- HARD.—THE LATTER STARTS IDEAS ON THIS HEAD, WITHOUT SUCCESS,—LIN- NAUS UNACQUAINTED WITH JUNG’S WORKS. — ANECDOTE, — LIST OF THE OTHER PRINCIPAL OPPONENTS OF LINNAUS—KLEIN—CRANZ—ALSTON—PON- TEDERA—SPALLANZANI.—ADANSON—COUNT DE BUFFON.—EXQUISITE POLITE- NESS OF COUNT DE BUFFON TO LINNAUS, JUN.—WALLER, A PUBLIC ANTA- GONIST OF LINNAUS IN SWEDEN. — PUBLISHES AN ACADEMICAL TREATISE AGAINST HIM.—CONTENTS OF THAT WORK.—TURNS OUT TO THE AUTHOR’S PREJUDICE.—ANECDOTE.—ANYMOUS DEFENCE OF LINN AUS.—ITS CONTENTS,— HIS METHOD OF REVENGING HIMSELF ON HIS ADVERSARY.—HIS PRUDENT CONDUCT IN EVERY ATTACK,
REVOLUTIONS are never effeéted in the bosom of peace and perfe& concordance. They occasion convulsions, and these more or less violent storms. Thus it happens in the political world, and still more so in he republican domains of literature, where every one is at liberty to give his vote. In the political world, the triumph of revolu-
tions depends on the resolution and superiority of power, In the re-
public
116 OPPONENTS OF LINNAUS,
republic of literature, it depends on the energy of truth, which is of course the most arduous and the more honourable of the two. Where such vi€tories are obtained, opponents and rivals are seldom wanting. As Homer had his Zoitus, Lutuer his Ecxs, and SyLvEsTER Prrerras, Baye his Jurren, Vottaire his Frerons, and WoLr a Lance, and his partner, as antagonists ;—how very consistent was it with the order of things, that the young Swede, who rose to the glorious dignity of a reformer, should have had his adversaries too. Without proclaiming him the infallible oracle of the wide range of his science— . for he had and must have had his defeéts—we discovered but too often in the literary feuds dire€ted against him that spirit which generally animates and chara€terizes them. The love of truth was used as a cloak, and envy, party-spirit, self-interest, and passion, as chief mo- tives of the controversial disputes of his adversaries. But his con- duét, amidst those attacks, was more prudent than that of many a great man who either preceded or came after him. Agressions he could not prevent, but he impeded the breaking out of a war, whose burthen must have proved disagreeable, and whose issue could have added no fresh laurels either to his honor or to his merits.
We shall now take a general view of his opponents, and the attacks which took place at the first period of his reform in Holland; we will, at the same time, communicate all the subsequent contests and feuds which his passive condu& prevented from becoming rancorous struggles, This we will do, that we may hereafter follow, him with Mn SEs quietude in the course of his meritorious life.
The first whom he dreaded as an enemy, and had afterwards great reason to revere as the sincerest well-wisher and lover of his prosperity,
Was
OPPONENTS OF LINNAUS. i111
was Baron Atsrecurt Harrer. Linnaeus had first got acquainted with him by a botanical treatise which Hatter published in the year 1794, in a periodical work, at Nuremberg, entituled: Commercia Lit- teraria*, Fear and anxiety, more than esteem, made him, in 1737, correspond with this young man, who in the preceding year had been appointed professor of the new-founded university of Goettingen, which was the first step to his greatness. ;
Linn aus had heard of his friend Gronov, at Leyden, a report that Ha ter intended to write against his new system. He therefore wrote a letter to him from Hartecamp, dated‘on the 5th of April. The con- tents of this letter charafterize too much his cast of mind for us to
omit it here:
- Thave just received intelligence of your intending to declare é¢ hostilities against me. Permit me, therefore, to come to a more cir- ¢¢ cumstantial explanation with you on this subject. ‘I could wish to ¢¢ avoid, as much as possible, your displeasure and your attacks. Much « rather would I choose to side with you. Nothing would be more _ unpleasant to me than to be your adversary. Prace pe witn vs! «¢ Ever since your name has been known to me, I always felt the highest ‘esteem for you. To my knowledge, I never have done aught that «© might have given you offence. Why will you then challenge me to “6 fight? say, what could make me incur your displeasure? I will give 6 you satisfattion—Prace BE WITH Us!
*¢ Should my innocent sexsuat system be the cause of this war,
‘© it would be a very unjust one: I have never pretended that the
* Ad rei Medicz et Scientize Naturalis incrementa. This work appeared in 15 volumes
quarto, from 1731 till 1745. 2 «¢ method
a12 OPPONENTS OF LINNAUS.
*¢ method was natural. Become yourself a creator of a similar system, ‘‘ and I will immediately acknowledge you. If you have remarked ‘greater faults in me, I forgive you your superior wisdom. Who *¢ could perambulate, without erring, the wide spread domains of nature? ‘6 Who could observe every thing with sufficient accuracy? Corre& me «in a friendly manner, and you shall have my best thanks. I have «done all I could do. A great tree cannot bear a lofty top when “¢ only it first begins to shoot forth. I have already made myself «¢ known to all the principal botanists. They have all encouraged me, ‘and none would oppress my insatiable desire of getting acquainted s‘ with nature. Should you be more obstinate than all those? In your *¢ treatise in the Journal of Nuremberg, your disposition appears to me “6 too elevated, too sublime, ever to permit you to avail yourself of «6 the ignorance of others to promote your own greatness*.”
«¢ Forbearing to contend with me, you will do much better to com- ¢¢ municate your profound learning and knowledge of nature to the & world. This will surely be more honourable to you. Look back “on the history of botanists. Proud of their skill and inventions, ** they would not remain quiet and peaceable when they first appeared ‘on the stage. Long have I been of that opinion, but now I know
‘«‘ better. After the lapse of a few years, the former became so com-
* Si quos alios in me vidisti errores, Tu sapientior, hzc ignoscas. Quis caruit erroribus, in diffusissimo Naturz constitutus campo? Quis sufficientes habuit observationes? Moneas hee amice, et tibi gratias agam. Feci, que potui, nec fastigium summum acquirit vasta arbor, prima qua erumpit tempestate. Innotui Botanicis certe primariis omnibus dudum ; me erexerunt omnes, nec meum insatiabile discendi naturalia, desiderium fregit ullus. An tu hisce omnibus durior? Videris mihi ex tua dissertatione magis nobilis, quam ut te jactares super ignorantiam aliorum. Epistol. ad Hallerum, Vol. I. p. 284, et seq.
s¢ plaisant
Gé
66
a n
nan a
ao na
a na
an na
a o
o a
a nan
66
¢
a
66
na
6
an
¢
6
n
6
a
66
4
a
na
4
OPPONENTS OF LINNAUS. 113
plaisant and so polite, that they would not offend any person with a single word. .
«¢ I have perhaps been the only one, who after your own method, acquired his learning without a master. I am still a learner, and you will indulge me for not having yet become learned. If science can be acquired by your method, I am also in hopes of it by my own*. Finally I much doubt whether you or any other accademical pro- fessor can derive any benefit from quarrels. The first endeavour of a teacher should be to procure the confidence and respeé& of his audience. But if his pupils see him in error, how dangerous will it prove to his authority! What man, however learned or accom- plished, has not been justly censured for having censured others. It always leaves some stigma behind.
* Consult the history of all literary champions, and show me but one who ingratiated himself with the world by his feuds|5 Matruiotus might in his time have been a great man, had he not given himself to litigiousness. What could Ray and Rivinvs do with their quar- rels? Ditventus still laments that the latter compelled him to enter the lists; and did his viétory add any thing to his celebrity ? Another sent him a challenge some time after, but he wisely declined accept- ing it. The ingenious Varititant endeavoured to pave himself the way to glory by the downfall of Tournerort. How much greater would he have been, had he not aéted thus!
s¢ I shudder at the idea of entering acombat. Because, whether you
vanquish or are vanquished—prejudice and blame will always attend
_* Ego demum fui et forte solus, qui secundum istam a te datam methodum absque pre-
ceptore ullo, que novi, addidici. Disco adhuc; ignoscas quod doétus, etiamnum non evaserim. Si doctrina, tua methodo, comparari queat, spes doctrinz etiam apud me elucet.
Q 66 your
114 OPPONENTS OF LINN AUS.
«your lot. Who triumphs without scars? To me, and perhaps to you *° the time is too valuable to be spent in disputes. I am also too young “ for them. Ifyou once take up arms, you must not lay them down «6 till the conclusion of the war, and this once began might last till “6 death. And all this weighty and serious ftruggle—how would it appear «¢in the eyes of posterity at the expiration of half a century >—Asa “tale, as a mere joke! I am not ashamed of being taught better by ‘¢ you—Behold him, whom you wish to make your enemy, and who 6 once more solicits most earnestly peace and your friendship.
«¢ But should the rumour circulating ‘be without foundation, I most « earnestly beg your pardon, for having troubled you with these ample ‘* representations.”
The fear of Linn £us was panic, and the report turned out to be an idle story. Hatter wrote immediately to inform him of his friendly disposition in the warmest expressions, and to assure him, that it never entered into his head to molest him in his laudable career. Linnus in return, sent him a letter of thanks on the first of May,
in which he paid the following compliment. «I feel an uncommon
«‘ pleasure in the falsehood of the report. You only and Ditrenrus”
‘© IT could wish never to be mine enemies. For you both have read ¢¢ the same book which I read—you have read Nature.—As to other *¢ botanists who can only boast of book-learning, I do not value them, «« however great their erudition might be.”
In the same year this scientific zeal brought on a short interruption of their friendship. Haxuuer had sent Linnaus a copy of his disser- tation of inauguration on the method of studying botany (de Methodo studiz Botanicr, Goett. 1736.) LINN aus, in an unguarded moment, too
proud
OPPONENTS OF LINNZUS. 115
proud of his confidence, and still more animated with a desire of sport- ing his own knowledge, returned an answer, with a criticism, in which he hinted at several erroneous assertions, and manifested his predi- leGtion for his own system. ¢ Rest assured,” said Linnaus, * that ‘6 as a stranger, I love and esteem you with all my heart, you will not therefore, take it amiss, if, in a friendly and confidential manner, I & say a few words, respecting your excellent treatise*.” But Hatter was displeased, and manifested his displeasure to him at.his amicable severity.
Linnazus hastened to appease his resentment. He did not expect that his critique would be so ill receivedt. In a letter to Haver, written on the 8th of O€tober, he says: “ Do not believe that I write & against you from enmity. I take Almighty God to witness, that ¢ there is no botanist whom I esteem, revere, and love more than you. «6 So think not ill of me. If I have seleéted the names of all the ¢ genera of which you have a different opinion, it was not to censure “ you, but to know the truth, and to confirm myself to it on future « occasions. I only beg here that you may no farther think of all
66 which gave you offence in my last letter, You shall never have
* Si persuasus sis, me, quem vidisti nunquam, te ex animo amare magnifice facere, nec zgre feres, si pauca tecum loquar de tua dissertatione, certe magni laboris pere.
‘t+ Ne putes me ex studio inimica mente contra te scribere. . Testor omnipotentem Deum, me nullum Botanicum majori in pretio, honore et amore habere quam te! Sentias itaque non de me male! Excerpsi ex tuis generibus nomina circa que dissentiisti a me, non ut te reprehenderem, sed ut certior fierem et in tempore me corrigerem—-Unice oro, rejicias a tua mente omnia, quz ultima epistolate offenderunt. Nunquam habebis apud me causam ir ; me amabis dum me presentem videas, meumque animum. Quanti ego te fecerim, vel me absente coram te declarabunt, vel quidem mihi inimici. Doleo maxime quod in me lesus fuerit tuus im me generosus animus; culpam deploro, veniam precor! Spero te hisce satisfactum, quod si sis, et amicus ret antea. Epistol. ad HALLER. Vol. I. p. 337.
Q 2 “© Occasion
116 OPPONENTS OF LINNAUS.
¢ occasion to be angry with me, you will like me if you see me in person, s¢ and come to get acquainted with my way of thinking. My very ene-
«¢ mies must ownin my absence how much I esteem you. I lament ex-
‘6 tremely my having offended your noble disposition towards me, I -
‘¢ regret my fault, and crave your pardon. I hope this explanation will ‘¢ afford you satisfaétion, and you will, as formerly, remain my friend.”
And so did Hatuer remain the friend of Linnaus. He gave him the noblest and most egregious proofs of his friendship. Their mutual correspondence continued till 1750. Three years after, Havuer left Goettingen, and returned to Bern, his native city. A colle€tion of critical disquisitions, which HaLLeER’s son published against Linn aus, during four years, reckoning from 1750, seems however to have been the cause which broke off that correspondence.
The personal and reciprocal esteem and attachment between these two great men, was not unfrequently disturbed by jealousy and literary discordance. Considering the difference of their genius and way of thinking, it could not happen otherwise. That poet who sung with such beautiful philosophy the vanity of ronour, would not have been the polyhistor of the age, had not a sense of that same honour guided him on the path of fame. With all the discretion and sedate grandeur of his temper, he was not insensible of its sweets and its value.
As to Linnaus, glory was the soul of all his endeavours, and the idol of his affe€tions. He rose to be the monarch of botany, and claimed universal homage. Hatter followed his own method in that science. How could it therefore have been possible that public dis- putes, reproaches, and petty attacks should not sometimes have broken out between them,
¢ LINNZUS —
OPPONENTS OF EENN AUS. 117
“ Linn aus’—says the Chevalier ZiMMERMANN, * a pupil and ‘6 friend of Hatier, with whom he was well acquainted by several ‘6 years domestic connexion,—had in the course of a few years pulled ¢¢ down the whole struéture of botany, that he might ere& on the ruins ‘‘ of his predecessors his own system; he reje€ted every thing foreign *¢ to his own precepts, and sent the greatest botanists into a school, “¢ where they were first to learn the signification of the names he had * created, and the laws of his system. Hatter, with placid eye, saw “‘ this mighty di€tator step forth ; he was not insensible of the necessity * of a reform, but saw at the same time, that he went too far. He fol- “© lowed Linn us where ever he thought the truth was his guide, ‘6 but where the latter only dealt in hypotheses, he there quitted him. “ The plurality of methods,” said he, “ is not hurtful, unless they grow “ too imperious, like the LiNN #AN system.”
This pride of Linn aus in his science, this exclusive authority which he maintained, and the unfriendly and rigorous animadversions which sometimes attended his sway, excited the displeasure of Haurer, and gave him frequent opportunities to indulge himself in strong censure. We
shall quote here some of those criticisms, as we should otherwise offend
against candor and truth, and expose in-a diminitive light the great merits of Linn us, were we to pass. over in silence the reproaches and. objeétions raised against him.,
Baron Hater having been somewhat severely treated in the critique given by Linn aus, in the year 1745, of the Flora Suecica, ex- pressed himself as follows in the review of the Fauna Suecica: * The * unbounded dominion which Linnaus has assumed in the animal ‘6 reign, must upon the whole appear disgusting to many persons. He
rt 6 considered
118 OPPONENTS OF LINNAUS.
«¢ considered himself as a second Apam, and gave names to all the « animals after their distinétive marks, without ever caring for his pre- «¢ decessors. He can hardly forbear to make man a monkey, or the “© monkey a man.”
At a later period he gave the following critical opinion and review. « Linnaus always accuses those who find fault with him, But has « he not caused his merits to be depreciated, by suppressing all bo- “ tanical names given by foreign authors except a few, nay, even ¢¢ those denominations which are palpably better than his own? Has ‘¢ he not trampled upon the inventions of those, who would not be “* guided by his rules, omitted mentioning their new invented plants, * and not pointed out their improvements? Has he not judged very ‘¢ severely of many learned men, even in sciences which have never «6 been his province? Has he not refused to adopt, as long as possible,
6 several species of plants which he reckoned among the bastard-
« species, and at last adopted several of them? We wish that Linnzus,
na a
with his great industry and vivifying genius, may so far conquer his
‘6 temper, as to place some confidence in men endowed with eyes and
a a
genius like himself, though they live in more southern countries, and «¢ remember in general, that all sciences like botany, are a republic.” These two censures aré fully characterised by a spirit of asperity and resentment. Wounded self-love did not a little contribute to their publicity. HaLier was the panegyrist, but more frequently the censor of Linn aus in those works, which furnished him with an opportunity of venting his spleen. He, however, vindicated. himself from the re- proach of jealousy against Linn aus a few years previous to his death. se It appears from the letters of Linn aus,” says he, “ in the preface
‘¢ prefixed
OPPONENTS OF LINNAUS. 11g
¢é prefixed to the publication of his Jatin correspendence, how little « jealous I have been of that man, even when he provoked me with ¢¢ his contradi€tions. I feel, therefore, some pleasure at having it in ‘6 my power to refute those unjust charges by Linn .us’s own testi- * mony*.” This resentment, manifested by epistolar correspondence, did not extend to the professorial chair, nor to representations and opinions in written works.
Whatever was negleéted by the father to show himself the public op- ponent of his northern friend, was accomplished by his son Gorriies Emanuer Hacuer. He first dedicated his time to the study of physic, but afterwards distinguished himself as an able civilian, He did not long survive his father, and died as High Bailiff of Noyon in the canton of Bern, April 9, 1786. He commenced his career as an author, in the 15th year of ‘his age, by several traéts dire€ted against Linnaus. They formed no epocha nor reform, and contained only several observations stamped with the genius of the father.
A more violent and more implacable adversary, whose unruly spirit frequently interrupted the peace of the literary world, was professor LAWRENCE HEIsTER, at Helmstadé, who died in that city in 1758, in the 76th year of his age.—/A man distinguished by his merit in anatomy and surgery; but as unskilful in the science of botany, as he was conspicuous in the former. He always considered himself as a great botanist. His self-love was of course easily offended. He followed Ray’s system, and had introduced many new changes and fresh appel-
lations in the vegetable reign; but the reform of Linn zus levelled
* Ex Linn 2Zanis Epistolis apparet quam non invidus in virum fuerim, etium cum suis objeétionibus me lacessivisset ; neque displicuit mihi injustam accusationem proprio Linn I
, testimonio refutare.
2 them
120 OPPONENTS OF LINNAUS.
them with the dust. When the latter published his Genera Plantarum in 1737, Hester, fired with indignation, wrote thus to Haier: Linnaus rejetts all the chara€ters defined by his predecessors, and introduces new names to those plants on which the best ones have * already been bestowed; will there be many to follow such inno- * vations?”——and Linnaus mentioned in his system: ‘ that all the ‘‘ botanists considered the fruétification in plants as the basis of good ** order, He1strer alone accepted, who fixed the genera by the petals,” — All this could not be granted ; war was therefore declared.
Hersrer thought it unworthy of his fame to commence hostilities himself. He left it to a champion, one of his pupils, Doftor Joun Grorce S1ecessecx, who at his recommendation was appointed Pro- fessor of Botany at St. Petersburgh.—This man’s celebrity turned to his shame, and his insignificant name was only kept in remembrance, owing to the greatness of the genius whom he so much strove to lessen. His conduét, as an opponent, was the more impudent, as he was him- self destitute of that knowledge which might have made him a com- petent judge of learning. The celebrated Gmexin, who lived at the same time at Petersburgh, delineates his chara€ter in these words: ‘© Srecresseck has scarcely a superficial knowledge of botany, he un- ¢ derstands the writings of others as little as he knows himself. He is * contented with the bare names of plants suggested to him by his sterile “¢ brain, destitute of all penctration.*”
Linnzus had for some time carried ona friendly correspendence with Sizcessecx; but the allurements and examples of HeisTeEr,
* SIEGESBECKIUs nec primis labris Botanicen degustavit, nec quid seribant alii, nec se ipsum intelligit, contentus solis plantarum denominationibus, quas sterile et doctrinz orbum
_ingenium ipsi suggerit. Epistol. ad HALLER. Vol, il. p. 110. soon
OPPONENTS OF LINNAUS. 121
soon made every sentiment of amity vanish. Even in the year 1737; his critical zeal brought forth a very violent pamphlet against Lin- Nz£us, which contained few arguments, but a most copious deal of nonsense and ribaldry*. He combated in this work the New Sexual System of L1nnaus ina manner peculiar to himself. Linn aus had maintained in this system—that in the animal as well as in the vege- table reign, there were frequently several males to one female :— plures mariti; una femina in eodem thalamo.—s* What man in the “‘ world,” declaims SizcessecK against this well-expressed propo- sition,—* will ever believe that God Almighty should have introduced ¢ such confusion, or rather such shameful whoredom for the propagation sé of the reign of plants. Who would instru€t young students in such a « yoluptuous system without scandal t?”
Linn us having obtained a copy of this invidious produdtion, com- plained of it in a letter to Hatver, in the following satyrical ex- pressions: “ I wish to God, Strcrszrecx had written those things be- « fore I published my first treatise! I would then have learned in my ¢ youth, what I must now learn in my manhood, namely, not to write, «to hear others and be silent myself. What could induce me to be « so foolish as to bestow so much time, so many days and nights upon 6 a science, to reap such fruits—to become after all the derision of the « world! SrzcEeszecx affords no arguments; his whole book is one un- ‘¢interrpted strain of declamation. Whether I answer or am silent,
* Botanosophie Verioris Sciographia; cui accedit ob argumenti analogiam Epicrisis in Linnzi Systema Plantarum, &c. Petrop. 4to.
+ Ecquis vero unquam credet, tales confusiones, vel si mavis scortationes quasi detestabiles in Regno Vegetabili ad propagationem a D. O. M. esse subordinatas? Ecquis Methodum talem lascivam studiosz juventuti sine offensa poterit aperire ?
R “ both
222 OPPONENTS OF LINNAUS.
s¢ both points would throw a stigma upon my honour. He knows “ nothing of argument, rejefts my sexes of plants, laughs at my cha- s¢ ra€ters, and challenges all the botanists, to declare if they compre- « hend them*.”
All real botanists understood the Linn An chara€ters, save SIECES- BECK. Linnaus acted the wisest part—he made no reply to his in-, vectives. The intrinsic value of his works and his reform contained the best defence. What S1ecrssecx had done by challenging Lin- N£US, was in process of time taken up voluntarily by other men. Doftor Joun BrowA tutus, Professor of the University of Abo in Finland, and afterwards bishop in that city, and Professor GLepirscu at Berlin, vindicated his cause against the litigious quibbler at PetersburghT. He had also provoked and charged Giepirscu, who very prudently treated him with the same contempt. And what were the consequences of this Russian quarrel ?’—The domination of Linn us spread farther
with his fame—and S1zczssecx became every where unpopular and
* Utinam S1EGESBECKIUS hec scripsisset, dum primum edideram traétatulum ; addi- dicissem juvenis, quod senex addiscere cogor,—abstinere a scribendo, audire alios, tacere ipse. Quee me dementia cepit, qui tantum consumsi temporis, tot horas, noétesque in artem, tales que proferat fruétus,—ludibrium ut evaderem orbi!—Argumenta ejus nulla sunt, sed exclamationes totum per librum. Si respondeo aut taceo, commaculor utrinque ; rationes non intelligit; negat sexum; ridet meos characteres, et provocat omnes, an ullus eos intel- ligat >—Epist. Linn. ad HALuer. vol. i. p. 361.
} This was done in the following works:—J. BRowALLII examen epicriseos in systema” plantarum sexuale Linnzi, auctore SIEGESBECKIO, Abow 1739.
J. G. Giepirscu Consideratio Epicriseos Siegesbeckianz, Berol. 1740, in vo.
Baron Hatter wrote the following words-at the bottom of the title page of S1¢Es- BECK’s Epicrisis :—‘¢ In parte prima opusculi Rivinr Methodum contra Raium et Dit- “ Len1UM defendit; in alterain methodum Linn.£1 invehitur, quam vereor ut ubique in- $6 sallexerit.””
ridiculous,
OPPONENTS OF LINNAUS. 123
ridiculous, was dimissed in 1747 from the Russian academy of sciences, and died a private man.
Meanwhile Hezrsrer felt an inward satisfa€tion at the quarrel of which he had himself been the author. Though no viétory ensued, yet he rejoiced in the teazing violence of the aggressions. In other respe€ts, he was prudent enough not to show himself. dire€éily in the field of litigation. He screened himself behind his pupils, whom he had influenced with his spirit of resentment. With these he held disputations at Helmstadt replete with acrimony, and pointedly levelled against the northern reformer*.
Doftor Morurine at Jevern, an able botanist, gave his opinion of those hostile dissertations, in a letter to Hauer, in the following words: ¢ They are a mass of turbulent verbosity ; the smallest minutiz ® are attacked in them, and matters censured which Linn zeus himself « only pointed out as plausibilities, and which none of his opponents _ have thus far been able to expose in a clear light. If those literary * brawlers had but so deservedly exerted themselves in botany as «& Linnaus, they would see, that it is easier to criticise, than by «¢ dint of the most arduous observations to discover truths and give & new elucidations. How much better would it be, to remain an entire «‘ stranger to honours than thus impudently to attempt to lessen the ‘6 reputation of another. Thus far can envy and party-spirit mislead
é us mortals!”
* These were L. HetstTEri Dissert. sistens meditationes et animadversiones in novum systema botanicum Sexuale Linn#1; Respond. P. C. GoEcKkeL, Helmst. 1741.—Disser- tatio de nominum plantarum mutatione utili ac noxia, Resp. J. E. SanDHAGEN, Helmst. 3741, and several others.
R 2 HEISTER
124 OPPONENTS OF LINNAUS.
Hetrsrer had at last, the satisfa€tion of making a discovery from which he promised himself the greatest triumph and hoped to dwindle into nothing, both the fame of Linn«us and his system of reform. A letter had fallen into his hands, which Joun Henry BurkHarDy first physician to the Duke of Brunswick WoL¥renBurTTEL, had writ- ten to Lersnirz, and caused to be printed in 1702. In this letter, BurkuHARD, with great ingenuity, had already given some ideas of the sexes of plants and of the system the formation of which was af- terwards fully accomplished by Linnaus. But at the same time BuRKHARD was never of opinion, that a new system of botany, might be introduced from the parts of fruétification of plants *. He set forth the proposition of deriving the division of their classes from the flower, and their orders from the fruit. Hersrsr was not remiss in divulging his discovery. He caused a new edition of Burx- HAR»’s letter to be printed in 1750, with a circumstantial introduétion, in which he dire€ied all the shafts of his resentment against Linnaus, and represented the novelty of his modern sexual system, with the
most sarcastic ironyt. Thus all notable inventions and reforms have
* The following are BURKHARD’s own words on this subjeét:—Quoniam autem partes genitales minus sunt conspectz, nec spectantium occulos facile alliciunt ; consultius esse duco, si earum conformatio in comparatione stirpium pretermittatur et vesicularum tantum semi- nalium situs et numerus attendatur, et quidem non ubivis, sed in plantis tantummodo, que flores imperfectos ferunt, ubi constituendis classibus aque inservire poteruut, ac in floribus perfectis petalorum situs ac numerus.
+ The following is the title of BurxHarn’s letter, which. is become a literary scarcity : J. Henrici BuRKHARD Epistolaad Le1BNITzIUM, qua characterem plantarum naturalem nec a radicibus nec ab aliis plantarum partibus minus essentialibus, peti posse ostendit, simulque in comparationem plantarum, quam partes earum genitales suppeditant, inquirit. Guelpherb, 3702. 32 pages in quarto.
met
OP PONENTS OF DENN Zt US. 125°
met with envious persons, who took a delight in rendering the fame of originality an objeét of dispute.
Hetster’s malign reproaches against Linn £us, on this occasion, were really unmerited. The little produ€tion of Burkuarp, quite a literary phenomenon, had never been mentioned in any botanical work, had never acquired much publicity, and how could it therefore be considered as the source of the modern system of Linnzus. ‘The writings of June, or JuNc1ius, whom we already mentioned above in the history of botany, and who published them in the last century, were in a similar manner alledged against the prince of botanists. But this charge was of as little validity as that of Burxuarp’sletter, When Linnaus, then a young student at Upsal, projef&ted his new botanical plan, he had never once seen those works, and we can adduce convincing proofs of this assertion. Dottor GizseKe at Hamburgh, who heard the leQures of Linn&us in 1771, mentioned once, in familiar conversation, the writings of Junc; and, especially, his principal botanical work— Doxoscopie Physice minores. Linnus replied that he was utterly un- acquainted with it. Cu1rsexe, after his return sent him this work, upon which Linw 2us thanked him in a letter of the 24th of December 1774, in the following words: “ Three days ago I received your rare present sof Junc’s Doxoscopre which I never saw before. I thank you for ‘s this work in the most obliging manner. I see the author has been a ‘¢ very laborious and ingenious man for his age.” In honour to his name, Linnaus junior, called afterwards a new North-American plant, Fungia.
That some ideas of the sexes of plants had already been hinted
before, is an incontrovertible fa€t, and Linnaus did not him- self
126 OPPONENTS OF LINNAEUS.
self deny it*. The ancients, as Piiny recordst, had some notions of such a system. Besides Junc, another German of the name of CameRARIUS, Professor at Tubingent, and Sir Toomas Mi ..1Nc- TON, Professor at Oxford, had already given some ideas of the sexes of plants, during the last century, nay there is even a remoter in- stance}. Sir THomas Mriirneton’s observations had been commu- nicated to Dr. Grew, but they were never printed.
VaiLLant displayed these ideas with more ingenuity than all his predecessors. But what difference is there between publishing a mere thought—and forming, completing, and rendering it the leading star of an universal reformation. Had this been accomplished by June, Camerartius, or Sir THomas Mriuineton, their names would have shone in perpetual lustre, and no Linnavus would then have been wanted. But it was he that really entered that immortal career, which was only pointed at in distant obsurity; it was he that took upon himself with infinite pains, the numberless observations
which became’ necessary to attain the proposed end]. He
* Exaéte dicere, quis primus sexum plantarum invenerit, res esset maxim difficultatis. Veteres cognoscebant sexus; sed parum solida erat cognitio. THOM. MILLINGTON, Circa annum 1676, primum verum inventorem hujus doétrinz fuisse dicunt ; at nihil de ea tradi- dit. Nemo autem melius VAILLANTIO, magno illo botanico, accurate rem ostendit, quamvis
argumentis non demonstraverit.—Linn£ Us in the solution of the prize question De Sexu
plantarum. + Arboribus, immo potius omnibus que terra gignat herbisque etiam utrumque sexum
esse, nature diligentissimi tradunt. Plin. Hist. Natur. Lib. xiii, Cap. 4.
~ Epistola de Sexu plantarum. Tubinge, 1694, twelves.
§ Already in the year 1592, a Polish literatus of the name of ADAM ZALZIAWISEKY, maintained the difference of the sexes of plants.
|| ADaAN son, one of the most distinguished French opponents of Linnzvus, did him
complete justice with regard to his sexual system, by saying: “‘ Though the idea of a system ‘« founded
OPPONENTS OF LINNAUS. 129
He had already completed in Holland the best part of his design. The sway of his new system became wide-spread and predomi- nant in a few years. There were, however, men among most nations of Europe, who did not agree, or were at least disconténted with the laws of the new constitution of natural history, and who loaded Lin- N#us with censure and blame. Nothing, however, could have been more natural in a science which had never been thoroughly learnt, never reduced to mathematical uniformity and perfe€tion ; in a science where opinions were frequently as different as the heads whence they sprung—finally, in a science for which Apanson alone pro- posed sixty-five systems, though none of them has been received. Among the German Anti-Linnzans, we ought especially to reckon Dr. Kie1n at Dantick, who in 1742 published a treatise against the new classification of the animal reign: H. Cranz, professor of botany at Vienna, a violent antipode in most of his numerous botanical works ; and among those who conduéted themselves with more mo- deration and dignity, M. de Necxer and Dr. HacqueErt, without mentioning here the criticisms of many other Germans.—Among the English we remark Professor Cuartes Atston of Edinburgh ;— among the Dutch Campzr ;—among the Italians, Professor Juxius PonTepERA at Padua; Sparranzani and Dr. Cyri ut at Naples ;— among the French, especially ApANson*, and the celebrated Count
de Burron, who died on the 16th of April 1788 Tt.
«* founded on the sex of plants be due to BuRKHARD—yet the execution of this system is new *‘ and belongs to Linn us.” See ANDANSON’s Familles des plantes. Par.1763, 8V0.V.i p. Xil. * LINN £Us wrote thus of ADANSON to GesNER at Zurich; ‘ He is either mad or intoxi- 66 cated :—insanit aut non sobrius est. HALLER on the contrary called him a fine bead and a worthy rival of LinnEUS.—Lepidum caput, et emulum Linneo dignum. + See Burron’s Discours sur la maniere de traiter histoire naturelle.
1 This
iS
128 OPPONENTS OF LINNAEUS.
This great-man in the violence of his attacks and criticisms, was chiefly hurried away by jealousy. His ambition also induced him to behold, even the fame of Hatxer, with an envious eye. Notwith- standing this, he revered the greatness of Linn 2us, and honoured his memory. He gave a convincing proof of his respeft to Linnaus the younger. In 1782 the latter came to Paris, where the Count gave him a most cordial reception. The royal cabinet of natural history was shut almost to every body; but Burron shewed him all that was remarkable; and on his expressing a wish to see the royal botanical garden, he wrote to Linn aus, jun.—that on that day he would be spoke to by none but him. ‘i
Even Sweden did not want for persons who envied the good fortune and greatness of Linnzus. His only open and avowed enemy in that country was Jonn Watterivus, the great mineralogist, who died in 1785. In the year 1741 he published an academical treatise at Upsal, which was entirely levelled at Linnazus*. He laid down twenty propositions, in which several assertions and representations of Linn aus, in his System of Nature,-in the Flora of Lagland, in his Dissertation on Cold Fevers, and in a treatise inserted in the tran- sa€tions of the academy of Stockholm, were treated with ridicule. He
began with the thesis, that man cannot be classed among the quadru-
peds.. Then follows a critique on the Linna#an division of the
* This treatise, which is extremely rare, and almost entirely unknown in every part of Europe except Sweden, has been communicated to the author by Mr. EnruarpDT, botanist to his Briranic Majesty in Hanover. The author has since inserted it in the following work, which he published at Hamburgh in 1792, in 8vo.— Collectio Epistolarum CaroL. ‘« a Linne ad Viros Cl. scriptarum; accedunt opuscula pro et contra LINN.£UM scripta, ‘¢ extra Sueciam rarissima.”
mineral
OPPONENTS OF LINNAUS. 129
mineral reign into three classes, which Watterius had divided into six. ¢ Linn aus,” says he, “ has planned his classification more from ‘¢ a spirit of innovation than from well-founded truth. His hypothesis «¢ that stones were never created is also false. Linn aus has asserted, «¢ that the intermitting fevers, especially in the province of Upland, “are endemical.” Watterius endeavours to turn this proposition into ridicule as an hyperbolic representation, and alledges a chronolo- gical list of the distempers at Upsal, which had been communicated to him by professor Rosen, in behalf of his dissertation.
W axcerius hoped to gain celebrity by the different contents of this treatise, and to make his fortune, but it only served to undermine both. Linn us enjoyed too much popularity and prote€tion at Stockholm, for this worthless injury of his reputation to please or to remain with- out consequential resententment. Had Wa tcerius had ten times more merit it would not have been valued, owing to this literary feud. He felt its sinister effe€ts for upwards of ten years, and it was not till after the demise of Freperrcx I, that he obtained the ordinary professor- ship at Upsal, which had so long and so vainly been the obje& of his ambition. The real cause of this aggression was occasioned by his rival’s concurrence to obtain the professorship of physic, to which Lrinnaus was appointed.
These circumstances evince sufficiently the profound indignation which Watverius’s attacks had excited in Linnaus. He felt them the more poignant as they proceeded from a countryman and an. academical colleague. In order to avert the unpleasant sensations which WaLLeERius might have created in the mind of persons who were strangers to the merits, distin@ion, and celebrity of Linn aus abroad,
S and
130 PANEGYRISTS OF LINNAVUS.
and to triumph over his rival in the vacancy at Upsal, he published a small work, under the title of The Opinion of the Learned World on the Writings of Cuarites Linnaeus, M. D.” (Orbis Eruditi Basie de Car. Linnei'M. D. Scripts).
This is the only peculiar apology which Linn 2us ever wrote in his own behalf, and also the only produ@ion which he published in an anonymous manner. However numerous and common the greatest part of his other works are, yet as extremely scarce is this performance even in Sweden*. It seems neither to have been known to Ha. er nor to other naturalists, at least they never mentioned it, and there are scarce two copies to be met with in all Germany. The contents of this pam- phlet being equally remarkable and unknown, they deserve a more par- ticular account.
The title contains the symbol or motto of Linn .2us, taken from Vircit: * To raise fame by deeds, is the task of the noble-minded :” — Famam extollere fattis—hoc virtutis opus; and on the back Gronov’s inscription on the image of Linn aus:
“© Ne succumbe malis; te noverit ultimus Ister, ~“ Te Boreas gelidus.” —té In spite of fate—from the Danube’s mouth to the frigid North, shall thy name be known.” :
Then follows a short view of the principal incidents of our hero’s life, and a list of the different works which he till then published, with their divers editions, making altogether twenty-one, besides the names
of those who have publicly accepted and vindicated the LiInN&AN
* Tam indebted for the communication of this pamphlet to the friendly kindnefs of Dr. Knoes at Up/al, It is printed in one shees, small octavo, without numerical figures or the year.
system—
PANEGYRISTS OF LINNAUS. 131
system—-V aN Roven, Gronov, FERBER, BROWALLIUS, GLEDITSCH, afterwards communicates all the printed or written epistolary opinions and attestations given respe€ting him by twenty learned men.
Among these are the most eminent botanists, and some men of the most distinguished celebrity in their respeétive science, namely, five Dutchmen, professor Joun Van Gorter at Harderwyk, HERMAN BoERHAAVE, VAN Roven, Gronov and BurMANN at Amsterdam;— four British literati, Sir Hans Stroane, Bart. president of the royal _ society of sciences at London, professor DiLttenius at Oxford, and the _two physicians Lawson and Donnet Jacos;—four Frenchmen, the celebrated pathalogist and botanist De Sauvaces at Montpellier, A. Jussieu of Paris, professor Barrere at Perpignan, and professor GRAVEL at Strasbourg ;—two Swiss, Baron AtBrecHT Haccer and Joun Gesner;—and five Germans, J. Grepitscu of Berlin, Dr. Breyne of Dantzick, professor Lance of Halle, counsellor Orto MENKEN at Leipsic, and professor Koux of Hamburgh. We deem it important to insert here the substance of the most remarkable of these
testimonials.
VAN GORTER*
Was the promoter of Linnaus. When he took up his degree of doftor of physic, Van Gorter expressed himself thus in the diploma: sé The undersigned does certify, that he has remarked in the learned
«© Swede, now doétor of physic, CuarnLes LiNN £us, uncommon know-
* He was also some time first physician to the court of Russia, and died in 1762. His son DAvip held the same office, and died in 1783,
Ss 2 6 ledge
132 PANEGYRISTS OF LINNAUS.
*¢ ledge and erudition, not only in all the different branches of physic, ‘¢ but also in botany.
«¢ Witness my name, &c. &c.
HERMANN BOERHAAVE, In a Leiter to Linna&us, dated Fanuary 13, 1737.
«© The sight of your work (the Genera Plantarum) excites admira- “¢ tion, and exhibits a performance of infinite diligence, extraordinary s¢ industry, and incomparable knowledge. I cannot sufficiently praise “its utility. Whole ages will extol its worth, the good will imitate it, and “¢ all men will use it with advantage.—Your botanical works bid de-
*¢ fiance to mortality and to all Aristarchuses.”
VAN ROYEN, In his Preface to the Flora Leydensis, page 16:
‘¢ The fifth system in botany has been produced according to the s¢ sexes of the plants, from the stamina and pistilla, by Cuaries Lin- ‘gus, the prince of all the botanists of his age. Superior to all, he s¢ reformed the whole of botany, diffused fresh light over all its parts, - « and purged it of its impurities. Never has that science appeared
‘¢ jn such a beautiful and transcendent lustre as at present.”
Letier of recommendation written by Van Royen to M. de Jussieu,
7th May, 1738, when Linnaus set out for Paris.
«“ Behold Cuartes Linnaus, the prince of botany, if ever one & existed. Who does not know him yet, may know him by experience. «© This excellent man, so distinguished, so well versed in all parts of
1 F 66 natural
PANEGYRISTS OF LINNAUS. 193
¢¢ natural history, is the bearer of this letter. I recommend him in the
6¢ strongest manner to you and to your kindness.”
SIR HANS SLOANE, BART. P.R.S. In a Leiter to Linnaus, December goth, 1737.
¢¢ I am so uncommonly pleased with your Flora Lapponica, that I «6 very much wish to see the other parts of the natural history of that
‘6 country completed, and publicly described by you *.”
DILLENIUS, In a Letter to Linn xus, dated August 18, 1737:
« Your Flora Lapponica I have received, seen, and read with great ‘6 pleasure. I wish to Gop we had more such Floras brought forth s‘ with similar diligence and care.. In this you have shewn that you
66 are the mantT.”
eeu: DE SAUVAGES, In a Letter to Linnaus, the celebrated Restorer of Natural History, dated. September 10, 1737:
‘¢.T congratulate you myself, and the learned world, and heartily re- ' & joice at your having undertaken labours so extensive and momen- 6 tous. But I am astonished, and can hardly see how so young a man
‘6 as you could publish so many and such various works, a single one
* Flora Lapponica speciatim mihi tantopere arridit, ut maxime cupiam, ceteras illius re- * gionis partes Historia Naturalis intueri tua exaratus manu, publiceque luci datas. +. Vidi accepi et legi Floram tuam (Lapponicam) multa cum voluptate ; utinam plures istius modi nobis prostarent, tali studio et cura elaborate ; in hae te virum preestitisti.
66 of
134 PANEGYRISTS. OF LINNAEUS:
‘© of which, to conclude from your letters and your celebrity, ought to ‘¢ gain you an immortal name.” f
In a second Letter, March 15th 1740.
s¢ | have frequently been speaking of you to my colleague, professor “ Macno.. He holds you in reverence. Doftor Lz Monier, of “¢ Paris, who, by the K1nc’s commands is collefling plants here, calls 6 you a divine, an adorable man—virum adorandum. I congratulate “ you, that Jussieu, that zealous adherent of Tourwnerort, has *¢ arranged the royal botanical garden at Paris, according to your sys- “tem. I now esteem him the more, since he is obsequious to the “truth. An uncommon and extraordinary thing indeed! He so old «© _and you so young—and both botanists! Ah! how much do the
*‘ noble botanists excel the splenetic and envious physicians !”
In a Third Letter, dated August 125 1740.
‘¢ Your name is now most copiously quoted by the literati of our ‘¢ nation, and your writings are eagerly sought after. He that is in ‘ possession of them, conceals and preserves them in the most careful 66 manner, and does not communicate such treasures.
“ Were I to express the pleasure which I felt in the perusal of ¢¢ your works, it would take up several letters to describe it. Your ‘¢ merits are far above my encomiums. I want eloquence to represent “them. I dwell, therefore, in mute admiration. All my colleagues ‘¢ are astonished when they hear what you have done at your time of
“‘ of life. There neyer was a man who could write in so short a time,
66 so
PANEGYRISTS OF LINN&US. 195
% so many. valuable works. I hear that the Herrmanian garden at “6 Leyden is also arranged according to your system, To speak candidly, - 6 you are a real Cuarces XII. in natural history ; yet with this diffe-
“6 rence, that you have subjugated the botanical world for ever.”
BARON ALBRECHT HALLER
In six letters to Linnaus, from April 14, 1737, to the gth of January, 1738, calls him an excellent and true—nay, the first, greatest,
most eminent, and most accurate, botanist.
In a Letter to Linnaus, April 7, 1738:
«© What do you care for Si1rcessecK! Was there ever a man, who s¢ embarked in a new and grand enterprize unenvied? Is there not ‘6 plenty of great charaéters who do justice to your merits? Did you “ever hope to please every one, even the SreGressecks? Cheer ‘up and presevere, continue to embellish the sciences in which you
6¢ have acquired so much real celebrity.”
Hacer in his Ad. Germ. Erudit. Page 288.
We feel pleasure to premise, that there has never a been book é¢ written in this science, which can be compared with the Genera ¢ Plantarum of Linn &us. Its whole plan is unborrowed, unattempted, ‘and original. It is built on the stri€test examination of 8000 plants, «¢ But what Linnaus has done none has ever attempted or thought
66 of.”
GLEDITSCH,
136 PANEGYRISTS’ OF LINNAUS.
- GLEDITSCH, In a Letter to LINN ZUS—THE GREATEST OF Botanists—April 20, 1740. . t * I do not disallow that the examples of Linn aus are a Gordian
¢¢ knot for all those who hate to take pains, and do not choose to burden
‘‘ their weak minds with plain ideas and representations.”
FREDERICK OTTO MENKEN, Ina Letter to LinNa&us, May 5, 1736:
«¢ I participate with pleasure in the approbation granted to you with
‘emulation for your various excellent works in botany and natural
“¢ history, not only by your own countrymen, who so well know how to ‘¢ value men of genius, but also by my fellow-citizens of Leipsic. «¢ Success to the noble science whose boast you are, whose lustre you ‘¢ make shine, and which flourishes through you, and expeéts so many
¢ new honours in your name !”
REVIEW OF THE CLIFFORTIAN GARDEN, In the Atta Eruditorum of 1739, Page 256.
¢¢ A valuable work, which, from its display of science and erudition ¢¢ cannot be sufficiently praised. We are at a loss which we are to s¢ extol most, either the distinguished zeal of the colle€tor in promoting «the progress of science, and the immense sums which he has be- «¢ stowed on this public monument of his garden, or the admirable and « happy genius of the celebrated author, the Dioscoripes of our
6¢ times,
e
PANEGYRISTS OF LINNAEUS. 137
times. The moderation of Crirrortr which restrained Linnzvs in the preface, restrains us also from conferring our encomiums on him, because none but another Linnaus could praise a Linnzus*, His fame is so wide-spread that it needs no comment. His writings and his ingenious system, by which the minutest and formerly unknown
parts of flowers and fruits are brought to light, sufficiently speak for
-him. France venerates him, ele€ted him ‘a correspendent member of
the Royal academy of sciences, Holland parted with him with relu€tance, and Sweden receives him again gladly in her bosom. The work before us contains a colleétion, an epitome of all the works hitherto pub- lished by Linn £us, and affords uncommon elucidations in the history of the vegetable reign.
The public quotation of such opinions and testimonials, was the properest expedient which Linn aus could choose, to render his coun- trymen attentive to his merit and distinétion, and at the same time the most eloquent defence which he could make against the aspersions of WALLERIUS.
The attacks of the whole phalanx of his foreign opponents could not induce him to accept a challenge. The method of his ven- geance was equally original and piquant. He sat enthroned above the whole reign of vegetation. With the plants he transmitted honour and disgrace to posterity. To beautiful plants he assigned the names of his friends, and to the pernicious and inferior ones he gave the names of his enemies. As an instance of this particular, we only need quote here the Siegesbeckia, Heisteria, Bufonia, Adansonia, and Ponte- deria.
* Nec LINNZUM alius, quam LINNEUS collaudet.
T The
138 PANEGYRISTS OF LINNEUS.
The attacks of his opponents were by no means indifferent to his ambition; yet he thought it more prudent to commit them to oblivion, than to acquire notoriety in defence of his name. His whole way of thinking in this respe€&t, he expresses in the best manner ima letter to: Baron Hac cer, written in the year 1748*, when the latter had a dispute with the Aulic Counsellor HamBrercsr of Fena, about res- piration.
If you will listen to the counsel of a sincere friend, I advise you ‘to give up the dispute with Hamsercer and his whole set. Nay, *¢ that man is not your equal. The more:he is beneath you, the more it s¢ aggrandizes his reputation and his notability, whichis otherwise com- *¢ pressed in a very small sphere. BoERHAAVE, Our great pattern never «replied. I still remember what he told me.’—* Never,” said he; & answer attacks, I promised to take his counsel, and found. it *¢ answered well. Your time, my dear HALLER, is too precious to the “* public. You can do more for science than hundreds of others. ‘*¢ The plurality of men judge of matters which they do not understand. “ How do kings wage war? Their very conquests are attended with the * loss of many thousands of subjeéts. Thus it is with the learned. If ¢¢ even they triumph, it happensby lessening their influence and merit. Be * our assertions true or false, they will so remain, whether we defend them * or not. Children, now occupied with infant sports, will judge us when « once we are gone. The hypotheses of Hamsercen will never be s¢ permanent if they are erroneous, however much they may enjoy the ‘transitory triumph of deluded fashion. Remember the disputes of our sé ancestors in botany. Does not the very perusal of them inspire with
* Epist. ad HALLER, Vol. ii. Pr 409.
3 . disgust.
PAN-EGYRISTS OF LINN Z£US. 1399
& disgust. People are in some measure fond of reading attacks, but they s generally dislike the aggressor, they despise and laugh at him. You *¢ may do as you please; I only advise you, for my part, as a friend. «¢ A general must not protracta war to too great lengths. He frequently ‘‘ brings the enemy to do that which he did not'expe&t. Thus Ham- “ BERGER might gain friends, who would be down upon all you do, and « furnish him with stratagems, which, till now, he never could think of.”
The tolerant conduét of Linnaus towards the introducers and par- tisans of other botanical systems, became publicly manifest during his
>
reform in Holland. * There are,” writes he, “ several systems in bo-. *¢ tany, some easier, safer and more commodious in certain points, others * more general. I do not know what blindness has brought men to see «¢ every other system with an indignant eye. It is much to be wished «that every beginner would habituate himself to all systems. If the «6 plants have been examined according to themall, the beginner can ripen ‘¢ his opinions, which so seldom happens, owing to the predile&tion gene- “ rally bestowed upon one single system, in preference to all the rest*.”
When Linnzus, at an advanced period of life, published for the Jast time in the year 1766, his Sysrem or NaruRg, that monument of his immortality, he concluded it with the following declaration of his past conduét. I have ranged through the thick and shady forests of ‘ nature, I have to and fro found sharp and perplexing thorns, I have
s¢ as much as possible avoided them ; but learned at the same time, that
* Hinc omnes methodi addiscendz sunt.—Nescio, quid fascinat homines ut non possint al- teram methodum videre absque perturbatione.—Optandum foret, ut tyrones omnibus ad- suescerent methodis.—Postquam examinaverint juniores Botanici plantas secundum omnes methodos, apti sunt ad ferendum matura de singulis judicia, quae tam raro alias occurrunt, cum communiter apud omnes unica in pretio sit methodus, relique autem minus. See Preefat. ad Classes plantarum. Lugd. Bat, 1733. —
ie “ foresight
140 PANEGYRISTS OF LINNAUS,;
*¢ foresight and attention do not always conciliate perfeét and entire safety. ‘¢ | have therefore quietly borne the derision of grinning satyrs, and the ‘¢ jumps of monkies upon my shoulders. I have entered the career and «¢ completed the course assigned by fate *.”
* Intravi densas umbrosasque Naturz sylvas, hinc inde horrentes accutissimis et hamatis spinis ; evitavi, quotquot licuit, plurimas; at neminem tam esse circumspectum didici, cujus non diligentia sibi ipsi aliquando excidat ; ideoque ringentium Satyrorum cachinnos, meisque
humeris insilentium cercophithecorum exultationes sustinui. Incessi Viam et quem dederat cursum fortuna peregic
SECTION
{ ‘tsat GJ
SHEOTION “Vit.
RESIDENCE OF LINNAUS AT STOCK HOLM.—BEGINNING OF HIS ACADEMICAL LIFE AT UPSAL, &e.
LINNAUS RETURNS TO SWEDEN.—SETTLES AT STOCKHOLM.—IS RIDICULED AND CALUMNIATED.—BEGINS TO PRACTICE PHYSIC.—UNPLEASANTNESS OF HIS SI- TUATION.—HALLER OBTAINS FOR HIM THE PROFESSORSHIP OF BOTANY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GOETTINGEN.—THE BARON'S LETTER TO LINNAUS.— ANSWER MADE, BY LINN £US.—HAPPY TURN OF HIS FATE.—COUNT TESSIN BE- COMES HIS PROTECTOR.—THE CURE OF THE COUGH MAKES HIS FORTUNE.— ANECDOTE.—IS APPOINTED PHYSICIAN TO THE ADMIRALTY AND BOTANIST TO THE KING.—JOINS IN WEDLOCK WITH MISS MORUS.—FOUNDATION OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF STOCKHOLM.—HIS CONCERN IN THIS INSTITU- TION.—IS ELECTED FIRST PRESIDENT.—HIS SPEECH ON HIS RESIGNATION OF THE PRESIDENCY.—OTHER LEARNED LABOURS.—DEATH OF OLAUS RUDBECK AT UPSAL.—LINN AUS ENDEAVOURS TO SUCCEED HIM, BUT TO NO PURPOSE.— HIS JOURNEY TO THE ISLANDS OF OELAND AND GOTHLAND.—PROFESSOR ROBERG AT UPSAL RESIGNS.—LINNAUS SUCCEEDS HIM.—HIS SPEECH OF IN- AUGURATION.—EXCHANGES HIS FUNCTIONS AS PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY FOR THE PROFESSORSHIP OF BOTANY.—BIRTH OF HIS SON CHARLES.—GOES TO UPSAL.—BOTANICAL GARDEN, ITS BAD STATE, ITS TOTAL AMELIORATION AND DESCRIPTION.—THE GARDEN IS BEAUTIFIED AND ENLARGED IN OUR TIME.—LETTER OF DONATION SENT BY GUSTAVUS III. LATE KING OF SWE- DEN.—HONOURABLE MENTION OF LINNAUS IN THAT LETTER.—FRESH AC- COUNT OF THE BOTANICAL GARDEN AT UPSAL.—COLLECTION OF FOREIGN TREASURES.—FLOURISHING STATE GF THAT GARDEN UNDER DERRICK NIET- ZEL OF HAMBURGH, GARDNER UNDER LINN AUS.—CELEBRITY OF THE UNI- VERSITY OF UPSAL.—FOREIGN PUPILS OF LINNAUS.—ESTABLISHMENT OF A CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY.—PRESENTS.—LECTURES OF LINNUS —MORE LEARNED LABOURS.—HE PUBLISHES HERMANN’S HERBAL.~-TRAVELS THROUGH WEST-GOTHLAND AND SCHOENEN, OR SCANIA.—FLORA AND FAUNA SUECI- CA.—LINNAUS IS ELECTED MEMBER OF THE ACADEMIES OF MONTPELLIER,. TOULOUSE AND BERLIN.—SEVERAL MEDALS STRUCK BY THE SWEDISH GRAN- DEES IN HONOUR OF LINNAUS.—MEDAL OF COUNT TESSIN —IS APPOINTED’ DEAN OR PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.—MOTIVES OF HIS PREFERMENT.—DEATH OF THE FATHER OF LINNAUS.
AF TER an absence of three years and an half, Linnazus returned to his country, and reached Stockholm, in September 1738. The thought of his arrival made his heart vibrate with the utmost joy. He
now
442 LINN AUS :A‘T U PSiAMT:
now expeéted to reap honours and respeé, as the reward of his long noble exertions. But how soon did he experience the truth of the adage, which tells us, that a prophet is no where less valued than in his own country. The treatment which Harrer met with on his first return to Bern, and that which Yell to the share of many other great men, was also reserved for Linnaus. Celebrated and _ respeéted abroad, he now was a stranger in his native land, and the sport of ob- loquy and derision. The winter of 1738, nipt the laurels he had gathered in Holland. The rude climate of Sweden did not seem pro- pitious to their growth. For the sake of his daily support he now be- gan to follow the advice of his intended father-in-law, by applying him- self to the praétice of medicine. But AuSscuxapius, at his first setting out, proved as unkind as Flora. Nobody would ‘entrust a botanist with the curing of patients.
This perplexed situation still continued in the beginning of 1739. Hatter resolved to become the benefactor of Linnaus. He reserved for him his own professorship of botany at Goettingen.
The following are the contents of the letter, which Hatter had already written to him, on the 24th of November 1738.
«‘ Be happy in your destinies! You, of whom Flora conceives greater s¢ hopes than of all other botanists. Return once more to gentler & climes! If ever my country recalls me to its bosom,—and this I hope 6 will be the case—I have pitched upon you, if you like the offer, to be st the heir .of the garden of this city, and of all my dignities. I have s¢ already mentioned it to those at whose disposal all is left*.”
And
* Tu a quo Flora sperat plura quam ab omni alio botanico, utere quzso felicibus fatis, et
aliquando ad mitiora climata redi. $i unquam me patria repetit, et spero repetituram, te quidém,
LINNEZUS AT UPSAL. 143
And in another letter, dated January 19,1739, he mentioned again what follows.
ce My determination of giving up the garden still remains et same. « T shall only stay here a few years longer, and can leave it to none that st is worthier than yourself *.”
Had this letter come to hand a few days sooner (it had been sent with the preacher of the German congregation at Stockholm), Sweden would, perhaps, have lost the man, who afterwards became its boast, and the Hanoverian university would have enjoyed the distinguished honour of possessing the two greatest academical professors of our age. Lin- ‘zus did not, however, receive the letter till the ith of August 1739, when his circumstances had changed much for the better, which induced him to deline the offer.
The kindness of his friend, and the unforeseen chance of so fine a prospe€t abroad, could not but make a deep impression upon him. Animated with the most lively sense of heartfelt gratitude, he returned the following answer to HaLiEer :—* A thousand times have I praised ‘© HERMANN fin his grave. While Tournerorr was yet unprovided s¢ for, he was so uncommonly generous as to offer him his own ‘place, ‘© and to seek another. HErmaANwN came afterwards to Paris, and «“ TourNnezrorT in honour of him ordered the fountains to play in
sé the royal garden. But how moderate was this gratitude towards the
quidem, si tune placuerit conditio, destinavi harti hzredem et qualiscunque honoris, et eam sententiam coram eis locutus sum, in quorum manu sunt omnia.
* De horto eadem mihi sententia est, ego quidem paucis annis his versabor, neque unquam tradere potero digniori. See Orbis Eruditi Fudicium de C. Linn&1, M. D. Scriptis, page 9.
+ Hermann was a German, and professor of botany at Leyden, where he died in 1615.
s6 magnanimous
144 LiIVNNLA U'S 2A TO BSA
‘‘ magnanimous friendship of Hermann! And what shall I now say “of you? You take a liking to a foreigner, invite him .to come to ¢ you, and offer him anacademical dignity and a professorship, and even ‘‘ the botanical garden. A brother cannot be kinder to a brother, a
‘¢ father cannot treat better his only son. I have had intercourse with
‘¢ with many men; many have shewn me affection, but none so much -
‘6 kindness as you. I would express my gratitude in words, but I am at “a loss where tofindthem. For ever shall the memory of your name «¢ be sacred to me, and to others after me*. :
To this letter of thanks Linn us also added a short narrative of his adventures, with the following account of his residence at Stockholm, and the happy alteration in his circumstances, which we shall communi- cate here as the best historical account to continue our biography.
«¢ I took up my residence at Stockholm *. Every body laughed at my
s¢ botany. Not one could tell how many restless nights and toilsome
+ Quid de te dicam ipse? Peregrinum amas, vocas, professoriam dignitatem et munus et hortum fere offers. Vix frater fratri, vix pater hoc filio unico. Uno verbo, plures more
tales vidi, multi me amarunt, nullus mihi obtuiit tanta, quanta tu. Verbis grates redderem, .
si possem. At santa mente servabo, dum vixero, et alii post me, tuum nomen.
+ Sedem fixi Ho/miaz, irrisus ab omnibus ob meam botanicen. | Quot insomnes noétes et laboriosas horas transegerim, nullus dixit ; quam vero a Siegesbeckio eram annihilatus, omnes *
uno ore acclamabant. Incepi praxin exercere valde lente; non erat, qui vel servum mihi curandum obtulit. Sed brevi fata cessabant adversa, et post diuturnas nebulas Phoebus. Emersi, ad primates acceritus, cessere omnia secunde; nullus eger sanabatur, me non pre- sente ; pecunias accepi ; ab hora quarta matutina in seram vesperam zgros adii, noctes apud zgrotos consumsi. Heu! dixi, dat sculapius bona omnia, Flora vero solos Siegesbeckios ; interdixi Floram; qua collegi adversaria zterno pulvere sepelienda millies decrevi. Mox primarius medicus classis navalis constitutus fui; conventus civium mox me botanicum re- regium, publice quo docerem botanicen in regio sede Stockholmie dixere, stipendio annuo auxerunt. In epi iterum amare plantas. Sponsam adii tum meam quinquennem, tam dignus thalamum intravi sponse et uxoris. Socer tameén sat pecuniis ipse deleétatur, nec genero facie concedit ; sed nec opus habeo; et quisa me generatur, ‘habebit, Epist. ad HALLE- RUM, VOl. i. page 415.
1 “¢ hours
eo
66
¢
an
66
ce
n a
al na
n n
na n
na n
a na
LINN ZUS CAT SEO GRE OIL M. 145
hours I had bestowed on-it; but every corner resounded with the humiliating lesson I had received from this Srrecessecx. I began to set up for a pra€titioner, but my success was very slow. They would not even employ me in a servant's cure. But ina short time, adversity ceased to persecute, and after many clouded days, the lucid sun broke through my obscurity. I rose,—was called to the great,— every thing turned out prosperous; no patient could be cured with- out me; from four o’clock in the morning till late at night, I visited the sick, spent nights with them, and earned money. Alas! said I fEscuLapius affords all that is good, but Frora yields but S1rces- BECKS. I renounced botany, and resolved a thousand times to de- stroy all my colleétions for ever. Soon after I was appointed first physician to the fleet, and after a short lapse of time the States chose me botanist to the King, and assigned me an annual salary to teach that science at Stockholm*. I now gtew fond again of plants, and married my bride, who, after five long years, still thought me worthy of her love. My father-in-law, however, is dearly fond of money, he does not like to part with it. For my own part I.can do with-
out, and thus leave it to my offspring.” The cure of a long, and now, alas! a fashionable distemper ofa friend,
which was effe€ted in a fortnight, paved Linn 2us the way to fortune in
his practice. This recovered patient recommended Linn «us asan able
physician to his numerous acquaintance. Among these were several of the
same description who complained of weakness in the breast, and abstained
on this account from drinking wine. They applied to Linn aus, he re-
* This salary amounted to one hundred ducats per annum, and was chiefly granted him as
a reward for his learned exertions abroad.
Uv stored
146 LINNEUS AT STOCKHOLM.
stored them, and they could afterwards enjoy their glass with the best.. This circumstance madea great impression on the jovial circles. His repu- tation increased, and no physician was thought more able than Linnaus. in curing all pectoral complaints. He was called to the lady of an aulic counsellor, troubled with a cough. Linnazus prescribed a remedy which she could carry by her for constant use. This lady was one day at court on a card party with queen Utrica Erzonora. While playing, «¢ she put something into her mouth. ¢* What is this?” asked the Queen.—* A remedy against the cough, may it please your Majesty ; ¢ I] always find myself much relieved after using it..—The Queen had acough at that very time. Linnazus. was called, he prescribed the same remedy, and the Queen’s ailment disappeared.—Thus did the cough first introduce him to court, and there advance his prosperity. The patron to whom Linn us stood indebted for his recent good fortune, was that celebrated statesman Count Cuarrtes Gustavus Txssin, who educated the late King of Sweden, and terminated his meritorious career on the seventh of January -1770. He was well versed in the sciences and a great lover of natural history. To his attention and favour Sweden owes the display of the greatest genius. which it ever produced. Linn aus always found in him the kindest and most zealous prote€tor, through whose interest he obtained all fur-_ ther dignities and honours.' To transmit the remembrance of those benefits to posterity, he enumerated them in a public manner in the last - edition of his System of Nature, which he dedicated to this noble friend. “ He received me,” says Linnaus, “ on my return, when I ‘6 was a stranger in my own country, he obtained for me a salary from *¢ the States, the appointment of physician to the admiralty, the profes-
E) “% sor
LINNAUS AT STOCKHOLM. 147
* sor of botany at Upsal, the title of dean or president of the college of ‘¢ physicians, the favour of two Kings, and recommended me by a medal to posterity *.
The manner in which Count Terisisaisy first avowed himself the pro- te€tor of Linn aus deserves particular mention. Having made him- self known at Court by the cure of the cough, the Count, who was already acquainted with his distinguished rank in science, sent for him, and after a long conversation asked him, if he did not wish for some office, or if he would like to petition for any place, as the diet was then assembled. « The charge of physician to the admiralty is now vacant,” replied Linnzus, but it is destined, as I hear, for another.” * But 6¢ that other shall not have it,” replied the Count; and a few weeks after, on the the 14th or 15th of May, Linn aus received the diploma of physician to the Navy and botanist to the King.
Having thus acquired a settled income, which was farther increased by his medical pra€tice, he hastened to obtain his bride. Old Mo- R £US was now very glad to give his consent without much intreaty, and the hymeneal bond was sealed on the 26th of June.
The same year which favoured him with the smiles of fortune,
* Ille me, peregrinum in patria, reducem excepit 5 Ille mihi stipendium ab ordinibus regni expetiit 5 Mle mihi spartam medici classis procuravit ;
We mihi munus quo fungor conciliavit ;
Hle mihi titulum quo distinguor paravit ;
Ille mead serenissimos Reges introduxit 5
le me cusso numismate posteritati commendavit. “¢ Jlle meas errare boves, ut cernis_et ipsum “¢ Ludere que vellem calamo permisit agresti.
See Systema Nature. edit. xii, Holm. 1766. U 2 proved
148 LINNAZUS AT STOCKHOLM.
proved equally propitious to his name and to the state of the sciences in Sweden. The corporate scientific bodies under royal authority and proteétion had only been instituted the preceding year at London and Paris. The most modern of the capitals in the north of Europe, St. Petersburgh, was the first, which, under the auspices of PETER THE Great, obtained in the year 1724 the distinguished and earliest ho- nour of sucha corporate literary body. Linnaus, by soliciting a similar establishment at Stockholm, now strove to attain the same merit and honour which Lersnirz and Hauer had acquired by the insti- tution of the academies at Berlin and Goettingen. He was well ac- quainted with the learned at Stockholm, and with those grandees who loved the sciences. A general scientific zeal gave birth to the idea of raising a learned corporation. The most aétive promoter of this plan was a young man of noble birth and great parts, Count A. G. Hoeprxen, who held afterwards the dignity of counsellor of state and chancellor of the university of Upsal, with distinguished merit, and died on the gth of May 178g, in the fiftieth year of the existence of the academy of Stockholm, and in its first jubilee*. The society which in the beginning only consisted of six members, held their first meeting on the second of June 1739—and Linnaus had the honour of being eleGted president. None could have been worthier of that distin&ion than himself; none of the members had so well deserved of any one science, and gained such early celebrity as he. The fixed period for the duration of the presidency was limited by the statutes to three months only. Linnaus resigned his charge on the third of O&ober, and made on that occasion a speech in his mother tongue, on the remarka-
. e ’ * Count Gy LDENSTOLPE is now his successor.
1 bles
LINNWEUS; AT STOCKHOLM. 149
bles in inse&ts*. This speech contained excellent observations and the most beautiful sketch of the ceconomy and wisdom of nature. “© The author of this speech,” says the Chevalier Bacx, * was an ani- ‘‘ mated and sprightly painter, who captivated his readers, and -excited “© in them a kind of ecstatic rapture.”
This society, however small in the beginning, soon rose to the most honourable public greatness. The number of its members kept pace with its fame; and through the patriotic exertions of Count Tessin, it was raised to the honourable title of Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm on the 31st of March 1741. This example set by Sweden soon excited the emulation of Denmark. The royal Danish academy was consequently instituted in 1742 at Copenhagen, under the direétion of the beneficent Count of Hoxrsrein, then minister of state. The learned society of Stockholm was not gifted with any particular funds on the part of the crown, nor did its members receive annual salaries. The only stipends allowed were those assigned to the professor of natural philosophy, and to the two secretaries. These, besides the prizes and prize-medals, were drawn from the fund arising from presents or lega- cies. The members had already published their transa€tions, which at the expiration 1779 amounted to forty volumes, and have been trans- Jated into German, French, and other languages, and are continued down to the present time. These transaétions contain the richest store of useful knowledge and discoveries. This advancement of the sciences in that country is originally due to LInNaus.
Having enjoyed the utmost popularity in the capital of Sweden, and
being blest with the resources of a plentiful income, Linn £us was not
* Oratio de Memorabilibus in Insecétis. Vide Amcenitates Academice, vol. it.
quite
150 LINN AUS, AT) @, eS Aaie
quite so well pleased with his situation as might have been expeé€ted. He was, upon the whole, fonder of meddling with plants than with patients. Hus love of Flora was still prevalent, notwithstanding the bad return which that goddess made him when he first became her votary in Sweden. The garlands of fame which she had made for him, leaving him to expeét others more beautiful, still possessed too many attraétions. In 1740, he published a new edition of his Fundamenta Botanica, and dedicated that work to Dittenius, Hatter, Van Royren, Gronov, Jussieu, Burmann, and Ammann professor of botany at Si. Peters- burgh. We mention this trifling circumstance, because it shows the scale of gradation of the merits of the most eminent botanists of that time, and their rank in the esteem of Linn £us. '
His wishes had long been direéted towards that university of his country where he had laid the foundation of his greatness, and suffered so many vicissitudes in the smiles and frowns of fortune. On the gd of June 1740, his former protettor, OLaus Rupsecx junior, de. parted life in that city, by which demise the professorship of botany became vacant. It was this office which Linn us desired in prefer- ence to all others. He offered himself a candidate, made interest, but was disappointed. The laws of equity, and the university statutes op- posed his success. Nicuoras Rosen, his former antagonist attained this academical charge, as he had taken his degrees before Linn aus, and rendered himself more meritorious at Upsal, by a longer residence and a€tive service.
Meanwhile Linnaeus did not want for proteftion. The diet
which assembled in the beginning of the year 1741, extended
also their deliberations, to a mode of lessening the foreign pro-+
du€tions
LINNAEUS AT UPSAL. 151
du&tions of art, and of promoting the progress. of the domestic manu- fatures of Sweden. They resolved, that travels be undertaken through those Swedish provinces which were the least explored. The question, who was the most capable person to be charged with the execution of the enterprize, was soon decided. The choice fell on Lin £us, who accepted the offer. His first tour was to the islands of Oeland and Gothland. He set out on this exploit, in the spring of 1741, accom- panied by six naturalists. He had particular instructions to examine all the plants and produ€tions, which might be useful in dying, ceco- nomy, and medicine, and to see if there was nota kind of earth in those islands fit for the fabrication of porcelain-ware. The zeal of Lin- n&us even exceeded the bounds of his charge, he discovered many new plants, colleéted a great variety of observations on the antiquities of those islands, their mechanical arts, the manners of the natives, their fisheries, and many other objeéts; but he was not able to accom- plish the chief end of his voyage. He could find no porcelain earth, as the soil of both islands consists of a calcareous earth and chrystal rocks. His tour was however of great utility; the states gave him a public testimony of their satisfa€tion, and four years after, he published the narrative of this tour*.
The infirmities and advanced age of a man finally realised those hopes of Linnaus, which had been frustrated in the preceding year. Soon after Rupseck’s death, M. Roserg, senior of the Uni- versity of Upsal, and professor of physic and anatomy, requested his
dismission. His request was granted with the appendage of his whole * ‘There is a German translation of SCHREBER, published at HALLE in 1763 in 8vo from “the Swedish original, entituled Car, Linngi Oelanska och Gothlanska Resa,” Stocks
holm, 1745, large octavo.
salary,
Ws oe LENN AUS AT sUP SAE.
salary, as he had exercised his academical funétions longer than the fixed term of thirty years*. Linn aus put up for this vacancy,—and through the interest of Count Tessin, obtained the professorship of physic and anatomy in 1741, being then in the 34th year of his.age. Though this office was not what he absolutely wished for, yet it put him in a better situation of exerting himself to obtain what he really wanted. Owing to his multifarious professional avocations, his young spouse went to live with her parents at Fahlun. It was thence he received the welcome tidings which rewarded his conjugal happiness. . His lady pre- sented him with a young heir, on the goth of January 1741, who was baptized after his own name, and remained the only male offspring that survived him. Having become a father, he now set off in September with his family to Upsal, the theatre of his fame and his constant residence. On the 17th of O€tober, he assumed his professorial funétions with a discourse, occasioned by his late peregrination. He expatiated on the use and necessity of domestic tourst. He displayed the wide range of objeéts, which Sweden contained for the study of Physic, Natural History, Mineralogy, Zoology, Botany, and G&conomy; and depiéted, in living colours, the bounteous gifts of nature, with which, he said, we had nothing else to do, but to observe and convert them to our own use. Rosen had not been remiss in his endeavours to obtain an ordinary professorship, and to prefer the present certainty, to the incertainty of
the future: He was to teach botany, and Linnaus anatomy. Such
* There is a fund for two professors. at Upsal, who have done the duty of their office for thirty years. The widows of professors receive a kind of pension paid them in corn.
* Oratio de peregrinationum intra prtriam necessitate. See Amoenitat. Academic. Edit. Schreber. Erlang.
an
LINN AUS PROFESSOR AT UPSAL. 153
an appointment militated against the call and will of the muses. To make each of them great and useful in his own branch, a change of offices was requisite. Both were sensible of the impropriety of their respective stations, and by a friendly agreement, with the consent of the Chancellor of the University, the two professorships, whose emolu- ments were equal, were mutually exchanged in the beginning of 1742. Thus Linn £us was raised to that sphere of operation which he con- sidered as the happiness of his life, and which was so adequate to his zeal and endowments. He diretted his first efforts towards the im- provement of the botanical garden at Upsal, which had been established after the middle of the last century by the celebrated Swedish naturalist Oxraus Rupsecx senior. The novelty of the enterprise afforded to the latter great applause and support. Through the liberality of King Cuarces Gustavus, and the zeal of the Chancellor of the Univer- sity, the garden was soon put in a good state. It still remained in an improved condition in the reign of Cuaries XI. ThetwoRupsecksy both father and son, enriched it with the plants they had colleéted in their travels. But at the beginning of the present century it ceased to be one of the most flourishing botanical gardens of Europe. The dreadful conflagration which converted the best part of Upsal into a heap of ruins in 1702, destroyed it entirely. During the unfortunate reign of Cuyarxes XII. there were no hopés of its establishment. There, was, indeed, no money to purchase plants) RupBeck grew old, and none remained after him to take care of it. In short, the garden had decayed into a tra& of pasture ground to graze the sheep
and cows. It did not even contain fifty foreign plants,
pid LinN£ZvUS
154 LINN AUS PROFESSOR AT UPSAL.
LinNnaus now became its second creator. Ina few years he raised such a temple to Flora as had never before graced that northern traét. With the gardens at Paris, Oxford, Kew, Leyden and Hartecamp, it be- came at last, one of the most beautiful and most valuable in Lurope. All that had been formerly refused to advance the progress of botany, was now granted out of respeét to the great man who was the boast and soul of that science. His zeal kindled fresh fervor in others. +Count Cuarites Gyttensore was then Chancellor of the University, “a nobleman of great scientific acquirements and a special lover of botany. He began to conceive and cherish a particular fondness of that science on a journey which he made during the last century to Lapland, with Rupsecx junior He considered the celebrity of the University of Upsal as inseparable from his own fame. He saw in Linn aus a man who could increase this celebrity, got acquainted with him at Stock- holm, helped him to his professorship, and always remained his sin- cerest and most zealous protector. On his account the Swedish govern- ment resolved to spare no expences for the total improvement of the botanical garden. Baron Cuarztes HarutemMann, the king’s archi- tei furnished the plan. The latter was also a professed friend of Linnaus, and by the intercession of several great men, it was further resolved to build a dwelling-house for the professor of botany adjoin- ing tothe garden. Thus Linnzus, having the family of nature so near him, he could give them much better attendance, and study their peculiarities, and communicate their knowledge to his pupils. The execution of the proposed plan was begun in 1742, and completed in the course of the following year. On the 18th of July, 1743, Lin-
§
N45 took possession of his new and beautiful premises,
tn
LINNAUS PROFESSOR AT UPSAL. 155
In the year 1745 he gave a description of the new garden, with alt its dispostions and establishments, mentioning in the most grateful terms all those who had contributed to its restoration and embellish- ment*.. The garden was not laid out on a very extensive scale, but arranged in atasty manner. We shall here communicate a concise de- scription of it, given by a learned traveller, who visited Upsal in the year 1771.
The academical garden of Upsal has been arranged by Linn e&us. An iron gate of excellent workmanship leads to it from the high road. At the top of the gate the Swedish arms, and those of Count GyLtiren- Bor¢, who has so zealously promoted its restoration, are displayed. From within a spacious yard presents itself to view; on the right stands the dwelling of Linn us, who is the dire€tor of the garden, -on the left appear some other buildings. A straight avenue leads by another gate to the garden, which is parted from the yard by an ele- gant wooden inclosure. The garden itself is laid out in a superb style. Its most considerable part consists of two large traéts of ground. One of them contains the perennial plants; the other those from which the sceds are annually gathered. Each of these tra€ts is divided into forty- four beds, surrounded with a low hedge and little doors. The plant- house_is situate eastward. It is divided into the plant-hall (frigida- rium), which lies in the centre; into the thriving-house (caldarium), and the hot-house (tepzdarium), which form the northern wing, and the gardner’s cot, which forms the southern wing. To the west lies the
thriving-bank (vaporarium), and to the south the glass-bank ; the sun-
* Descriptio Horti Upsaliensis, Upsal, 1745 Vide Amecenitates Academice, vol. i, In this work the garden is represented on a plate.
x 2 house
£56 LINNAUS PROFESSOR AT UPSAL,
house (solarium), lies facing the ponds, ito which fresh water is con- veyed by pipes. The southern apartments of this edifice contain the large cabinet of natural curiosities belonging to the royal academy
of sciences, which are very considerable *,
The
* The botanical garden of Upsa/ underwent many material alterations after the death of Linn £us, during the latter part of the reign of the late King of Sweden. The conspicuous zeal and munificence of the latter, in ameliorating the state of the sciences in his kingdoms, went so far, that works. were carried on upwards of four years. to beautify the botanical gar den at Upsal, to add tresh edifices for keeping the plants, and splendid stru€tures for preserv- ing the natural curiosities. He also ordered that the house occupied by the professor of bo-. tany be enlarged and rendered more commodious. Gustavus III. came himself to Upsat to inspect all the buildings ef the academy. He frequently repeated his visits, and found that the botanical garden, as it then stood, was but ill adapted to its utility, both in point of situation and extent. ‘The Chevalier THuNBERG, professor of botany at Upsal, confirmed: his Majesty’s opinion by his own remarks. It was finally resolved to adopt an entire plan of alteration in the summer of 1787, at which time the King was at Upsal. His Majesty gave orders that this plan be immediately put into execution, and the ditch for the foundation wall was begun in June, and advanced so far under the immediate inspection of Professor Prose PERIN that the foundation stone could be laid as early as the 6th of August, 1737.
Gusravus III, himself performed the ceremony with suitable splendor and solemnity. His Majesty was attended by most of. the courtiers and grandees. , He repaired to the botanic garden, received the homage of the professors, and delivered to the Archbishop of Upsal,, Uno Von Troi, as commander of the order of the Polar Star and pro-chancellor of the. university, the grant of the ground. The pro-chancellor made a short address of thanks. ‘The King then laid himself the foundation stone; after a certain number of medalé had been put in its inside, he threw three trowels of mortar upon it, then handed the. trowel to. Count Craun and to the rest of the grandees in his suite.
The letter of donation which Gustavus III, presented to the university.is verbatim as follows :
‘We Gustavus IIT. by the Grace of God, Kine of the Swedes, Goths and Xandals,. 46 Lord in Norway, Duke of Schelswick and Holstein, &c. &e. &c. do certify by these pre- ‘sents, that, even during our minority we looked with pleasure and attention upon the most: ‘ancient seat of learning in the North, our. University of Upsa/, and that during the course ‘¢ of our reign we took care to promote its splendor and increase. Besides our own satis- s* faction, and besides the honour of accomplishing that, which the two greatest Kings whose. ‘names we bear endeavoured so carefully to effect, we not only found an opportunity to. ** teach our beloved son, by our own example, to value the happiness of governing an ene ‘‘hightened nation ; but.also to enjoy the daily satisfaction of seeing the Swedish geniuses
SS rise.
LINNAUS PROFESSOR AT UPSAL. _ 157
The greatness and celebrity of the dire€tor of this garden required a gardner of competent skill and abilities. It was not beneath the dignity of /
LINNZ£UsS
& rise to the most perfect knowledge of the sciences. ‘To attain this end we have examined ‘and viewed the constitutions of the University, to see which of them might require a change “© or an alteration. We found that it was necessary that the botanical garden, with. its col- s leStions, should be removed to some more convenient spot, on account of its situation and ‘extent. As LONG 4S THE LEARNED WORLD ACKNOWLEDGED IN THIS SCIENCE THE « sOLE LAWS OF A LINNZUS, HIS GREAT NAME AND HIS KNOWLEDGE SUFFICED FOR ‘“’ atu. But, whereas, the discoveries are now augmented, and FOREIGNERS ILLUMINED “© BY HIS SCIENCE HAVE BEGUN TO RIVAL HIS COUNTRYMEN, HIS MEMORY, AND THE “ HONOUR OF THE UNIVERSITY REQUIRE SUCH PREPARATIONS WHICH MAY ENABLE “ HIS SUCCESSORS TO PROPAGATE HIs FAME. We have for this reason resolved, not only -*¢ to defray the expence attending the establisment of a new botanical garden out of our own ** private resources ; but also to add a grant of the ground of the pleasure-garden near the s-castle ; besides 31,360 square yards of ground to the westward. We are, therefore, willing s¢ to alienate the said pleasure- garden and ground from us and the crown, and we do by these s¢ presents renounce every future claim and title thereto, presenting the same to our Academy * of Upsal as an everlasting property and possession, on condition of its being used for the “¢ rearing and fostering of botanical obje(ts. This shall serve as a due notice to every one. «¢ In corroboration whereof we have signed this present grant with our own hand, and sealed: 6s jt with our royal seal. 6s. Done in the Castle of Upsal, «Sioned GusTavus,
“© August 16, 1787. 3 sc BH. SCHR OEDERBEIMS.”?
i
Respecting the amelioration of the botanical garden at Upsal, the CHEVALIER DE THUN= BERG has favoured the author with the following account in a letter, dated Upsal, November 12, 1793s °
«¢ The-ancient academical garden was situate in a very low ground, and the dwelling of ¢ the professor and the other buildings stood on a marshy soil. For this reason I intreated 6 the Kine, to grant the garden of the palace to the Academy of Upsal, and to have it * converted into a botanical garden, which was done accordingly. The buildings for the pre’ ‘¢ servation of the plants, the Orangerie, the hot-house, and the le<ture room in which the s¢ bust of Linnzzus will be put, the museum, the professor’s house, &c. &c. are mostly s finished, and will be quite complete in a few years hence. ‘The old botanical garden is stil! sin being; but the buildings, especially the Orangerie, are almost a heap of ruins. In the s¢-new garden I have ordered the perennial plants to be arranged and planted in three beds, & and the annual ones in a field, according to the Linn aan system.. The Swedish, the medi- s¢ cinal and other plants for the use of the medical and ceconomical students, are contained in ‘separate beds, Besides the natural curiosities preserved in spirits of wine, the academy
S6 was
158 LINNAZUS PROFESSOR AT UPSAL.
Linnaus to have a man, who, in his art, was one of the first in Europe, and to whom he stood indebted for many useful instru€tions respecting the cultivation and nursing of plants. His name was Der- Rick NerrzeL, a German, born at Hamburgh in 1709. He had _ar- ranged the principal gardens in Lower Saxony, and was afterwards em- ployed by Crirrort at Hartecamp.
Linnaus had thus obtained the finest repository that could be wished for, but he only wanted the plants. His zeal, and the connexions which he had with the greatest botanists in Europe, soon remedied this defeét, and rendered the garden one of the richest in Europe. In 1742 he introduced more than two hundred indigenous plants in it, and sent a student to Norway to colle& there the most. valuable botanical treasures. “¢ Formerly,” says Linn 2us in a letter to Hater, * I had « plants but no money—and now, of what use is my money without ‘6 plants *?” This proves with what enthusiastic fondness Linnaus loved plants.
Soon, however, did his foreign friends gratify his wishes in a most eager and satisfactory manner. He received plants and seeds from
“hardly possessed any thing else, till I presented it with my collection of dried plants, “insects, birds, &c. &c.” *
* Prior hortus situs erat loco maxime depresso et ades demissx loco paludoso. Ego igiturea Rege Clementissimo petii, ut hortus arcis regia academie donaretur proque horto botanico instruerctur, quod et dudum faétum est. Aedes pro plantis servandis (Orangerie, the hot-house, Sc). Auditorium, in quo erigetur effigies Linngi, museum naturalium, edes professionis, é&c. jam magna ex parte exstruéla sunt, et post paucos annos omnino erunt parate, Prior hortus adhuc quidem existit, adibus (orangerie) fere collapsis ; et nevus hortus ita a me instruétus est, ut plantate fuerint plante perennes in areis tribus, et annu@ in unica, secundum systema Linnzanum ; preterea plante Suecice, officinales pharmaceutice, &c, in distinétis areis plantate sunt, in usum medicorum et ceconomorum. Preter naturalia, spiritu vini servata, museum academicum quidquam vix habuit, ante quam ego colleétionem meam herbarum siccataruim, inse€torum, avium, &c. &c. Academie Upsaliensi donaveram,
* Ante habui plantas, non pecunias; nunc quid juvant pecuniz, ubi non plante! Episr. ad HALLER, Vol. li. page 147.
HALLER
Ye
ee
LINNAEUS PROFESSOR AT UPSAL. 159
Hatcerand GLepitscu at Berlin, Lupwie at Lespzic, Dr. MoEHREN at Yevern, GesNeR at Stutgarth, Jussieu at Paris, Professor Ds Sauvaces at Montpellier, DiLLENius at Oxford, CoLtinson, MiL- ter and Caresssy at London, Van Royen and Gronov at Leyden, BurMANN at Amsterdam, Gmevin and AMMANN at Petersburgh, and afterwards from many others. The embellishing and enriching of the botanical garden at Upsal, was the favourite study of his life. His anxious and tender care triumphed over the rigour and inclemency of the frigid climate of Sweden. The plants which grow even in the most southern country were now cultivated in the garden at Upsal, which presented treasures from every quarter of the globe *.
Six years after the re-establishment of this garden, Linn aus in1748 published its description. The number of the foreign species of plants amounted to one thousand one hundred. His genius diffused itself like the beams of the sun over the botanical world, and its beneficent influence gave warmth and animation, especially in Sweden. Besides him there was not a single eminent botanist in the whole kingdom. The le€ures had hitherto been rather a matter of form than of instru@tion, and were not frequented. Linn us came, and entirely changed the face of affairs. His genius charmed and formed others. FLrora was now more courted in Sweden than at any former period. Not only the votaries of AiscuLarius, but the students of other sciences be- stowed now the utmost diligence and attention upon botany. The hall in which Linn «us delivered his le€tures overflowed with a crouded
audience. Through him the university of Upsal formed a new epoch.
* Hortus Upsaliensis, exhibens plantas exoticas, Horto Upsaliensi academice, a CaROL. Linn £0 illatas ab anno 1742, in annum 1748, &c. Holm. 1748, octavo, 306, &c,
3 The
160 LINNZUS PROFESSOR AT UPSAL,
The usual number of students was 500, which proportion continued also after his death. But during the septennial war in 1759, while Lin-
N £us was reétor for six months*, the number of students amounted
to one thousand five hundred. To profit by his knowlege pupils came -
from Russia, Norway, Denmark, Great Britain, Helland, Germany, Switzerland, nay, even from America t. Thus he deserved well of foreigners, and became the benefa€lor of the muses at Upsal. He made summer excursions at the head of his pupils, who frequently at- tended him to the number of upwards of two hundred. They then went in small parties to explore different districts of the country. Whenever some rare or remarkable plant, or some other natural curio- sity was discovered, a signal was given with a horn or trumpet, upon which the whole corps joined their chief, to: hear his demonstrations and remarks t+. What swelled his audience was a fine regulation made in his time at Upsal, in consequence of which all the young students of divinity and country rectors were obliged to learn the elements of bo- tany and domestic medicine, that they might be able to aét as physicians in remote distri€ts where regular medical assistance could not speedily enough be procured.
It was through Linn aus that Upsal obtained its celebrated botanical
garden and a public cabinet of natural curiosities. The patriotism of
* Reétor and pro. rector are two different offices at Upsal. The reétor is personally at the head of the academical government, and the pro-rector is his immediate predecessor in office, who, in case of necessity, administers his fimétions ad interim.
+ Nec majori unquam morum sanétitate conspicuus fuit coetus mille et quingentorum stus diosorum hoc frequentantium Atheneum. See Amoenitat. Acad. vol. x. Erlang. 1790.
{ Herbat’ones Upsalienses, in Am@nitat. Acad, vol. iii. Also Travels into Poland, Russia, ‘
Sweden and Denmark, by W. Cox, A. M.
2 the
LINNAZUS PROFESSOR AT UPSAL. 164
the great and learned could not intrust their treasures to better care than that which Linnaeus took. Count Cuaries GyLtienzore was the first who set an example of liberality, by contributing towards that museum.
Count Cuarres GyLLeNnsBorG was descended of an ancient and respeftable family, one of whose members was created a count in the reign of Cuarites XII. The name of the former is in various respe€ts celebrated in the history of Sweden. The display of his political fame was made at London, where he resided for severai years in quality of ambassador from the court of Siockholm.- Here his conduét brought upon him asingular misfortune. By command of Grorce I. he was taken into custody on the gth of February 1717. It was reported that from some letters which had been intercepted, it appeared that the Count carried on a conspiracy with the enemies of his Britannic Majesty and the partisans of the late Pretender. The British covrt in the letter which it delivered to the foreign ambassadors, in justification of its condu@, expressly stated, that the Count had endeavoured to spirit up his Ma- jesty’s subjeéts into a rebellion against their sovereign. A commission was appointed to enquire into this charge, but upon examination no solid proofs appeared against him. Meanwhile his epistolary corres- pondence with Baron GorErtz, who fell a vitim to his machinations in the year 1719,and with Baron Sparrg, and other Swedish ministers, was published. In the first letter Gozrtrz confessed he was the author of “ The Remarks of an English Merchant,” a work which had excited great sensation at thatepoch. Owing to the interference of the French cabinet, and the representations of other courts, Count GyLLENBORG was released in July 1717, and sent back to Sweden in an English ship.
Y A
ral ao
162 LINNAUS PROFESSOR AT UPSAL.
As soon as he arrived at Stockholm, the British ambassador was likewise liberated from confinement, as the Swedish court had thought proper to use reprisals.
GyLLensorG afterwards waited on King Cuartes XII. whose favour he had long ago gained by his zeal and abilities. He was appointed with Baron Goerrz, minister plenipotentiary at the conferences of pa- cification which were opened with the court of Russza in the isle of Aland, but which terminated without success. In the year 1719 he was. raised to the dignity of high chancellor of Sweden. In the beginning of the following year he also a€ted an important part in the negotiations respeCling the acession of Freperick I. to the throne, and gained constantly greater influence during the reign of this monarch, who ap- pointed him counsellor of the Swedish empire and chancellor of the
university of Lund, and in the year 1739, when a great change took.
place in the senate and ministry, in which he took anaétive part, he was. |
made president of chancery, minister for the foreign and home depart- ments, and soon after chancellor of the university of Upsal. Count. Tessin, who was then ambassador at the.court of Versailles, received,. in a short time after, the appointment of vice-president of chancery,
Count Gyitiempore. died between sixty and seventy years of age.
He was an able minister, an erudite author, and a fellow of the royal. ‘
society of London. Death snatched him away on the 14th of Decem- ber 1746, too soon for the university of Upsal, to which he left his. cabinet of natural history, remarkable for a great number of am- phibies and corals. During the latter part of his life he had the ho- nourable satisfa&tion of seeing his example of munificence imitated by FREDERICK Apo.puus, then Prince Royal of Sweden, who presented the
university.
LINNAUS PROFESSOR AT UPSAL. 163
university of Upsal, with a considerable colleétion of curious animals, fishes and inse€ts ; farther by Nicnotas Gri ut, a merchant at Stock- HOLM, who bequeathed to the same university a valuable colle€tion of natural treasures, the produce of North America; especially some rare serpents which had been colle&ted at Surinam. These presents were in course of time considerably increased by the Chinese curiosities of LAGERSTROEM at Gottenburgh, and by several other gifts. To do honour to the donors, and to enlarge the knowledge of natural history, Linnzus described these sundry colleétions*. In a short space of time the number of presents became so very great, as to induce the Swedish government, upon some representations made by Linnaus, to order a separate building to be raised in the year 1748, for the pur- pose of preserving them.
Linn avs now divided his diligence into the occupations for his pupils, for his country, and for the learned world at large. We wiil compress the sphere of his exploits to the year 1750, to see what he did to advance the above mentioned purposes.
He was not, nor did he wish to be such an universalist as HALLER ; and nature remained his sole study. His application was entirely be- stowed upon her produétions. He gave Icétures on botany, natural history, the medicinal virtues of plants, the Materia Medica, and on the dietetic and knowledge of diseases. His delivery was a pattern for a professor in point of energy, instru€tion and entertainment. * Science,”
said Back, “ streamed with peculiar pleasantness from his lips. He
* Amphibia GYLLENBORGIANA, Jul. 18, 1745. Museum ADOLPHO-FREDERICANUM, May 31, 1746. Surinamensia, GRILLIANA, Jul. 18, 1748. Chinensia, LAGERSTROEMIANA, 1754.—See Amenitates Academica, Vol. i. ii. iv.
Y 2 ‘6 spoke
164 LINN/LUS PROFESSOR AT UPSAL.
* spoke with a conviétion and perspicuity which his deep penetrations. ‘his clear notions and ardent zeal inspired him-with. It was impossi- “ ble to be near him without attention, without participating in his *‘ enthusiasm. He communicated to his. pupils the greatest part of the ‘¢ ideas and materials of the thirty disputations which were held under ‘6 him till the year 1750. They contained real treasures and elucida- ‘¢ tions of science.”
The new established academy of Stockholm owed partly its existence to the zeal of Linn 2us, and found in him the most a€tive promoter of its flourishing and respeftable state. From the year 1739 to 1759 he caused twenty-five treatises to be inserted in its annals, relative to several remarkable animals, plants, and other Swedish natural curiosities. He was also a most a€tive co-operator in the royal society of Upsal, among all the learned corporate bodies, which first admitted him a member, and made him its secretary for several years. During the same period he enriched its transa€tions with twelve theses or trea- tises (Aéla Erudita Upsaliensia).
His reputation as the most eminent botanist was now decided. Of the truth of this assertion he obtained a very flattering proof, which at the same time furnished him with an opportuity of renovating the fame of a German then in his grave. Mr. Aucustus GunTuer at Copen- hagen, had in his possession a most ¢apital herbarium from the Kast Jn, dies, consisting of five volumes. He had enquired of seycral botanists after the colleGor, but none could tell him who he was. He sent, therefore, the whole to LINN 2us, to make use of it in the composition of his System of Nature. The latter found’ upon stritt examination,
that it was the herbal of Paux Herrmann, professor of botany at Leydensy
Se
~
LINNAUS PROFESSOR AT UPSAL, 165
GS
Leyden, who, during the last century had been sent to the Last Indves in the year 1670, and colleéted those plants during his seven years re- sidence in the island of Ceylon. The numbers in this herbai related to the Museum Zeylanicum, which appeared after HeERRMANN’s death in the year 1717. Linnaus published the description of the whole col- le€tion in 1747, after it had Jain in concealment for upwards seventy years *. It contained six hundred and sixty plants, which were ar- ranged according to his new system. Including the work of his friend Burmann, (Thesaurus Zeylanicus Amstelod, 1738), and that of Har- toc the Dutchman, who made a voyage to Ceylon, at the expence of Doftor Suzrarp, there is no country nor jfland in Asia whose natural history is better described than this.
In all Europe, and the world in general, no country was better de- scribed than Sweden—and all this had been done by Linnaus. The Swedish government derived the most essential benefits from his talents. In the spring of 1746 he made a tour to West Gothlond. He travelléd more than 300 German leagues, and in the following year published the result of his observationst. In the summer of 1749, he visited Scania or Schonen, the most southern of the Swedish provinces*t. This was the sixth and last tour which he made in his own country. Thus Linn2us became the father of a beautiful and most accurate natural statistic of his own country. Before he set out on his two last
tours, he published a description of the Swedish plants}, with an index
* Flora Zeylanica, sistens plantas Indicas Zeylonz Insule, quz olim lect fuere a PauLo HERMANNO Professore Botanico Leydensi. #elm.§1747, p: 254° # C. Linn £1 Wastgita Resa; as Ricksens Standers befalning forattad. Stockholm, 1747,
in Swedish. q Linn 41 Stanska Resa, forrattad 1749, Stockholm 1751, also in Swedish.
§ Flora Suecica, exhibens plantas per regnum Suecie crescentes, Sc, Holm, 8v0. p. 392.
1 Ulustrating
166 LINNAUS PROFESSOR AT UPSAL.
illustrating their medical and ceconomical properties, the place of their
growth, and their Swedish and provincial denominations. GMeELiN, |
in a letter to Hater said, he was very much pleased with that work, which was a fresh proof of the astonishing diligence of Linnaus*, This first edition contained a description of 1140 plants, and in the second, their number was augmented to 1296.
A twelvemonth after the publication of this Flora, followed a de- scription of the Swedish animals, birds, amphibies, fishes, inse¢ts and worms +; a work which he had already began to co!leét, while a student at Upsal in the year 1730. There had never appeared so general and complete a zoology of any country. The first edition contained 1350 articles. By his own discoveries and the observations of his pupils, this number was increased, in a second edition, fifteen years after, to 2266. This last edition presented the following state and proportion of the animal reign in Sweden: 1691 species of inseéts, 198 of ‘worms, 195 of birds, 77 of fishes, 53 of sucking animals, and 25 of amphibies. Entire and absolute perfeétion cannot possibly be expeéted in a work of this description. Bacx justly observed, that something is still left to be added to it by the diligence of posterity; but that at any rate the honour belongs in preference to him who first paved the way to such
perfeétion.
The beginning of the academical career of Linnzus, so celebrated
for writings, travels and reforms, so replete with patriotic and scientific
a€tivity, did not remain unrewarded. His merits were now honoured
* Flora LINN 1 placet. Est enim stupenda ejus diligentie novum argumentum. Epist. ad HA wveR. Vol. ii. p. 250. HALLER however did not like the work.
%
+ Fauna Suecica, sistens animalia Suecice regni, &c. Holm. 1746,
and
LINN AUS PROFESSOR AT UPSAL. 167
and acknowledged, not only abroad but also at home. In 1749 he was chosen member of the Academy of Sciences of Montpellier, where he kept up his friendly correspondence with Professor p— SAUVAGES; seven years after he was eleéted member of the society of Thoulouse, and in 1747 member of the Royal Academy of Berlin. In the same year he caused similar honours'to be bestowed on several of his learned
friends in Sweden: HALLER, JuUss1EU, SAUVAGES, GESNER, GMELIN,
-€1aytTon, Coiitinson, and Van SWiETEN were received mem-
bers of the Royal Academy. at Stockholm, an honour which had, for the first time been conferred upon foreigners. Linn aus received a testimony of respe& in his own country, which had never yet been bestowed,on any. of his academical predecessors,—a distin@tion, which on account of its. unprecedented singularity, became the more flatter- ing and encouraging to him. Four patriotic grandees, Counts Exr- gLAD, HorerKen, PALMsTIERNA and Baron HarLemMan, caused a gold medal to be struck in his remembrance. One side represented
the bust of Linnaus with this inscription +.
CGCARGL. LINN.ZUS: M.. D.. BOT. PROF. UPS. ATAT: XX XIX; on the other side these words: “* CAROLO GUSTAVO TESSIN EF IMMORTALITATI EFFIGIEM CAROLI LIN- NI CL. EKEBLAD, ANDR. HOEPKEN, N. PALMSTIERNA, ET CAR. HARLEMAN. DIC. MDCCXLVI.
Linnaus was highly fond of the portraits of great and celebrated men. He had colle€ted many of them in his travels abroad. In the apartments of his house those of the most remarkable botanists were exhibited to view. In 1746 a print of Haxier was published in
2. copper-plate.
168 LINNAUS PROFESSOR AT UPSAL-
copper-plate. Linn aus requested acopy of this portrait of Harrer
himself, and sent him one of his gold medals in return.
The dedication of this medal to Count Tessin, was both an honour well deserved, and a happy idea, much to the advantage of Linn aus. His exalted patron was encouraged in a most flattering manner in the continuance of his patronage. Charmed with the noble example of
his patriotic fellow-citizens, he also gave Linnus, in the following
year, a token of veneration, which was equally honourable to himself
and to the obje& for whom it was destined. He ordered a medal to be struck, representing on one side, the bust of Linnaus, and on the other three crowns, on which the sun casts his beams, with this simple but eloquent motto: J/lustrat—He illumines*.
Before Linn zus received those marks of private respe€t of Count Tessin, the lattter had already rewarded him with royal favour. Pro- fessor Rosen, the colleague of Linn aus, furnished the Count with an opportunity. Rosen, assisted by the advice of Harxer, had saved the life of thé late King. That’ Prince was born on the 26th of January 1746; in the second month he became so ill that all hopes of his recovery were givenup. Roszn was called from Upsal, and insisted that the prince’s nurse be immediately discharged. The Col- lege of Physicians was against his determination, but found itself com- pelled to give its assent ;—in a short time after the prince recovered— and Rosen was rewarded with presents, an annual pension of 500 dollars, and the title of Dean of the College of Physicians. Rosen
* This medal is of silver, and about the size of a Dutch gilder. Inthe three crowns, which are a fine allusiou to the domination of Linn#vs in’the three reigns of nature, are
several of her attributes. In the first, the heads of an eagle, a lion and a whale are very conspicuous, and the two others bear plants and fragments of minerals.
Was
LINN AUS PROFESSOR AT UPSAL. 169
was then the only man who bore this title in Sweden. He having saved the life of so great a prince deserved great favours. In this case the court could not overlook his colleague Linn aus, who among all the learned men of Sweden had rendered himself most deserving in the learned world. At the instance of Count Tessin, Linnaeus like- wise obtained the title or Archzater, or Dean of the College of Phy- sicians, on the igth of January 1747.
His father,—who in his youth, had designed Linn «us for an ap- prentice to a shoemaker !—now saw his son thus honoured by the great men of the kingdom, raised to dignities, his fame spread all over Europe, and his name rendered immortal. The father of Linnaus died at Stenbrohult, May 12, 1748, aged 74. Long ago would his memory have perished but for his great son, who was at first the torment, but
afterwards the delight and boast of his life.
2 SECTION
b ded oe Pe E Te “ roa” ate ee came
SYR ei rig) 2 FE sire “Le s1ed ow asset ¥iae ‘ee 18s a
oe ha On the —
4 or os r a i: gi ¥ P ti. (eOar) oe, oobi bat see ei6 ort ”
ib ZUR MEI, etitead inne lo conse oe 2k bhow vows
‘ WS ¢ id lo geallod ad lo: sesth 26 en Moths tec elit od eid stiw se : ; «Epc vinnie, ooo ¢ at co eee” er
ri . . = a 2 ES ia ae IR DE. Ghioy ait Hor apy oan
: viel a coiduegiinds Dosieg 9ffit 2) eid its
is beib .2u eres radial oe ee iavieccmeei beisbeor outst coed baw “yt nota abd blow ons gaol pe ba ya Sere ar eM Shuto ind i009 are! acts ferit Je oR ; othe, ioe I827y ai awh id bode ova SS Omid Ae irsod bas staifah ads 3
e j 2 ure mes re, F: 4 , \ aed ms —— a 'S Pa 5 ’ = * 2 = a ¥ = ‘ z es a. ; es re : : f . ‘ ‘ i n 7 ~ e yo a , ee he, x : f ~ iy ose | Maryse wOrryg2 . & | = :
Epszacyd
SECTLON, Will,
EXCURSIONS. OF THE NORTHERN LITERATI.—HISTORY OF THE TRAVELLING PUPILS OF LINNAEUS.
EXTENSIVE SPHERE OF THE OPERATIONS OF LINN £US,—THE UNHAPPY DESTINY OF NATURALISTS.—PATRIOTIC EXERTIONS.— OPPORTUNITIES OF TRAVELLING FOR THE PUPILS OF LINNAUS.—COUNT TESSIN.—THE EAST INDIA COMPANY AT GOTHENBURGH.—TERNSTROEM, THE FIRST ITINERANT DISCIPLE OF LIN- N£US.—HIS TRAGICAL END.—F. HASSELQUIST’S TRAVELS IN PALESTINE; DIES AT SMYRNA.—PRESERVATION OF HIS COLLECTIONS,-NARRATIVE OF HIS TRAVELS.—P. FORSKAL TRAVELS WITH NIEBUHR AND THE REST OF THE DA- NISH SOCIETY IN ARABIA.—HIS MELANCHOLY END.—HIS LAST LETTER TO LINNAUS.—P. L@FLING GOES AS BOTANIST TO MADRID, AND HENCE TO AMERICA.—DIES IN THE FLOWER OF YOUTH.—J. P. FALK. TUTOR TO LIN. @EUS, JUN. GOES TO RUSSIA.—SHOOTS HIMSELF AT CASAN.—BJOERNSTAHL DIES AT SALONICHI.—MORE FORTUNATE PEREGRINATING DISCIPLES OF LINN£US.—P. KALM'S VOYAGE TO NORTH AMERICA.—ACCOUNT OF THIS VOYAGE.—TRAVELS OF ROLANDER, TOREN, OSBECK, SPARRMANN, THE CHEVA- LIER C. P. THUNBERG AND DR, SOLANDER.—THE TWO LATTER SAIL ROUND THE “WORLD.—THE NAME AND FAME OF LINNAUS ARE SPREAD ALL OVER THE GLOBE.—LINN £US HAS A DISCIPLE AMONG THE MAHOMETANS.—TRAVELLING PUPILS OF LINNAUS IN EUROPE.—DISCIPLES OF LINNUS IN GERMANY.— FABRICIUS, SCHREBER, GIESEKE, EHRHART.—SPECIAL ALLEGATIONS,—ANEC- DOTES,—FERBER AND THE CHEVALIER J. A. MURRAY.—LINN£US’S PECULIAR MODE OF HONOURING HIS FRIENDS AND MEN OF MERIT.—NAMES OF PLANTS. _-BARON HALLER’S CRITIQUE ON THIS SUBJECT.
TU INN US was of the number of those great men who exhibited the most eloquent piéture of the strength of the human powers and endowments, and who proved by their own example, what the genius
and activity of a single individual is capable to accomplish. Let us
remember
172 TRAVELLING PUPILS OF LINN AUS.
remember a LurHer, a VOLTAiR£E !—and whois notastonished at the influence which they had over their age and over so many nations! Linn us kept pace with them in proportion to his science. He was the reformer of botany, and became the greatest and most universal promoter of natural history that ever existed. Never has so much been done for that science in so short a space of time as at the period
in which he flourished, and immediately after him. What he did
direétly, for his own part, had never yet been done by any naturalist |
before him. His le€ture-room became the nursery of eminent and ce- lebrated men. The eloquence of the master enraptured and won his pupils. His enthusiasm, his thirst for science, became their own, and he gave them opportunities to exert those qualities. Sweden obtained and acquired by him a new celebrity,—it became famous by the trans- migration of the learned, unexampled in any other country. From Upsal the disciples of Linnvus travelled to all quarters of the globe to study nature, and to disseminate the knowledge of her treasures. We shall here give a brief sketch of those itinerant Swedes, and of the other celebrated disciples of Linnaus, since they form one of the principal and most glorious periods of his life.
s¢ If I look back upon the fate of naturalists,” says Linn aus*, % must I call madness or reason that desire which allures us to seek s¢ and examine plants? The irresistible attractions of nature can alone & induce us to face so many dangers and troubles. No science ever - & had so many martyrs as natural history. Puxiiny, the prince of 6 nature among the Romans, plunged into the fiery abyss of Mount
ss ALtnat, Simon Pauuti from his love of plants broke his leg;
* See C. Linn #1, Critica Botanica, p. 82. s + Puiny died, by all accounts, on the sea shore near Stabia.—Translator. , 2 ¢ CLusius,
syn.
=
TRAVELLING PUPILS OF LINNZUS. 173
s CLusius, an enthusiast equally unfortunate, was thrown into irons, “and robbed of all his treasures in Barbary; GuiLLANDIN1 was “6 taken by pirates; the Dutch Consul Rumr died blind in the island “© of Amboyna, where he preferred his toils to all the wealth of the uni- “ verse; Lipp1 was murdered in the wilds of Ethiopia; STELLER ¢ fell a vitim to his exertions in Siberia; GmerLin was thrown into ‘a dungeon by the Tartars; Lowirz impaled; Scnzucnzer left all «the conveniences of life to gather grasses, exposed a thousand ‘¢ dangers, on the Alps; Tournerort exchanged the luxuries of Paris “ to range through the wilds of Turkey; a Banks, a Forster, and ‘¢ other cotemporaries are equal to, nay they excel TourNerort in é¢ point of enthusiasm ; because they exchanged smiling fortune at home “ with the threatenining dangers of foreign climes, in barbarous and * unknown regions; Rupszeck lost his collettions in the fire of “ Upsal, and died of a broken heart; Prumrer suffered shipwreck ; © BANNISTER was hurled headlong downa rock in Virginia; BARELLI, *“ MicHeEti, Donati, VAILLANT and others, without number, fell a é sacrifice to their scientific exertions in natural history.”
The pupils of Linw 2us augmented the number of vitims of science. ‘We shall begin with those whose ill-fated career deserves most to be lamented.
Sweden stands indebted to Count Tzss1n for the preservation of the great professor at Upsal; likewise for the numerous peregrinaiions of his pupils. The patriotic disposition of many of his fellow-citizens, imitated afterwards his example. He reque sted of the Swedish East- India Company at Gothenburgh, to let every year a young naturalist make a voyage to Jndza in their ships, free from expence; a request —
made
i74 TRAVELLING PUPILS OF LINNAUS.
made by so great a man, was instantly complied with, Macnus La- GERSTROEM, a great lover of natural history, was then dire€tor of that company, and the academy of Stockholm afterwards received him as one of its members. He gratified every wish of Linnaus; took the young travellers under his special prote€tion, and charged the cap- tains of the ships to serve them whenever they found an opportunity. LaGersrroem even brought it so far, that they could purchase natural curlosities in China at the company’s own expence*. .
The first of the pupils of Linn us, who profited by this oppor- tunity to visit a remote part of the world, was C, Trernstorm, a young man who seemed to be born to colle& natural -cu- tiosities. In 1745 he embarked at Gothenburgh for China; but fell a vidtim to the climate, even before he could reach the place of his destination. He died at Poulicandor, towards the close of 1745.
Soon after Linnxus became the instrument of a second voyage. He represented in his le€tures, in the most eloquent and persuasive man- ner, the extraordinary merits and great celebrity which a young stu- dent might obtain by travelling through Palestine, and by enquiring into and describing the natural history of that country, which was till then unknown, and had become of the greatest importance to interpret
the bible, and to understand eastern philology. This certainly was an
* Regie Cancellarie, simul regiz tunc.temporis Scientiarum Academie Prases, Comes Tessin, cum Societate Indica convenit, ut quotannis cum navibus liceret mittere juvenem, nature sacris initiatum, in Indias, Societatis hujus impensis ; quod, quamvis ab initio insuetum facile tamen evenit, opere et favore nostri M. LacersTRoeM, qui non modo summe fa- vore amplexus est ejusmodi nature curiosos, sed in mandatis dedit navium gubernatoribus, ut his inservirent, quacunque liceret regione, ut finem obtinerent propositum; immo quod magis est, jussit Socetati subjectos socios, suis propriis impensis emere, quacunqye in China occurrerent singularia ad locupletandam Scientiam preestantissimam. Amenitates Academica, vol. vi. Edit. Schreber, p. 232.
Herculean
-—
TRAVELLING PUPIPLS OF LINN£US. 175
Herculean and dangerous enterprize. Nevertheless there was a young man whose courageous zeal was bent upon this expedition.
His name was FrepericKx Hasserguisr, then a student, and af- terwards doftor of physic. The lively representations of Linnaus, and the obvious importance of the voyage itself, soon rendered it an objeét of patriotic concern. There being no fund arising from the li- berality of the crown, private colle&tions were made, which poured in very copiously, especially from the province of Last Gothland, the native country of the young traveller. All the faculties of the univer- sity of Upsal also granted him a stipend.
Thus proteéted, he commenced his journey in the summer of 1749: By the interference of Lacrastroem, he had a free passage to Smyrna in one of the Swedish East Indiamen. He arrived there at the con- elusicni of the year, and was received in the most friendly manner by Mr. A. Rypex, the Swedish Consul. In the beginning of 1750 he set out for Egypt, and remained nine months at Cazro the capital. Hence he sent to Lryn £us and to the learned societies of his country, some specimens of his researches. They were published in the public papers, and met with the greatest approbation, and upon the propo- sition of Dean Barcx and Dr. WarGENTIN, Secretary of the Royal Academy of Sciences, a colleétion of upwards of 10,000 dollars in copper-money was made for the continuance of the travels of young Hasserquist. Counsetlors Lacerstroem and NoRDENCRANT2, were the most a€tive in raising subscriptions at Stockholm and Gothen- burgh. In the spring of 1751, he repaired to his destination, and passed through Faffa to Jerusalem, Jericho, &c. He returned afterwards through Rhodus and Scio to Smyrna. Thus he fulfilled all the ex-
3 pectations
176 TRAVELLING PUPILS OF LINNAUS.
peftations of his country, but he was not to reap the reward of his toils. The burning heat of the sandy deserts of Arabia had affeéted his lungs ; he reached Smyrna in a state of illness, in which he languished for some time, and died February 9, 1752, in the goth year of his age. @
The fruits of his travels were, however, preserved through the libe- rality of a great princess. He had been obliged to contraé& debts. The Turks, therefore, seized upon all his colleétions and threatened to expose them to public sale. The Swedish Consul prevented it. He sent with the intelligence of the unhappy exit of his countryman, an account of the distresses under which he died ;—and at the represen- tation of Dean Back, Queen Louisa Uxrica granted the sum of 14,000 dollars in copper-specie, to redeem all his collef&tions*. They arrived afterwards in ‘good preservation at Stockholm, consisting of a great «quantity of antiques, Arabian manuscripts, shells, birds, ser- pents, insefts, &c. and were kept in the cabinets at Ulrichsdale and Drottningholm. The specimens of the natural curiosities of these mu- seums being double or treble in number, Linnaus obtained some of them, and published the voyage of his ill-fated friendt, and honoured his memory with a plant which he called from his name Hasselquistza.
The plan which Linn xus had first proje€ted, and which HasseEt- QuisT on account of his illness was not able to execute alone, was soon after revived by a German. Professor Micu 2.15 of Goettingen,
one of the greatest adepts in the Eastern Janguages, who from the great
* See the introduction to the Flora Palzstina, in the Amcenitat. Acad. vol. iv.
+ Fred. Hasselquist Iter Palestinum, Stackholm, 1757, 8vo.
respeét
TRAVELLING PUPILS OF LINN£US. 177
respe&t which Count HorPrKen entertained for him, was created a knight of the polar star in the year 1775, demonstrated the necessity of obtaining a more extensive knowledge of that country, which had been the theatre of most of the events related in Holy Scripture; and he brought it so far, through the interference of the Danish Ministers Counts Bernstorr and Moutrke at Copenhagen, that an expedition was made into Arabia, which will always be recorded in the history of Freperickx V. King of Denmark, as a striking and honourable testimony of his liberality and zeal in the promotion of the sciences. Five persons were chosen for this purpose, viz. Counsellor Nresunr, ‘professor Forskat, professor Von Haven, professor Cramer, M. D. and BaurNnreinp, the painter. The former had been proposed by Counsellor Kzstner, and the two latter by Micua.is. Forskat was a native of Sweden, a pupil of Linnaus, and well versed in the Eastern languages, which he had studied under Micu ax1s at Goettingen. He was soon after appointed professor at Copenhagen, and heard the le€tures of Linn aus upon natural history at Upsal. The voyage was commenced in 1761; Arabia Felix proved as unfortunate to these naturalists as it had once proved to HasseLrguistT. ForsxKat sent a letter, with some dispatches to Count Bernstorr, onthe gth of June, 1763, in which he gave him a precise account of the Arabian balsam of Mecca. These were the last dispatches which he ever sent to Den- mark. One month after, on the 11th of July 1763, he departed this life, in the 31st year of his hopeful age. The fate of his companions was equally fatal. Death snatched them all away in Arabia, except M. Niesuure, who afterwards published an account of this memorable
voyage. The observations of Forsxax were not lost. His surviving Aa friend
178 TRAVELLING PUPILS OF LINN ZUS.
friend published them * at Copenhagen, and the interesting contents of his last letter were communicated to Linnaust, who called a plant after his name—Forskahlea Tenacissima t.
Thus three of his young pupils found an early grave in Asia. The ashes of a fourth were destined for another part of the world. However flattering the choice of ForsKat to a& as a naturalist in the Danish voyage to Arabia must have been, yet the sele€lion of another pupil of Linnzus proved equally honourable to our luminary. Appli- cation was made to him from the west of Europe, from Madrid, for an
able botanist. He chose for this purpose a young Swede of the
name of Perer LorriinG, who went to Spain in 1751, where he
* Flora Aigyptiaco-Arabica, Have. 1775, 4to.—PrTR1 ForsKat Descriptiones Ani- maliam, Avium, Amphibiorum, Piscium, Inseétorum, Verminm, que in Itinere Orientali observavit ; Hava. 1776.—All published by Counsellor J. A NirBuHR.—Symbol» Botanicz,’ seu Plantarum, tam earum quas itinere, imprimis Orientali collegit Pet. FoRsKAL, quam. aliarum recentius detectarum exactiores descriptiones, auctore M. WauL, profess. &c, Hav2z. 1790, fol. cum 25 tab. an. pars, I.
+ See Opobalsamum Declaraium., Upsal, 1764. Inthe Amaenitat. Academ. vol. vil.
t Counsellor NizeBuHR sent LINN#Us a copy of FoRsKAL’s work as soon as it was: printed. Apprehensions had been entertained in Sweden lest his observations. should be lost in Denmark. ‘The royal academy of sciences of Stockholm received M, NIEBUHR as one of its members, out of gratitude for the pains he had taken to preserve the name and celebrity of the unfortunate ForskaL. Linneus himself, who was quite overjoyed at the publication of the observations of his late pupil, sent him a letter of thanks for the copy he had presented’ him with. M. Nizguure, ina letter to the author of the present work, expresses himself. thus: ‘© That ForsKaL was a worthy and excellent pupil of Lrnnaus, whose name he ‘Ss never mentioned without reverence, is a fa&t which needs no repetition. It is sufficiently «« proved by his labours and observations. I doubt not but it will entitle him yet to the praise *©of posterity. And this was my wish when I endeavoured to preserve his memory in the $s literary world.”—-LinnZ vs might certainly have chosen a better plant than the Forskalhea senacissima to perpetuate the memory of his pupil. ‘That it contains an allusion to the cha-. racter of the deceased, the Swedes themselves do not deny. Great men have great whims, and Linn.£vs had his, especially in the denomination of plants,
2 acquired.
es
TRAVELLING PUPILS OF LINN AUS. i79g
acquired great merit in his piotanort of botanist to the King, and in advancing natural knowledge. The Spanish government wished to profit still farther by his talents. In 1755 he was sent to South Ameri- ca, to travel through the different Spanish settlements and possessions, and. to explore their natural produce; but scarce had he been a twelve- month in that southern region ere he fell a viétim to its climate. He died February 11th, 1756, in the flower of youth, aged twenty-seven years, and crowned with merit. Linnaus was singularly affe&ted at the loss of him. Among all his travelling disciples he was one of the most zealous and most learned botanists, and none had a finer oppor- tunity to enrich his science *. He left to his great teacher at Upsal the the melancholy pleasure of publishing his voyage, and dedicating to his memory a plant which he denominated Loeflingia t.
“Linnaus did not live to hear of the tragical exit of another of his pupils, who, like Lorrrine, revered him as his promoter. This was J. P. Fatx. He was born in West Gothland in 1730, and ‘came to Upsal in 1751, to study natural history. His diligence and poverty were equally great. He wasas much distressed as L1NN&Uus once had been. The latter did for Farx what Cetstus and Rupsecx had formerly done for himself. He took him into his house and made -him tutor to his son, afterwards professor Linnaus. In the year 1759 he made a tour to Gothland. The good fortune of Forsxax induced him two years after to go to Copenhagen, in hopes of being chosen a member of
the society of the Arabian travellers. His hopes were, however, frus-
* Nullus erat facile huic anteferendus, vel amore plantarum vel sola eruditione botanica, nullique similis occasio concessa fuit. Amaenitat. Acad. vol. Vi.
+ Perri Logriines Iter Hispanicum. Stock. 1748, octavo.
Aa 2 trated,
180 TRAVELLING PUPILS OF LINNUS.
trated, and he returned to Upsal, where he published in the year 1762 his Planta Alstroemeria. In the following year the horizon of his fate became somewhat more serene. Through the recommendation of Lin- nus he was called to Petersburgh, to be inspector of the cabinet of natural curiosities belonging to M. Kruszg, first physician to the Em- press of Russia, and counsellor of state. He suffered shipwrek at Narva, and lost the best part of his effe€ts. In 1765 he was made pro- fessor of the medical college and inspeétor of the botanical garden. His unbounded passion for study had a very sinister influence upon his health. He became subjeét to obstruétions in the abdomen, and consequently to extreme fits of melancholy. He shot himself on his last travels through the Russian empire, at Casan in Tartary, in the night of the goth of March 1774. Thus despair terminated the life of a man who had been too great a slave to science ever to enjoy happi- ness and social hilarity *.
To the above ill-fated persons may be added the celebrated J. J. ByorerNnsTAuL. He certainly made the Belles Lettres his chief study, yet at the same time he had frequented the Linn aan le€tures upon na- tural history. After twelve years peregrination he ended his career on the 12th of July 1779, inthe forty-ninth year of his age, at Solonzchz in Macedonia. The patriotism of his countrymen honoured his memory by medals, and his tomb with a marble monument.
These were the six pupils of Linnzus, the six ambassadors of FLoraA, who were stopped in their mission by premature death. We
shall now speak of those whose destinies proved more auspicious,
* See J. P. Fatx’s Supplements to the Topographical Knowledge of the Russian Empire. Narrative of his Travels from 1768 to 1773. St. Petersburgh, 1786, oftavo, in German.
2 Besides
TRAVELLING PUPILS OF LINN £US, 181
Besides Lorrxinc, two other pupilsof Linn 2us made a voyage to America. The principal among these was Perer Kau. A patriotic thought of Linnzus occasioned his voyage*. He well knew that a species of mulberry tree (morus rubra) grew wild in North America, and rose to afine height in the open distri€ts of Canada. ‘The situation and climate of that country are much analagous to that of Sweden. The importation of raw silk in this latter kingdom was reckoned at twenty-thousand. Swedish pounds, which consequently drew out of the national coffer the sum 250,000 dollars per annum‘t. Luiwn- -N#us proposed to the royal academy of Stockholm a voyage to Canada, to learn, among other things, whether or not the American: mulberry trees and the silk-worms which feed on them could be trans- planted in Sweden with advantage. Patriotism soon executed this pro- posal. The royal academy of sciences, the universities of Upsal and Abo, the magistrates of Stockholm, and the commercial college of the states contributed liberally to defray the expences. Linnaus chose Kam, who was then a student, and had already made himself known: by his observations on domestic natural history, to undertake this voyage. He setout in Oétober 1747, and passed from England to North America, where he remained three years. In 1751 he returned in good health to his country, where he published an account of his
voyage +, and took upon him the fun@ions of professor of natural
* See the Introduction to the Treatise upon the Phalena Bombyx, in the Amenitat. Acad.
+ From an account of the Economical Journal published at Stockholm in the year 1790, it appears that the importation of foreign silk amounts at present to thirty-two thousand pounds per annum, of course to the annual sum of 350,000 dollars, Swedish currency. However in consequence of the late severe edict issued by the Regent this trade is now quite at a stand.
t Kaum’s voyage to North America, vol. ili, translated into English by Forster. Londs 17710 history
182 TRAVELLING PUPILS OF LINN US.
history at the university of Abo, in Finland, which charge Linnaus had previously obtained for him, and where he terminated his literary career in the year 1790. The mulberry-tree of Canada was by him in-
troduced into Sweden, and cultivated in several gardens ; the Swedish
government set a prize upon its cultivation in 1757, but the silk manu-
factures of that country never rose to a flourishing state.
Some time after Kawtm’s return, Dr. Rotanper, one of his col- leagues, who had also been tutor to Linn aus, junior, made a voyage to Surinam and to the island of St. Eustatius in 1755; but his voyage was of no great utility, and he was one of those pupils with whose con- du& Linnaus was most dissatisfied.
The melancholy fateof Ternstroem, Hassetquisrand ForsKkALy who were cut off in the flower of youth in Asza, could by no means deter their countrymen. In 1750 OLtor Toren made a voyage to the coast of Malabar and Surat, and some time after, PereR OsBECK, as chaplain of a Swedish East-Indiaman, sailed to China. Both returned safely with their treasures to Sweden, and published their observations*. The captain of the ship himself became conspicuous for his love of natural history and the zeal with which he served Linnaus. His name was Ecxeperct. Ini765 A. Sparrmann made likewise a voyage with him to China; he returned three years after, and from the year. 1772 till 1776 made a voyage round the world with Capt. Coox and. ForstTer—also to the Cage of Good Hope, and into the interior parts of
the South of Africa, by which his name became so celebratedt. Much
* P, OsBeex’s Journal of a voyage to the East-Indies, translated by FORSTER. + ECKEBERG’s voyage to the East-Indies, and Toren’s tour to Surate, Stockholm, 1760.
+ SGARRMANN’s voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, Stockholm 1783, 8vo. Swedish.
about
TRAVELLING PUPILS OF LINN ZUS: 183
about the same time a voyage was made to this. latter country and the South-Eastern part of Asza, by one of the most distinguished pupils of the Linn £an school, then a physician in the service of the Dutch East-India Company. This was Do€tor Cuaries Perer THUNBERG, that celebrated naturalist and worthy successor of his great teacher at Upsal, and of his friend Linnazus junior. He has been created a knight of the order of Vasa, since the year 1785 *.
Thus the spirit of Linn aus diffused itself from the North through all the zones of the earth, thus his name was spread by his disciples over most parts of the world, even in the Southern Indies. Some of his pupils were among the first who entered and explored the new discovered countries. One of them was Sparrmann—and before him Dr. So- LANDER, who, after Linn aus, travelled through the Alps of Lapland, and accompanied, with Sir JoszerH Banxs, the great and immortal Captain Coox in his voyage of discovery. He remained at London, where he held an office in the British Museum till his death, which happened in the year 1782 T.
+C. P. Thungere, M.D. F. R. S.—Travels in Europe, Africa, and Asia, especially in Japan during the years 1770 to 1779, are translated into English, in 3 vols. o€tavo. The Chevalier CHARLES THUNBERG commenced his travels, which lasted nine years, in August 1770, through Norway and Denmark, reached France in November, remained almost a twelvemonth at Paris, went from thence to Holland, embarked there for the Cape of Good Hope, and. travelled three years through the interior parts of Africa; in 1775 he went to Batavia and Japan, and after a rssidence of sixteen months returned to the Island of Fava, explored its interior parts during six months, went to Ceylon, where he also remained six months, and returned afterwards to his country by the Cape of Good Hope, through Eng- land, Holland and Germany. His travels are the most interesting ever made by a native of Sweden. See the letter which Linn ©us wrote to him in the Colledtio Epistolarum C. A. Linne, Hamb. 1792.
+ See an account of the life and writings of Dr. SoranpeR, by Sir Josrerp# Banxs— also his Biography in the German literary journals of Halle, by Prof. G. Forster.—A medal was struck at Gothenburg in Sweden, by Baron ALSTROEMER representing the flower Solandra, with this inscription: JosrpHO Banks Effgiem Merito D. D. D, Cl, et Jo.
In
ALSTROEMER.
184 TRAVELLING PUPILS OF LINN AUS.
In all those parts of the world, whence the Muses are not entirely banished, Lrnnaus became the modern teacher of natural history. His system was equally as well received at Batavia * and Calcutta, as at New York and Philadelphia. The friends of nature of all nations and all religions, did homage to his system. His name and his doc- trine became even known among the Mahometans. ByJorRNsSTAHL un- expeétedly experienced the truth of this assertion. While he was at Tharapia in Turkeyt he saw a Greek in a field, who was walking about with a book in his hands. He accosted him, and found with
astonishment that the book which he held, was no other than the Lin-
NHZAN System of Nature, the edition printed at Halle in 17612
The Greek whose name was Demetrios, informed him, that he had formerly been first physician to the Pacha of Egypt; that five European learned men had-been presented to him, among whom there was a bo- tanist,; with whom he had made several botanical excursions in the en- virons of Cazro, where they remained six months ; that this same bo- tanist had inspired him with the love of plants, made known to him the great man in Europe, (meaning Linn £vs) and had shown him the way to colle&t and preserve. plants. —The botanist whom Demetrios alluded to was the ill-fated Forskat.
Not only the remotest quarters of the globe, but also many of the European states became the objeéts of the travels of the disciples of Linnaeus. In1i752 Martin Korner made a tour through into Italy; in 1760 AusTRoEMER visited the same country, France and
* At Batavia an extract of his system was printed with its technology in the Malay language.
+ See J. J. BJOERNSTAHL’s Letters, vol. iv. Rostock 1781.
Spain ;
TRAVELLING PUPILS OF LINN US. 185
Spain; in 1758, ANTuony Rotanpson Martin * explored Spirz- BERGEN; Uno Von Troit, now Archbishop of Upsal, made a tour to Ireland in1772; Rotumann to France, Africa, &c. Fasricius to Norway, England and France; Giresexe to Great Britain and France; Enruart through the territories of Brunswick, Hanover, &c. Ferser through /taly and Hungary; besides many whose names would form too long a list to admit of being inserted here.
The natural history of Sweden, however much Linn«us himself had already done for its progress, was remarkably more advanced and enriched by the travels and observations of his pupils. Dr. Soranver travelled through Pithea Lapland; Monrin in 1759 to Lulea Lapland; Favx and Dr. Bercius in 1752 to Gothland; Katm to West Gothland, &c. é&c.
Among his foreign pupils there were several Germans whose merits he had most reason to boast. Among them we reckon the following, _ according to the chronological order in which they studied at Upsal:
1. Counsellor Scureser at Erlangen, frequented the leftures of Linnaus about the years 1759 and 17603; and besides Nicuo.as Lawrence Burmann, the present professor of botany and physic at Amsterdam, was the only foreigner who ever lived in the house of Lin- na&us. The latter gave him this chara€ter: He was as penetrating as any of the pupils I ever had under me.
2. Professor Fasricius at Kiel, studied at Upsal 1762 till 1764, with the late Danish counsellor of state Zozca, who died in the year
1788, Linnzus said of them: If Faxpricius comes to me with an
* He died at Upsal as professor of anatomy, Sept 10, 1485.
Bb Insel
186 TFRAVELLING PUPILS OF LINNAUS.
anseé, or Zorca with a moss, I pull off my hat, and say—Be you my teachers *!
3. Professor P. D. Gizsexe at Hamburgh, frequented the Linn 24N leCtures in 1771, having taken his degree of Doétor at Goettingen in 1768. ‘ How much I loved and esteemed GieseKny,” said Linn aus afterwards to another of his German pupils, “ he himself cannot but “ have known. I made him acquainted with the higher curiosities of natures “ and took no small pains in giving him leétures on the natural orders of 8 plants tT.”
4. F. Exruart, botanist at Herrenhausen, near Hanover, was one of the most confidential and most persevering pupils of Linn aus, at whose le€tures he assisted between three and four years, viz. from the goth of April 1773, to the 28th of April 1776, and the only native of Switzer- land who perhaps ever studied at Upsal. For several years back that republic has been famous for being the native country of botanists and! naturalists. Linnaus had acquired some of his knowledge from their produétions. How great therefore must have been his joy to see the penetration of his genius and the fame of his science transmitted to pos- terity by a native of that country.
Among the Swedish pupils of Linna#us who settled in Germany, was the celebrated mineralogist, J. J. Ferser, professor at Mitau, and
afterwards counsellor of the mines of the King of Prussia, He was
* Si Dominus FaBRIcius venit cum aliquo inseéto, et Dominus ZOEGA cum aliquo musco, tunc ego pileum detraho et dico; estote do€tores mei!—These are Linn 2Uss’s own words, copied verbatim.
+ Quantopere Dom. GIESEKE amaverim—et zstimaverium, ipsum fugere non potuit. Al- tiora ei tradidi, nec. parum laboravi, quam pralegerem ipse ordines naturales plantarum.
born.
TRAVELLING PUPILS OF LINN £US. 184
born at Carlscrona, August 29th, 1742, and died at Bern, in 1791 *.— Farther, the aulic counsellor and Chevalier Murray at Goettingen, who was born at Stockholm June 27, 1740, and died May 22, 1791 t.
To the eminent German disciples of Linn 2us may be added M. Mever at Stettin, and Dottors LeprpentTin and J. Grunov of Ham burgh. The latter died in 1783.
These. pupils esteemed and revered their master, who, in return, testi- fied gratitude to their love and friendship to their merits. He conferred upon them the greatest honour he could confer, by perpetuating their names in the vegetable reign. He thus glorified, for instance, his Ger- man pupils and friends, by the Schrebera, Giesekia, Ehrharta, Murraya, Facquinia, Scopolia, Ludwigia, Gleditschia, Munchausia, Mochringiay Trewia, &c. &c.—His Swedish disciples and friends by the Torenia, Osbeckia, Solandra. Kalmia, Alstroemeria, Lagerstroemia, Browallia, Celsia, Rudbeckia, Moraea, Bechia, &c.—His friends and the meritorious botanists of Switzerland, by the Halleria, Gesneria, Scheuchzeria :—His friends in Great Britain, by the Sloanea, Sherardia, Dillenia, Collinsoniay Milleria, Lawsonia, Ehretia, Ellisia, Hopea, Hillia, Sibihorpia, &c.— His Spanish pupils and friends, by the Queria, Minuartia, Valetia, Orte- gia, Salvadora, Ovieda, Monarda, Barnadesia, Mutisia, Hernandia, Lee mena, &C.—His friends in France, by the Sauvagesia, Fussied, Reau-
muria, Valantia, Dodartia Barreria, Isnardia, Guettarda, Gouania, Mag-
* See FORMEY’s panegyric on FERBER, read inthe Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin, Feb. 3, 1791. German.
t Eulogium Jo. ANDR. Murray, in consessu, reg. scient. societ. recitatum die iv. Jan. 3791. AC. G. HEYNE, Goettingae, 1791. Twelve pages in quarto,
B 2 . nolidy
188 TRAVELLING PUPILS OF LINNAUS.
nolta, &c.—His Dutch friends by the Gronovia, Royena, Cliffortia,
Boerhaavia, Swietenia, Burmannia, Gorteria, &c.* .
Thus the majestic prerogative which Linnaus was possessed of,-
to confer titles in the vegetable reign, became an excellent means for
him to honour merit and to demonstrate his friendship. But the use he
made of this prerogative did not escape wie eye of critical censure;
and Haier morosely complains of it in the following expressions :
oe T4 66 66 & 66 66 G6 6 66 66
nr
66
“© We find it very natural to assign to the genera of plants the names of celebrated men, and so far they ought not to be altered. But, as these names are the reward of labours generally unrewarded by the world, and an encouragement to devote oneself to such labours; and as no prince or minister is particularly honoured by having his name assigned to some herb or plant, we would reserve all those garlands. for those alone who. are real and experienced botanists. Nor would we ever assign such a denomination to the mere hopes conceived of men who have not passed the ordeal of merit; nay, we would by no means advance with a title, those whom experience may afterwards prove to be unworthy of such distin&tion. Above all, personal ser- vices, receptions into learned societies, presents, and casualties of this kind, ought by no means to be acknowledged with an honour
which conifers immortality, and is congenial alone to merit!”
* Alist of plants thus denominated is to be found in G. R. BOEHMERI Dissertatio. de
Plantis, in Cultorum Memoriam nominatis. Witemberga@, 1770, quarto,
SECTION
[ 189 ]
SECTION IxX..
REMARKABLE EVENTS OF THE LIFE OF LINNAEUS.
LINNZUS DESCRIBES THE NATURAL CABINET OF COUNT TESSIN. —ULRICA LOUISA, QUEEN OF SWEDEN.—HER EXTRAORDINARY LOVE OF NATURE— ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROYAL CABINETS OF NATURAL HISTORY AT UL- RICHDALE AND DROTTNINGHOLM.—LINNAUS ARRANGES AND DESCRIBES THEM.—IS ATTACKED WITH THE GOUT.—CURES THIS DISORDER WITH STRAW- BERRIES.—HIS OBSERVATIONS ON THE TANIA—LINNAZUS DISCOVERS THE ART OF MAKING PEARLS.—BOTANICO-PHYSIOLOGICAL ELUCIDATIONS AND OBSERVATIONS RESPECTING THE SLEEP OF PLANTS,—ANECDOTE.—OTHER OB- SERVATIONS AND HYPOTHESES.—COLLECTION OF HIS ACCADEMICAL DISSER- TATIONS (AMGENITATES ACADEMICZ),—SOME ACCOUNT RESPECTING THEM.— THE NUMBER OF DISSERTATIONS OVER WHICH LINNAZUS PRESIDED.—HE PUB- LISHES HIS PHILOSOPHIA BOTANICA AND HIS SPECIES PLANTARUM.—ACCOUNT OF THESE WORKS.— INTRODUCTION OF TRIVIAL NAMES.— BOTANY IS FACI- LITATED.—THE MARGRAVINE CAROLINA LOUISA OF BADEN, A PECULIAR LOVER OF NATURE AND A PROTECTRIX OF LINNUS.—OTHER FRIENDS OF LINNAUS AMONG THE FAIR SEX IN ENGLAND, FRANCE AND AMERICA.— NATURAL CURIOSITIES SENT TO HIM FROM ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD.— FARTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDEN AT UPSAL,— DONATI,—ANECDOTES.—_LINNUS RECEIVES THE FIRST GREEN TEA-SHRUB FROM CHINA.—SLIGHTS THE OFFERS MADE TO HIM FROM MADRID AND PETERSBURGH.—IS THE FIRST OF THE SWEDISH LITERATI WHO IS CREATED KNIGHT OF THE POLAR STAR.—COUNT HOEPKEN’S PANEGYRIC ON LINNUS.— HE RECEIVES A PRIZE OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AT STOCKHOLM, AND ANOTHER OF THAT AT PETERSBURGH.
W § now return to those remarkable occurrences peculiarly inci. dent to the academical life of Linn aus, which, for the sake of a mote comprehensive view, we shall present in a period of ten years, namely, from 1750 to 1760, His disciples became the priests and
teachers
190 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
teachers of nature in all parts of the world, through him the love of her productions animated the great, and penetrated even to the throne of his country. Count Trss1n, his elevated patron, loved him and his science, especially the knowledge of the mineral reign. He had col- le€ted a considerable cabinet of minerals the description and arrange- ‘ ment of which he left to the care of Linnaus. This description ap- peared in 1753 in Latin and Swedish*, and to the honour of the author, Count Tessin prefixed himself a preface to the work, dedi- cated it to Lrnnzus, and caused a copper-plate to be put in front of it, representing the medal which he ordered tobe struck in honour of our luminary.
Under Linn aus the first royal museums were established in Sweden. We have already mentioned the present which King Frepericx Apvo.puus made to the academy of Upsal, while he was prince royal. The love of nature was one of the favourite passions of that prince. In a short time a great number of curiosities of the animal reign, especially foreign birds, amphibies, fishes, and inse€ts were col- le&ed, and a cabinet built in the castle at Ulrichsdale, at the distance of half a league from Stockholm. Linnaus had the honour to arrange it, and to publish a description of its contents in the year 17547.
The laudable example of this prince was followed by his excellent and accomplished Queen Louisa Uxrica, sister to Frepzricx the Great. She was, in general, the enthroned Minerva of the Swe- dish Sciences. + She also inspired the late king with the love of nature.
* Museum Tessinianum, Holm. 1453, folio. + Museum Regis Adolphi Frederici, Holm. 1754, fol. 135, tab. 33- j Dottor Rosen in a letter to HALLER, written in 1752, thus expresses himself: * Regina * nostra clementissima, mirabili fagrat amore Historie Naturalis, et ex Hollandia imprimis: *¢ multum in eo studio apparatum sibi coemit.” Sh €
OF THE LIFE OF LINNAUS. igi
She had a cabinet of shells, inse€ts and coral collef&ed at her own expence in her palace at Drottningholm, the slow increase of which rendered its treasures the more valuable. The oriental colleGtions of the unfortunate HasseLquisT were preserved in the same place. Lin- nus also described this museum*, but not without taking the greatest pains. There was no curiosity in the kingdom which was not shown him, and he resembled Aristotie before whom ALEXANDER the Great ordered a great number of curious animals to be brought, that he might describe them ; but still greater than ArnisToT tz in this science, Linn aus profited better by the opportunity afforded him.
The two royal palaces of Ulrichsdale and Drottningholm still contain to this day the monuments of his labours and arrangements. The late King Gusravus III. left those treasures of nature, which will ever shine as an ornament in those edifices, in the same order as LInNaus had described them according to his own system.
Linn aus chose the academical recess as the time for arranging the royal cabinets. There are two vacations every year at the University of Upsal, the summer vacation lasts three months, and the winter va- cation six weeks. On those days of leisure, he used to go to Ulriche dale and Drottningholm, situate at the distance of about eight Swedish miles from Upsal. But some fell disorder threatened to prevent Lin- waus from repairing thither, had not he fortunately discovered an efficacious remedy against it. In the summer of 1750, he was attacked with the gout. His fits were so violent as to deprive him of sleep for seven days and seven nights, nor could he ever keep his feet quiet for
an hour together, The gouty matter circulated from one foot into the
* Museum Ludovice Ulrice Regine, Holm, 1764. | other,
192 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
other, and thus gradually spread its poison in his hands and other limbs. Those who attended him began to despair of his recovery. All his appetite being gone, he one day took it into his head to refresh himself with strawberries ; he ate them, fell asleep, desired more of that fruit to be given him, and two days after rose from his bed entirely restored to health and vigor. In the course of the following summer he was again troubled with a relapse. He came to the palace, with a pale and dis- torted countenance. The Queen Dowager asked him if he wanted any thing.—** A pottle of strawberries’—answered he. The strawberries were brought him ;—and the next day her Majesty saw him full of spirits and perfeétly recovered in her museum of natural curiosities. Three years afterwards Linnaus had again several fits of the gout, but they were much weaker than formerly, and he always conquered their virulence with strawberries. He ate them every summer; they purified his blood, rendered his complexion more florid, and banished the gout for ever from his frame.
Exclusive of this new cure: of the gout which casual experience had taught him, his penetrating genius found the way to many other dis- coveries. He first observed in. the year 1748, that the worm Tenia belonged to the compound creatures, or to the animal: plants ; that each of its limbs nad a mouth and an anus. ‘ I have examined the “ Tenia,” writes he in a letter to Havrer, dated September: 195 1748*, “ and found fourteen of them alive and completely joined to each
* Teniam examinavi et reperi quatuordecim vivas integras; quesivi caput, quod omnes medici in lumbrico lato quesiverunt, sed frustra; falsissimum est caput, quod Tulpius habet in observationibus. Et frustra queritur caput, nam caput est in singulo articulo, et os in” singulo articulo; in una specie subtus, in altera'ad latus. Nullus mortalium potuerit intel- ligere hunc vermem, qui non intellexerit polyporum naturam, de quibus recentiores tam multa. Habet Yenia naturam polyporum et propagatur secedentibus articulis, dum quilibet articulus vivit et accrecit in perfectum corpus. Epist. ad HALLER, Vol. ii. p. 411.
4 “© others
OF THE LIFE OF LINNAUS. 193
other. Invain did I, like other physicians, look for its head; for * the head and mouth are in each limb or division, in some down- *« wards, and in others side-ways. No mortal will be able to know this *¢ worm, unless he is acquainted with the nature of the Polyz, upon «© which so much has hitherto been written. The Tenia resembles “them. It is propagated by the dying limbs ; and every limb is. ani- «¢ mated, and grows again to be a complete body.”
'- As important as this discovery became to the medical world, as ad- vantageous proved to Linnaus a second one, which he made in the same year. He found out the art of making pearls. “I am at last ** acquainted,” says he in the same letter to Hatier*, ® with the man- “ner in which pearls are generated in their shells. I can now bring “it about, that each pearl-shell, (the Mya Margaritifera so abun- «¢ dantly found in the North Sea), which can be encompassed in one’s “ hand, will, after a lapse of between five and six years, produce a «© pearl of the size of a pea."—He kept this secret to himself for a long time. ‘In the diet of 1762, it became a subjef of public discussion, and the states of Sweden, induced him, by the offer of a considerable reward to communicate it to one of their representatives, a merchant and direétor of the Swedish East India Company at Gothenburgh. It does not however appear, that any ‘considerable benefit'was ever de- rived from this discovery. Do&or J. E. Smitu of London, the pre- sent proprietor of the Linn an colle€tions, is also in possession of the
manuscript which Linn aus wrote upon the generation of pearls. This
* Tandem.intellexi, qua ratione Margarite nascantur et generentur in Conchis; et potero jam efficere, ut quzlibet concha margaritifera, quam licet in manu tenere, post quinque vél six annos ferat margaritam magnitudine seminis e vicia vulgari. ibid.
C curious
194 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
curious work is written in the Swedish language; and from its high yalue, it may probably never appear in public.
The vegetable reign remained the favourite branch of thestudies of Linnaus. Propitious nature unravelled to his penetrating eye many secrets and latent operations of the empire of Flora., .His progress in the knowledge of the physiology and the properties of the plants ex- tended farther than that of any of his predecessors..
The similitude which the plants bore to animals, was partly the basis of his system, the truth of which it confirmed in many respeéts.. In 1754 he discovered that the plants are subje& to a regular sleep, and repose by night like the animals. A plant, (Lotus Ornithopodiordes), the seed of which had been sent him by professor De Sauvaces of Mont- pellier, occasioned this new observation.) It bore two flowers. He recommended the gardener to take the utmost care of them. Two days after Linn zus returned late in the evening to see how they were thriving. He looked, searched and could discover no flowers. .The next night he found them as invisible as before. \ The following morn- ing he came and the flowers appeared as usual, but the gardener thought they were fresh ones, as he had not been able to find any before, after so many unsuccessful searches. This circumstance engrossed the at- tention of Linnaus. He visited again the. fugitive flowers on the third evening ; they had again vanished, but he found them. at last, deeply wrapt up in and quite covered by some leaves. This only served to excite his curiosity more and more. In order to surprise nature in her wonders he perambulated the garden and the hot-house, in the dead of some night, with a lanthorn in his hand—and there saw that
| sey a the
OF THE LIFE OF LINNAUS. 195
the greatest part of the flowers were contratted and concealed, and found that the vegetable reign was almost entirely in a dormant state*.
The flower, as the most admirable and most curious part of the plants, had occupied him chiefly, and furnished him with the model of that new system, by which the vegetable reign obtained its male and female sexes, in the same manner as the animal reign. The truth of this system he corroborated successively by several irrefragable proofs and observations. He demonstrated, how the flower and fruit develope themselves as embryos, how there are even bastards among the plants, and how the mixture and bastard-species might be produced by putting the blossom-dust of one plant, upon the notch of fru€tification of another, in the same manner as we see the production of a mule by an ass and a mare in the animal reign. This is a palpable proof of the double sexes in the vegetable reign, which the French botanist Adanson would not in the least admitt. The obje€tions and, repre- sentations of M. Necxer at Manheim, against this discovery, are be- sides many others but too well known. According to the Linn &An method all the vegetable produ€tions are propagated by seeds. He extended the same mode of propagation to the mosses, but could not accomplish those enquiries which were to make him triumph over his _ opponents. At last Dr. Hepwic of Leipsic, the Ditienius of
Germany, decided the contest in favour of Linn aus *.
* Somnus Plantarum, 1755; Amcenitat. Academ. vol. iv. of which an English extra¢t by Dr. R. PULTENEY may be seen in the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1757, p. 315+
+ M. Linne ignore-til, qwil ya dans certaines plantes, comme dans Jes animaux, des familles entieres, ott il n’y a point de sexe distinct, ni’sensible, ot tous les individus se mul- tiplient sans aucune fecondation.
$ See Hepwie’s Fundamentum Historie Naturalis Muscorum: frondosorum, concernens eorum flores, seminalem propagationem, &c. Lips. 1782, 4to. also Lupwici. Epistola de
Sexu Muscorum detecto Lips. 1778. 4to. ec 2 One
196 REMARKABLE) OCCURRENCES
One of the most ingenious observations of Linnaus in: physical botany was his new theory of the origin of the blossoms. He con- sidered them as a sudden display, happening all at once, of the leaves and the gems of plants, (Prolepsis Plantarum), as the anticipation of a growth of five years. The lateral or side-leaves, spring, according to this theory, from those parts which would have produced the or- dinary leaves in the following year, the calyx from the leaves of the third, the petals from the leaves of the fourth, the stamina from the leaves of the! fifth, and the pistilla from the leaves of the sixth year. Thus this developement, according to the fabric of nature, would only be effe€ted after a lapse of six years, were it not accelerated by the covers of the marrow of the plants, which contain too little of the ali- mentary juice to be able to follow its extension, and to prevent the thriving of the flower or blossom.
To these may we add many other observations upon the distin& parts and properties of plants. Thus Linn aus, for instance, demonstrated, how accurately flowers perform the service of a time-piece, in which the hour of the day can be precisely ascertained; he composed a calendar for the period when the plants thrive their blossom, (Calen- darium Flore) and pointed out from this calendar in what manner the time best calculated for certain labours of rural ceconomy may be chosen, he presented the different sorts of the natural emigrations of plants, (Colonia Plantarum), é&c.
All these, and many other remarks and subjeéts which he left to the discussion of his pupils in the academical disputations, were colleéted and published by him under the title of Amoenitates Academica. ‘The first part of this colle€lion made its appearance in the year 1749, and
the
OF THE LIFE OF LINNAUS. 197
the seventh and last in 1769. Disputations were held under him till the year 1776.
The Aulic Counsellor Scuresper of Erlangen, one of the greatest of his pupils, who blended the fame of his master. with his own, arro- gated to himself the merit of collecting the scattered and unknown dis- sertations, treatises-and speeches of Linnaus, with the writings of his son. He published those valuable archives of natural history, and augmented the Amenitates Academice from seven to ten volumes. It may justly be maintained, that there never was a professor of the age under whom a series of disputations was held, more distinguished than the above for originality, genuine discoveries, and rich scientific con- tributions*, Inthe seven parts of the Linn ©an _ colle€ions, there are altogether 150 treatises, the number of which, with more modern additions, has been augmented to two hundred. Fourteen of them con- tain descriptions and lists of the flowers and plants of various coun- tries and distri€tst. ‘Thirty extend to certain genera and species of plants, and the remainder treat of the natural philosophy and history of botany, and a great number of them boast of medical, zoological, and lithological contents.
During his residence in Holland, Linn xus had already given a con- cise theory of systematic botany in the work entitled Fundamenta Bo- tanica, and completed afterwards several additional chapters in his aca
* Linnzus presided during the whole of his academical career at 186 disputations. WALLERIUS at 194, the Chevalier InR& at 453, and professor AKERMANN at 516.—Scee
J. H. Lipen’s Catologus disputationum, in Academiis et Gvymnasiis Suecie habitarum, quotquot huc usque reperiri potuerunt, Upsal, 1778.
+ Flora Anglica, Alpina, Palzestina, Monspeliensis, Danica, Capensis, Jamaicensis, Belgica, Ackervensis, (Count Tessins VILLA}, Rybujensis, (a village in Sudermania), Plante Surinamenses, Camtchatcenses, Africana, Herbarium Amboinense,
2 demica!
198 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
demical dissertations. In 1751 he published commentaries upon them, which were at the same time a comprehensive view and justification of his whole system. This work is intituled Phzlosophia Botanica. After a short review of the principal botanists and their systems, he explains in twelve se€tions the different parts of the plants, furnishes examples to fix the chara€ters of classes and orders, to discern the bastard species from the common species, to describe them accurately, and to arrange precisely their synonomy, é&c. &c. All this displays the production of the hand of an experienced master, whose genius appears to be equally inventive, well regulated, and methodical. At the end of this valuable work Linnaus gives advice to young botanists, and adds instruétions how to prepare herbals, to establish botanical gardens, and the best dis- positions to be adopted in excursions and philosophical tours. : This work remains a book of precepts for the botanical world, which be- comes indispensably necessary to all those who wish for a fundamental knowledge of that science. Rousseau, mentioning this produétion, says ‘¢ It is the most philosophical book I ever saw in my life*.—C'est le livre le plus philosophique, que j'ai vu de ma vie.
Two years after appeared a work, which together with his System of Nature, became the immortal monument of his diligence and ingenuity both for his own age and for posterity, and which had occupied him for along series of years. This was his Species Plantarum, published at
Stockholm in 1753, with his portrait, in o€tavo, containing 1,200 pages.
* Joun GESNER wrote on the 19th of June 1751, what follows:to HALLER from Zurich + «¢ Linn x philosophiam botanicam legi, plenam do¢trinz et experientiz botanic, cum mul- “* tis et novis et mutatis vocum determinationibus. Erant, quibus sibi multa vel nimia, aliis “ nimais pauca tribuere videbitur.”
It
OF THE LIFE OF LINN US. £99
It is an universal botanical repertory, a catalogue of all the plants till then known to Linneus in different parts of the world, containing 75300 species, without reckoning their variations. He dedicated this work to the King and Queen of Sweden, and was not himself insensi- ble of its value and merit. ‘ Never,” said he in the preface, have I “¢ retorted upon mine enemies the arrows which they let fly against me. s¢ I have quietly borne offences of the satyrs, and the ironies and attacks 6 of malice. They have at all times been the reward of the labours of 6 great men; but they cannot hurt a single hair of my head. Why should “© I not put up with these unworthies, when the greatest and most cele- * brated botanists, before whom they must bow down to the dust, have ss loaded me with praises. My age, my profession, my charagter, do not ‘6 permit me to combat my opponents. I will bestow the few years I have to live, upon making useful observations. Errors in natural history ss will admit of no defence, nor can the truth be concealed. I appeal, “ therefore, to the judgment of posterity.”
What Caspar Bauuin had attempted at Basil in the beginning of the last century by his pi€ture of the vegetable reign (Pinax); what Sue- RARD had so much and so vainly wished to be executed with his great botanical colleftions by Professor Dittenius, was now accomplished by one man in the best manner possible. This work of Linnaus contains. an universal representation of the most modern state of the vegetable rein ; and of the discoveries which had till then been made in it, and reached the knowledge of our great luminary. “ Posterity it- “¢ self,” says Dean Back, “ will once give its judgment, if it be neces- « sary to determine, if every thing published as new after the death of
2 66 LINN EUSs
200 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
6 Linnaus, shall be really new.” To be the more accurate, he mentioned only those plants which he had seen in herbals or gardens on his different tours in Sweden, Holland, England, and France, or which had been sent to him by his pupils. The rest he examined particularly, and as his work was wholly botanical, he forbore to add their sanative virtues, confining himself to mention their native countries, their syno- ‘nims, their purity, &c. He also gave their most faithful representation, their time of duration, and the epoch of their discovery. It has been urged as a reproach against Linnaus, his not having sufficiently pro- fited by the more recent observations of foreign authors; butit was easier to make this reproach than to prevent it. The work received many supplements in a second edition, and it can only be gradually en- riched by the botanical discoveries of posterity.
One of the chief excellencies of this work was also the reformation of the botanical technology, which Linx aus effe€ted by the energy of genius and expression. It consisted in the introdu€tion of the trzwal names, by which one or two adjeétives at farthest, distinguish a plant from all its other relative species. Where these adje€tives could not be applied, he gave the plants epithets borrowed from their inventors, or the place of their growth. In the margin of the long definitions of the distinftive marks of each species (charaéteres specifici), he added the modern trivial names. Professor Rivin at Leipzic, once conceived an idea of such areform*. But all the honour and merit resulting from it
belongs to Linn aus, and it was the more favourably received, in pro-
* See Rrvint’s Introductio Generalis in Rem Herbariam. Leips. 1690 and 1720.
portion
REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES 201
| portion as men feel themselves inclined to prefer ease to difficulty and freedom to constraint *,
We will here exhibit an instance of the utility of those trivial names in a species of grass, which used to be called Gramen Xerampelinum, Miliaceay pratenuis ramosaque sparsa panicula, sive Xerampelino congeners arvense, aestivum; gramen minutissimo semine. Linnmus expressed clearly and distinétly the name of this grass by the two words—Poa dulbosa, and rendered its description more intelligible than could be done by the whole foregoing string of descriptive names.
“¢ Nothing could be more disgusting and more ridiculous,” says the philosopher of Geneva, “ if a woman, or any of those men who are so s¢ much like them, asked the name of some herb or garden flower, than “to throw up, by way of answer, a long train of latin words, which «¢ sounded like a conjuration of hobgoblins Tf.”
By this amelioration of language, by the easy and pleasant method introduced by Linn us, the study of botany was uncommonly pro-
moted and facilitated+. It got rid of the deterring appearances of an
* See J. A. Murray Progr. duo: Vindicie Nominum Trivialium, Stirpibus a Linnaxo impertitorum. Goerting. 1782, octavo.
+ Rien n’etoit plus maussade et plus ridicule, lorsqu’ une femme, ou quelqu’ un de ces hommes, qui leur ressemblent, demandoient le nom d’une herbe, ou d’une fleur de jardin, que la necessité de cracher en réponse, une longe tirade de mots Latins, qui ressembloient a des evocations magiques.—J. J. Rousseau’s Preface de I Edition de Botanique.
t~ Conpvorcet, in his Panegyric on LINNZUs, expresses himself thus: “¢ Linn us has
“* been reproached with having rendered too easy the nomenclature of botany, and occasioned " © thereby the appearance of a vast number‘of small works. This objection seems only to prove ‘* what progress botany has made under him. Nothing, perhaps, evinces better how far a «« science is advanced, than the facility of writing books of mediocrity on such ascience, and the «¢ difficulty of composing works which contain novelty of matter.’? See Eloge de M. Dr * Linne, inthe? Histocre de ? Academie Royale des Sciences. Paris 1781, 74 pages in quarto.
pd arduous
202 REMARKABLE OCCURENCES
arduous science, Its vestment became more appropriated to its beauty. Nature now gained friends among the ladies, and even on the throne. Besides the Queen of Sweden, there was afterwards at the head of these a young German Princess, who was the greatest female botanist ever known. This was Carotina Louisa of Baden, Princess of Hesse Darmstadt, whose early loss the sciences had to bewail in 1783, im the thirty-second year of her age. Her extraordinary love of the study of natural history, and her respeét for Lrnn aus are most authentically attested in the following letter, which the late Bjozrnstant, his coun- tryman, wrote during his residence at Carlsruhe in 1774:
«* J hear that you are spoken of every day at court. You are the 66 objet of the conversation of the reigning Prince and Princess. «© They are not only lovers of natural history, but so versed in “ that science as to excite astonishment. They can enumerate your s¢ whole system according to all its genera and species. They know «every tree, every plant in the hot-houses of this city, which are ‘full of foreign and domestic plants, colle€ted in all parts of the % world, and completely classed and arranged according to your me- “ thod. i ,
“ The Princess has an. excellent cabinet of natural history, but she s¢ has nothing from Sweden, except the polar star, which illumines her s¢ path through the whole range of nature, I mean the works and writings s of a celebrated Knight of that order. I wish toGop you oryour son « would come hither! Her Highness has charged me to invite you ‘‘ both.in her name. She promises. you a fine and commodious. resi- s¢ dence, and hangings as beautiful as those at Hammarby (the villa of
“¢ Linnaus). For I mentioned to her Highness what fine flowers “had
OF THE LIFE OF LINNZUS. 203
te had been sent to you from England, and that you had decorated your s¢ walls with them at Hammardy.”
«¢ Now to thé most important point! The Princess has lately began a ¢¢ work, and I am at a loss to guess whether it does greater honour to ‘s her scientific’zeal, or to your System of Nature. She causes all “© your Species Plantarum, together with the parts of fruétification of the «¢ plants, to be engraved in a most capital and most sumptuous style. «¢ Each plate costs four Louis d’ors, and represents one plant only, with sits pistilla and seminal vessels represented separately, and the number ‘“¢ of the plates will amount to10,000. M.GaurHer Dacort, an ex- «¢ cellent engraver, is very recently arrived here from Paris. The ‘ species of the Veronica are already finished, and executed beautifully; ‘¢ for the whole is done under the immediate inspe€tion of the Princess. «¢ She is not only a great botanist, but there are also but few who equal her «‘ inthe art of drawing. She examines every plate with the most scrupu- “¢ lous attention, and correéts the slightest blemish or fault. She after- s¢ wards paints the plants in the most lively colours. This work must, of ‘6 course, become the most correét and splendid which ever graced the *¢ annals of botany, and will fully answer its title of Icones Omnium 6 Specierum Plantarum C. Linn xt.
‘© The Princess intends likewise to beautify with similar engravings ‘¢ your system of the animal reign. A present has been made to her of ‘ the description of the two Royal Swedish Museums, given by you, *¢ bound in a sumptuous manner, bearing on the outside the King’s and ¢ the Queen’s name, and the arms of Sweden. Her Highness sends you s¢ one of the plates representing a Veronica by way of specimen. She
8 will be glad if it meets your approbation,” pda Besides
204 OF THE: LIFE OF LINNAUS.
Besides those two Princesses, who did honour to their rare talents and accomplishments, Linn £us had also friends and correspondents among the fair sex in several countries. Among those at Paris we reckon Madame pu Gace pe Pommeruit and Mademoiselle BassporT; at London Lady Ann Monson; at Oxford Mrs. BuackauRNE; and at New York, in America, he had a most enthusiastic admirer in Miss Cot- pEN. As flattering as the approbation of the fair must have been to him, as gallantly did he acknowledge it. He preserved their names in the vegetable reign, and denominated amongst others, two beautiful plants Monsonia and Coldenia.
The celebrity of his name and his connexions in all parts of the world, were as much calculated for the advancement of science in general, as they proved pleasant to him, and above all, advantageous to the royal botanical garden. ‘The latter became a northern paradise, which dis- played the treasures and curiosities of nature fromall quarters of the globe. No where could the student of botany find a more beautiful living re- pertory of science. ‘Fo send to Linnaus the seeds of rare or new plants, was both esteemed an honour anda pleasure. ‘Thus were plants transmitted to him, exclusive of those which he received of the above- mentioned persons, from Astrachm and Kamtschatka by M. Demiporr, one of his Russian pupils, who obtained them from the colle€tions of the two famous travellers, Srerrer and Lercue; from Siberia by GmeE- rin; from Egypt and Palestine by the ill-fated Hassrrquisr; from China by Lacrerstrorm, Ospecx and Toren; from the island of Fava by Bastorand Kreinuorr; from Tranquebar by Konic, one of his pupils; from the Cape of Good Hope, by his friend BurrMANnN at Amsterdam, and by the Dutch governor TuLtiBacs, and his pupils
1 THUNBERG
OF THE LIFE OF LINNAUS. 205
Tuunsere and SparrmMann; from Virginia by Gronov; from Pensyluania and Canada by Kam; from Famaica by Dottor Browne, in whose honour he called a plant Brownea and purchased his whole colleG&tion ; from Mexico by Murtis; from the other parts of South- America by Mirxier; from St. Eustatius by De Grer, for whom they had been colleéted by Rotanper; and even from the fifth part of the world, or the new discovered countries in the South Sea, by the celebrated Forstzers, who with the immortal Cooxe first landed in those regions.
The celebrity of his name was in this respeét of the utmost efficacy to Linn £us, and frequently caused him the most rapturous joy. Among others he received a great quantity of beautiful African seeds, through one of the most singular adventures. Donati, a young Italian na- turalist, travelled through Egypt and the Levant, at the expence of the King of Sardinia, at Alexandria he got acquainted with a hand- some young lady, the daughter of a Frenchman, and fell in love with her. The lady’s brother begged to be permitted to travel with him, Donati granted his request, that he might obtain the hand of his sister. But his intended brother-in-law made him his dupe, robbed him of all his money and natural curiosities, and fled to France. But not finding himself safe enough in that kingdom, on account of the vicinity of the Sardinian dominions, he embarked again for Constanti- nople. Often had he heard Donatr mention the name of the great Swedish naturalist;—he therefore sent Linnaus from Marseilles all the colleétions he had stolen; Donari suffered shipwreck, and died
July 11, 1763, in the thirty-first year of his age.
There
206 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
There was no country in Europe of which he he did not possess the most remarkable vegetable produ@tions. His Swedish herbal was com- pleter than that of any of his predecessors. His pupils Bercius and Monrin, and others already mentioned, augmented these treasures. The northern plants were seen flourishing by the side of those which grow in the hottest climates of the South. From Italy he received plants of Dr. Kazuver of Alstroemer, and Dr. Turra at Vicenza; from Venice of the Imperial Minister Ratuces and others; from Switzerland of Grsner; from France of Srcui1EerR at Peronne, and of De Sauvaces at Montpellier, who procured him likewise the herbal of the celebrated botanist Macno x; from Spain and Portugal of Lors- LeR and several Spanish botanists; from Iceland of Koxntc, his pupil; from Great Britain, Denmark, Holland and Germany, of the numerous friends and acquaintances he had in those respe€live countries.
Among the foreign rarities which he transplanted and cultivated in the North, a Chinese plant was the most remarkable, as it had never yet been seenin Europe. This was the tea-shrub*. Linnaus had endeavoured many years to get possession of it; and took pains to raise it from seeds : he also hoped to obtain it by professor Gmexin with the Russzan caravans from China, but in vain; Ossecx, some time after brought the tea-shrub with him as far as the Cape of Good Hope, where it was lost. The wish of Lrnn aus was however finally accom- plished by his friend Capt. Ecxkeserc. ‘This Swedish navigator, at his departure from China, had put tea-seeds in a flower-pot, -which throve so well during the voyage, that Linn 2us had the pleasure to
receive a green tea-shrub at Upsal on the third of OGober, 1763.
* Ameenitat. Academic. Dissertat. Potus Thee, A. P. C. Tillzus, 1765, vol. viii.
Besides
a io > —" ”
OF THE LIFE OF LINNAEUS. 207
Besides the beauties of the vegetable reign, there was also at this uni- versity a colleétion of curiosities of the animal reign, which were in- creased in process of time by a civet cat, a casuar from Ceylon, and many others.
In the possession of these treasures and other conveniences of life, LiINN#&uUs was now as happy as his wishes could make him. He ac- knowledged his fortunate situation in a public manner.—“ I thank «© Providence,” said he in a programma, in which he celebrated the anni- versary of the king’s birth-day in 1752, “ which has guided my destinies, ‘¢ that I now live, nay that I live happier than a king of Persza. I tell ¢¢ the truth, when I deem myself fortunate. You know fathers and fel- ¢ Jow-citizens of this academy, that I am wholly occupied with this aca- s¢ demical garden, that it is my Rhodus or rather my Elysium. There I *¢ possess-all the spoils of the East and the West which I wished for, ‘: and which, in my belief, are far more precious than the silken gar- ‘ments of the Babylonians and the porcelain vases of the Chinese. «“ There I receive and convey instru€tion. There I admire the wisdom 6 of the creator, which manifests itself in so many various modes, and «¢ demonstrate it to others*.”
The royal family of Sweden, whose favour he had particularly gained by personal acquaintance, and by arranging the royal cabinets of na- tural history, increased his happiness, and rewarded his merits in the
* Deo optimo gratiam habeo, qui sic fata mea dispersavit, ut hoc tempore vivam, idque ita, ut Rege Persarum beatior vivam. Verum narro, dum me beatum censeo. Nostis, patres civesque, quod in Horto Academico totus sim, quod hic mea Rhodus sit, aut potius hic meum Elysium. Teneo hic, que volo spolia Orientis Occidentisque, et nisi me fallo, id quod Babyloniorum vestibus, Sinensiumque vasis, longe est speciosius. Hic disco et doceo. Hine
summi opificis sapentiam ipse, aliis aliisque documentis se prodentem, admiror aliisque mone stro, Amenit. Academic. vol. x, Edit. Schreber. p. 300
2 worthiest
208 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
worthiest manner. He was called to the remote kingdom of Spain, an honour never before conferred upon any Protestant literatus, there to be botanist to his Catholic Majesty at Madrid, and the terms proposed to him were of the most advantageous kind. His Spanish Majesty would allow him an annual pension of 2000 piasters, the free exercise of his religion, and create him a nobleman. ‘This offer was made to him by the Duke de Grimaxop1, Prime Minister of Spain from the year 1773 till 1776.
The Duke’s letter with the answer of Linn 2us,—are both among the epistolar correspendence now in the possession of Dr. James Ep- WARD SMmitH, Of London. Linn avs considering what had been done for him at Upsal, considering the respe€t and favour which were shown him by the Swedish court, and on the part of his fellow-citizens, gene-
rously declined accepting this flattering and honourable offer. He
procured it to Doétor Lorrtine, one of his pupils, whom fate would.
not suffer to enjoy it long. Like the South-West of Europe, so did the residence of the vast empire of Russza wish to possess our lumi- nary. Proposals were made to him from St. Petersburgh, in conse- quence of which he was to have been professor of botany, and eleéted an ordinary member of the imperial academy of sciences, &c. But Linnaus had his reasons for slighting all these invitations, because his country truly valued and rewarded his merits. ;
He was raised to a distinétion, which had never before fallen to the share of any Swedish man of letters. King Frepericx 1. founded in 1748 the order of the Porar Srar for men of merit in the civil line, and Frepericx Apotpuus his successor, granted it on the 27th of April
1753, first to Linn £us, in preference to all other Jearned men. The
offer
OF THE LIFE OF LINNZUS. 20g
oer made to him from Madrid, was soon after realized at Stockholm. On the 4th of April, 1757, he received a diploma, which raised him to the rank of the hereditary nobility of the kingdom, and he forthwith called himself De Linnaus. Thus, from the humble condition of the son of a village preacher, he rose as high in rank and dignity, as the em- pire of the muses could possibly exalt him*.
When the new observatory was consecrated at Stockholm, the Aulic Councellor Baron Hoepken, expressed himself in a speech, which he made before the King on the 2goth of September 1753, in the Aca- demy of Sciences, in the following words:—“ Botany, during the longest period of its existence has been a fanciful and voluntary struc- sure of memory, till it received certain foundations and distin@ive charaéters of a man in Sweden, whose NAME I WOULD MENTION, WERE IT NOT KNOWN TO THE LEARNED WORLD, AND AS IMMOR- TAL AS THE SCIENCE ITSELF.
Linnus reaped many other honours and rewards of his knowledge and merit, exclusive of those which have already been enumerated. In 1754 he wrote a treatise on the cultivation of the Alps of Laplandt. He demonstrated, how that ridge of mountains, which laid in a waste and wild state, and contained hardly an hundred species of plants, could be turned to great advantage, by the introdu€tion of foreign trees and alpine plants, suitable to their climate and soil. He communicated this
treatise to the academy of sciences of Stockholm. Count Sparre had
“ In the letters patent of knighthood Linnzzus makes the 2044 families of inferior nobility then in Sweden.
+ De plantis, quae Alpium Suecicarum indigenz, magno rei occonomice et medicz eme- humento fieri possint ;—See transactions of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences of 17555 vol. v.
Ee left
210 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
left prizes by his will, to be distributed for the best treatises on the promotion of agriculture and of the different branches of rural ceco- nomy. No work could, in this respeét, be more patriotic or more important than that of Linn us. The first prize given since the making of this will was therefore adjudged to him, by the unanimous assent of the academy. It consisted of two gold medals, value twenty ducats, bear-.
ing the arms of Count Sparre, with this inscription:
SUPERSTES IN SCIENTIIS AMOR FREDERICI HEN- RICI SPARRE.——-THE SURVIVING LOVE OF THE SCIENCES OF FREDERICK HENRY SPARRE.
A still more distinguished honour, which was also a public triumph of his system, was afterwards conferred on Linn Zus in Russia. The Imperial Academy of Sciences at Petersburgh set a prize of one hun- dred ducats, in the year 1759, upon the best treatise, in which the truth of the sex of the plants should either be confirmed or refuted; by new arguments and experiments, exclusive of those already known, and by which a preliminary historico-phy sical description of all those parts of the plants which contribute any ways towards the fruétifica- tion and perfeétion of the the seeds should be communicated.—This problem interested too much the empire of the Linn 2an system for its author to remain a quiet speéiator. Versed in the subje& which
was to be decided, he wrote a treatise *, in which he proved the sex
* Sexum Plantarum (these were the expressions of the problem) argumentis et experi- mentis, preter adhuc jam cognita, vel corroborare vel impugnare, premissa expositione his- torica & physica omnium plante partium, quze aliquid ad fecundationem et perfectionem semi-= nis conferre tradantur.
Printed afterwards at Petersburgh in 1760, in one volume quarto, 42. pages. See Amernitat. Acad. edit. Schreber. vol. x.
of
OF THE LIFE OF LINNAUS. 211
of plants with new and most irrefragable arguments. The motto which he affixed to this treatise, conveyed all the energy of his mind; it was Famam Exiendere Fattis—‘** Toe spread fame by deeds.” The good cause was triumphant. The Imperial Academy, at their meeting on ‘the 6th of September, adjudged the prize to Linnus, and thus did homage to the truth of a system, which SizcrsBecx, one of its mem- — bers, had with equal acrimony and ignorance formerly endeavoured to destroy.
Ee 2 SECTION
ena me
o. URL Re
1 a y } eee al ee F é A ryttuy AS ye be ae ME he) ed Ges 3 tee gt LP eP | et s Or te Si BY Sk ec r : i ‘ tone athe ‘ i ( } y ae | yd fae ~ P Ais a . if \ \ . . “a : 3 , ® i : * , S z - : ’ p : tees . “i , k . 3 ’ ‘ na - oP ’ 3 eat
; Fd H * r : ; “ : f aie ak i ‘ mi , ; : ; (yt ; : x Re , me = 5 af : iy a # iG » : p
' x
Sree teat ad i,
seliaour lanbor
Pr isael
My . jh ee 4
if
ican £ 213 J
SEC FION: ..X.
REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES ATTENDING THE LIFE OF LINNAUS, FROM THE YEAR 1760 TO HIS DEATH. YANUARY THE TENTH, 1778:
MERITS OF LINN-EUS IN THE MEDICAL SCIENCE.—HIS VARIOUS MEDICAL WRIT- INGS.—ANECDOTES.—UNFAIR CRITICISM OF M. VICQ D’AZYR. — REFUTATION OF THAT CRITICISM.—APOLOGY OF ASSESSOR HEDIN.—MERITORIOUS EFFORTS OF LINNAUS IN. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE ANIMAL REIGN.—HIS CLAS- SIFICATION OF THE MINERAL REIGN.—HIS LAST LEARNED LABOURS.—LIN- N/ZUS WAS A MEMBER OF TWENTY ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES.—HIS WORKS SERVE AS THE ELEMENTARY BASIS OF NATURAL HISTORY, ESPECIALLY IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.—EXTRAORDINARY PRESENT MADE HIM BY LORD BALTIMORE.—OTHER PRESENTS,—HIS- GOOD CIRCUMSTANCES,.—HIS PENSION.— HONORARY BESTOWED ON HIM FOR HIS WORKS,—HIS RURAL ESTATES.— RESPECTFUL HOMAGE RENDERED TO HIM BY SEVERAL SOVEREIGNS AND MONARCHS,—VENERATION MANIFESTED BY THE FRENCH PHILOSOPHER, J. J.. ROUSSEAU FOR LINNAUS.—LINNAUS IS ELECTED A MEMBER OF THE SWEDISH BIBLE,_COMMISSION.—HIS EXTENSIVE CORRESPONDENCE,—PARTICULARS OF THE LATTER END OF THE LIFE OF LINN.ZUS.—HIS LAST PUBLIC ORATION. HIS ENTHUSIASTIC STUDY OF NATURE EVEN IN HIS OLD AGE.—BENEFICIAL AND DETRIMENTAL INFLUENCE OF THAT STUDY. UPON HIS HEALTH.—HIS LETTER TO-MR. PENNANT.—HE SUFFERS AN APOPLECTIC STROKE.—ANECDOTE. DECAY OF HIS MENTAL FACULTIES.—HIS MISERABLE CONDITION.—OTEER ANECDOTES.—DEATH OF LINNA&US—~HONOURALE TRIBUTE PAID TO HIS ME- MORY.—GUSTAVUS UI. LATE KING OF SWEDEN, PUBLICLY LAMENTS: HIS LOSS, AND ORDERS A MEDAL TO BE STRUCK IN REMEMBRANCE OF HIM.—GUSTAVUS IH. IMMORTALIZES THE HONOUR OF LINN:ZUS’S NAME IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY. AT. UPSAL—MONUMENT ERECTED TO LINNAUS.—PRIZES OFFERED FOR A~PANEGYRIC UPON LINN.£ZUS.—QUEEN ULRICA LOUISA OF SWEDEN. — ANECDOTES. — HONOURS PAID TO THE: MEMORY OF LINN-EUS IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES.—LINNAN SOCIETIES OF LONDON AND LEIPSIC.— PORTRAITS OF LINNAUS.—LEARNED INHERITANCE LEFT BEHIND HIM—COM3S IN THE POSSESSION OF JAMES EDWARD SMITH, M.D. OF LONDON.—CIRCUM- STANCES ATTENDING THE SALE OF’ THOSE TREASURES OF SCIENCE.—ANEC--
DOTES,—
214 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
DOTES.—THE FAMILY OF LINNAUS.—LITERARY EMINENCE OF ONE OF HIS DAUGHTERS.—HIS PECULIAR PREDILECTION FOR HIS YOUNGEST DAUGHTER.— HER BIRTH.—ANECDOTE.—EXTERNAL APPEARANCE OF LINN£&US.—HIS KNOW- LEDGE OF LANGUAGES.—HIS LATIN.—ANECDOTES.—THE CHARACTER OF LIN- NAUS.—HIS HABITS AND USAGES.,—HIS ZEAL IN NATURAL PURSUITS.—HIS PAR- SIMONY.—HIS BENEFICENT AND GENEROUS CONDUCT TOWARDS HIS PUPILS.— ANECDOTES,—HIS LOVE OF FAME,—HIS COAT OF ARMS.—HIS RELIGIOUSNESS. STRICTURES RESPECTING LINNAUS BY THE CHEVALIER MURRAY.—LINNAZAN ANECDOTES BY FABRICIUS.
WE have thus far considered Linn zus mostly in the light of a bo- tanist. But this was not the only title which distinguished his fame. He had renounced medicine as a pra€titioner, but as a theorist this science derived the most essential benefits from his exertions. The knowledge of diseases, (pathology)—their remedies or cures (Materia Medica)—and the instru€tions how to preserve health by means of a regular choice and judicious use of meat and drink, (Dietetic) —consti- tute the three principal branches of physic; they are steps of know-
ledge which must be ascended by physicians if they wish to acquire
fame and eminence in their profession; and Linn aus acquired cele-
brity and extensive merit in those three different branches of medical science. ;
We shall first take a view of his merits in the Materia Medica. The best and most numerous remedies are drawn from the vegetable reign, It is the chief arsenal in which Nature preserves her store of arms against maladies. ‘The animal and mineral reigns are but sparingly provided with them. The accuracy or inaccuracy of the knowledge of herbs and plants determine, therefore, the application of the me- dicines which are prepared from them; they determine also, in a great measure, the restoration or sacrifice of afflifted humanity. As long as
botany
OF THE LIFE OF LINNAUS. ~ - 215
botany remained an irregular and tottering edifice, the Materia Medica mostly languished in the same condition. Thus a weak mother gave birth to a frail and puny daughter.
Linn us became the modern creator of botany and natural history, and at the same time of the Materia Medica. When he examined plants or other natural produétions, their intrinsic properties and ceconomical or medical virtues were generally the objeéts of hisattention. And the fruit of his observations (the finest which his knowledge of nature could produce) became a general description of the great apparatus of remedies which are embosomed for the benefit of man’s health in the three reigns of nature.
As the richest of those reigns, he first described the vegetable pro- duétions, especially those which grow in his own country; and in a like manner, sometime after, those sanative substances which exist in the ani- mal and mineral reigns *. That spirit of precision and order which cha- racterises all his works, is also highly conspicuous in those descriptions. The confused appellations which had till then prevailed with regard to many plants were now destroyed ; he assigned to every plant its real rank, its pharmatical and botanical names, the synonomy or bye-names given by the ancients, its native soil and properties, and an exaét description of its sanative virtues. Many medicaments which have since been cried up as new discoveries, had long ago been known to Linn aus; for in-
stance, a certain remedy against the Tenza was puffed and spoken of in
* Materia Medica e Regno Vegetabili. Holm. 1749.—E Regno Animali. Upsal, 1752. —E Regno Lapideo. Upsal, 1752. Respecting the first part of this work, Jonn Grsner - wrote to HALLER in the year1749, ‘ Linnat Materiam Medicam accepi, magno judicio, 4¢ non sine eximio usu digestum opusculum,”
1 France
116 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
France as a great secret*, and purchased afterwards by the late King
for.a very considerable sum; yet Linn aus had long before discovered
this remedy, and recommended it for use.
The compendium of the Materia Medica, especially that part of it
which concerns the vegetable reign, has been enriched by him with ob- servations and additions which he colleéted during a series of up- wards of twenty years. Old age prevented him, however, from super- intending the publication of a new edition. “ I have nobody to é assist me,” wrote he in the year 1771 to his friend Dr. Giesexe. 6 If you will only stay with me this winter, I will then publish it. I é¢ will read it to you, and you will write after me and arrange it in 6¢ proper order t.” But this request could not be granted.
The two last treatises on the Materia Medica he caused to be inserted in the collection of his academical writings. They were afterwards printed as a separate work at Venice; and since that in Germany, by an eminent pupil of Linn £us, whose merits in natural history are uni- versally allowed. This was the aulic counsellor Scureser at Erlangen, who calls it the Golden Book (Liber Aureus). Hatter, who, after BorruAave, was the oracle of medicine, and a rigorous scrutinizer of the works of Linn us, publicly enumerated the intrinsic excellencies of that work, which he praised as one of the best of the Linnaan produétions. In process of time more voluminous and extensive works were written upon the Materia Medica, but Linn aus first lighted
the torch which spread a new and beneficial light over the study of that
* Radix Filicts Maris.
+ Neminem habeo qui me adjuvat in eo edendo. Sivis per hyemem mecum hic commorari, edam, et tunc tibi prelegam, ut possis transcribere et in ordinem redigere.
science.
OF THE LIFE OF LINNAUS. 217
science. Notwithstanding this meritorious effort, which was duly ac- knowledged by the greatest masters, M. Vicg p’Azyr, secretary of the medical society of Paris, the panegyrist of Linn us on the banks of Seine, gave the following di€tatorial and abstruse opinion upon the abovementioned compendium of the Materia Medica: “ Although he 6¢ (Linnaus) has made laudable efforts to introduce indigenous offici- ¢¢ nal plants instead of exotics, yet we cannot help owning that this work s+ is little worthy of its author*.”
The genius which seemed so entirely created for systematic order and description, farther displayed its eminence in pathology, which is another branch of physic. The necessity of a system, of a general rule by which diseases might be known and discerned according to their difference and manifold variations, had frequently occurred to his penetrating mind. An habitual praftice of near three years at Stock- holm, gave him a favourable opportunity of colleéting observations. Dr. Tuomas SypENuHAM, the British Hippocrates, had already pointed out in the last century, the essential advantages of a syste- matical nosology. It would be a very good thing,” says he, & if all ‘‘ the diseases were reduced to definite and certain species, with as «¢‘ much accuracy as the botanists have done with regard to the descrip- ‘ tion of plants. t’? Many were the opinions which had been given re-
spetling the best plan of nosology. Some classed the diseases (the first
* Quoique ila fait de Jouables efforts, pour substituer des plantes indigenes aux étran- geres, nous ne pouvons dissimuler, que cette production est peu digne de son auteur. See Eloge de M. ve Linne, par M, Vicq v’Azyr, in the Histoire de la Societé de Medicine, vol. ii. A Paris, 1780, in quarto.
+ Expedit, ut morbi omnes ad definitas et certas species reyocentur, eadem prorsus diligen< tia ac auaBeiw, qua id factum videmus a botanicis in suis phytologiis,
~
RE y and
218 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
and most imperfect idea) in their alphabetical order, others from the time of their duration, others from those parts in which they affeéted the human body, or agreeable to the causes of their existence and symptoms,
According to this latter method the late professor De SauvaceEs, one of the best friends of Linnaus in France, published in 1739 a va- luable work, which was highly embellished on subsequent occasions*. But before ever Linn us obtained any knowledge of this work, he himself planned a systematic abridgment of nosology to serve him in his le€tures, published it 1759 as an academical dissertation, by the title of Genera Morborwm, and in 1763 asa separate work.
The whole class of envious persons at Upsal and in other parts of Sweden, found it strange and heterogeneous at first, to see the botanist Linn us appear on the scene as a pathologist. They made very merry at his expence. But the goodness of his cause soon became trium- phant. Dr. Rosen, his colleague, had long studied the Linnzan Genera Morborum, and a few years after, used them as the standing rule of his le€tures f.
«© Of all men,” says M. Vicg v’Azyr, % Linnaus should have « been the last to write on subjeéts which were foreign to him; be- “¢ cause he had recourse to that spirit of detail, and to that aphoristic “‘ and figurative style, which were considered as.defeéts even.in those
; : 4 y e « works which established his reputation t.
* Nosologia Methodica, Monspel. 1739. Amst. 1763, 5 vol. 8vo.—Farther augmented Amst. 1768, 2 vol. 4to.—Castigavit et auxit C. FP, Daniel, tom. ii. Lips. 1791. + See Linn £us’s own words in the Supplements.
Tt Il etoit moins permisa M. Linne, qu’ tout autre d’écrire sur les objets, qui lui étoient étrangers ; paree qu’il portoit cet esprit de détail et de stile aphoristique et figuré, que Yona yegardé come des defauts méme dans les ouvrages quiont établi sa reputation.
This
OF THE LIPE OF EINNAWUS. 219
This opinion is too much stamped with gallic levity to require any kind of apology here. Patriotism, and the penetrating knowledge of two meritorious Swedish literati * have already satisfa€torily vindicated the honour of their immortal fellow-countryman from the obloquy of the French panegyrist. ‘They wanted neither the inventive powers of logic, nor the strength of syllogisms, in accomplishing this laudable end. A plain statement of fa€ts constituted the best defence. Upon the whole, M. Vicg p’Azyr had not read the writings of Linnaus with that competent accuracy which must otherwise have enabled him to see in a proper light his merits as a theorctical physician.
“ The Genera Morborum,’ adds Vicg v’Azyr, * are a nosological “ pifture inwhich Linn us lavishes sucha jumble of unusual and bar- ‘¢ barous terms to class the diseases and even the slightest indispo- ‘¢ sitions, that, upon a thorough perusal, the number of ills which sé affli€t the human race seem at least augmented by one halft.”
With regard to the barbarous terms, it is a chimerical wish, to re- quire every expression to be Ciceronian in a medical nomenclature, or in a nosological manual. Linn aus was more studious of the precision than of the beauty of words. In his general division of diseases he re- duced them to eleven classes, thirty-seven orders, and three hundred and twenty-five species. Professor De Sauvacers had upon the whole eleven classes, forty-four orders, and three hundred and fourteen
* Dr. BLom, ina Swedish work entituled Samling of Rin och Uptakter uti Physique, &c.
Gottenburgh, 1781.—and S. A. HEDIN, first physician to the king, in his work of Quid Lin- N20 Patri debeat.
Tt Quils sont un Tableau Nosologique, dans lequel V’auteur a employé avec une sorte de profusion une foule de noms inusités et barbares, pour classer les maladies et méme les incom- modités les plus legéres, de sorte, qu’en le lisant, il semble, que le nombre des maux, dont Vespéce humaine est affligée, est au moins augmenté de moitié,
Ff 2 species,
220 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
species. It is strange that the French critic, perhaps from motives of patriotic predileétion, seems to forget here, that one of his own country- men had, like Linn 2us, magnified the number of diseases which de- solate mankind.
In the opinion of Dr. Wiiti1am Cutten, that great professor of pathology and the Materza Medica, who died at Edinburgh February 5 1790, the Genera Morborum of Linnaus was the second systematic nosology after that of De Sauvaces. And the latter in a subsequent edition of his work, adopted himself all the descriptions and the new species of Linnaus. All his celebrated successors in pathology, a Vocer, a SELLE, a HaartmMany, a Danie , acknowledged with gratitude and impartiality the merits which Linnaus had acquired by his first efforts and knowledge in that science.
Linnaus fraught afterwards his system of nosology upon a moré detailed plan. He also gave leétures upon the various species of diseases (Species Morborum*). This plan however remained a manuscript, from which he diétated to his students. The chief result of his medical observations and le€tures he published in. 1766, under the title of Clavis Medicine Duplex, Exterior et Interior, Holm. twenty-nine pages in o€tavo. This work, small as it was, became a compendium of the whole science, and an epitomical sketch of the virtues and effeéts of medicines. ‘ It was like an Jlias in Nuce,” says Dean Back, “ but a nut somewhat hard to be cracked to get at the kernel.” Linna#us himself confessed that he bestowed much labour upon“this little produ€tion, and that medicine would still require a man’s whole life, before its
* The following was the principle of Linnzxus: Genera ex Signis, Species ex causis.—Jam si. genera morborum probe nosti, speciem e causa determines, & nunquam falleris, ubi hoc
potes. Sed hoc opus, hic labor !— 2 secrets
OF THE LIFE OF LINNUS. 224
secrets could be brought to light. Of all the le@ures Linnaus, those which he delivered upon this compendium required the most unremitting attention. Diatetic—as another most interesting and most useful branch of medicine, also occupied Linnaus. His travels had enabled him to make many experiments and ob- servations upon that branch of medical study. “ This science,” wrote he to Baron Haurer in 1744, “ makes my delight, I have “ colleéted more in it than I know any other to have done*”. The whole course of his + dietetic le€tures lasted three years each time. He did not publish any general works upon this branch of physic It was however enriched with a considerable number of fine trea- tises upon single subjeéts, for instance, such as on the utility of motion, on the diversity of aliments, on bread, on the eatable plants of Sweden, on tea, coffee, chocolate, &c. &c. These tratts’ were defended by his pupils whom he furnished with the materials. He also
made himself equally conspicuous in what is properly called medicine.
* In his mez delicie; in his plura collegi quam, quod novi ullus alius.—Already. in the year 1740, Linn us wrote thus to HaLLer: “ Quid in dizteticis colligo tandem videbis, ‘© in his per decem annos laboravi.”
+ Dr. Hepin, first physician to the Court of Sweden expresses himself in his Treatise : Quip Linn#o patri debeat Medicina, Ups. 1784, in the following manner :— Ila hte ‘© acies ingenii elucet, ut fidem omnino superet, Medicinam, quam artem semper conjectura- « Jem statuunt ignorantes osores, sub—Linn.£©1—manibus speciem physicz experimentalis “¢ induisse et assertis aque exploratis superstru€tum. Diffidendum tamen non est, opus hocce,
n~
s* licet omni et admiratione et attentione nostra dignissimum, summis quibusdam medicis ali- <¢ quo jure videri et difficile omnino comprehensu et praxi forsitan minus adaptatum. Verum in «¢ rebus tante indaginis raro sibi sufficit ingenium mediocre, nisi filum hoc Ariadneum per ob- “© scuros scientiz meandros ab ipso auctore illustrissimo sequi disceret. Hinc et, quod, ‘¢ qui censores agere voluerunt, notam ignorantiz suze prodiderint, quum, que proposita “¢ fuerint, se vix intellexisse coacti sint; quod ipsi contigit Domino Vic D’AzyYR, Corticale “ Vitale (Glavis Medic p. 5.) per cutem reddenti. Cui quam absona sit idea witalis cor- “ yicalis, nullum vel leviter in re medica versatum, fugere potest; unde nec mirum, si de
a a
utilitaté hujus operis aque absona sit conclusio.”
This
222 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
This is a summary view of the labours by which Linn us ac-
quired his medical celebrity in Sweden, and by which he formed the
greatest part of the young Swedish prattitioners*. We now return to
his chief study, to natural history. Frora was. the fair deity to whom he did homage in his youth, and to whose service he most zealously continued to devote himself even in his old age. “ But one s¢ single reign of nature,” continues Dean Bacx, the celebrated Swedish panegyrist of Linn aus, ‘ was too confined a sphere for him ‘6 to move in. With the same spirit and success he made conquests *¢ equally great in the animal reign. This reign was covered with still «© greater darkness, and remained a chaos of intricacy and confusion. s6 GrsneR, ALDROVANDI, and Ray, had spread over it some small ¢ streaks of a dawning light, but through Linnus alone it first ap-
‘‘ peared as a serene and resplendent day. His animal system con-
* Dr. HEDIN comprises the merits of LinN#us in the Materia Medica, and in medicine at large, in the following nine points: !
I. Simplicium exa€tissimam dedit cognitionem, et quoad principia Botanica et vires, qua hactenus omnino inter desiderata Materia Medicz erant.
Il. Dudum nota et usitata propius determinare et ad species referre docuit. =
WI. Nova indigena introduxit, vel frequentius usurpare docuit, quo simul medicinam domesticam per Sueciz regiones usitatam breviter exposuit, et loca natalia plantarum apud wos indicavit.
IV. Exetica, que usus medici sunt vel detexit, vel determinavit, ut nobis jam constet; vel quibus in casibus, omnem impleant indicationem, vel quibus etiam excipiantur apris suc- cedaneis, in quorum investigationem quam maxime erat intentus.
-V, Simplicium, quoad multitudinem nimiam et usum rariorem, rigidissimam instituit censuram.
VI. In venenatorum inquisivit usum, et dosin sensim determinare docuit.
Vil. Culturam plantarum medicinalium ad unguem perduxit.
VIII. Modum coiligendi et methodum exhibendi Medicamenta proposuit.
1X. Medicamentorum compositorum usum restrinxit.
See Hep1n’s Collectio Epistolarum Linn 41; accedunt opuscula pro et contra LinnZuM scripta extra Sueciam rarissima, Hamb, 1792, 8vo.
3 66 sisted
OF ‘THE: LIFE OF .LINN AUS. . 228
« sisted only of a few pages in the beginning, but the twelfth and last «© edition which appeared.at Sicckholm in 1767, at the expiration of ‘‘ thirty. years. after its first appearance, formed two large volumes. s¢ All the creatures of the animal reign then known,. were arranged in ‘6 jt. with as much accuracy and precision as- the plants had. been ‘described in his botanical works. Every animal with its cha- s6 ra€teristics, its. synonymous and trivial names, its country and prin- ‘© cipal qualities, could. easily be found in it. He taught us to distin- 6 guish the species.of the serpents by the number of their shields or sé scales, the fishes by the position of their fins, and was the first. who &¢ ranged in due order the inseéts, those dumb and deaf instruments of ‘nature, which colleét in.much larger numbers. than any other living s‘ animals, and.are in general only known by the mischief which we © accuse them of committing upon us.”
Linn aus also introduced a more convenient method.of ordering the testaceous.animals*. The stone-plants or corals were even before his time mixed with the zoophites, worms, and inse&ts. Linn aus pointed outthcir distinétive marks, and all werethus-put in their proper place. All the animated beings were described on that muster-ro]] in such a manner that the lover of nature on the frigid coast of Greenland might learn to know by it even the smallest butterfly in the regions of Indza.
The merits of Linn £us in Mineralogy were,. doubtless, very shin- ing and eminent. He was the first who established the genera in that
science, and precisely indicated their chara€teristic signs. His mi-
* « Linnzus,” says Conporcer in his panegyric, ‘¢ might doubtless have employed
_ & with regard to the animals the system which he used for the plants, but he was appre- “hensive, lest, in spite of all the modesty and gravity which appeared in his lessons and his «6 works, that method should too frequently offer to his pupils, images which naturalists
‘ themselves cannot always have the privilege. to contemplate with total indifference.” neral
“
224 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
neral system, which was the latest received in his code of nature, consisted at the last edition in 1768, of two hundred and thirty-six oftavo pages. The treasures of this reign of nature are divided. by. Linnus into three different classes; namely, in stones (Petre), minerals (Minere), and fossils ( Fossi/za), the latter into various orders, and the whole into fifty-four genera. Linn aus gave a singular hy- pothesis respeéting the origin of stones, which was peculiar to himself. In his opinion, the water is the prima materia of the earth, and its sediment is clay. If sea-water be mixed with rain-water, the salty particles of the brine settle at the bottom like sand. Rotten plants are changed into a black dustlike earth ; but all that belongs to the ani- mal reign turns into chalk, Linnaus assigns these as the four prin- cipal matters from which all the rest spring by crystallization, solu- tion, &c. dc.
This hypothesis, like his classification of the mineral system, met
with many contradictions. It cannot be denied, that Linnaus dis- played in this part of natural history of which the classification is most difficult, less greatness than he did in all his other works, and for that reason did not become its legislator, During the latter part of his life,and since his death, many discoveries have been made in mineralogy, deeper knowledge has been acquired, and new means devised*. His country-
men Wa ..erius CronestTarptT, BercMANN and his own pupil, ¢
* “TINN#Uus,” says CONDORCET in his Eulogium, ¢ classed the minerals alinost entirely
“¢ by their external forms: the chymists have made objections to this method, which it is)
« very, difficult to answer; but the naturalists, or at least the pupils of Linnaus, might
' © have made objections equally powerful against a system of which the chymical analysis
“* formed the first characters; in other respeéts when Linn us published his method, the
“« analysis of mineral substances had not yet been brought to that degree of perfeétion to «¢ which one of his countrymen, the celebrated BERGMANN, has since brought it.
the
OF THE Or Or LEN nies. 225,
the late celebrated Ferser, had acquired great names and high distinftion in the various branches of mineralogy, which had been the principal ob- je€t of their study. In the same manner has he been far excelled by one of his former pupils professor Fasricus, who became the most eminent entomologist. How many discoveries have there not been made withir these twenty years in the vegetable and animal reigns! but how little can those gradations of progress, for which thanks are chiefly due to him, diminish his greatness! To presume to censure a first-rate genius, because somebody existed after him, who in certain separate branches signalized himself to a superior degree, would be like venting the in- vidious spleen of ArrsTarcuus, it would be signifying that merit ought never to be acknowledged*. What Linn aus said respe€ting Cxzsa.pinus, may be applied with more extensive propriety ‘to him- himself ; Quanta molis erat, Romanam condere gentem !
‘Linn aus had laid the foundation to the modern and beautiful struc- ture of natural history. To finish that edifice could not be the work of one man alone. It isa task never yet performed, and left for improve- ment to all future generations. In this point Linnaus did as much as his situation would permit. In the years 1767 and 1771, he pub- lished supplements to his botanical descriptions, and after the year 1774
gave accounts of single plants which had been sent him by his pupils.
* «The system of LINN us,” says M. Conporcet, “ has no doubt some weak sides ; *¢ but till now, no other method has combined so many advantages; perhaps even the defects “ for which that system is censured, are inevitable in all artificial methods. Ought we «* for this reason to proscribe them and condemn ourselves to err grappling in the dark, be- «© cause the light presented to us, may sometimes be extinguished.”
* See Eloge de M. Linne, in the histoire de Acad. Roy. des Sciences @ Paris 1781, 4to.
Be 74s cg These
22.6 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
These were the last fruits of the a€tivity of a man whose whole life had been uninterrupted enthusiasm and merit. Meanwhile his fame spread all over the world, nay farther, perhaps, than that of any learned man of our age ever reached. He was every where freely acknow-
ledged and revered as the first man in the science which he cultivated,
The different academies of Europe vied with each other, which of them .
should first have the honour of eleéting Linnaus one of their mem- bers. He experienced also the flattering distin€@lion which had never before been the lot of any Northern genius, to be received in 1762, as an ordinary member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris, after he had been its corresponding member ever since the year 1738. This, for a foreigner, was deemed a very particular mark of respe&t by Barons Le1BNITZ, Hatter, Van SwieETEN, and the great anatomist Mor- GAGNI at Padua*. The Royal Society of London followed this ex- ample in the year 1763. In1762 Linnavs also became a member of the British G&conomical Society, and in 1772, Honorary Member of the Physical College at Edinburgh. The Academy of Florence, chose him in 1759) that of Drontherm in 1766, that Of Cell in 1767, eer Rotterdam in 1771, that of Sienna in the same year, and that of Bern in 1772. He was elefted Fellow of the Royal Patriotic Society in Sweden in 1775, and shortly before his death also became a member of the Medical Society of Paris (Societe de Medecine) which was first first instituted in the year 1776. The greatest academy in a distant part of the world, that of Philadelphia, also brightened her records by
* The person who replaced Linnzus in the Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris, was Sir JoHN PrinGLg, Bart.. The only eminent men in Sweden, who could'boast of such
, an honour after the death of Linnaus, were professor BERGMANN and the Chevalier WARGBNTIN.
the
OF THE LIFE OF LINNAEUS. aialy
the honour of his name, in 1770. ‘Fhus was he (comprising the other scientific bodies mentioned before) member of twenty academies, namely, of three in Sweden, three in Germany, one in Sw wtzerland, two in Holland, three in France, three in England, three in /taly, ane in Denmark, and one in America.
From the river Neva to the Tagus in Europe, and in every other part of the world where Nature had friends, the works of Linn aus became the compass of the study of natural history. When a great number of reforms were introduced in the year 1771 at the university of Cormbra in Portugal, under the dire€tion of the Mar- quis pz Pomsat, the royal ordinance issued for that purpose expressly stated, «© That the works of Linn aus should be the pattern and basis © of all botanical leftures, because he was the best and greatest author ¢ in that science.” A similar change took place in the Spanish univer- sities*. If we quoted these two countries as examples, instead of any other, we did it because the scientific atchievements of the rest of. Europe, penetrate so seldom, or at least so late and with so much difkh- culty beyond the Pyrenees.
Thus Linnaus reaped most plentifully those laurels which were the end and just due of his long and studious perseverance. The ter- mination of his career now formed the finest contrast with its beginning. After having crossed so many thorny paths, he obtained the seat of ho-
nour and enjoyed peaceful fortune. His was the joy, to see in the year
* The Spanish professor of botany, A. CaPpeEviLa, writes on this head to Baron HALLER in 1772 as follows: ‘In physiologicis per illustrem HaLLeruM; in botanicis CAROLUM LINN &UM sequimur. TouRNEFORTII rei Herbariz Institutiones, et Caro Linn#1 Phi- losophiam Bonanicam legimus et relegimus; hanc preferimus illis ob summam doétrinam et eruditionem eximiam.— Epistele ad HALLERUM, vol. vi. Pp» 100.
Gg 2 1763s
228 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
1763, his son Cuaries Linn aus, then in the twenty-second year of his age, appointed assistant professor of botany, with the promise that
he should once be his successor.
NN
Among the learned of his own country, he was a phenomenon of the ~
first. magnitude. What Ferney and Bern were on account of Vot- TAIRE and Hauer, the remote city of Upsal became in a similar pro- portion with regard to Linnaus. No foreigner of quality or of any literary eminence passed though Upsal, without wishing to see him. Strangers of all denominations gave him the most flattering proofs of respe&t. Lord Batrimore, whose great fortune corresponded with his love of natural history, went from Stockholm to Upsal merely for the purpose of seeing Linnazus. He viewed the Linnan collec- tions and after a few hours conversation with our luminary, conceived so high an esteem for him as to present him with a valuable gold snuff box set in diamonds. His Lordship’s liberality and munificence did not stop here. On his travels through Germany he sent Linnaus a service of silver plate, or what the French call a necessaire, worth 2000 rix dollars, or upwards of three hundred pounds sterling. Such an aét of munificence can only be the result of the generous sublimity of mind which so peculiarly characterises the inhabitants of the British isles. Linn aus also received many proofs of the liberality and attach- ment of the richer class of his foreign pupils.. Among the latter Messrs. Demeporos and Demiporrs, the sons of two most respe€étable and wealthy Russian families, signalized themselves in a peculiar manner. Owing to the universal love which Linn «us had gained, he even be- came the benefattor of his countrymen in our time. When 'the Swe- dish officers and soldiers, taken prisoners and dispersed over the Rus-
3 sian
OF THE LIFE OF LINNAUS. 229
sian empire, in the late war, were exchanged in 1790, and at li- berty to return to their country through St. Petersburgh, they met with the greatest support and encouragement, especially on the part of Dz- MIDOFF, who resided in that metropolis, and exerted himself by render- ing every service to those unfortunate Swedish warriors, whose gallantry he esteemed, and of whose country he still retained the most grateful remembrance.
The salary which Linn 2us enjoyed, the property which he had ac- quired by his marriage, and the presents which were sent him by his pupils and admirers, made him one of the richest and most monied among the professors and inhabitants of Usa]. His annual stipend amounted to seven hundred platens or florins, To these may be added one hundred tons of corn and about twenty tons more, which were the produce of a prebendary estate; making altogether an annual income of about five hundred Swedish rix dollars, sometimes more and some- times less, according to the price of the corn. During the latter part of his life the late King allowed him a double salary *. To these resources ought also to be joined the produce of his numerous writings, of which LAuRENCE Sarvius, aman of merit at Stockholm, was generally the editor, and by the care of the same person the first literary journal was introduced in Sweden in 1745, under. the title of Larda Tidningar.
* The Chevalier THUNBERG thus expresses himself in a letter to the author from Upsa/: ‘* Professio Botanices quotannis Linn £0 hosce suppeditavit reditus « Frumenti 100, ut vocant “ tonnas, et argenti 700 (platar) florenos, reditus ville distz Prabendehemman, circiter “20 tonnas frumenti, quod quidem censeri potest circiter 500 Rdal Suec. plus aut minus,
‘ prout frumentum quotannis majori vel minori pretio véndebatur: ultimis tamen annis, ex _‘* augustissimi regis gratia, in duplo Linn us fruitus est hocce salario.”
6‘ REDITUS,” says Professor THUNBERG, in another letter to the author, ‘* Professionis ‘© Botanices preter edes publicas censentur cisca 500 Imperiales Suec.”
SALVLUS
230 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
Sarvius paid Linn avs for each printed sheet’ of his original works only the small sum of one ducat. But if it be considered, that ‘on: ae- count of the small population in that vast kingdom, no great number’ of individuals are scientific readers, our surprise at so scanty a sum paid for such original works as those of Linn aus, will certainly abate. The foreign booksellers chiefly found his works the most profitable and most advantageous ; and some of them still reap benefits from him, even after his death. Had Linn aus, as an author, received those sums which the publication of his works and their manifold editions yielded to the booksellers of every country, those alone must have made him wortha capital sum. That rural amenity which always possessed the greatest charms in the eyes of the eminent men of all nations, and which may be looked upon as the just reward of merit in the decline of life—the possession of a villa—was also one of the first wishes of him who occupied’ himself solely with nature. Soon did his prosperous ‘and flourishing circum- stances gratify him with the accomplishment of this wish; he purchased | the villa of Hammarby, at the distance of one league from Upsal. Du- ring the fifteen last years of his life he mostly chose it for his summer residence. There he kept, comparatively speaking, a little university. His pupils followed him thither, and those who were foreigners used to rent lodgings in the villages of Honby and Edeby, which were both con- tiguous to his villa. In 1769 he had a little edifice ereéted at the distance of a quarter of a league from his rural abode, upon an emi- nence, which commanded the prospeét of that whole’ distri&. In this place he kept his colle&ion of natural history, upon the contents of ioe ae rE “which
OF THE LIFE OF LINNAUS. 231
which he delivered his le€tures*. He afterwards destined this country seat as a dowry for his consort, who came to inhabit it after his decease. He purchased at a subsequent period another villa of less extent called Soefja.
The university of Upsal had the honour of having the late King of Sweden, then Prince Royal, for its Chancellor, from 1764 to 1771. This distin€tion it also enjoys at present in the heir of his throne. When Gustavus went to Upsal he never left that place without favouring its first genius with a long conversation or with a visit, which his Majesty even frequently paid him at Hammarby.
During the late King’s residence at Paris, Louis XV. congratulated him upon the celebrated man whom his country possessed, and gave orders to colle& the seeds of the rarest plants in’ his celebrated gardens at Trianon, as a present for Linnaus. When Gusravus returned he took upon him the reins of government, which had devolved to his care by’ the demise of his. parent. The present of seeds made by Louis were punually forwarded to Linnaus,
His Majesty, some time after: his accession to the throne, came again to Upsal. After a period of upwards of thirty years academical ser- vices, Linnavus then intreated him, graciously to be pleased to accept of his resignation.
But it was in vain for our luminary to represent, that the infirmities incident to old age incapacitated him from being farther useful to the university ; his plea was reje&ted by: the flattering obje€tion, that Upsal
* He delivered those leCtures to his foreign pupils who came in the summer from the vil- lages to his museum, not in the grave and solemn habit of a professor, but as a friendly com- panion, frequently wearing his robe de chambre, slippers, a red fur cap, &c. &e,
ought
& REMARKABLE OCCURENCES
Vy.
G3
ought not to lose its chief splendor by his retreat. The King, at the same time made great amends to Linnaus, by rewarding him, as we have observed, with a double salary, and making him a present of two farms, with liberty to bequeath them to his heirs. ,
Two other great rulers of the North emulated the King of Sweden, by giving proofs of their respeé to the celebrated professor at Upsal. The Empress of Russia, who, as judge of superior merit, became its remuneratrix, almost among every nation in Ewrope, sent presents to Linnaus. The King of Denmark zealously followed her example. Maria Tueresa, Empress of Germany and Queen of Hungary, and the King of Sardinia, complimented the Swedish ambassadors and other grandees who visited their courts, upon possessing a Linn £us, whowas the pride of their country, Freprerick THE Great, King of Prussia, also spoke in the highest terms of encomium of the prince of botany. Thus the son of a village preacher, whom persons jealous of his fame at Stockholm,—whom a S1rGessecx and others wanted to turn into ridi- cule on account of his reforms,—thus was Linn £us honoured and re- vered by the greatest sovereigns of the age.
A philosopher, though not the most eminent, yet one pict the most extraordinary of this century, J. J. Rousseau, of Geneva, worshipped Linn aus as his idol. Having already adduced an instance of :his en- thusiasm for our luminary, we will communicate here by way of farther chara€teristic, the conversation which Byozrnsaut had with himoat Paris in the year 1770*. ‘* When I was with Rousseau for the first
s time,” writes BJOERNSTAHL, “ he asked me, if I studied botany?
® See BJOERNSTAHL’S Letters, vol. i.
sé Having
OF THE LIFE OF LINN AUS. 23%
« Having told him that Linn us had given me lessons at different ‘* times, he rose and exclaimed, “ You know then my master and pro- ‘ fessor, the great Linnaus? If you write to him, assure him of my veneration, and throw me prostrate before him—( Et mettez mot a genoux & devant lui).—Tell him, that I know no greater man on earth; that I owe him my health, nay, even my life.” Rousseau afterward shewed & me Linnaus’s Philosophia Botanica, saying, ** This book contains 6 more knowledge than the largest folio volumes. The books which ¢¢ come from the north generally abound with too much learning; but * this one does not contain a single word which might be considered as ‘© unnecessary.”—Such a panegyric from the mouth of the philosopher & of Geneva, whose taciturnity seldom indulged itself in such flattering s¢ praise, struck me with unexpeéted surprise. At the name of Lin- n £us he appeared to be quite enraptured ; *¢ I am (said he) a pupil of 66 LINNAUS, and deem it an honour.” I asked him, what he thought Sof Apanson? He answered, that the latter and Cranz at Vienna, “had both borrowed all their knowledge of Linnaeus, and had « attempted afterwards to lessen and calumniate his name, and been ‘ cuilty of ingratitude to their master.”
So lively a genius as that of Linn £us could never remain inactive. His zeal continued as long as nature left any vitalsin his frame. Even inthe year 1773 he took a share in an enterprise by which the late King of Sweden distinguished the beginning of his reign as a lover of science. A committee was appointed, consisting of six bishops, six do€tors in divinity, and eight other literati, charged with a better trans- lation of the Bible into the Swedish language, and Linn «us was chosen a member of this committee, for the purpose of ascertaining and
Hh describing
234 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
describing the plants and other vegetable produétions mentioned in the holy scriptures *. The late Chevalier Micuaz is at Goettingen, whose dogmatic had been formerly confiscated in Sweden, and publicly burnt at Upsal, was also consulted in this enterprise.
Among all the learned of the north, Linn aus had the most exten- sive correspondence throughout Ewrope, and even in the other parts of the world. None but the greatest men whom this century produced with regard to the sciences, such as Harier, Bozruaave and Vot- TAIRE Could come in competition with him in this particular. Some time before his death he made out a list of those men with whom he used to keep a regular correspondence. Agreeable to this list he cor- responded with the following persons in Germany: The Margravine Carorina Loutrsa of Baden, BasteR, Von Bercen, Breyn and BRUCKMANN, at Brunswick; Count BRUMMER, BurRkHARD, Bucu- neR, and Professor J. A.Grsner at Tubingen; Professor GLepiTscu at Berlin; Baron HALLER at Goettingen; Professor HEBENSTREIT at Leipsic ; Professors Herrmann and Jacquin at Vienna; Professor Girsexe and Doétors Janiscu, Kast, Koretpin and Kout at Ham- burgh; Professor Joun Lance at Halle; Professor Lesxe at Levpsic; Lesser, LenmMann, Lupo rr and Professor Lupwie of. the same place; J. E.Mzver and Dr. Moenrine at Yevern; Counsellor Von Murr at Nurenberg; Professor Murray at Goettingen; Baron Orro Von Muncuausen, Myvtrus,; Scoprori, and Counsellor ScurREBER at Erlangen; SPENGLER and SpRECKELSEN at Hamburgh; WAcNER,
Weicer, WrEIssMANN and X. Wutrsn. His correspondents in
Denmark were, Messrs. Ascanius, Professor Brunnicu, Bucu-
* See S. Lonpom’s Utkast om Syenska Bibel Oefversatingar. Stockh. 1774, o€tavo. 2 WALD,
OF THE LIFE OF LINNAUS. 29%
WALD, and Professor Fasricius at Xzel; Professor Frus Rotrsoer, GuNNERUS, GUNTHER, Professor HorreBow, C.F. Hoim, Professor KraTZENSTEIN, Professor O. F. Mutter, Mr. Neisunr, Professor Oxrper, Von Suum, Professor Want and Counsellor Zorca at Co- penhagen. In Russia, Professor AMMAN Demiporr, Domacunerr, GMELIN, KRAscCHENNINNIKOW, LAxMAN, Mounsey,G. MuLLER; and in the beginning Srecesspeck. In Great Britain, Mr. ANDREW, Sir Joszeru Banks, Lord Bautimore, Dr. Browne, CHANNING, CoL- LINSON, Professor Dittenius, Done ti, Enret, J. Evxis, sen. Mr. Forster, as long as he resided in England, Dr. Fotuerciyy, Mr. Gorpon, Dr. Hitt, Professor Hore of Edinburgh, Hupson, Law- son, Lee, Dr. Lettrsom, Linn, J. and Pu. Mitier, Mitenet, Mr, Pennant, Dr. Russexr, Professor Sisruorr of Oxford, Skene, Waker, WaRNER, Rev. Joun Wuirte, of Blackburne, and Mr. Wricut*. In Holland, Professor ALLEMAND of Leyden; Professor Boppaerr at Utrecht; Borrnaave, BurRMANN, at Amsterdam; Crirrort, J. Van Gorrsr, Professor at Harderwyckh; Gronov at Leyden; Van Roven, Roetyt, Van Swirren, VoESMAER and Pro- fessor WacHENpDoRFr. In France, Messrs. ANGERVILLE, BARREREg De Bomare, DucHESNE, CARRERE, Cuarpon, Cusson, GuAN, of Montpellier; Guettarp, A, and B. pe Jussieu, Le Monnizr,y Maynarpb, F. pz SauvaceEs, and the Abbé pe Sauvaces. In Spain, Messrs. BARNHARDES, HonTEGA, QueR and Minnart. In Switzerland, Professors Joun Gesner and Scugucuzer. In Staly,
Messrs. Bruneuii1, Donati, Ratuces, the Austrian minister at
* Many of the above names are totally unknown to the Translator, who trusts his readers will excuse him if he does not prefix to the name of each person the respective title.
Hh 2 Venices
236 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
Venice, Count SaGRAMOSO, SEGUIER, VanpeLii and Dr. Turra. in Turkey, Morpac. M‘Kenzre. ’ In America, BaRTHRAM, Cray- ton, Miss Cotpen, Doftor Garpen, of South Carolina; Locan Bartcu at Surinam; and Murtis in New Grenada. In Asia, J. G- Kognice at Tranquebar; and Messrs. RapremAcHER and NorpDGREEN.
How much more would this list of one hundred fifty names be in-
creased, would and could we add to it those persons to whom Linn aus
sent single letters from Sweden and other countries, for the sake of
making enquiries, or for similar purposes. It is to be regretted, that the correspondence of Linnzus, which was solely carried on to pro- mote natural history, has not yet been published, at least in a sele& colleGtion. That those letters would prove particularly interesting to botanists is a fat which precludes every doubt. Linnaus carefully preserved his letters, and they are a€tually in possession of Dr. J. E. SmitH*.
A Livonian, who travelled in Sweden in 1771, and visited Upsal on purpose that he might see Linnaus, gives the following account of our luminary’s situation at that time, and likewise of his colleétions:
« Sir Cuarites Linnaus received me with great complaisance. ‘© He led a very bustling and a€tive life; and I never saw him at lei- %¢ sure ; even his walks had for their obje€t discoveries in natural his-
% tory. His colle€tion of shells was very numerous, and consisted of the
* «6 T have long ago intimated this wish to Dr. Sm1TH, and he flatters me with its gratifi- S& cation some day by the following answer which he kindly returned to my letter: ‘* The ‘letters of Linnaus,” says. Dr. SMITH, ‘are about 3000. I project a publication of s¢ some of the correspondence some day; but it will require a careful revision before I give 66 them to the public. I would not imitate the — — publication, of HaLugr’s letters.”
From @a Letter. of Dr. SMITH’s tothe Author. ;
3 §§ rarest
OF THE LIFE OF LINNAUS. 237
*¢ rarest articles. His herbariwm contained even then 7000 specimens,
‘ some of which were extremely scarce and curious. The plants are ar-
a
“ ranged according to his own excellent system, and preserved in two “¢ presses divided into shelves, as he describes them in his Phzlosophia “ Botanica. His colle€tion of fishes which he kept pasted on paper, was & also considerable. He had, moreover, a numerous and choice col- « Jeétion of stones and fossils. But nothing could be compared with * his colleétion of inseéts, in which not a single inseét till then disco- « vered in Sweden was wanting; and which contained likewise a great “* number of rare specimens from China, Palestine, Surinam, and almost « from every quarter of the globe. He had also a good number of skele- tons and stuffed animals of the most curious kinds. His library is very “ numerous. In the hall of his dwelling house there are painted por- “ traits of several celebrated naturalists and botanists, and the plans of * the most celebrated botanical gardens.”
In the spring of 1772, the Chevalier Murray paid a visit to Lin- w£us.—‘¢ Even then,” says the Chevalier, when speaking of this visit, I found in that great man the same alacrity and vivacity of mind, and “ the same zeal to promote his favourite science, which I had formerly ‘admired in him as a youth, and as his disciple. With regard to * his opponents, who wished to diminish his celebrity, I found in him * those sentiments of placability, and in general, that equity of opinion *¢ respecting the merits of other men, which, had they beenheard, even ‘¢ by the most unjust and most rigorous critics, must necessarily have 6 conciliated to him their love and affe&tion *.
LINNA&AUS
* Eam tum in summo viro animi viriumque integritatem floremque, et illum in scientia sua
Iocupeletanda ardorem cognovi, quem juvenis olim et auditor miratus fueram ; et illum simul in
298 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
Linn us gave even so late as 1772, a fine proof of the lasting vi- gour of his genius, which encompassed all nature; and at the same time of that liveliness of fancy which heightened the charms of his ideas. When he resigned on the 14th of December his fun€tions of Reé€tor of the University, which he had thrice exercised, he made an oration on the delights of nature, (Delicie Nature). He had composed this oration in a short time, though overwhelmed with a variety of other important business. The whole academical forum found it so beauti- ful, that the students of all the Swedish provinces sent deputies to him on the next day to intreat him to translate it into the Swedish tongue from the Latin. This was the fifth public oration of Linnaus, the first he made when he resigned his office as president of the Royal Academy at Stockholm; the second he delivered in 1741, the third in 1743, and the fourth in presence of the Royal Family of Sweden in 1759. He was no professed orator; but his language was that of nature and truth. Without displaying the embellishments and the art of a Cicero or a DemosTHENEs this oration also captivated by its simplicity and energy, and occasioned rapturous admiration. As in his writings and in the professorial chair, so was he in his speeches, that systematic man, who concatenated phrase with phrase, and showed plainly the progressive course of his ideas. Nothing but death could dissolve his love and fondness of science, and his desire of obtaining the most minute knowledge of nature. In 1773 he wrote the follow-
ing letter to Mr. Pennant, the celebrated British Zoologist at Lon-
in adversarios, fama ejus insidiantes, expertus sum in eo animum placabilem, et equum in universum de aliorum meritis judicium, ut vel iniquissimus vel morosissimus censor hac au- diens, in amorem ejus raperetur necesse esset—MURRAY in his Preface to the Systema Vege~ sabilium.
dons
OF THE LIFE OF LINN US. 239
don, which will serve to illustrate and to characterize his liberality of mind. Upsal, May 2, 1773 *.
*¢ Tong ago have I been informed, that my countryman Dr. Troi. ¢ has brought with him your presents, which I so eagerly expeéted. « He lastly arrived here the day before yesterday, and delivered me “ your Synopsis Quadrupedum and your Indian Zoology. I return you ¢¢ my warmest thanks for each. I will peruse and re-peruse your Sy- “© mopsis a thousand times. I find much beauty and utility in it, and s¢ will study it thoroughly. After having read the work, I will ask «you many questions, and never prove ungrateful to you. I will s¢ enter into no dispute about methods. Whether nature is Lutheran «© Calvinistic, Jewish, or Mahometan is all one to me, and the know- « ledge of the species is the only thing I shall look bor I wish to God ¢¢ I could sce your other works, especially that on birds, how much > «© knowledge, which I am still deprived of, might I collec: from them! “ Your Inp1AN Zootocy is a very beautiful work, with excellent «‘ figures of the rarest birds, and with the most accurate descriptions.
&¢ Farewell—youll hear more from me next time, &c. &c,”
* Diu audivi, D. Tro. secium adduxisse dona tua, que avidissime expectavi. Redux tandem pridie ad nos accessit et mihi obtulit Synopsin tuam of Qudruapeds. {Chester 1771, in 8vo. with plates) et Zoologiam Indicam (Lord. 1769, in fol, with coloured plates). Pro sin- gulis grates reddo, quas unquam possim calidissimas. ‘Synopsin tuam legam et relegam mil- lies. Multa in ea occurrent leétu mihi jucundissima et maxime utilia, quae in succum et sans guinem vertam. Perlecto hoc opere, multa a te queram ; nec unquam me ingratum senties. Non de methodo disputabo; mihi perinde erit, utrum nature color sit Lutheranus, Cal- vinianus, Judaicus aut Mahometanus: unice notitiam specierum queram. O, utinam vide- rem reliqua opera tua, imprimis de avibus; quam multa inde addiscerem, que etiamnuin me fugiunt! tua Indian Zoology perpulchra erat, pulcherrime figure rarissimarum certe avium, descriptiones etiam exattissime, Vale! &c,
Though
240 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
Though the enthusiastic violence with which Linn £us exerted him- self, and the excessive study of nature, which made him forget all other concerns, would often times prove detrimental to his health,— yet the charms of nature as frequently helped to restore it to its pris- tine vigor. When he completed his Philosophia Botanica, in the sum- mer of 1751, and in the following year, he hada most violent fit of the gout, and was obliged to keep to his bed almost totally deprived of
the use of his limbs. It was at this period, that his pupil Kai re-
turned from North-America with a great number of new plants and ~
“other natural curiosities. The desire of seeing these treasures, and the delight which he felt when he aétually saw them, was so great, as to make the gout fortunately disappear*. The composition of the Species Plantarum, the most excellent and most laborious of his works, occa- -sioned also an illness, which served to accelerate his death. The constant silence which attended his studies, brought on the stone and the most excruciating pains in his right side. When his pupil Ro- LANDER, returned from Surinam, he felt the liveliest sensations of joy. Roxanper had brought with him the Cochineal-tree (Coéus Cochenillifer), on which were to be seen alive the inse&ts from which the red colour used in dying scarlet is extra€ted. This joy was how-
ever soon changed into the deepest sadness, owing to a mistaken care:
’
* The celebrated PETER WARGENTIN, Secretary of the Royal Academy at Stockholm, who died in 1783, wrote on this subject to Baron HALLER, August 12, 1751.—
“ Sane Linn£uM, jam hypochondfico malo et doloribus podagricis agonizantem re- é suscitavit KALMIUS, ostendendo solummodo insignem numerum plantarum rarissimarum, «6 et qua nohdum ab alio Botanico fuerunt descripta. ‘Tantus amor florum |”
Linnvus himself related afterwards this occurrence to a friend in the following words:— 6¢ Kaumius hic appulerat, alteroque die monstrabat thesauros colleétos. Ego parum ad- “ spexi, quum in leéto me vertere non possem, sed tamen mirum in modum iis, que vidi,
¢6 delectabar, idque ad reparandam sanitatem multum contulit.” fulness.
OF THE LIFE OF LINNAEUS. 244
fulness. The tree had been removed to the botanical garden. Before the gardener had received any instructions respe€ting its management, he observed the inseéts, which were creeping upon its leaves, and deeming them to be the destru€tion of the leaves, he gathered them with great trouble and care, killed them, and thus annihilated the great and bright hope which Linnzus had conceived of introducing cochi- neal as a natural produétion into Sweden. This accident caused so much derangement in his frame, as to be followed by a most violent nervous head-ach.
Nature again operated by her magic power upon his health, even when it was quite impaired and reduced in the year 1774*. Lieut. Col. DauvsBere, who was afterwards knighted, returned from Surinam, where he had remained for a considerable time on his estates, and brought with him one hundred and eighty-six species of curious plants, the pro- duétion of that country, as a present for the King of Sweden. They had been preserved in a quite new and excellent way, in spirits of wine, and still bore the fresh appearance of nature to such a degree, that the most minute part of their flowers could be accurately ex- amined. The King resolved to*make a present of this valuable col- .
le€tion to the great naturalist of his empire, persuaded that there was
* Linn £vs was in this instance exactly in the same situation as J. J. Rousseau, who wrote in 1767, in his moments of melancholy, the follewing letter :—* Fe dois ma vie aux 46 plantes; ce n’est pas ce que je leur dois du bon; mais je leur dois, de couler encore avec ‘‘ agrément quelques intervalles, au milien des amertumes, dont elle est inondée. Tant 8 que j’herborise, je ne suis pas matheureux ; et je vous reponds, sil’on me laissoit faire, je 66 ne cesserai tout le restede ma vie d’herboriser du matin au soir.—J’herboriserai, mon cher *¢ hte, jusqu’ ala mort et au déla: car Sil y a des fleurs aux champs Elysées, j’en formerai #¢ des couronnes pour les hommes vrais, francs et tels, qu’ assurément j’avois merité d’en “ trouver sur la terre.’”*—See second Supplement 4 la collection des Oeuvres de J. J. Rous- SEAU, tom. ili. Geneve 1789) Pp. 305 and 409.
1] none
242 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES
none to whom it would prove more interesting. Linnavus penetrated: with sensations of gratitude, composed a catalogue of those plants, which contained thirteen new genera, and upwards of forty new species. At the same time, he assigned the name of his royal benefa€tor to an American tree, whose beauty and loftiness corresponded with the great- ness of the person whose name it bore*. He called this tree Gustavia Augusta.— This new appellation was the more expressive of his re- speét for his sovereign, as he had never before introduced the name of any monarch in the vegetable reign.
Linnaus, the darling of nature, was. not so fortunate as FonTE- NELLE, Hater, and Vourarrg, in finding her propitious to him. till his last moment. His great mind, the energy and powers of his faculties, sunk into such a deep decline, that towards the last stage of his life, he was- reduced to the helpless and feeble state of an infant. His fate was similar to, nay worse stil than that of FranKLin. The two last years of his existence were, it might be said, but a slow and. lingering. obstinate struggle with death. While he gave leétures in the month of May 1774, in the botanical graden, he had an apopleétic stroke, and fell into a swoon from which he did not recover for a long time t.
Fhis
* Plante Surinamenses, Ufsal. 17753 resp. J. ALM; in, the Ameenitat. Acad. Edit. Schrebers, vol. viii.
+ A letter which Linn £us had written thirty-four years before this castastrophe, is said to have either occasioned or accelerated this fatal disease. In 1773 appeared the first volume of the letters, written in Latin, by men of literary eminence to Baron HALuer. LiInNzEuS received this volume, and found that his letters and those particulars of his youth which he
“had formerly entrusted to sacred friendship and confidence were all inserted. Amongst others, he read with indignant surprise, a letter, in which he had formerly described the history of his love, and added many other private transactions. (See Epist. ad HALLER. tom. i. p. 413, Seq. )—He had no sooner read this letter than he felt an extreme agitation, the apoplexy suc-
ceeded
OF THE LIFE OF LINN JEUS. 243
This was the period at which his health declined entirely. In his younger days, he used to be affli€ted with catarrhs and the tooth-ach, and in his ‘maturity with the most violent meagrim; but he now began to complain of a pain in the lower part of his back in his loins. Inthe year 1774 Mr. Pennant, the celebrated Zoologist wrote to him, to intreat him not to forget his promise of writing the natural history of Lapland, which he had first made in the preface of his Flora Lapponica. The answer which Linnaus returned to Mr. PENNaNnT’s request purported: ‘ that it
«¢ would now be too late for him to begin.—Nunc nimis sero inciperem.”
«© Me quoque debilitat series immensa laborum ;
s¢ Ante meum tempus cogor et esse senex.”’
His public a€tivity continued however to last till 1776, when he had attained the 68th year of his age. Then the feeble and infirm state of his health suffered a fresh shock; his senses then seemed to be worn out, and his tongue, palsied as it were, almost denied its office. With that natural flow of chearfulness which was so peculiar to him, he thus describes his situation in his own diary:— LinnNaus ‘ limps, can hardly walk, speaks unintelligibly, and is scarce able to “¢ write."—Even in this melancholy and painful state, nature still re- mained his only comfort and relief. He used to be carried to his museum, where he viewed the treasures which he had colleéted with ceeded soon after.—Such was the general assertion and inference of agreat number of persons, when this melancholy accident happened at Upsal.—A celebrated foreigner, who was there at that time, seems to question that the publication of the letters written to HALLER should have ‘had so fatal an influence upon the life of Linn zus;— I do neither believe, nor have #¢ T observed,” says he, ** that Linn £vs felt any particular vexation :at the printing of his
% letters to HALLER.”—It would be much more pleasant to us to refute than confirm such a disagreeable incident,
112 rye)
244 DEATH OF LINNAUS,
so much labour, and manifested a particular delight in examining the rarities and new productions, which during the latter part of his life had been brought him by M. Muris from Carthagena and New Gre- nada, and by his other pupils from the Cape of Good Hope and Asia.
In the winter of 1776, his deplorable condition rose to the highest degree of wretchedness. He had another apople@ic stroke, which almost deadened his right side, in which he had most frequently felt the pains. His situation exhibited the most melancholy pi€ture of the decay of the human powers and greatness. His intelle€tual faculties. wasted away like his body. The words which he uttered, He, who in the prime of life had been the most systematic genius of this age, were for the most part a chaos of confused and unconne€ted ideas*. It now became necessary to lead, support, carry, dress and feed him by putting the viands into his mouth. His life began to prove an in- tolerable burthen. Having been a prey to such agonizing sufferings for upwards of a twelvemonth, and his Wlness having reached the celi- max of the most excruciating torture, occasioned by a fever and the stoné, the GRrat LinW us expired in a gentle slumber, in the after- noon, on the 10th of January 1778, after having led a life equally aftive and meritorious, of seventy years, seven months, and seven
s The following occurrence will farther serve to explain the miserable situation of Lin- N#us at the above mentioned epoch.—Those who are acquainted with the general.customs of Germany and the rest of the Northern continent, well know, that every person of the better class keeps a memorial-book, in which it is usual for every stranger or friend of. respectabi- lity to write down something to preserve his remembrance in the mind cf the person who
presents the'book. On the 26th of September 1776, a foreign. literatus laid before Lin- N£Uvus his memorial-book. |The latter having set down his name in it, scribbled underneath
_the word Professor, in the following mixed Greek and Latin letters : Peo Phe fifo re The Author copied this from an authentic document,
days,
AND HONOURS PAID TO HIS MEMORY. 245.
days. With him died the most immortal man, whom his country ever yielded to the sciences. The year of his death was remarkable for the exit of several other great men. Vovrrtarire and J. J. Rousseau died in that same year, and Haver terminated his bright career one month sooner than Linnaus, on the 12th of December 1777.
The death of Linn us was an universal loss to the science of natu ral history—a loss to the University of Upsal, of which he had been the most celebrated professor for whole centuries, nay, since its very existence ;—and, finally, a loss to the Swedish nation at large, which claimed him as. her fellow-citizen. The mourning of the University was due to the great splendor which had fled with his spirit. His corpse was most solemnly removed to the cathedral of Upsal, and there com- mitted to the tomb. All the professors, officers and students of the University followed his funeral ;—and eighteen doctors, formerly puptls of. Linnzus supported the pall. The Academy of Belles Lettres, History and Antiquities at Stockholm, which was institued in 1753 and renewed in 1786, offered a golden prize medal worth sixteen ducats. for the best panegyric on Linn aus, either in verse or in prose, writ- ten in Latin, French or Italian. Already in 1786, a French specimen. was sent in; but it afforded as little satisfaGtion as those which were delivered some time after. The Academy by command of the late King, offered a second golden prize-medal for the best Latin or Swedish inscription, to. be engraved upon the monument which has since been eretted to Linn gus, at the entrance of the new botanical garden* In the year 1781 a specimen appeared, but its composition
did
* The Author received the following letter on this subject, dated Upsal 1796 :——“ Rex noster
‘* Augustissimus, proposito in Academia Regia Litterarum Humaniorum, Historiarum et Anti- 3 ‘6 quitatum
246 HONOURS PAID TO THE
did not obtain the approbation of that learned body. Many other essays were afterwards delivered, but would not answer. At last, the academy received an elegant inscription, which was sent with the motto “ At Pia Thura feram.”—It was the production of Mr. Gunnar Back- MANN, a Swedish literatus, to whom the prize medal was adjudged ac- cordingly by the academy at their meeting, held. March goth, 1792; and this inscription has been engraved upon the monument ft.
The late Kinc, whose merits were so great, and who had esteemed Linnzus while he still was Prince Roya, and rewarded him as King, conferred farther honours upon his memory. When the Swedish diet was convened for the second time during his reign in the year 1778, he ordered his chancellor, at the opening of the Pleni Plenorwm, or the four states of the kingdom, to read a sketch of his government and enterprises, during the six preceding years. In this sketch his Majesty mentioned the death of Linn aus in the following honourable and flattering manner :
‘© The University of Ufsal has also attratted my attention. Always s¢ will I remember with pleasure, that the chancellorship of that Univer-
‘¢ sity was entrusted to me, before I ascended the throne ; I have also
*¢ quitatum Stackholmiensi, duplici pramio et exteros et indigenas ad certamen vocavit, tam ad consignandum EvLocium Linn 41, quam adi nscriptionem monumenti, in ejus honorem s¢ erigendi, quorum tamen neutrum hoc usque tale Academiz exhibitum est, ut premio ornari ‘¢ potuerit, Erigetur vero monumentum lapideum vel bustum Linn #1 in frontispicio novarum 4¢ dium Horti et professionis Botanicz nostra Academia, que regiis impensis magnifice nun¢
66 exstruuntur.””
+ Since the death of the late Kine, the admirers of Lrinn#us in Sweden have raised a public subscription throughout the kingdom, to erect hima monument of Swedish norphyzy to Linn £us in the cathedral at Upsal. The CHivaLieR SERGELL has been charged with its execution, and considerable sums had already been subscribed in the beginning: of
3194. : 6 in
Ee
—
MEMORY OF LINN AUS. 247
é instituted there a new professorship,—BuT 1 HAVE LOST, ALAS! era MAN, WHOSE CELEBRITY WAS AS GREAT ALL OVER THE WORLD “ as THE HONOUR WAS BRIGHT WHICH HIS COUNTRY DERIVED “ FROM HIM AS A CITIZEN. Lone witt Upsat REMEMBER THE 6 CELEBRITY WHICH IT ACQUIRED BY THE NAME OF A Linnaeus!”
On the 5th of December in the same year, the Kine was himself present at the meeting of the Royal Academy of Sciences, when Dean Beck, one of the oldest friends of Linn aus, delivered the comme- moration speech, which we had already occasion thus frequently to mention in this work. The Kine also rendered farther homage to the merits of Linnaus by a gold medal which he ordered to. be struck. It was executed by the masterly hand of LynnesercGer, one of the first artists Sweden ever produced. On one side the medal represented the portrait of Linnaus, with the Linnea Borealis, encompassed with this inscription :
“ Carotus Linnaus, Arcu. Rec. Egues Auratus.” On the other side appears the figure of Cyse Le, or nature in a sad and mourn- ful posture, holding a key in her left hand, and surrounded with ani mals, plants, and other emblems of natural history. Among the ani- mals a bear is to be distinguished, on whose back jumps an ape ;— this is probably an allusion to the following latin words, already men- tioned at the conclusion of Seé&. VI. of this biography :-—“ ringentium & Satyrorum cachinnos, mesque humeris insilientium Cercophithecorum 6 exultationes sustinui.”—It was in these words, our readers will re- member, Linnezus had described his condu€& towards his opponents. in the last edition of his System or Nature. The forbear- ance and greatness which characterized his conduét is extremely
2 well.
248 HONOURS PAID TO THE
well expressed on this medal. The bear, a noble Northern animal, the fittest to represent him,—lies quite in a tranquil position, casting a steady look upon the Linn#a,-and without seeming to take the least notice of the jumps and teazing of the monkey. Around this em-
blem we see these words inscribed :
—'§ Deam luctus angit amissi.”
—‘* The goddess vents her grief at his loss.”
The following words succeed immediately below the former: POST OBITUM, UPSALIA DIE X, JANUAR. M.D.CC.LXXVIII.
REGE JUBENTE.
After his death at Upsal, January 10, 1778, by the King’s command.— This medal is of the 17th size.
About seven years after, the great Gustavus conferred a fresh honour upon the manes of Linn aus. His name was then perpetuated in the most distinguished manner, in the annals of the University of Upsal, of which he had been the boast and glory for thirty-seven years. When the late King came in 1787 to lay the foundation-stone to the edifice of the new botanical garden in that city, the above medal-struck in honour of Linn aus was deposited within the stone, along with some Swedish coins and medals relative to the King’s coro- nation, and to his administration as Chancellor of the University. This dignity devolved on his accession to the throne to the present King, then Prince Royal. His Majesty ordered the following inscription to
be engraved upon the copper sheet—which contained the coins : | GUSTAVUS
MEMORY OF LINNAEUS. 249
GUSTAVUS III.
UT BONIS ARTIBUS ET PRASERTIM SCIENTIZ IN GENTIS LAUDEM, A CAROLG LINNZO AD FASTIGIUM EVECTA SIMULQUE MEMORIA CONSECRARET AU- SPICIA, QUIBUS FILIUS
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS
ACADEMIAM UPSALIENSEM TUETUR, HAS ADES EXSTRUERE VOLUIT, PRIMIS \ SUA MANU LOCATIS FUNDAMENTIS DIE XVII. AUG. M.D.CC.LXXXVII.
—‘“ To promote the studies, and especially the science which Lin- “ naus, to the honour of his nation, has brought to the highest pitch &¢ of perfe€tion, and to preserve the remembrance of the Chancellor- s¢ ship of the University of Upsal, the fun&tions of which were exer- “ cised by the Prince Royal Gustavus Apvotpnus, these buildings * have been raised, and the foundation-stone thereto laid, August 17th, 1787, with his own hands, by Gustavus III.”
The honourable manner, in which the name of Linnaus was mentioned in the letter of donation of the new botanical garden, has been already stated in the seventh seétion.
The great and elevated Queen Utrica Louisa, mother to the late King of Sweden, who died in 1782, venerated Linn us as devoutly as her son. When Linn us was alive, she had his portrait cast in the form of a medallion by the celebrated Arcurveoue, exhibited in the apartments of the palace at Drodtningholm, in front of the portraits of KLINGENSTIERNA, DE Gexr, and other illustrious Swedes*, -
The
* S After the death of Linnxus,” say Conporcet, * the Kine of Saveden caused a
- : h ; monument to be erected to him, by the side of that which the same prince had consecrated to Kk ** DESCARTES
250 HONOURS PAID TO THE
The memory of Linnaus was equally reverenced at home and abroad. Joun Hope, professor of Botany at Edinburgh, who died in 1786, opened his autumnal le€&tures in 1778, with a panegyric on Lrn-
nus, and had a monument ereéted to him with this inscription : « LINN&O POSUIT 7. HOPE.”
Professor Auston, his predecessor, had been one of the most rigo- rous anti-sexualists and opponents of Linnaus. A fine contrast ap- peared, however, under Hore, and the same thing happened at Helmstadt, where Berris, the successor of the implacable He1srrer, preached to his pupils the greatness of Linnus, and instilled into their minds love and veneration towards him.
At the meeting of the royal academy of sciences at Paris, Conpor- cET read a panegyric upon Linnazus; and M. Vicg p’Azyr made also his eulogium at the meeting of the Parisian medical society (Societé de Médécine), which was founded in 1776. The Chevalier Tounsere had already, in 1779, sent to the royal academy of sciences at Paris some of the most interesting particulars of the life of Linn 2us taken from his own diary. The purport of the contents of the panegyric delivered by M. Vig p’Azyr, has already been circumstantially stated in the beginning of this se€tion. The Duke pz Noati ves
“ DESCARTES (QUEEN CHRISTINA of Sweden, called the latter to Stockholm, where he “died in 1650; but his remains were afterwards removed to Paris), who as neglected in “* his country after his death, as he had been disregarded there during his life, still expeéts *€ of his fellow citizens those honours which foreign nations were eager to lavish upon him. “ See Eloge de M. de Linne, dans I’ Histoire del Acad. Roy. des Sciences, Paris 1781." — The author of this biography knows nothing of this monument, and the plan of raising one in the cathedral of Upsal is of a quite recent date.
caused
MEMORY OF LINN US. 251
caused a monument to be ereéted in his garden in honour of Linnaus. It consists of a cenotaphium, or an empty tomb, on which stands the bust of Linn us, and the plants Linn@a and Ayenza spring up by the side of it.
In the year 1787, a society of lovers of natural history assembled at Paris, under the name of Societé Linnéenne. Their intention was to cultivate and improve natural history, according to the Linn #an system, and to communicate to each other their observations and dis- coveries once a week. In this manner they endeavoured to render more general the system of Linn aus; the different branches of which, excepting botany, were but little known thenin France. Butthis laudable institution could not expeét to make any great progress as long as Count de Burron lived. It is well known, that Burron, who did not understand the Linn #An system, nor chose to give himself any trouble to understand it, had frequently censured Linnaus, and his influence over the royal academy of sciences being great and even general, no member of that learned body durst venture to say any thing in praise of the Linna#an system. The society, however, had long ago wished to ereét a monument to Linn us, their patron, in the royal bo- tanical garden, where Burron resided; but these wishes availed nought as long the Count was in being. His death on the 16th of April 1788, and the French revolution which followed soon after, gave the society that liberty to follow their inclination, of which they had hitherto been deprived. Several members of the royal academy, who had till then assisted at the meetings of the society in a clandestine manner, now avowed themselves openly as members, and though, amidst the tumult and shocks of the revolution, it could but seldom assemble, though
Kk 2 many
252 HONOURS PAID TO THE
many of the members. were absent, yet the institution continued to sub- sist, and the number of its members increased every day.
In the beginning of August +790, the motion of ereéting a monument to LINN £US was again renewed; and as it was. not convenient to be- stow any. considerable expences upon it at first, a resolution was entered into of ereéting a plain stone-monument in the wood of St. Ger main, at. the distance of a few leagues from Paris, with the words Cuarves Linne, engraved upon it. Most of the members, who: were present at the meeting when this resolution was taken, went on a Sun- day to St. Germain. A short time before, some troubles had broken out there between the inhabitants and the national guards; and whenever three or four individuals. were seen together in any place, the people always thought that some plot was going forward. The members of the so- ciety, about forty in number, heedless of the troubles and ferment, fully. experienced this disposition of the people on their arrival. The popu- lace manifested their suspicions at the meeting of so numerous a society by the bitterest. inve€tives, and declared the good and innocent: Linn #aAws to be a horde of aristocrats, meditating some dangerous plot. At this serious junéture the matter was on the pointof being ter- minated by. fighting and. bloodshed, as some members,.conscious of their innocence, and fired with their enthusiastic resolution of ere€ting the monument, attempted. to aggravate the fury of the enraged multitude by warm and spirited remonstrances.
What roused and fostered most the suspicions of the populace, were the tin-boxes which some of the members bore across their shoulder, fas. tened with a broad.ribband. They had brought those cases to put in them
such plants as they might colle& on their way. It fortunately, however, so
happened,.
MEMORY OF LINN AUS. 259.
‘ happened, that some eminent persons from Paris were present with the members, who hada certain acquaintance among the inhabitants of Si. Germain. Meanwhile, several members had returned home at the com. mencement of the dispute. Those who still remained, also thought it adviseable to wait quieter times, a quieter place, and the assembling of | an undisturbed and solemn society. Thus the revolutionary spirit pre- vented for this time the raising of the monument.
A few days after the Linn 2aw Society made a formal application to the Natrona AssEemBLy, to obtain permission to ere& the proje&led monument in the royal botanical garden, under the highest cedar of Mount Lebanon. The Assembly, without the least difficulty, decreed that the request of the society be granted.
In the evening of the 23d of August 1790, the bust of Linnaeus, which was. only made of stucco, imitating bronze, and standing upon a stone-pedestal painted in colours imitating porphyry, was solemly inau- curated by the light of torches, and the names of all the Linnazans present, were buried in'a vase at the foot of the monument.
Between.this period and the close of the year 1790, the number of the members had’so considerably increased, that the society found it necessary to hold their meetings in the great amphitheatre of the royal botanical garden. It then resembled one of those clubs which began at that period to become so numerous at Paris. ‘Many of the members’ had not the smallest knowledge of natural history, and curiosity was the only motive from which they resorted to the meetings of the society.
Under those circumstances, it was resolved: to give to the society a proper constitution, to ena€t laws and statutes, and thereby to ensure to it duration and greater utility. Between twenty and thirty of the mem-
1. bers
254 HONOURS PAID TO THE
bers united together, hired a place to hold their meetings, made sta- tutes, elected a president, who is chosen every three months from among the members; a secretary, whose trust is renewed quarterly ; changed, from motives of policy, the original name of Société Linnéenne, for that of Sociéte d’ Histoire Naturelle, and appointed ordinary, honorary, and corresponding members; who are received by ballot. This society has already published several volumes of its transaétions. It was also this socicty which petitioned the National Convention to send out some ships in quest of the celebrated French navigator, Count pz Peyrousg, who had not been heard of for many years. Shortly after, in conse- quence of a decree, an expedition sailed from Brest for this purpose, which had on board three members of the society as naturalists.
In the year 1788, a society of botanists and naturalists colleéted at London, under the presidency of Dr. James Epw. Smiru, and. in honour of our great luminary, assumed the name of the Linn «an Society. The first volume of the transa€tions of this patriotic literary body appeared at London in 1792. It is published in quarto by Messrs. - Wuure, and contains twenty-seven treatises in English, Latin and French, making altogether two hundred and fifty-seven pages. The presidency of this society goes by turns, and Sir Josep Banks suc- ceeded Dr. Smiru in that honourable funétion. Several volumes of the transa€tions have regularly appeared since, and been translated. into
different languages *.
* «¢ The LInNZAN SOCIETY,” says Dr. SMITH, ina letter to the author, “I instituted “6 in 1788, having engaged a number of members for it in my travels. We have just pub- «lished a volume of transa€tions in quarto with twenty plates; and at the publishers é¢ (Ware and Son) you will see a list of the members.” re)
A third
MEMORY OF LINNAUS. 255
A third Linnzawn Society was formed at Leipsic in the year 1790; un er the auspices of Professor Lupwic, which has twelve students as ordinary members. |
Among the many marks of honour and distin@ion conferred upon Linnus and his system after his death, we ought not to omit here, that the present Prince Royal of Denmark had a service of porcelain made, on which the Flora Danica is beautifully painted and represented, according to the Linn #AN system*.
Exclusive of the three medals which have been struck in Sweden, to perpetuate the memory of Linnaus, his portrait has also been frequently engraved. The first portrait which appeared in Ger- many was published at Lezpsic, in front of the edition of his Systema Nature, 1798. The best engravings of Linn aus are to be found be- fore the second edition of his Species Plantarum, published at Stock- holm in 1762; and in the sixth edition of his Genera Plantarum, which appeared in the same city in 1748. In this latter portrait, Linn aus is represented in a loose dress, leaning upon a volume of his System of Nature; and holds a branch of the Lznnea in his hand. In the former Linn us appears in full dress, decorated ‘with the Swedish order of the polar star, and below it is the following distich, written by Cuan es
Aurivitiius, the celebrated philologist at Upsal, who died in 1786: |
“ Hic alle est, cur regna volens natura reclusit ;
Quamque ulli dederat, plura videnda dedit.”
* In the dreadful conflagration which destroyed the royal mansion at Copenhagen, with the most valuable ‘effects, this superb monument of botanical taste is said to have also perished.
TRANSLATOR,
Amon g
256 | ' PORTRAITS ‘OF LINNAOS.
Among the Swedish engravings of Linn 2vs,‘ we ought also to no- tice one, done by AckERMANN, in quarto, and another in oftavo by SNACK, in form of a medallion.
There is likewise a portrait of Linn cs in the first number of Scnuweperus’s Colleétion des Portraits des Swedots celebres, published at Stockholm in 1778.
Representations of Linn aus appeared, by the celebrated artist ARCHEVEQUE at Paris, on a large medallion in form of an antique ; and at London by Wepcwoop and Benr vey likewise ona valuable medallion. In the latter the profile of Linn «us is white on a blue ground, with the Linnea on his breast.—There is farther, a beautiful likeness of Linn £us prefixed to Mitue’s Illustration of the Linnaan System. One of the finest and most excellent portraits of Linn aus is that which has been painted by the celebrated Swedish artist, Rosiin and engraved by Messrs. Facius. Linn us is there
represented in the decline of life. This portrait bears the following in- scription :
4
“ CHARLES VON LINNE,
BORN 43 MAY 1707. DIED JAN. 10,1778.”
Engraved from the original pi€ture in the possession of Sir Josrru Banxs, Bart. Published June 24, 1788, by Joun and Jos1an Boy- DELL, London.
From AcKERMANN’s original painting, several impressions of Linnus have been formed in plaster of Paris. One engraved by Enpner at Leipsic, is particularly remarkable. But were we. to
mention the different portraits of Linnaus, prefixed to the many
editions
PORTRAITS OF LINNAUS. £57
editions of his works, it would take up both too much time and space in the present work.
The scientific inheritance left by Linn aus, his excellent colle€tions of natural history, his herbarium, manuscripts and letters, remained in the possession of his family till the death of his son in 1783. A Bri- tish naturalist of considerable property, but whose great talents far outshine his fortune, and whose love of nature is of the most ardent kind, Dr. James Epwarp Smitu of London, obtained those treasures, He agreed to purchase them of the widow of Linn £us for the sum of
one thousand guineas; infinitely glad at his being able to carry that
golden fleece to England for so trifling a consideration, How much
must Sweden regret, that the treasures of her immortal genius, should have fallen to the share of a foreign land! It is, however, a consola- tory refle€tion, that they fell into excellent hands, and that their pre- sent proprietor will use them in the best manner, for the benefit of natural history. Dr. Smiru has already published several of the un- known produétions of Linn us, and the scientific world may expe& to reap many more advantages from his penetrating knowledge and un- remitting diligence.
At first, no person at Ugsal could in the least imagine, that the inva- luable learned remains of the prince of botany would ever be exported to a foreign country. A patriotic Swede and zealous promoter of natural science, of the name of Mauu_e, who was at that time in China, upon business concerning the Swedish East India Company, is said to have endeavoured to get them into his possession*, by giving dire€tions
to
* Crinum A fricanum ;—novum genus constitui et MAUHLIAM in honorem nobilissimi Dom. Jo. MAUHLE nominavi, qui solus pecuniam mihi suppeditaverat ad servandum in patria Mu- L] seuna
259 SCIENTIFIC BEQUEST.
to Dr. Daur, a pupil of Linnzus, to purchase the whole, and or> dering the sum necessary for that purchase to be paid to him. Dr.. Dant is even stated to have agreed for them at two thousand ducats ; but he did not succeed, -and Dr. Situ had the preference. Wecan give the following additional particulars respe&ting the disposal of the learned produétions left by Linn aus: :
“ The colleétion,” writes a Swedish literatus, in a Tetter to an emi- nent German botanist, dated March 3d, 1784, “ are still in the same s¢ state which they were in at the death of the younger Linnzus. An s¢ Englisman of the name of Smitu has offered one thousand guineas “6 for them, but he wants all the books and manuscripts. M. ALstrox- ¢¢ meR lays a claim to the Herbarium, which the younger Linn £vs cole s+ le&ted in his youth; this separation, though not in the least prejudicial « to the whole, makes, perhaps, such an impression upon the purchasers, s¢ that they will not give the whole sum of two thousand ducats. In ¢* striking. a bargain of such importance, it may be considered as an un- ¢¢ fortunate circumstance, to have to deal with so many heirs; the one ¢ will not always consent to do what the other will. If I can pre- s¢ vent the letters from being sold, it would be a good thing to have s¢ them printed in Germany for the benefit of the heirs; and should this. ¢ be the case, I will take the liberty of addressing myself to you.”
-Daut himself, in a letter to a German friend, dated Novem- ber goth, 1784, expresses himself thus: “¢ I agreed with Mr, **#*#, “who disposes of the property of Linnaus, for the library and: seum immortalium a LINNE; quod tamen, numerata licet eadem pecuniarum summa nescio
quo fato exteris cessit. See ANDR. DaHut Observationes Botanica Circa Systema Vegetabs Divia Linne. Goetting. 1784. Editum, &c, Havnie 1787.
2 s¢ colleétions.
* onl
FAMILY OF LINNAUS. 259
¢ the colle€tions at the sum of two thousand ducats. But while he endea-
-& voured to amuse me with his promises, he profited by the interval to ¢‘ convey them out of the kingdom. I was obliged to apply to the King, to s¢ obtain an order for stopping them, but I applied too late. This circum- *¢ stance obliged me to reside at Stockholm for some months *.”
Those who wish for the best and most authentic information, not only about the remarkable circumstances which attended the sale of the L1n- NAAN Colle€tions, but also respeéting their contents and quality, will find it among the supplements to this biography, in an ample letter from Dr. J. E. Smita to the author.
Linnaeus was the father of six children, two sons and four daughters. Of the eldest son, Cuartes Linnzus, who succeeded his father in his professorship, we shall give a particular account in the course of this work. The youngest, whose name was Joun, died while an infant, Exisasetu Curisrtina, the eldest Miss LinNaus, married in 1761 one BERGENCRANTZ, a captain of cavalry in the service of Sweden, and has been dead these many years. The fruit of her marriage was a daughter, born in 1764. The three other daugh- ters of Linn us are the only surviving branches of that great man’s
family. Misses Louisa and Sarau CurisTina, the two eldest, re-
main in a state of celibacy with their mother at the villa of Ham-
marby, one league from Ugsal. And Miss Sorura, her youngest, has
* «Tao hadde accorderat mede -...., som disponerade om LINNEERNAS egendom, om ‘¢ eras Samlingar och Biblotheque, mot en summa stor 2000 ducater; men under dit han ~“€ uppeholt mig met J6ften, behagade han, lurendrega dem ur Riket. Jag var nésakad, at © «* vanda mig till Konunger, och begiara sequester men kom for sent. Dé te har giort, at jag 5 most:vistas par monander Stockholm.”
Zig | sealed
260 FAMILY OF LINNAUS.
sealed the conjugal bond with Samuzt Duss, procurator of the se: nate of the university of Upsal*.
It was this daughter whom Linnzvs cherished as the darling of his family; and the following extraordinary. occurrence will account for this predile€lion. She was—all appearances at least bespoke her to be—still-born. “ No!” said Linnaus, “ she must not, she shall not “die!” He pressed her to his bosom, emitting his breath from his mouth into. her’s,—and behold! She revived and lived t.
The brother of our luminary, who holds the re€tory of Stenbrohulé is still alive, but without any male issue.
Evizasetu Curistina, the eldest daughter of Linn aus, acquired a learned reputation in the literary annals of Sweden. The knowledge which she had of natural history was considerable, and-even rare for a person of her sext. Inthe year 1762 she first discovered that the herb Tropeolum emitted sparks of fire like an ele€trical machine. This happened at the fall of day, and ceased when it became quite dark.
The discovery of this remarkable and interesting phenomenon was in
_ *™ I have for the most part extracted this new and interesting information from a letter addressed to me by a friend, dated Upsal, August 12th, 1791, who thus expresses himself:
- © Predia Hammarby et Soefja, uno milliari ab Upsalia distantia, possidet vidua Linnmz, *Cadhuc in vivis superstes. Filiarum ejus natu maxima nupsit nobili viro BERGEN- ‘“ CRANTZ, mMagistro equitum, ante plures vero jam annos mortua est. Natu minima ma- “ trimonio duxit virum nobil. Sam. Duse, litium academia curatorem et habitat Upsalies 66 Due relique cum matre in predio Hammarby vivunt. Filium etiam habuit Linnus Jo- ‘CHANNEM, in prima pueritia mortuum. Frater ejus, qui de apibus scripsit, vita adhue fruitur.”
+ Communicated to the author by a most intimate friend of Linnaus in Germany,
} Several erroneous and hyperbolic statements have been made in this respect. In a work entituled, “‘ Voyage en Suede, par un Officier Hollandis, 1789,” it is alledged that she ex- celled Linna&us, jun. in every sort of knowledge, and had written many excellent works on botaay. It is however well known that Linnaus jun, was not alive at that time.
honour
OUTWARD APPEARANCE OF LINN£US. 2614
honour of her, described and recorded in the transa€tions of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Stockholm, (tom, xxiii. 1762).
The stature of Linna&us was a little below the common size, though neither lusty nor lean, yet the stru€ture of his frame was strong and solid. He rather stooped a little when walking, and had con- tra€ted this habit from the frequent examination of plants, and from his constant search after vegetable or other natural produtions. From his infancy his veins had much swelled with blood. His head was. large, somewhat elevated backwards, and a traverse line separated the fore- part from the hind. His eyes were brown and fiery, his sight was very sharp, and his ear extremely quick in catching every sound, except music. It is rather singular, that the man, who was all alive to joy and social harmony, should have felt an antipathy, as it were, for that art which best expresses those affe€tions, and has mostly been the delight of great men. Even the grave and serious Bozruaave found his chief comfort and recreation in music*. Another circumstance to be noticed as a peculiarity in Linn us was,, that his memory, so excel- Jent and uncommonly vigorous in his youth and.in the flower of his age,—that_ memory which encompassed whatever was remarkable in nature,—became at last as weak as it formerly had been strong, and began already to fall off very considerably after he had completed his fiftieth year. To the too violent exertion and overburdening of his memory, its early decay ought, therefore, to be attributed.
His memory, like all his talents and endowments was, in point of science, solely devoted to natural history. He loved the Belles Lettres,
* Fessus—writes BOERHAAVE of himself in his diary—testudinis concentu: solabatur las- aitudinem ; musices amantissimus,
gad.
262 LINN-:ZUS'S KNOWLEDGE OF LANGUAGE.
and even when old age had chilled the brilliancy of his imagination, would frequently read Ovipv and Vireixz, and rehearse with ease and pleasure, several passages from the works of those poets. He was not fond of what is properly called the philology of words. While at college, he had already but too much evinced his aversion to the learning of languages. In the foreign countries which he had visited, in England, Holland, and France, the Latin language became mostly his aid in his intercourse, which was almost entirely confined to the learned. In this language, with the assistance of the Greek, of which he had a competent knowledge for his profession, he expressed him- self in describing objets of natural history, with ease, fluency, masterly conciseness, perspicuity, and precision. Simplicity, the pre- dominant feature of his whole charaéter, was also remarkable in the language of his science, which derived from him so many reforms and perfe@ions. The di€tion of a technical man could not surely be that ofa Cicero. The objeé of which he complained, appeared more im- portant to him than the vesture which he threw about it. His de- scriptions and his letters please, though one ought not to search for ele- gance of latinity in them. Owing to the quickness with which he wrote, he would sometimes commit errors even against the grammatical accuracy of the vernacular tongue of the Romans, and some of his letters which we had occasion to insert in this work, will furnish ample proof of the truth of this assertion. The greatness of Linn aus be- comes an inducement even tomention the mosttrifling particulars. He fre- quently used to say to his friends:—* I wouLp RATHER HAVE THREE 6 SLAPS FROM PRISCIAN, THAN ONE FROM Narure.—Malo -tres
“© glapas
ez
HABITS AND MODE OF LIVING OF LINNAUS. 263
& alapas a Priscrano, quam unam a Natura*.” When he was chosen member of the French Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris in 1763, he composed his letter of thanks to that learned body in Swedish, and had it translated into Latin by his friend the late Swedish librarian Fronpin. In other respeéts, it cannot be denied, that a more exten- sive knowledge of languages, especially of the modern ones, would have proved highly useful to Linnaus. The complaints of his not having profited wit hutility by the works of foreigners, would then have been less numerous, if not entirely removed. He was tolerably well versed. in the German, but spoke it very rarely. «I had however & the pleasure,’—says the celebrated botanist Enrnarp at Hanover t, « of his once conversing with me in Germany for a whole afternoon. & in the spring of 1773.”
His a€tivity was as great as his thirst for truth, and for the more profound. and more extensive knowledge of his science was unquench- able.. The stri€test order, the most punéiual regularity distinguished all his a€tions. In summer he usually slept five hours, from ten at night till three o’clock in the morning; in winter his rest lasted nine hours, namely, from nine in the evening till six in the morning. He proportioned the length and duration of his sleep to the season of the year; and the time for study and occupation he always limited by the natural flow of his spirits. Whenever he felt himself fatigued, he laid by his work; at night he used to be very fond of good company, dis- played much mirth and jollity, joked, and would often set whole
circles in a roar in which he most heartily joihed them. Owing to his
* From a Letter of one of his mest intimate friends at Stockholm,
+ Ina Letter to the Author.
sanguine
264 HABITS AND MODE OF. LIVING OF LINN AUS.
sanguine temper he became very susceptible to transitions from joy to sadness, and from these to anger. His heart was downright probity itself, and from his lips streamed candor, truth and virtue. Faithful and affeétionate to his friends, he never even retaliated upon his ene- mies their malice and enmity; he was not apt:to forget an offence easily, and used to say: “ I will not suffer myself to be deceived a «© second time.”—All the concerns of house-keeping and domestic ceconomy he entrusted to the care of his spouse, who ruled the family. He was a true and tender husband, and his fondness as a father was not less remarkable than his other good qualifications. -
His mansion was neat and filled with handsome furniture, he nevér disliked feasting his friends ; but the poverty which had once oppressed him in his youth, would not permit him to be lavish of expence. * In all that related to his science, to natural curiosities, books, corres. pondence ; or if he saw a person that really needed relief, for instance, a widowed mother with infant orphans, nothing could then restrain his liberality and beneficence. The excellent colle€tions-of literary and natural treasures which he left behind him, prove what considerable ex- pence he was at, as a literatus anda friend of nature. We will illu- strate this assertion by the following comparatively speaking diminutive instance :—In 1764 he wrote thus to the celebrated Austrian naturalist J. A. Scopout, who was at that time a physician at Jstrza in Carinthia, and became afterwards professor of chemistry and botany at Pavia, where he terminated his meritorious life May 3, 1788: « After many & vain endeavours, I have at last received your Description of the Carin- 6 thian inseéls from Holland. ‘The postage alone stands me in about « three ducats, but I do not grudge the expence. That work has af-
3 “¢ forded
CHARACTER OF LINNAUS. 265
* forded me more pleasure than an hundred ducats would have done. «‘ I am astonished at your boundless industry in colle&ing, classing, s¢ and describing your work. None but him who had a share in such s¢ Jabour can form himself an adequate idea of it*.”
To the poor—and even to the rich, foreign students, who resided at Uysal entirely on his account, he left the whole of the perquisites, which they must otherwise have paid him for his le@ures. To the former he remitted that money from pure motives of beneficence, and from the latter he would not receive it, that he might convince them how nobly proud he was of his science. Besides the testimony which professor Fasricius gives in this particular with regard to Zozca and himself, we will communicate here the following farther illustra- tions of the generosity of Linnaus.
When Dr. Gresexe took his leave of our luminary in autumn of 1771, he presented to him a Swedish bank note asan acknowledgment for the pains he had taken to instru& him, but he absolutely declined
acceptance. After reiterated intreaties he asked Gizsexe :—* Pray, ‘tell me candidly, are you rich, andcan you afford it—can you weil ‘‘ spare this money on your return to Germany ?-——If you can, give “the bank note to my wife. But should you be poor, so help me
“ God, I would not take a single farthing from you. Tt.”
* Post varia frustranea tentamina tandem accepi tuam Entomologiam Carniolicam exhiben- tem insects Carniolie indigene, Vindob 1768, 8vo. maj.) eamque ex Belgio et quidem sumpti- bus trium fere ducatorum aureorum pro solo tabellario adducente; neque hoc doleo, quum ex ea plus obleétamenti hauserim, quam ex centum ducatis. Obstupesco ad infinitum labo- rem, in colligendo describendo et disponende, quem nullus alius intelligere usquam potest, nisi qui ipse manum labori admovit.
‘+ Nam si pauper esses—ita me Deus!—(this was the usual form of oath of Linnzus) » ne.obolum a te accipgrem,
Mm «& To
266 CHARACTER OF LINNAUS.
*‘ To the praise of Linnaus I must farther own,” says Mr. Eur- HART, the celebrated botanist at. Hanover*,— that notwithstanding: ss his parsimony, he neither did nor would accept a single penny as an s¢ honorary for the le&tures which he gave me.”—* You are a Swiss,” said he once to me, ‘¢ and the only Swiss that visits me. I shall take * no money of you, but feel a pleasure, in telling you all I know “ gratis.”
Notwithstanding those liberal sentiments, gold, the noblest of metals, did not.a little recreate his sight, and inspire him with fondness. “ And ‘6 why,” says Dean Bacx, “ should gold not have been amassed by s¢ him, who hoarded up all that was precious or beautiful in the lap “ of nature.”
In the common social intercourse he was fond of conversation, kind and condescending towards his inferiors,—and at the same time, a prepossessed and enthusiastic friend of reputation and honour. His coat of arms bore for its motto the words, with which AncuisEs spirits up A2nEAs, and Patias invokes Hercuies: “ Famam Ex- “ TENDERE Facris.”—% To spREAD FAME BY DEEDSt”. The truth of this motto he fully realized. Honour was in him like in other eminent men, the source of his greatness. The liberal will in other re- speéts hardly deem it necessary to gloss over by apologies that manifes- tation of self-love, which is generally inseparable from true honour ¥.
Linnaus.
* Ina Letter to the Author.
+ ‘Et dubitamus.adhuc virtutem extendere factis?”?—Vireit. Ain. Lib. VI. Vers. 809, ——‘‘ Sed famam extendere factis ——‘' Hoc Virtutis opus.” ——ViRGIL, Ain, Lib. X. Vers. 468 and 469.
3 The late celebrated Chevalier PerzeR WarcENTIN, Secretary of the Royal Academy. at Stockholm, gives the following opinion in a Letter dated Srockholm, July 23, 1751. 3 s¢ Apud
CHARACTER OF LINNAUS. 267
¢ Linnaus is censured,” says Dean Bacx, “ for having aspired at ¢¢ universal dominion in botany, and for having been angry with those é¢ who strove like him to acquire eminence in that science. Jealousy %¢ is almost constantly found to operate upon great men. And the re-.
public of science has neither Pomerys nor Casars. Exclusive do-
oO ov
‘¢ mination in the regions of literary eminence belongs to him alone «¢ who has truth on his side; nature confirms the truth, while time on “ the other hand, destroys presumption and caprices. And who had *6 more virtue and more merit on his side than Linnaus? Who could sé with greater right raise himself the monarch of natural science? 6 Hence how generally and voluntarily have his laws been adopted.”
We will readily allow that Linn aus wished to acquire honour by his labours. But he did not negleét, as his pupils can prove, to pay proper homage to the discoveries of other men. He mentioned with gratitude all those, who showed or sent him the least curiosities of nature. He thought it was his prerogative, to see and describe those plants, which his disciples procured by resources of their own. He ac- knowledged their confidence as a strong mark of politeness; but when they lost sight of this confidence, he could not forbear expressing his displeasure. In other respe€ts he did not like to ine publicly of things which he had not seen himself.
The arms of Linnzus were perhaps the most expressive of any jearned man of the age; at the top above the helmet was the plant
which bears his name, and whose leaves hung down on both sides, in
“* Apud nos in Linn.£0 ipsiusque discipulis Academiz Upsaliz fere unica spes, quoniam alii, ** quamvis in Chemicis, Medicis peritissimi, raro sua inventacommunicant. Ne itaque mi- * reris, quod quandoque LinN#£UM impensiuslaudemus. Hc ipsius unica est ‘merces pro “§ tot laboribus.”
Mm 2 the
268 CHARACTER OF LINN AUS.
the centre of the divisions was an egg,—an allusion to the principle of
Harvey: % Omne animal ex ovo,’—and to the basis of his sexual
system: Omnis planta e Semine ;’—at the top was a crown, and on.
each side another, signifying the three reigns of nature, and borrowed.
from the medal which Count Tzssin had ordered to be struck in ho- nour of him; from below appeared the order. of the Polar Star, encom- passed by his motto: Famam Extendere Fattis..
The hand. which. Linn 2us wrote, was upon the whole of a diminu- tive size, but remarkably plain and well formed for a literatus. In the earlier part of his life it must even have been remarked as a. fine hand*.
One of the most distinguished attributes of the mind of Linnavus. were his religious sentiments, and his profound adoration of the Divinity. He resembled in this respett, Newton, HALveERy Locke, Eurer. and others, whose respe€t of. religion rendered their knowledge still more estimable. The deeper he penetrated into. the secrets of nature, the more he admired the wisdom of her creator. He praised this wisdom: in his works, recommended it by his.speeches, and honoured it in his a€tions. Whenever he found an opportunity of expatiating on the greatness, the providence, and omnipotence of Gop, which frequently happened in his.le€tures and. botanical excursions, his heart glowed. with a celestial fire, and. his mouth poured forth torrents of admirable eloquence. This made him. one of. the best inculcators of morality ; he instilled by so doing a similar spirit of religion into the breast of his pupils. He kept, as we already observed, a diary
* This assertion is proved by some Letters of Linn£us,. which the Author himself has seen.
like
CHARACTER OF LINNAEUS. 269
‘like Haxver, in which he recorded the principal occurrences of his life. Besides this, he had began to write a little work in 1733, which che called Nemesis Divina; and in which he recorded as it were, for his own warning, the punishments inflifted by Providence, and those catastrophes and adversities which befel others, and which from long experience, he had either foreseen. or had a presentiment of. Over the door of the hall, in which he gave his le€tures, was the follow- ing inscription: “ InNocur Vivite! Numen Apest!—* Live guilt- Jess! God observes you !”—-He could. never. think on the wonderful paths on which the Almighty had guided him without being moved, and without thanking his Providence for all the proofs of his grace and mercy. He concluded the tratt which contains the occurrences of his life with these words: ** The Lord was with thee, where ever thou 66 didst go, Eo. EFe..
One of his celebrated pupils, the late Chevalier Murray of Goet- tingen, when publicly announcing the death of his great teacher in 1778, added the following illustration of his chara&ter *.—¢ Every can- 6 did and impartial mind cannot but acknowledge how much natural ‘¢ history stands indebted to Linn aus for his writings, for his le&tures, *¢ for his correspondence, for his most a€tive zeal, and for sending the s ablest pupils to all quarters of the globe; and with regard to medicine, s¢ for fixing the solid basis. of a successful pra€tice, and ascertaining the « remedies. By the order, truth, precision and perfeétion, and the im- «© mediate application of theory to pra€tical use, which he introduced in.
sé his favourite science, he not only weaned his countrymen from a whim-
* See J. A. Murray’s Medico-prattical Library, Vol. III, Part I. Goettingen 1778, Page 15.
6 sical’
270 CHARACTER OF LINNAWUS. ‘
“¢ sical and pretended study of antiquities, but kindled in all Europe and
A
‘in other enlightened parts of the world, an enthusiastic love of natural « history, which even captivated monarchs. As long as the world shall “¢ exist, there will be opportunities of making alterations, additions, and * commentaries in ceftain learned produ&ions; but what is all this, if ¢ compared to the merits of an original creator. ‘His mind was too ele- *¢ vated and too noble to have ever suffered him to abuse or vex even *¢ those who had cowardly and morosely attacked him. Not a line of such *¢ a tendency obscures his splendid literary career. The Swedish court ex- *¢ pressed the esteem which it felt for him, not only by promoting and sé facilitating the progress of his science, but also by conferring upon «¢ him personal rewards; he graced the presence of his King; in the s° temple which is consecrated to nature at Drottningholm, a medallion ‘¢ representing him is suspended amidst the most illustrious Swedes, and ‘¢ a superb mansoleum has been ereéted to him after his death Many of “ his countrymen, heedless of the dangers which abound on the stormy ‘> seas and in wildernesses, the repairs of ferocious beasts, exposed & themselves, merely to gratify their venerable professor by natural col- «¢ JeGtions. One of them sent him a service of porcelain from China, s¢ Hurposely manufaétured for him and bearing a representation of the ¢ Linn#a Boreatis on the outside. Others attempted by their “¢ pencil, or CuisE1, to render imperishable their name by publishing st his portrait. As Jong as Linn us preserved the faculty of thinking, ‘¢ he constantly had in his mind his darling motto: Famam Extendere “6 Faétis.—It raised him from the humblest obscurity to the summit of
6 permanent fame.”
a ¢ Tender
CHARACTER OF LINNAUS. 274
* Tender to his friends,” says Conporeer in his panegyric, de- livered before the Royal Academy of sciences at Paris*, “ amiable “and blithsome in familiar converse, noble with the great, plain and * good-natured to his inferiors, Linnaus never purchased by base- ‘‘ ness the privilege of making others fee] the humiliating weight of * pride; and was the less, jealous of affeéting a precarious prero- “« gative than he was confident of his real greatness, Rich by the *‘ munificence of his court, he never deviated from that simplicity of “6 life, from which no man can stray without being punished by ridicule ‘and loneliness."—-A short time after he had suffered an apopletic stroke, he composed a brief account of his life, and sent it to this Academy to furnish materials for his panegyric. In this produion he speaks with as much candor of his labours and discoveries as he
does of his faults—‘* He owns that he might perhaps be too easily
* Sensible avee ses amis, aimable et gai dans Ia Societé intime; nobles avec les grands, simple et bon avec ses inferieurs, on ne le vit jamais acheter par des bassesses le droit de faire eprouver des hauteurs, d’autant moins jaloux d’affecter une superiorité precaire, qu’il etoit plus sir d’en avoir une rééle. Riche des bienfaits de la Cour, il ne quitta jamais, cette sim- plicité de vie, dont on ne peut s’ecarter, sans en etre puni par le ridicule et par ’ennui.— Trés peu de temps apres son attaque d’apoplexie, il dressa lui m@me une courte notice de.sa vie, et il voulut qu’elle fit envoyée 4 l’academie pour servir de materiaux pour son eloge. Cette avec une égale simplicité qu’1l y parle de ses travaux, de ses deconvertes, ou qu’il con- vient de ses defauts. Il avoue qu’il fut peut étre trop facile 4 s’emouvoir, ou a_s’irriter; que lent 4 embrasser une opinion, il tenoit peut-étre avec trop d’opiniatrete 4 celles, qu'il avoit une fois adopté; qu’il ne soutfrit avec assez de moderation ni les: critiques, qui s’eleve- rent contre lui, ni les contradictions, qu’il eprouva de la part de ses rivaux. Ces aveux, provent seulement, que M. pe LinnéE eut pour la gloire passion veritable, et que cette passion Acomme toutes les autres ses excés et ses faiblesses; mais combien peu.d’hommes ont comme hui le courage d’avouer ces. faiblesses !—
Ainsi ce soin de s’occuper de son éloge, qui dans un autre eut été peut €tre effet d’un vain amour propre, ne fut chez. lui, qu’une nouvelle marque de son amour pour Ja verité. Apres avoir combattu toute sa vie les erreurs il ne vouloit pas laisser subsister celles, que Padmie ration. ou Penvie auroit pu accrediter, pour et contre lui... Eloge de M. DE LinNE, p. 80.
66 moved
278 CHARACTER OF LINNAEUS,
« moved or irritated; that he is but slow in adopting opinions, and 66 perseveres perhaps with too much obstinacy in those which he had s¢ once received; that he was not possessed of moderation sufficient to “6 resist the censure and the contradi€tions of his rivals—Such avowals ** only prove, that Linnzus was passionately fond of fame, and that ‘6 this passion like all others is subje€ to frailties and excesses. But * how small is the number of men who have that courage which he had to own their frailties.”
«¢ Thus the care which he took of his eulogium, and which in another ‘¢ man might perhaps have been the mere impulse of vanity, was in him “« but afresh proof of his love of truth. After having combated errors «+ all his life time, he would not palliate those which admiration or envy s¢ might have urged for or against him.”
The extraordinary laconism in the works of Linnaus, and per- haps the too frequent use of systematic description, render the perusal of them difhcult ; they require more being studied than read; but afford afterwards a rich compensation in the precision of his ideas, and in the advantage of presenting, allat once, a multiplicity. of results, Linn us was well aware that naked truth possessed the most captivat- ing charms, and that those ornaments which are used to. set her off, serve only to mask her. He was more eager to form naturalists and to instru€ students than to entertain amateurs. The powers of eloquence which allure the latter and please the idle fancy, were a gift which he never desired to make his own, His countrymen, at the same time, found in the works which he wrote in his mother-tongue, an elegant and pleasant di€tion, and that kind of eloquence, which among all others, “is the most enrapturing, and perhaps the only one peculiarly adapted. to phi-
a losophical
‘
CHARACTER OF LINN US. 273
losophical works, I mean, that eloquence which comprises many thoughts in a few words, and expresses new and important truths, in a noble and artless language.
In all the works of Linnaus, there reigns a profound adoration of Providence, a lively admiration of the greatness and wisdom of his ways, and a tender gratitude for his benefits. He believed in Provi- dence, because his daily observations upon nature furnished him with fresh proofs of her sublime immensity, and he daily saw instances of it before his eyes. |
All authentic particulars, which can contribute to a stri€ter know. ledge of the life, charatier and peculiarities of a man, who has ren. dered himself as eminent and as immortal as Linn aus, cannot fail to prove agreeable and interesting. We shall therefore subjoin here those anecdotes which Professor Fasricius of Kzel, one of his most cele- brated pupils, has colleéted respeéting him.
“ For two whole years,” relates Fazricrus t, namely from 1762 till 1764, “ have I been so fortunate as to enjoy his instruétion, his gui- «¢ dance and his confidential friendship. Not a day elapsed, on which I «¢ did not see him, on which I was not either present at his le€tures, or, “ as it frequently happened, spent several hours with him in familiar con- s¢ yersation. In summer we followed him into the country. We were « three, Kunn*, Zoxzcat, and I, all foreigners. In winter we lived
« dire@ly facing his house, and he came to us almost every day, in‘his
* See Deutsches Museum, No. V. Lips. 1780, p. 431.
+ Kunn was an American, born at Philadelphia.
~ Zerca died as a Coonsellor of State to the King of Denmark at Copenhagen, December 29,1788. He was born Oétober 7, 1742.
nn 66 short
274 ANECDOTES.
“short red robe de chambre, with a green fur-cap on his head and a pipe ‘¢in his hand. He came for half an hour but stopped a whole one, “and many times two. His conversation on these occasions was ex- *‘ tremely sprightly and pleasant. It either consisted in anecdotes rela- ‘¢ tive to the learned in his profession, with whom he got acquainted in ‘6 foreign countries, or in clearing up our doubts, or giving us other “kinds of instru€tion. He used to laugh then most heartily, and dis- «¢ played a serenity and an openness of countenance, which proved how *¢ much his soul was susceptible of amity and good fellowship.
s¢ Our life was much happier when we resided in the country. Our ‘¢ habitation was about half a quarter of a league distant from his house 6 at Hammarby—in a farm where we kept our own furniture and other ‘¢ requisites for housekeeping. He rose very early in summer, and s¢ mostly about four o’clock. At six he came to us because his house s‘ was then building, breakfasted with us, and gave le€tures upon the * natural orders of plants (ordines naturales plantarum *), as long as he %6 pleased, and generally till about ten o’clock. We then wandered 6 about till twelve upon the adjacent rocks, the produétions of which s¢ afforded us plenty of entertainment. In the afternoon we repaired to s¢ his garden, and in the evening we mostly played at the Swedish game s of trissett, in company with his spouse.
s¢ On Sundays the whole family usually came to spend the day with ‘6s, We sent for a peasant who played on an instrument resembling a - 6 violin, at the sound of which we danced in the barn of our farm-
‘house. Our balls were certainly not very splendid, the company but
* The publication of those leCtures by Dr. GiesExE, is to be found in the Lift of the Works of Linnaus.
‘ small,
ANECDOTES. 275
small, the music’superlatively rustic, and no change in the dances, ‘¢ which were constantly either minuets or Polish; but regardless” of «¢ these wants we passed our time very merrily. While we were « dancing, the orp MaN, who smoaked his pipe with Zorca, whu «‘ was deformed by nature, and emaciated, became a spe€tator of “ our amusement, and sometimes, though very rarely, danced a Polish «6 dance, in which he excelled every one of us young men. He was ‘‘ extremely delighted whenever he saw us in high glee, nay, if we evex *¢ became very noisy; had he not always found us so, he would have ‘‘ manifested his apprehensions lest we should not be sufficiently en- * tertained.—Those days, those hours shall never be erased from my ‘¢ memory, and every remembrance of them is grateful to my heart!
«¢ What made him so excessively kind towards us was, because we ‘¢ were foreigners, and besides some Russians who did not bestow great ¢¢ pains upon their studies, we also were those who alone adhered to ‘¢ him, who alone heard and attended him, and remained at Upsal en- “ tirely on his account. He found that we loved his science, and that «© we proved this love by a most zealous application to its different ‘¢ pursuits. He felt therefore, great pleasure in convincing his own s‘ countrymen, that his science would be esteemed abroad, even when s¢ it should begin to decline in Sweden. He was also fond of conversa- “¢ tion on all subjeéts relative to natural history, for which he had but too “ little opportunity at Upsal. That science almost entirely engrossed his ‘¢ speech, and every thought of his mind; and being the only natu- ‘¢ ralist then at that university, such a privation must have occasioned to
him a great deal of irksomeness.
Nn 2 ‘& Wher
276 ANECDOTES,
a
¢ When I got acquainted with Sir Cuannes Linna&us, who was. then in his fifty-sixth year, increasing age had already furrowed his
° . . \ ‘ front with wrinkles. His countenance was open, almost constantly
n
.* serene, and bore great resemblance to his portrait in the Species Plan-
s* tarum. But his eyes,—of all the eyes I ever saw,—were the most
n
‘ beautiful. They certainly were but little, but darted a refulgent <sssplendor and a penetration of aspeét which I never observed before «‘ inany other man. It sometimes appeared to me, as if his looks would «* penetrate through the very innermost recesses of the heart.
«¢ His mind was remarkably noble and elevated, though I well know *¢ that some persons accused him of several faults; the acuteness and «* energy of his mental faculties, even shone through his eyes. But his «¢ greatest excellence consisted in the systematical order, by which his ‘¢ thoughts succeeded each other. Whatever he said or did was faithful *¢ to order, to truth, and to regularity. In his youth his memory was ¢¢ uncommonly vigorous, but it began to sink early into decay. Even é¢ when I was with him, he could not sometimes remember the names © of his dearest friends and relatives. I still recolle& to have seen him «¢ once very much embarrassed, when, after writing a letter to Moraus, “ his father-in-law at Fahlun, he almost found it impossible to recolle& ‘¢ his name.
‘¢ Elis passions were strong and violent. -His heart was open to every ‘impression of joy; and he loved jocularity, conviviality and good ‘+ living. He was an excellent companion, pleasant in conversation, ‘¢ full of strong hits of fancy and seasonable and entertaining stories ; *‘ but at the same time, suddenly roused to anger and boisterous ; the «¢ sudden effervescence of this fiery passion subsided however, almost
3 66 as
ANECDOTES. 277
s¢ at the very moment of its birth, and he immediately became all plain
‘¢ good-nature again. His friendship was sure and invariable. Science
nw
* was generally its basis; and every one who knew him must own
g
¢ what concern he always manifested for his pupils, and with how much
na
« zeal they returned his friendship, and frequently became his defenders.
«© He was so fortunate as to find among his favourites none that were
na
‘ungrateful; even Rotanper deserved more to be pitied than «¢ blamed.
“© The ambition of Linn aus knew no bounds; and his motto, Fa- 6 mam Extendere Faétis, was the reai mirror of his soul*. But this am- s¢ bition never extended beyond the regions of his science, and it never “¢ degenerated into surly and offensive pride. He certainly did not *¢ care much for the opinion of his cotemporaries, and only heeded that «¢ which proceeded from those, who were men of genuine literary merit. «© His way of living was moderate and parsimonious, his dress plain, « and oftentimes even shabby. The high rank to which his King had ‘raised: him, pleased him only as far as he considered it as a proof s+ of his scientific greatness. © ,
“In the pursuits of his studies he could but ill brook contradi&ion sand opposition. He corre€ted his works agreeable to the just re- “ marks of his friends, whose hints he received with gratitude ;—but
* the attacks of his opponents he despised, and instead of answering he
* Linn#£vus commonly wrote this motto in the memorial-books presented to him by his continental friends; the late celebrated Chevalier InRe, who, though a sincere friend: of Linn vs, disliked nevertheless all ostentation, inserted frequently opposite the writing of,
Linn &us these words '** Non magna. sunt, que timent.”—The Author has verified this from several originals,
“ consigned
278 ANECDOTES.
** consigned them to that obscurity and oblivion in which they have *¢ long ago been buried. Notwithstanding this, he could not easily for- ** give aggressions, and strained every nerve to erase them from the “© annals of literature. He was liberal in dispensing praise, because ‘* he was fond of being flattered; and this, indeed, may be consi- % dered as his greatest foible. At the same time, his ambition was ‘‘ founded upon the consciousness of his own greatness, and upon the “‘ merits which he acquired in a science, over which he had for “‘ so many years wielded the sceptre of sovereignty. TouRNEFORT, *‘ as he often told me, was his pattern in his youth; he did all he could *¢ to equal him, and found at last, that he had left Tournerort ata s great diftance beneath him.
s¢ Linn us has been particularly charged with avarice. It cannot be “ denied, that his way of living, considering his good circumstances, was ‘6 very moderate, and that he surely did not despise gold. But if I weigh ‘¢ in my mind, those extremes of poverty, which so long and so heavily overwhelmed him, I can easily account for this parsimony. But I «¢ could not say, that his frugality ever degenerated into sordid avarice. ‘¢ J caneven prove quite the contrary by my ownexperience. After hav- ‘¢ ing given us leétures all the summer round, we were not only obliged
“ to urge him to receive the fee due for these leétures, but even
‘to leave the money slyly upon his chest, as he had signified his
é resolution not to take it, ina final and peremptory manner.
‘© He was not quite happy and comfortable in his own family. His
~~
¢ wife was tall, robust, domineering, selfish, and destitute of every ad- s‘ vantage of a good education. She frequently robbed us’ of the joys s‘ which gilded our social moments. Unable to hold any conversa- 2 “ tion
ANECDOTES. 279
‘ tion in decent company, she consequently was never much fond of it herself.
“¢ Under those disadvantages, the education of the children of Lin- s¢ n.zus could not but be of an inferior description. The young ladies, *¢ his daughters, are all good-tempered, but rough children of nature, “© and deprived of those external accomplishments which they might *¢ have derived from a better education. The younger Linn us, who © succeeded his father in his professorship at Upsal, is certainly not en- « dowed with the same vivacity ; but the great knowledge which he «‘ acquired by a constant pra€tice of botany, and by the many and ex- ‘6 cellent observations of his parent which he found in his manuscripts, “6 must have rendered hima very useful man there. The eldest daugh- ‘¢ ter, who married Captain Von Bercencranz, returned afterwards *‘ to her parents, and lived constantly in their house.
“© The merits of Linn aus in the sciences are uncommonly great. - «“ He not only enriched them considerably himself, but formed also a *¢ great number of pupils of the greatest scientific eminence. He ‘¢ found means, partly by the charming method of delivering his leGtures, ‘‘ partly by his excursions and friendly demeanour, to inspire them «© with a love of natural history, which they always preserved after- *¢ wards, and which induced them to undertake long and important tra- *‘ vels and voyages, and to enrich their science at home by valuable ‘6 traéts and observations. But few were those teachers, who had s¢ the good fortune to form so great a number of disciples, who all con- ‘6 tributed in some measure, to extend the limits of their science; and “ there is no country but Sweden, which ever sent out so many travellers “to make discoveries in natural history—Linnzys was also my
“ teacher,
280 ANECDOTES.
66
66
6
o
6
n
n
6
6
na
4
a
6
na
66
4
n
¢
a
6
o
¢
nn
¢
nn
teacher, and I acknowledge with emotion, how greatly indebted I am to him for his lessons and his friendship.
s¢ Besides the labour which he bestowed upon medicine, especially upon the Materia Medica and Pathology, nature was his principal oc- cupation, and proclaimed him also as the first darling of his time. Great was he in discerning and arranging the immensity of beings which cover the globe; and perhaps greater still in the extraordi- nary number of observations, and in the hypotheses which are founded upon them, and gradually became theoretical truths. The hypotheses of Linn £us indicate most particularly the brilliancy of his imagination, and at the same time, the strength of his judgment. Some of them appear extremely bold and venturesome at first; but upon closer inspeétion, we find the observations in nature on which they are founded, and must acknowledge them afterwards if not as true, at least as probable and as deserving of a more minute enquiry.
«© Among his manuscripts there must certainly have been found many important remarks; I should have been very desirous of see- ing those which relate to the general arrangement of nature. He must have colleéted the most interesting observations on this head. He contemplated nature with the greatest accuracy, and with so much knowledge and judicious skill, as to have penetrated into her most secret mysteries. But he dared not, as he himself assured me, publish those observations during his life, because he was afraid of the excess sive violence of the Swedish divines, who, frequently too faithful and too bigotted to their own arguments, do not consider, that na- ture as well as revelation proclaim in unison of principle, the hands of that Great Master, who formed both, Linnaus had the ex-
“¢ ample
ANECDOTES. 281
‘ ample of his pupil Forsxat before his eyes, who immediately after “ his return from Goettingen, saw himself involved in so many theolo- “ gical disputes, as would, perhaps, have been carried too far, had he “not left the field of litigation, by setting out on his voyage to “© Arabia.
ss Linn aus knew how to secure to himself, even in his earlier days, s¢ that dominion over the three reigns of nature, which he preserved “6 till death.
« In mineralogy his very countrymen entered the lists of contention. ‘-against him. He certainly was often attacked and censured with in- “ justice; and the little inaccuracies, which will never fail to exist in, ‘‘ works of that importance, ought to. have been palliated and over- « looked, on account of the other great merits.of their author. It is,. «* however, an incontrovertible faé&t, that he first introduced systematic ¢ regularity in the mineral reign. He formed the classes, and. deter- ‘¢ mined the genera and species by regular distin€tive marks, which he “¢ derived from the external appearance. Thus mineralogy became a ‘‘ regular science, after it had formerly been but a chaos created by the ‘¢ miners, who used to discriminate the minerals partly. by pra&tice and “partly by fire. Linnaus having once left the mines, having no la- ‘‘ boratory, and being over-burdened by a multiplicity of other occu- “¢ pations, discontinued to exert himself so much in mineralogy. His * system is however excellent, his hypothesis the fruit of the ripest s¢ refle€tion, his description of the species are excellent, and his obser- ss vations truly important. In spite of all attacks, his name will like-
“¢ wise be handed down in this science to the latest posterity.
a0 6 The
282 ANECDOTES.
‘¢ The vegetable reign possessed the greatest charms for Linnaeus; «¢ he bestowed upon it the best share of his time and abilities. When “ he first appeared in the field of science in 1732, TouRNEEORT’s system “ of botany derived from the stru€éture of the inward cover of the *¢ flower, was every where popular and universally accepted. But during * the latter part of its most flourishing epoch, a kind of barbarism was ** perceived in that system. A great number of new plants having been ‘© discovered, it so happened that the chara€ters of the inward cover of ‘“‘ the flower proved insufficient to distinguish one from another with *¢ plainness and regularity. Botanists began, therefore, to have recourse
‘sto the outward appearance, and to copper-plates, not without preju- pp ’ pper-p ’ pre]
aa
‘ dice to the certainty of the real system.
** L.inN&us soon perceived the error and its real foundation, in the
want of sufhcient and solid characters, which the inward cover of the *“¢ flower could never have procured. He sought, therefore, a safer ‘s basis for his system, and took at first the outward cover of the flower ‘* to effe@ his purpose. But he found it equally insufficient. He ulti- ‘© mately examined the Sex of the PLants, which had in some mea- * sure been already known before him, though never used as a system, “ Upon these enquiries he built his Sexuau System, which soon ‘met with universal approbation and spread itself throughout Europe. ** That he might render it the more firm and imperishable, he intro- « duced the natural chara@ers of the genera, which he took from all « the parts of fru fication, and from which he obtained a great num-
* ber of distinétive marks, which will never fail accurately to point
o
be
out the genera. He demonstrated the true principles of a botanical ** system, introduced a solid, certain and definitive technology, and
3 ‘© demon-
es
(14
66
66
66
6
na
ANECDOTES. 283
demonstrated the various errors of his predecessors, which had made their systems totter, and rendered uncertain the definition of the plants. This laid the foundation of his authority in the science
of botany, which he extended still farther in a most extraordinary
‘manner, by the excellent, concise and plain DirrENtTiIa@ Spect-
ric#, by the trivial names, and a solid and precise synonimy. Aficy the entire arrangement and completion of his system, when the de- nomination and definition of plants could no longer embarrass its progress, he began to give a great number of the descriptions of the new species, which are all real master pieces, and the knowledge of which he partly owed to his travels, partly to his pupils, and from which the many editions and the important emendations of his sys- tem have originated. He was, at the same time, extremely cautious in not mentioning any plant as a species or as a genus, of which he either did not well know the charaéters, or did not find them suf- ficiently clear to his understanding. He atted thus, merely that he might not prejudice the solidity of his system.
“¢ The number of his new and important observations in botany 1s very great. They are for the most part to be found in the colleétion of his academical dissertations. He also took uncommon pains to finish his Onpines Natura ces, or the natural affinity which sub- sists among the plants; but notwithstanding the great extent of his exertions, those produétions only remained fragments, and many plants still are left, to which he could not assign a place in their natural order. I wished at the same time to get better acquainted with the distin@tive marks of his natural classes and with his obser- vations upon them. He subjoined. them finally, though with too
002 66 much.
284 ANECDOTES.
«much laconism, to the last edition of his GENERA PLANTARUM, “¢ which was the result of some le€tures he gave us in summer, in the ‘6 country, upon the Narurau Orpers.
“© These are his merits in botany, to which he gave a quite new ap- ‘¢ pearance, and enriched with many valuable remarks*.”—« If we “ make conjeéture of the value of the Linnzan method,” says the celebrated Hivt in his Vegetable System, * it will live, even when a ‘¢ natural method shall be found, as long as there is science.”
“‘ Linna&us manifested the same spirit of systematical order in the ‘¢ animal reign. He found ita real chaos, in which the infinite number
‘} of animals were confounded without chara€teristic distin@ion and
n o
without order. There had hardly been any regular and fixed classes ‘¢ introduced, at least not among the smaller kinds of animals. But he ‘6 made ita regular science. He limited the various classes by plain dis- ss tin€tive marks, introduced the solid genera, determined the species, “‘ and took pains to lessen the great number of variations. I must ‘6 freely own, that Linn zus himself was very sensible, that his system © of the animal reign was not built upon so safe a foundation as his ‘¢ botany, and that his generical chara€ters were far more tottering and * more undefined. It is, however, the only system which comprises the & whole animal reign, which is certainly a great prerogative, if we only *¢ consider the circumstances in which Linn us found that science. ‘¢ It remained almost entirely uncultivated, consisted only of a few de- “© scriptions which were extremely deficient, and of a small number of
*‘ copper-plates so badly executed as hardly to be discernible. In
* See a special sketch of the Botanical Reform of Linn£us in the Supplements annexed 4o this work. ° “6 Ichthyology
ANECDOTES. 285
* Ichthyology, he alone profited by the labours of his ill-fated friend ¢ ARTEDI.
‘* Linn aus was likewise the first who separated the worms from the ‘¢ insets, defined both classes by real chara€ters, and introduced genera, «¢ sorts, and orders—a foundation upon which almost all his successors «¢ built after him. He also augmented all the different parts of the ani- «¢ mal reign by a very considerable number of new discovered species, “¢ by exact and more accurate descriptions, and by a great quantity of ‘‘ the most important discoveries, which chiefly relate to animal ceco- “* nomy.
‘* Linn aus was therefore a great man in all the branches of natural
* history. His name will consequently remain immortal in them all. Pos-
nw
* terity will admire the penetrating spirit, the precision and the energy, *¢ which shine forth in the works of that original genius, who rendered
“his science the most regular, and was the boast of his country and
* the pride of his age.”
BIOGRAPHICAL
BIOGRAPHICAL PARTICULARS
OF
THE LIFE
OF
PROFESSOR CHARLES LINN.ZUS, JUNIOR.
9 ral
ry #: 4 7. — ult I ¥ vt ever dacs Geer eeee sd oP ow a eth a fe . i i i Pa z= oe Ss 4 - ‘ .
t
[ 289 |]
BIOGRAPHICAL PARTICULARS, &c.
To the pi€ture of the Faruer, we shall also add here, as a side piece, the portrait of his Son, Professor Coartes Linn £vs, who was the heir of his academical office, of his knowledge and his celebrity ;—but who was too prematurely snatched away from his career, to have been able to attain that greatness, which was his aim, the expe€tation of his citizens, and the hope of the literary world.
Cuaries Linnaus, as we have already mentioned in-the seventh se€tion of this work, was born January 20, 1741, in the house of his grandfather, at Fahlwn, the capital of Dalecarlia. His future desti- nation was soon decided, and left no room to hesitate. The natural in- clination and the science of the parent, were also to devolve to the share of his son. There was no study in which the latter could finda better opportunity of becoming eminent, than that which had already gained immortality to his sire. From his earliest infancy his education had been planned to make him a naturalist ; and what had once been found reprehensible in his father, was now deemed praise-worthy in him.
Pp He
290 THE LIFE OF THE YOUNGER LINN AUS.
He was encouraged in culling flowers, examining plants, &c. &c. And these occupations proved both grateful and pleasant to the juvenile student.
In order to regulate his occupations, to form his mind, and his natural capacities, he was early put under the care of private tutors. His father chose for this purpose, the most hopeful young men who then studied at Upsal. These were Loreriinc, Farx, and Ro- LANDER, whom Linnaus afterwards recommended to go out on voyages of discovery, and some of whom made a most fatal exit. They were chiefly direéted to impart to their pupil the knowledge of -the language of the learned world, and of the technical terms of the science which he studied. From the habitual pra€tice of conversing in Latin, he soon learned to talk that language with much fluency, and all his discourses being constantly dire€ted to objeéts of natural history, he of course, could not but acquire a great knowledge of natural produtions*. Already in the tenth year of his age he knew most of the plants in the botanical garden at Upsal, and assigned to them their right names. )
His early distinGtion, and the authority and influence of his father, procured him likewise early honours and dignities. He already as- cended the first step of literary greatness in his eighteenth year, being appointed demonstrator in the botanical garden at Upsal. Before him, no such academical charge existed in that University. At twenty-one he appeared as an author, by publishing the beginning of his descrip-
* In his epistolary style, and oh other becdlichs, when he expressed himself with quickness, his Latin was as incorrect as his father’s. The hand which he wrote was somewhat larger,
but resembled much in other respeéts that which his. father wrote, His coat of arms did not bear the motto: Famam Extendere Factis.
tion
THE LIFE OF THE YOUNGER LINN AUS. 201
tion of the rarest and most remarkable plants in the botanical garden of that University,—a work, which he continued afterwards*. His father had given him instruGtions how to complete this produftion, and it became the means of totally securing his subsequent fortune. On the 19th of March 1763, in the twenty-second year of his age, he was nominated adjuné professor of botany, with the extraordinay promise, that after the death of his father, he should succeed him in all his academical fun€tions ;—a diftinftion, a rapidity of preferment which excited in no small degree the envy of his young colleagues. In order to qualify himself in a proper manner, for the future exercise of all his dignities, he took his degree of Do&tor of Medicine in 1765, under the presi- dency of Samvet AuRIVILLIUS. .
Young Linn aus, as a public man, was now as happy as possible, but not so in the circle of his relations, where he ought to have expe- rienced the greatest pleasure. He began to give le€tures ; but his diligent exertions for the benefit of the learned world, and the fondness for his science, received a check, and degenerated into displeasure and splenetic disgust.
The occasion of this disgust was as sad as the thing in itself was ex- traordinary, and an unnatural oddity. The son had the misfortune, in- stead of being the delight of his mother, to become the obje& of her hatred. Considering him as the only son,—as a son, who distinguished himself so much, it appears to be a singular phenomeon, the more so,
as her antipathy continued to last without the least abatement. The
.* Carour Linn 41, Filii, Decas Prima Plantarum Rariorum Horti Upsaliensis, sistens descriptiones et figuras plantarum minus cognitarum, Stock, 1762. fol. Decas Secunda, ibid. 1763. Fasciculus primus Plantarum Rariorum Horti Upsalignsis, He discontinued the publi- cation of the Fasciculi,
PP 2 causes
292 THE LIFE OF THE YOUNGER LINN AUS.
causes and motives of this maternal ill-will are of such a.nature, as may
well remain unnoticed: by us.
s¢ It was singular,” ‘¢ says. professor Fasrrcrus, who speaks as, an:
ocular witness, *¢ that the lady of Linnaus should have had. so *€ particular an aversion toher son. He could not have had a greater *. enemy in the world than his own mother... The father was obliged ‘to send him out of the house, and when he was at liberty. to appoint ‘¢ a person to be his successor, she forced him to-pass by. his own son, s and to choose Dottor Sonan per, who-she thought would marry. her “eldest daughter:. but as Soranper refused. to. leave England, he
‘6 ultimately fixed his choice upon his son, though still very much
oy
% to purchase every. article of her, even.the herbarium.”
The truth,and impartiality of this account.is. confirmed by the. una- nimity of all other collateral testimonies. The. strongest.and most nu- merous proofs might be adduced on this. subje€t.. Were it compatible with the duty of veracity, which.is incumbent on every historian, how
chearfully would we pass in silence all particulars of this kind. We
will therefore entirely confine, ourselves.to. add the following account,
by way of appendage to that given,by Fasricius. It is extratted from a letter of a celebrated man, who.had long, been in an habit of the greatest intimacy.with Linn.2us,and his son..
“©. The lady of Linnus,was.a.good housewife, but-in no respe@t a <¢ pattern of a sweet.and.mild, mother, or of atender spouse. Her only «© son lived under the most slavish restraint and in continual fear of her. «¢ Even when he had attained the age of manhood, and bore an acade- é mical dignity, she compelled him to swEEP HIS OWN ROOM.
2 es “Oe,
i
¢ against the will of his wife.- After the father’s death she forced him.
THE LIFE OF THE YOUNGER LINNZUS. 293
« One of his kinsmenonce made him a present of a great coat ;—she * also envied him this gift, and when it was worn out— HE CLANDES- % TINELY WENT INTO THE GARDEN, AND THERE TURNED IT HIM- % sete. Thus was the son, notwithstanding the affluence of his pa- ‘rents, reduced by the singular inextinguishable antipathy of his ‘¢ mother, to circumstances and offices as low as those to which ne- s cessity had once driven his father.”
Galled by these shackles of slavery and constraint, the flower of his mind faded, and he lost that eagerness of zeal which he formerly mani- fested in his studies. His disgust lessened also the affeétions of his father.’ One of his German friends took leave of him, after he had completed his. thirtieth year, previous to his departure from. Upsal. —¢ Au! How I ENVY YOU AND youR Goop FoRTUNE!” said. he, penetrated with sentiments of friendship, blended with melancholy dis- content.— You ARE AT FULL LIBERTY; YOU-RETURN: NOW TO YOUR COUNTRY TO ENJOY. PROSPERITY AND CONTENTMENT, — «© How much more do I envy you,” replied his friend, “ your fortune sis made, and I must first go in quest.of one; you ARE YOUR & FATHER’S SUCCESSOR. ————* Poo! My FATHER’S SUCCESSOR,” replied he; “ I woutp. RATHER BE ANY THING ELSE; 1 wouLp % EVEN PREFER BEING.-A SOLDIER*!”
This lowness of spirits and depression of mind was: fortunately re- moved some time after.. He was quite overjoyed when his father made him a present of all the duplicates of plants which his herbarium contained. He received also many encouragements from other quar-
ters ;—and, all on a sudden, his soul was roused from its lethargy,
* Communicated by the person to whom he said these words,
and
294 THE LIFE OF THE YOUNGER LINNEUS.
and shook off those ties which had so long warped his faculties. From this moment, he continued to show himself the most zealous lover and promoter of his science.
In the beginning of the year 1778 ensued the death, which was so heavy a loss to the sciences and to the Universities of Upsai, and a loss
still heavier to him as ason. He was so fortunate as to inherit an illu-
strious name; but how arduous was the task of preserving the lustre
of that name, and of compensating as much as possible for the loss of him, whose successor he had been appointed fifteen years before.
Meanwhile he entered, with revived courage and energy, the, career assigned to him, and accumulated both honour and merit in his fun€tions as a professor. The,sphere left,for his a€tivity to exert itself in, was equally vast and important. The arrangement of the manuscript col- le€tions of his father, and the superintending of the new editions of several of his works, required both great industry and attention.
A paternal manuscript became the first among the colle&ion, which he was mduced, agreeable to the wish formerly expressed by his father, to communicate to the learned world. This was the SupPpLeMENT to his System of the VecrrasLe REIGN: Supplementum Plantarum Systematis Vegetabilium. Brunswig, 1781, in octavo.—Several erroneous reports have been circulated respefting the publication of this supple- ment. We, therefore communicate here the following authentic ac- count, in the words of the celebrated man, to whose care its publica- tion had been entrusted. :
«; About three months before my departure from Sweden,” says the great botanist, Exruart, in a letter to the author, “ in 1776, the vene-
“ rable Linn aus asked me, if I chose to take the Supplementum Plan- 1 “ farum
THE LIFE OF THE YOUNGER LINN AUS. 295
“¢ tarum with me to Germany, and to get it printed there. I promised him “6 I would. A little before my departure, I put himin mind of the proposal “ he had made; but he then told me, that he would wait THuNBERG's “¢ return from his travels, to publish the discoveries of the latter in the «¢ Supplement, and to send me the manuscript, as soon as every thing «© should have been inserted in its proper place. But Tuunsere did *¢ not return till after the death of Linnaus. He arrived, and com- «© municated his new plants and their characters to the son of his great sé master, who arranged them in their right order, and sent me the ma- “6 nuscripts in the autumn of 1779, to be printed. I perused it, set down
«6 my doubts and observations, and sent them to Linnaus. A corres-
wr
‘ pondence then began between us, which lasted almost the whole of « the ensuing winter. After this, I had copied it afresh, and began to s get it quite ready for the press; 1 was however, prevented, by the «6 botanical tour through the eleétorate of Hanover, with which his Bru- & tannic Majesty had expressly charged me. I got it ready at last, in “ the winter between 1780 and 1781. The work was to be printed at «“ Hanover, under my immediate inspe€tion; but it did not take place. ‘¢ I agreed afterwards for the printing of the work at Brunswick, in the « asylum. The principals of the Orphan Asylum procured new types «6 for this purpose, printed it off in the summer of 1781, and paid an «© honorary of two ducats per sheet, which I sent to Linn aus after “his return from England. Messrs. Du Rox and Port at Brunswick, ‘6 were so kind, while I travelled about, to take care of the correspon- s dence.”
Thus, after so many-obstacles, the liberal and unremitting efforts of a German friend of Linnaus, effeéted the publication of a work,
the
296 THE LIFE OF THE YOUNGER LINN AUS,
the possession of which was coveted by many. It was originally pro- jefted to enrich it with a most valuable addition ; this was the Genera Muscorum of the celebrated Euruart. But this insertion was not made; either because Linnaus found it too laborious a business to aitend to it, as he designed to get an edition of the Supplementum Plan- éarum printed at London; or, what appears more probable, because the English persuaded him to omit the Genera Muscorwm, as they could not at that time see the merits of the discoveries of Mr, Enruart, in their proper light.
The Supplementwm contained and described ninety-three genera and one thousand three hundred and three species of plants. The son imitated the father, in not adopting, as his own, the supposed definitions and descrip- tions of others; and in not describing as new any plants which he had not seen himself, and in a more particular manner got acquainted with. He also honoured the memory of several of his countrymen, a Faux, a TernsTROEM, a MonTin,a Rerzius, an Eckt perc, a SPARR- MANN, anda THuNnBERG, etther by naming plants after them, or by adopting those names, which had already been assigned to them by others.
Besides his leétures, he also gave other proofs of his literary a€tivity in different dissertations, which were defended under his auspices. He described some new genera of grasses, and published a treatise upon the lavenders, and some new elucidations respetting the fru€tification of the
mosses *. Long
* Dissertatio illustrans Nova Graminum Genera ; Resp. D. E. N#zen; Upsal, 1779.— Dissert. de Lavandula, Respond. J.D. Lunpmark, Upsal, 1780.—Methodus Muscorum Ulustrata, Resp. Ol, ScHwarz, Upsal, 1781.—These dissertations may be seen in the Ama-
nita?.
THE LIFE OF THE YOUNGER LINN ZUS. 297
Long before he succeeded his father in his office, it had been his chief wish to travel. But as long as he laboured under so many con- straints in his father’s house, he found it impossible to realize that wish. No sooner had he become his own master, than he burnt with a de- sire of accomplishing it. He intended to publish a new edition of the principal work of his father—the System of Nature,—and for this reason wished the more anxiously to see foreign herbals, especially the natural produ€tions colle&ted in the countries lately discovered in the South Seas.
Money, which is always required in travelling, had long been the principal obstacle to his departure. A patriotic friend at last offered Linnaus the sum requisite for defraying his travelling expences. This was Baron Nicuortas AtstTROEMER, Commander of the Order of Vasa, at Gothenburgh*. This temporay suspension from his acade- mical office created no kind of inconvenience. THunserc had been appointed demonstrator of botany after his return to Sweden. Go- vernment, therefore, gave Linn zus leave to travel. The celebrity of father’s name promised him a good reception abroad, and he found it accordingly.
The first country, which, from his thirst after knowledge he longed to see, was England. In the spring of 1781 he embarked, and reached London in the course of May. The most interesting person with whom
he wished to get acquainted there, was Sir Josepu Banxs, Presidentof:
nitat. Acad. Edit ScureBeErt, Erlang, 1790, vol. x.—-Cui accedunt Dissertationes Botani- cz, C. a Linne, Filii. See also Aa Medicorum, Suecicorum, seu Sylloge observationum et ' €asuum rariorum, prasertim in Historia Naturali, Praxi Medica, &c. tom, i. Ups. 1783. 8v0.
* Linn4us designed him for the heir of the Herbarium which he had colleéted during his father’s life. ALsTROEMER received it accordingly, but not the duplicates of plants, which ’ Linnzus had collected on his travels.
Qqg . the
298 THE LIFE OF THE YOUNGER LINNAUS.
the Royal Society of London, that great lover of nature, who somuch dis- tinguished himself, and acquired such transcendent merit as a promoter of natural history, by the great sums which he expends upon natural curiosities, by his own enthusiasm for that science, and by his partici- pating in Captain Coox’s second voyage round the world. - The man- ner in which Sir Hans Stoans had received the father, and the recep- tion which the son now met with, formed a most striking contrast... Sir Joszpu was an ancient correspondent and friend of his father’s, and re- ceived the younger Linnaus, whose countryman and colleague Dr.
SoLanpbeER had accompanied him on his voyage round the world, and
was now his intimate friend and assistant, with all that warmth of
friendship and kindness, which, under similar circumstances, can possi-
bly be expressed by the noblest and most elevated mind.
Sir Josepn made Linnaus welcome to make his house his own du-
ring his stay in England, and the latter found in it the most seleét. com- pany. The rare colle&tion of natural treasures brought together from all parts of the world, especially those from the new discovered countries in the South Seas, which he saw at Sir Josrern’s, was the greatest treat for his curiosity and his love of knowledge. This colle&tion, on account of the copiousness, the rarity, and value of its contents, is the first of which any private individual could ever boast in Europe. Linnaus
viewed, and examined article by article, and saw more curiosities here
than he would have observed, had he travelled himself for a long series.
of years in the remotest quarters of the globe. Sir Josrru, with his wonted liberality, enriched his visitor with a number of duplicate-plants. and other natural curiosities. The British Museum, that great repository of natural science and art, whose immense treasures were then principally;
2 under
THE LIFE OF THE. YOUNGER LINN AQUS. 299
under the care of Dr. Soranper, was constantly open for his inspec- tion, with all its herbals and colleétions.
The public and private botanical gardens, the royal botanical garden at Kew, that at Chelsea, and that of the Marquis of Rocx1NGHaM at Wimbledon, became particular objeéts of his attention. He also visited the principal museums of natural history, the libraries and menageries, é&c. belonging to private persons both in and about London; amongst others, those of the Dutchess of PortLanp, of Dr. WitLtiam Hun- TER, Sir AsuHtTon Lever, Dr. Forpyce, Dr. Fotuerci tt, Dr. Pir- CAIRN, Dr. Lerrsom, Messrs. GorDON, YEATES, Lee, Matcoim, &e. &e.
Wherever he could find an opportunity of gratifying his scientific curiosity, he eagerly sought after it; and the enthusiastic love of bo- tany and natural history which then prevailed in England, afforded him every where the most cordial reception, and the profoundest respeét for that name which his father had rendered so celebrated.
Among the men, who first made known the Linnzan system of botany in England, was the celebrated Dutch naturalist, Perer Cam- pER™, He had recommended it in the most particular manner during his first residence in this country, from 1748 till the summer of 1749. He found an opportunity in his intercourse with Sir Hans SLoANE, Dr. SmMevuiiz, Dr. Hitt, CoLttinson, Catessy, &c. &c. to show to the British naturalists and botanists, how plants were to be examined according to the method of Linnaus. His demonstrations excited
admiration and roused to and fro a spirit of investigation,
* Born at Leyden, May trth, 1722, and died April 7th, 1789. This account comes from a person who was personally acquainted with Linnzzus, Camper and SOLANDER. See Levechex Van Camper, by his son, A.G. CAMPER. Luewarden, 1791.
Q2q 2 But
300 THE LIFE OF THE YOUNGER LINN £US,
But it wanted a real adept to remove the difficulties which obstru&ed the progress of the Linna&AN system in England. The Britons, who felt so little relish at that time for foreign literature, became afterwards the most zealous admirers and votaries of Linn aus; and Dr. SoLaNns DER contributed a great deal to this favourable change in the general disposition of the British literati.
When Dr. Soranper left Sweden to go to England, Linnaus gave him a letter to E:u1s, in which he recommended him as strongly as if he had been his ownson. The incidental qualification of being a pupil of Linnaus,soon endeared him to almost every lover of na- tural history at London. His own prepossessing and amiable qualities served still farther to foster this favourable disposition on their part. He was so generally beloved, that every body owned that SoLANDER had not a single enemy. When he was appointed inspettor of the British Museum, there was only an incomplete and useless catalogue of its treasures ; he was therefore charged with making anew one. He wrote seven large quarto volumes, and laboured from an early hour in the morn- ing till two or three o’clock in the afternoon. At that time he adjourned his exertions according to the London custom till next day. When he made the voyage round the world with Captain Coox, and in company with Sir Joszpu Banks, his annual salary, as inspe€tor of the British Museum, was doubled. In 1771, the father of Linnaus complained that he had not heard of Sorannenr for several years, yet he had done as much for him as for any one of his pupils. He rejoiced, however, at seeing the new edition of Exxrs’s Essay on Corallines, published under the auspices of SonanpzR, who sent him some of the proof- plates. Soxranper was the oracle of natural history in England, and
consulted
THE LIFE OF THE YOUNGER LINNAUS. gor
consulted whenever any new natural produ€tion was to be described, defined or named. What proves his indefatigable diligence, are the colle€tions of plants of Sir Hans Stoane, and those of Ray, Pe- TIVER, PLukeNer and others, which Sir Hans purchased after the death of their proprietors. Dr. Soranper added to each of those plants, by the side of which the names given to them by the original colleGtor were written, the Linnazan name; or, if they were new, he gave them a name of his own choosing.
The younger Linn £us had come into a new world of curiosities, and never seen happier days than in the metropolis of Great Britain. But this happiness did not remain undisturbed by unpleasant occur- rences. Fate had reserved for him the saddest and most melancholy doom of witnessing the death of his friend, Dr. Soranpzr, who was suddenly carried off by an apopleétic stroke. To honour his me- mory he called a new plant Solandra, the description of which he pre- pared for insertion in the transachions of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Copenhagen. He had already paid the tribute of his grati- tude to his kind patron, Sir JosrpH Banxs, and given a public testi- mony of respeét to his merits, by describing in the Supplementum a ge- nus of plants from New Holland, by the name of Banksia. It was also an unfortunate circumstance, that almost half the time of his residence in England should have been lost to him. He fell ill of the jaundice, under which he laboured for near two months. After his recovery he continued his travels, by setting out for France at the latterend of Au- gust, 1781; having sojourned four months and an half in England.
On his way to Paris, he was accompanied by the French naturalist, M. Broussonet, lately a member of the second National Assembly,
1 with
302 THE LIFE. OF THE YOUNGER LINNUS.
with whom he had got acquainted at London, where he had resided acon- siderable time longer than Linn us, to study ichthyology, in which he almost rivalled the greatness of the ill-fated AR TeED1.—The habit of in- timacy which he had contratted with M. Broussoner, the letters of re- commendation from his acquaintance at London, and much more the cele- brity and veneration of his father’s name, also ensured to him the most hearty and most cordial reception there, on the part of all those per- sons who felt it an interest to converse with him, and especially on the part of all the lovers of botany, and of the proprietors of natural col- le€tions.
Among these were the Duke D’Encuiren, the Duke pe Cuautnes, the Duke pe Noaizites, Marshal of France, Messrs. D’AuBentTon, Brisson, DESFONTAINES, GEOFFROI, GUETTARDs, L’HER1ITIER, the younger DE Juss1EU, DE LA Marque, MAces- HERBES, MaupuiT, LE MonNIER, THOUIN, &c. &c.
Lovis XVI. the late King of France, thought it worthy of his greatness to give him a proof of his royal munificence. He made Linn gus a present of the splendid colle€tion of plants engraved at his Majesty’s own expence (RECUEIL DES PLrantes, GravéeEs pAR Orpre pu Rot), consisting of three large folios, with 500 copper-plates. He had the satisfaétion of first learning personally the greatness of the celebrity of his deceased parent, by the universal re- speét paid to him by foreigners. ;
Linnzus having spent the winter at Paris, amidst a circle of the most seleét acquaintance, took his departure in the spring of 1782, for Holland,—the country where his father had first founded his reputation. He visited CLirrort’s botanical garden at Hartecamp, not without the
greatest
THE LIFE OF THE YOUNGER LINNAUS- 303
greatest emotion, nor without the liveliest renewal of his father’s re- membrance. At the Hague he saw every thing which could interest a man of his profession, especially the cabinet of natural history of the Herepirary Prince STADTHOLDER, the botanical garden of Pro- fessor Scuwsinke, the colleétion of shells of M. Lyonert, &c. At Leyden he likewise took a view of all that deserved his notice, and having met with the kindest and most friendly treatment on the part of Professors VAN Royen and ALLAmaAND, he repaired to Amsterdam. Here he found an old personal acquaintance and fellow-student in Pro- fessor BuRMANN, who did every thing to render his stay pleasant, and introduced him to all the lovers and colle@ors of natural curiosities, especially to Hourryn, Vanper Meuten, &c. &c. Linnaeus amassed here, as he had done in England and France, considerable treasures for his herbarium.
Having thus gratified his ardent love and desire of knowledge, he set out by Utrecht through Westphalia and Lower Saxony, on his return to Sweden. The first German city in which he stopped after having left’ Holland, was Hamburgh. Here he found Dr. Gizsexz, Dr. Gruno, and many other personal friends and acquaintance ; he saw the principal museums, the colleétion of shells of Dr. Botren and many others. He also made acquaintance with several celebrated literati, amongst others, with Dr. Rermarus and professor Scuurz. After having spent about eighteen days at Hamburgh in a very pleasant man- ner, he continued his route to Srockxnoitm. He particularly dire&ed his way to Krier, that he might pay a visit to his celebrated friend, professor Fasricius, whom he had the pleasure of meeting with in the
preceding year at London. In the house of the greatest entomologist, he
904 THF LIFE OF THE YOUNGER LINNAUS.
he found also the greatest and finest colleétion of inse&s which he had ever seen. He likewise saw there, the herbarium of his unfortunate countryman Forsxar. He had now come to Copenhagen, the last city where he was to stay, in order to view and examine natural curiosities*, This capital was as eager as other great cities to receive him in the most friendly and most distinguished manner. He saw the Royal Museum of produétions of nature and art, the cabinet of natural history of Count Moxtrtxe, Privy Counsellor Ho.imsxioxp, Counsellor Frus Rorrsoer1, Professor Brunicu, Counsellor Mutter, and of Messrs. SPENCLER, CHEMNITZ, and Capper. The Danes honoured his knowledge and merits in the same manner as the English and French had done. He had been chosen a Member of the Royal Society at London, of the Academy of Sciences at Mont- pellier, of the Medical Society at Paris, and also of the Royal So- ciety at Copenhagen. ;
In the month of January 1783, he left that city and went to Gothen- burgh, whither his friendship and gratitude towards the beneficent pro- moter of his studies, Baron NicuoLas ALsTROEMER, had impelled him to go. Finally, after an absence of two years he returned again to Upsal from his travels in the month of February, after having been through
| the same countries which had formerly been visited by his father.
* He was already at Copenhagen in the summer of 1771. He travelled for the recovery ef his health which had been much impaired by the hypochondry, through the Southern provinces of Sweden, crossed the Sound, and not having leave to go farther, remained two days at Copenhagen. He owned afterwards to a friend, that he then felt a strong temptation to range all over the world, had the love which he bore to his father not induced him to go back.
No
THE LIFE OF THE YOUNGER LINN XUS. 305
No traveller could have accomplished the proposed end of his travels more perfeGtly and more auspiciously than Linn aus. His peregri- nation now promised to yield the richest fruits. He had augmented his knowledge and experience in the most extraordinary manner, established “extensive connexions, which promised in course of time to afford him great satisfa€tion and advantage, and colleéted a vast quantity of natural treasures, the produce of all quarters of the globe. Exclusive of the knowledge of his late father, how many new cluci- dations and enlargements in natural history could not be expeéted from a man who was so enthusiastically fond of his study, and so zealously striving for celebrity as Linn aus at the present period! He was occu- pied with the execution of many useful plans and labours. He had projeéted fresh treatises upon the plants of the palm and lily kind, finished a work upon the sucking-animals, and intended to publish new editions of his father’s System of Narure, besides his MaTeERIA Mepica, the Patiosopnra Botanica, the GENERA PLANTARUM and the Frora Surcica. The moment was just come for him to open his career with splendor, but the hand of fate suddenly arrested his progress.
In themonth of August he made a journey to Stockholm. He there had the misfortune to be taken ill of a bilious fever. This distemper abated in a short time so much, that he found himself able to return to Upsal. But as his recovery had not been quite complete, he had a relapse. Soon after his illness seemed to diminish, but owing to his impatient and inalterable love of nature, it gained a third time upon him, because he viewed too early, and too long, his natural colle€tions, which were kept in adamp and cold apartment. The fever renewed its attacks with in-
RT creased
306 THE DEATH OF THE YOUNGER LINN £ZUS.
creased violence, and he fell in a profound.and lethargic slumber, which soon changed into the sleep of death. In the afternoon on the first of November 1783, an apoplefic stroke put a period to his exist- ence, in the full prime of life, and in the forty-second year of his age,
His death eclipsed totally many fine and brilliant hopes. Great men are rare phenomena, and it is a still rarer case for their greatness to be transplanted among their descendants in direét line. Nrwron died single; and so did Popr, Leisnirz and Vo.taire. Baron Emanuevt Hatver followed his father early to the tomb, and the younger Linn us earlier still. He died in a state of celibacy. The domestic circumstances under which he attained the age of manhood, had not permitted him to choose a partner of his life.
The same domestic circumstances had also a great influence upon the harmony of his mind, and the formation of his charaéter. Ina strong and fine body he possessed a noble and excellent heart. He stri€tly resembled his father by his keen and penetrating eyes, in temper and a€tivity of mind; but he was neither endowed with the enterprising re- soluteness and energy of his chara€ler, nor with his assurance, his can- dour, his consciousness of superiority, his love of adulation, and the grandeur of his outward appearance. Fond of praise and honour, he never sought after eulogiums, nor was he forward or ostentatious with regard to his learning and merits. Steadily bent upon the execution of all his undertakings and resolutions, he attended gratefully to the hints and remarks of others, whenever they bore conviction with them. He was the delight of his friends, an honour to the University of Upsa/, and an
2 obje&
THE DEATH OF THE YOUNGER LINNAUS. 307
objeét of still greater and brighter hopes to his fellow citizens, though they never came to maturity.
Attended by a great number of mourners, his corpse was solemnly deposited on the 30th of November 1783, in the cathedral at Upsal, close to his father’s remains; M. Von ScHuLzenueEim honoured his memory by publicly delivering a funeral oration. The male branch of the ennobled family of Linn £us having become extin& by this death, his coat of arms, according to the Swedish custom, was broke in pieces, and the gardener of the University strewed flowers over a tomb which contains the ashes of a generation, that will remain great and imperishable as long as the earth, and nature and her science shall
exist.
REMARKABLE
SUPPLEMENTS.
C gu J
REMARKABLE HISTORY
OF THE
SALE OF THE LINNZAN COLLECTIONS.
FROM A LETTER OF JAMES EDWARD SMITH, M. D. F.R.S. PRESIDENT OF THE
LINNAZAN SOCIETY OF LONDON, AND PROPRIETOR OF THE LINNAAN COLe LECTIONS, TO THE AUTHOR.
«© London, November 21, 1791. “TN the first place I shall give you, Sir, an historical account of the sale of the Linn an colleétions with as much accuracy as I can. *¢ On the death of the younger Linn aus, in the autumn of 1783,
“his Majesty the King of Sweden was, I believe, in France*. The
* The Jate King of Sweden left Stockholm in the month of September, 1783, and travelled by the title of Count of Haca, through Germany to Italy, went to Florence, Pisa, and Rome, and left the latter place April 19, 1784, to go to Paris, where he remained till. the
19th of July following, after which he returned with the utmost dispatch to Stockholm, which he reached in the beginning of August.
66 mother
312 SALE OF THE LINN AN COLLECTIONS.
«© mother and sisters of the deceased were anxious to make as large a s¢ profit as they could of his museum, and therefore within a few weeks _ ** after his death employed Dr. Joun Gustavus AcreL, Professor of ** Medicine at Upsal, to offer the whole colle&tion of books, manu- «* scripts and natural history, to Sir Joseru Banxs, for the sum of ** 1000 guineas (1050 pounds sterling). “ Dr. AcreEL wrote to Dr. ENceLuart the younger, now Professor 6 at Gottenburgh, and who was then in London, to make this offer to *¢ Sir Josrru Banxs. It happened, that I breakfasted at Sir Josepn’s * that very day, which was December 23, 1783, and he told me of the ‘¢ offer he had, saying he should decline it, and advising me strongly «¢ to make the purchase, as a thing suitable to my taste, and which & would do me honour. «© At that time we knew very little of what the colle@tions consisted. *¢ When the catalogue of the books and other particulars were after- «¢ wards sent, they proved much richer than either Sir JosrpH Banxs ‘¢ or myself had any idea of ; but I ought not to omit, that Sir Joszru ‘ated throughout the affair with the utmost honour and liberality, _& (for which indeed he is very-remarkable) always encouraging me in *¢ every difficulty with his advice and assistance. On the 23d of «“ December I made my desire known to my friend, Dr. Eneet- & HART,, With whom I had, been intimately acquainted at Edinburgh, s¢ and we both wrote the same day to Professor AcrEL, desiring a cata- st logue of the whole, and saying, that if it answered my expeétations, I ¢ would be the purchaser at the price fixed. “ In this affair I trusted to the honour of Professor Acre alone, nor s¢ did I apply to any body else, to take careof my interest in the mat-
66 ter.
nm
n
n
n
wn
SALE OF THE LINNAZAN COLLECTIONS. 313
“ter. I never wasin Sweden at any time of my life.—In due time the Professor sent an accurate catalogue of books, and a general account of the other articles. But by this tim he mother and sisters of Lin- Naus began to think, they had been too precipitate. They had been in great haste to sell the colle€tion before the return of the King of Sweden, perhaps lest she might be obliged to sell it to the University of Upsal, at a cheap rate; and they had pitched upon Sir Joseru Banxs, asthe most opulent and zealous naturalist in Lurope, thinking he would give more for it than any body else, and at the same time they fixed 1000 guineas as probably the largest. sum that could. be thought oft.
‘¢ But while they were in treaty. with me, enquiries were made, which gave them an higher idea of the value of the colleétion, and they had. unlimited offers from Russia. They therefore wanied to. break off their negotiation with me; but Professor Acrxt would not consent to that, and insisted on their waiting for my refusal. For this honourable condué he has unfortunately. incurred their censure, and all: sorts of false reports have been raised against him, such as, that I had bribed him with 100 guineas, which however: is so far
‘from being the case, that he never hada present from me, except a few
-Engiish books out of the Linn #an library, (worth about six or eight
-guineas} which he desired to purchase of me, as he could not get them in Sweden, and which I prevailed on him with some difficulty
“to accept. I thought this.a very small and inadequate return for the trouble he had on my account, and it surely could not be con-
sidered as a bribe.
$:S- 66 At
314 SALE OF THE LINNAN COLLECTION.
«¢ At this time Baron ALsSTROEMER, Claimed of the heirs of Lin- «© nazus a debt, which the younger Linn £us owed him, and for which «‘ they agreed to give him a small herbarium, made by the said Lin- «¢ naus during his father’s life, containing only duplicates of the great “¢ colleélion, and not any of the plants he afterwards colle&ed in his s¢ travels. On consideration of this they agreed to abate one hundred “‘ guineas of my purchase money. To all this I consented. I paid “ half the money down, and the rest in three months,—-and in O@ober, 6 1784, received the colle€tion in twenty-six great boxes, perfe&lly safe.
‘¢ I paid eighty guineas to the captain for freight, which was too much “© by half; but I was careful to avoid all delay. For the ship had just sailed “6 when the Kinc of Sweden returned, and hearing the story, he sent a vessel “ after the ship, to bring it back; but happily for me, it was too late. The *¢ English government, in consequence of the application of my friend, “ Sir Joun Jervis, was very indulgent to me, in suffering the whole *¢ colleétion to pass the custom-house without any examination or ex- ‘¢ pence, except a slight duty on the books.
«¢ This is a true statement of the purchase. As to what Dr. Dau é has mentioned in his Observationes Botanice abouta Mr. Maun te. ¢ I have authority to say, it is altogether false ; and if it had been true, it * could not have prevented the collection coming away, unless the heirs ¢¢ had aéted dishonourably towards me. I do not wonder the Swedes “are angry at losing such a treasure; but they ought to stick to truth; sand I can at any time justify Dr. Acret and myself by publishing ** our whole correspondence. I have endeavoured, to do him some
* & justice in the dedication of my Aeliquia@ Rudbeckiane.
2 “The
SALE OF THE LINN ZAN COLLECTION. 315
“ The colle&ion consists of every thing possessed by the two Lin- n«1, relating to natural history or medicine. The library may con- 6 tain about 2500 volumes, or many more, if all the dissertations were «reckoned separaicly. The old Herbarium of Linn «vs contains all the plants described in the Species Plantarum, except, perhaps, about “ five hundred species, (Fungi and © alme@ excepted) and it has perhaps. «more than 500 undescribed.. The herbariun cf young Linnaeus _ 6 is more splendid’ and.on better paper. It contains most of the plants of his Supplementum, except what are in his father’s Herbarium, and. «has besides about 1500 very fine specimens from Commerson’s 6 colleétion, most of them.new; besides. vast colle@ions from Dowme- “ pry, La. Marx, Pourret, GuAN, SMEATHMAN, Masson, &Ce. “and ab \e all, a | rodigious quantity from Sir Joszeru Banxs, who: gave him duplicates of almost. every one of AusBLet’s specimens, as well as of his own West Indian plants, with a few of those col-. s¢ le€ted in his own voyages. round the world, of. which last, howevers, « he has not yet given many away to any body..
«© Young Linn us also made ample colle€tions from the gardens of. &¢ Holland, France and England; he made his colleéton a duplicate one,. ‘¢ independent of his father’s and separate from it, as I still keep it, and “ have added many things to it colletted by myself in. England, France, Jialy and.the Alps.. I am also enriching it daily by the kindness of, ‘¢ my friends, and have lately had a fine addition from the East Indies.
«¢ The inseéts are not so numerous ; but they consist of most of those: s¢ that are described by Linnus, and many new ones. The shells are « about thrice as many as are mentioned in Systema Nature, and many. sof. them very valuable, as young Linn aus had increased that part
$8.2. “© of:
316 SALE OF THE LINN ZAN COLLECTION.
“¢ of the colleétion very much. The fossi/s are numerous, but mostly 6‘ bad specimens and in a bad condition. I have also many birds from © the South Seas, with some Indian dresses and weapons, a number of ‘‘ dried fish, particularly all those sent by Dr. Garpen from Carolina, ** some seeds of plants, and an Herbariwm Surinamense in spirits of wine, “ and several other things.
6 The manuscripts are very numerous. All his own works are inter- 6 leaved, with abundance of notes, especially the Systema Natura, ® Species Plantarum, Materia Medica, Philosophica Botanica, Clavis ¢ Medicine, &c. &c. I have not yet found the Nemesis Divina; but I ‘6 have a vast number of papers I have not yet perused. I have Iter & Laponicum, Iter Dalecarlicum, and some others; also a Diary of the “© Life of Linn £us, in his own hand, for about the thirty first years of s his life. I have also Descriptiones Liliorwm et Palmarum and Systema «© Mammalium, by Linn aus the son, the first of which I shall probably _ &¢ publish soon. The /etters to Linn2us are about three thousand. 6 Young Linn aus left all his things in such disorder, that I have the “ utmost difficulty in arranging them, and I every day discover some-
¢ thing I did not before know.”
A LIST
WORKS OF LINNAEUS.
[ 319 J]
LIST
THE WORKS OF LINNZZUS,
THEIR EDITIONS, COMMENTARIES, EXTRACTS, TRANS- LATIONS, CRITICISMS AND NOMENCLATURES.
[N. B. Those Works which are written by Linnaus himself, and those Editions which were published wnder his immediate care, are marked
with Roman Cyphers. |
Al Hortus UPLANDICUS, sive enumeratio Plantarum exoti- carum, Uplandiz, que in hortis vel agris coluntur, imprimis autem in
horto academico Upsaliensi. Upsal, 1731, page 160, in 8vo*.
No. I.
* This was the first production of Linnaus, the first display and observance of the Sexual System. Neither HaLLer nor any other Literatus mentions it. The Florula Lap-
ponica is generally alledged to be the first work of Linnaus. But Linnaus himself mentions
320 LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNEUS.
Nos I. Florula Lapponica, que continet catalogum plantarum, quas per pro- vincias Lapponicas Westrobotnienses observavit. This work was written in the year 17325 and inserted in the Ada Litteraria Suecie of the same year*. Florule Lapponice, Pars Secunda. His second part of the Flora of Lapland is also inserted in the
Swedish Literary Transa€tions for the year 1735.
mentions the Hortus Uplandicus, even the month of its publication, and some words exe tracted from the preface. See upon this subject, the following document in a German vork published at Hamburgh by Dr. Kout, with whom Linnaus kept a correspondence, and lived afterwards in personal friendship; this work is entituled Hamburgische Berichteny and Dr. Kout asks Linnzus in a letter, ‘Is the printing of the Horus Uplandicus- ‘* finished ??? Linn £us in his answer, points out the publication as mentioned above.
* Baron HAcver in his Bibliotheca Botanica, tom. ii. Turici, 1772, in gto. p. 244, be- gins the Linn#a4n epoch in botany, wih the following criticism: Anno 1732, primum. Carour Linna€r opusculum prodiit, viri, yui maximam in universa re herbaria conver- sionem molitus est, et qui °mnino pene integre suo fine est potitus. ~A natura ardente anime instrudtus, acerrima imaginatione, ingenio systematico, opportunitatibus imprimis- posteriori sUz vite parte usus copiOsissimis, cum ex universo orbe undique ad eum certatim naturales thesauri confluerunt, omnibus sui animi viribus, quas possidet maximas, in novam rei her- baria constitutionem incubuit; seque vivente et superstite placita sua a plerisque suis cozta- neis recepta vidit. Negue dissimulari potest, multo accuratius, quam prius solebat, ab co singulas plante partes definitas esse, Multoque magis naturam experimere, que nunc dantur descriptiones, etsi novam tere linguam ed eam rem excogitatam fuisse fatendem est.—In Flora Lapponica primum videas classes superiores a staminibus sumtas, inferiores a rxubis, utrasque &@ numero, situ et aliquando a proportione, quam nunc methodum sexualem vocant,—
Several separate essays and opinions upon Linn Zs in the beginning of his literary career, are still to be found in:
Respublica Eruditorum 1735. November p. 556. 3737-. August. p. 73+ 87.
Tidender an Larde og Curieuxe 3734. Otober 14, No. qr,
Now.
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNZUS. Q21
Ne. I; Carourr Linnai Epistola de Itinere suo Lapponico. This Letter is subjoined in the Supplements, also in the Commercia Litteraria Norimbergensia ad ret Medice@ et Scienti@e Naturalis incre-
menta, Vol. lil. gto. p. 73 and 74: and Hedlom. 5. No. i. p. 34.
No: IIT: Systema Nature, sive Regna tria Nature, systematice proposita, per classes, ordines, genera et species, Lugd. Batav. apud HAaK, 1735-
14 pages folio*. First edition.
No. IV.
The Second Edition—Stockholm, ap. KirsEWETTER, 1740, in oc- tavo, 80 pages.
Revised and augmented by Linnaeus, with the charaéters of the genera and the names of the animals.
The Third Edition— Halle, by GrBAUER, 1740, seventy quarto pages, published with a preface by J. J. Lance; to which are added the German terms.—This is a mere copy of the Dutch edition.
The Fourth. EditionParis, 1744, one hundred and eight of&avo pages, properly speaking, published under the care of Dr. As. Back, who was then at Paris, but augmented with the French terms by Ber- NARD DE Jussieu; is in other respets a copy of the second edition, printed at Stockholm.
* Summa labore—in Systemate—genera constituta esse et characteres redintegratos, palam,
est. Ipse ordo a.natura certe longissime recedit, qui naturales classes divellat et plantas dis~ simillimas colliget, separet simillimas. HALLes in Bibliotheca Botanica, tom. ii. p. 244.
Tt The ;
322 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNAEUS.
The Fifth Edition.— Halle, 1747, eighty-eight oftavo pages, by M. G. AGNETHLER, containing the German terms :—likewise a copy of
the second edition, published at Stockholm.
No. V. '
The Sixth Edition.—Stockholm, 1748, in two hundred and thirty-two oftavo pages, with eight plates, with the portrait of Linnaus, and augmented by him with the distinétive marks of the genera of plants, and a description of the species in the animal and mineral reigns,
The Seventh Edition,—Leipsic, 1748, two hundred and thirty-two o€tavo pages, with eight plates, a mere copy of the preceding edition, to which are superadded the German terms. |
The Eighth Edition-—Stockholm, 1753, one hundred and thirty-six otavo pages, in Swedish ; the Vegetable System, by J. J. Hartmann; the Mineral System, by Mr. Moe Lter.
The Ninth Edition—Leyden, 1756, two hundred and twenty-eight oftavo pages, published by Gronov, junior, with some botanical and entomological additions, after De Grrr and Reaumur, in other re- speéts perfe€lly like the sixth edition.
The Tenth Editzon.—Lucca, 1758, under the title of :
Caroxt Linn «#1 Opera Varia, in quibus continentur Fundamenta Botanices, Sponsalia Plantarum et Systema Nature, ex typ. Junéti-
niana ; merely a copy of the preceding edition with the French names.
No. VI. The Eleventh Edition—Linnazus reckons this as the Tenth, Stockholm, by Sarvivs, 1758 and 1759, two volumes, The first
i volume
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNEUS. 329
volume contains the animals, with the synonyms in eight hundred and twenty-one pages ; the second contains the minerals in five hundred and sixty pages; this edition is considerably augmented, the following three are copied: |
The Twelfth Edition.—Halle, 1760, by J. J. Curt, in two volumes oftavo, witha preface of J. J. Lance.
The Thirteenth Edztion—Leipsic, 1762, two volumes in o€tavo; a mere speculation of a greedy bookseller, without additions, and abound- ing with errors. Linnaeus reckoned this as the eleventh edition.
The Fourteenth Edition. —Tomi ii. Pars.i. et ii. Pars. 1. Hague, 1765 folio; as bad as the preceding, with ten very inaccurate plates on the
three first Classes of the System*,
No. VII.
The Fifteenth Edition.—( According to Linnaus the Twelfih)— The last which was published under his own care and inspection ; it bears the following title :
Systema Nature per Regna tria Nature, secundum classes, ordines, genera et species, cum charaéteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis, Holm, apud Sarvium, 1766-68, three volumes in o€tavo, the first of which contains the Animal System, in one thousand three hundred and twenty-seven pages ; the second the Botanical System, in seven hundred and thirty-six pages, and the third the Minerals in two hundred and thirty-six pages. The third volume was separately printed at Halle, in 1770, with plates.
* Anglice, Gallice et Belgice, vera fraus bibliopolarum—cum nominibus alienissimis et tanta inscitia, quantam hoc nostro evo nunquam exspectassem. HALLER, BIBL. Bot. Tom. ii.
P> 552 Tt2 Sixteenth
R24 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNAUS.
Sixteenth Edition—A copy of the preceding Stockholm edition, Vienna at Traitner’s, 3 vol. 1767, 1770.
Seventeenth Edition.—(According to Linn aus the thirteenth, called in the title the Eleventh)—au€la, reformata, cura J. F. Gme in, Leips, 1788, the srx volumes of the first part in large o€tavo, com- prising altogether three thousand nine hundred and nine pages. The first part, which contains the Animal reign, is completed in the six vols.
And Tom. i. Pars Prima et Secunda, Lips. 1792. The first part of eight hundred and eighty-four pages in o€tavo, comprises with new genera and species of near one hundred botanists, the twelve first Classes of the Linn #an System.
No nation can produce so complete a repertory of Natural History as the above. With infinite labour, exertion and judgment, all the re- cent discoveries and observations in all the branches of Natural: Science, have been united in it.
In the Animal reign, the works of ScuREB ER, PENNANT, FABRi- c1us, GOETZ, SCHROETER, MuLLER, CronsteptT, VON VELTHEIM, BerGMANn, Krrawan, Biocu, HErRsst, STOLL, VoicT, Fuessti, SesTiN1, Burron, ADANSON, Camper, and the Travels of Pa.tas, SonnerRaAT, Lesxe, Leprecuin, GuLDENSTADT, Peyrouse, Ra- suMowsxy and of an infinite number of other learned men have been consulted.
Had Linn aus even enjoyed alonger life, no such enlargement and
perfeétion. of his. code of nature could have been expeéted from him in the North *,
* Linnzus himself wrote to Proféssor G1EsExe£, on the 20th of December 1744, as fol- hows; ‘ Nature Scientia in dies augetur tot novis inventis, ut vix ea comprehendere valeam. .
2 | If.
A LIST OF THE LIFE OF LINN EUS. 325
If we reckon the great number of editions copied in distant climes from the System of Nature of Linn aus, their number must probably
amount to between twenty and thirty.
&
Even at Batavia, a society of literati resident there, an an extract of the Linn zan System to be published in quarto, with the names in the Malay language added to it t. .
For Giiisert’s edition see farther below, under the head of the Species Plantarum.
Sir Cuarves. Linnzus’s System of Nature, published after the thirteenth edition of Gmrxin by Dr. G. W. S. Panzer, vol.i.; the
Sucking Animals. Berlin, 1791, large o€tavo, with plates.
+ Libri Linn 41 pauci extra Europam impressi sunt; sed tamen ex systemate ejus eX- trakum quoddam impressum fuit Batavia,, in insula Fava, cura societatis litterarie, cum, adje€tis nominibus. Malaicis, in quarto From a letter of the Chevalieg THUNBERG to. the Author...
CRITICAL
f “326: J
CRITICAL WRITINGS
ON
SOME SEPARATE PARTS
OF THE
LINNASAN SYSTEM OF NATURE.
C G. Lupwic Observationes in Methodum Sexalem Linna«1, Progr. Lips. 1739, in eight quarto pages. Reprintedin J. J. RercHarp’s Sylloge Opusculorum Botanicorum, parti. Frankfort, 1742, o€tavo.
C. A. a Bercen, utri Systematum, an TouRNEFORTIANO, an LIN- NANO potiores partes deferende, Progr. Frankofurt ad Viadr, 1742, eight pages, quarto.
J. Tu. Kiern Summa dubiorum Circa Classes Quadrupedum et Amphibiorum in Caro.. Linnar Systemate Nature, d&c. Lips. 1743, fifty-six pages, quarto.
J. S. Porrowrrz, professor of the German language at Vienna, De-
monstration that the LInNAAN system is useless. See his researches
respecting
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN£US. 92:7
respeéting the Sea, &c. Frankfort and Levpsic, 1750, quarto, in Ger- man. 2
Caro. Atston, Animadversiones in Sexum Plantarum et Systema Linnz1. In the Essays and Observations Physical and Literary, Edinburgh, vol. i. 1754. Also in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xxiv, page 463.
C. G. Fiscuzr: Whether a Cabinet of Natural History can be ar- ranged according to the Linnaan System, in the New Social Narra- tives for the Lovers of Natural History, &c. Lips. 1758, part 1. page 163. German. :
J. Quer, Flora Espannola, o Historia C. las Plantas, que se crien en Espanna. Madrid, 1762, two vols. quarto.
Both volumes contain many criticisms against the Sexual System of Linnaus. Querdicd in i764. This Frora has been continued and completed afterwards by Dr. Casimir Gometz, from 1762 to 1784, in four volumes.
C. C. Kroycer, Dissertatio de Sexualitate Plantarum, ante Lin- N£uM cognita. Hafnia, 1761, quarto.
H. J. V. Cranz, Institutiones rei Herbarie, juxta nutum Nature digesta ex habitu. Vienna, 1764, in two volumes.
This work, like the other numerous productions of Professor Cranz, abounds with censure and obloquy against Linn us.
De Pediculart Comosa; Leipsic, 1791, five pages and an half in o€tavo, by Dr. Srzeuan, dedicated to the Linn zan Society at Lezpsic, con- tains a vindication of Linn us against the assertions which Cranz
had made respecting this plant.
De
328 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNAUS.
De Botanicis Caroxrr Linn «1 Institutionibus, was left behind in ma- nuscript with other censorious produétions against Linn 2us, by Pro- fessor Juttus PonrepeEra, who died at Padua, September 3, 1757. The publication of all these manuscripts was advertised at Padua in 1790, in two quarto volumes.
J. P. Suimert, Dissertation de Systemate Sexuali. Tyrnavie, 1776, oftavo, twenty-four pages.
S. Aucustin, Prolegomena in Systema Sexuale, tabulis zeneis ad facilius intelligendos terminos illustrata, Vienna, 1777, o€tavo, eighty- four pages.
Linnzus’s System of Botany, so far as relates to his Classes and Orders of Plants, &c. by W. Curtis, London, 1777, in quarto, nine- teen pages, with four plates.
Some Illustrations of the System of Nature, in J. S. ScuoxTer’s Journal for the Lovers of the Mineral Reign, vol. vi. Wiemar, 1780, German, in o€tavo. From page 315 to 349 it contains an index of the alterations in the twelfth edition of the Linna#an System compared with the tenth.
Emendations by the same author, in his Introdu@ion to the Know- ledge of Shells, according to the Lrnnazan Method. Vol. i. Halle, 1783;
Criticisms on the Linn £an System, in the Miscellanies by the Hon. Dr. Barrinctron. London, 1781, quarto, 226 pages.
J. A. Scorporr Annus Historico-Naturalis, vol. iv. 1770, oflavo—
contains several critical illustrations respecting the Linn zan Classifi- cation of Plants,
Consideration
A LIST OF FHE WORKS OF LINNAEUS. 329
Consideration of the Linnzan System of Entomology, and of my own; by J. C. Fasricius. Vol. ii. of the Writings of the Friends of Natural History. Berlin, 1781, in German.
Objettions against Linn aus respe€ting the Propagation of Mosses, by V. J. De Necxer. Manheim, in the Ada Academie Theodore Palatine—in German,
J. W. Roru’s List of Plants, which are not comprised in the proper Orders of the Linn #an System, by the number and quality of their generical parts, with an Introduétion, Alenburg, 1781, large o€iavoy, in German.
F. ©. Mepicus’s Observations on the Linna&wxan Genera, in his Botanical Remarks for the year 1783. Manheim, 1783, vol. ii. Ger- man.
Explication du Systéme Botanique du Chevalier Von Linné, pour servir d’introdu€tion a la Botanique, par M. Govan, Conseiller, Pro- fesseur, &c. 4 Montpellier, 1787. Large o€tavo, seventy-two pages.
Methodi Linna1 Botanice delineatio; Auétore J. E. Giripert, Colon. 1789, oftavo.—A Critique of the Linnzan System by Reétor LicHTENSTEIN at Hamburgh, in W. Smevute’s Philosophy of Natu- ral History, from the English, with additions by the same; and with illustrations by Dr. E. A. W. Zimmermann. Berlin, 1791, o€tavo, vol. 1. page 329 ef seq.
D. Cyritt1 Tabula Botanice elementares quatuor priores, sive icones partium, que in fundamentis describuntur. Neapol.1790. In five folio sheets, with unjust, bitter and morose refle€tions upon Lin-
N us in the preface.
330 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN&US.
ON
THE ANIMAL REIGN.
ANIMALIUM Specierum in Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species me- thodica dispositio, additis Chara€teribus, differentiis atque Synonymis, accomodata ad Systematis Nature decimam Holmiensem editionem in formam Enchiridii reda@tum. Lugd. Batav. 1759; in o€tavo.
Petr. Coppazrt Kort Begriep van het Zamenstel der Natur van den Heer C. Linnazus, med zeer veele zorten vermedert. Two numbers; Utrecht, 1773 and. 1774.
D. Marci (Hourryn) Natuurlyke Historie af uitvoerige beschryving der Dieren Planten, en Mineralien, volgens het zamenstel van den Heer Linnaus.—Amsterdam, first division, thirteen parts, from 1774 to 1780, in oftavo— Dutch.
The Complete System of Nature of Sir Cuartes Linnaus, ac- cording to the twelfth edition, and the method of Hourryn’s Work, with a full Illustration by Pu. L. Sr. Mutter. Nuremberg, at RasPz’s, 1776; seven parts, in oftavo. German. :
The first part of the above work contains the sucking animals, with thirty-two pilates.
The second, the Birds with twenty-eight plates.
The
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNAUS. oes!
The third, the Amphibious Animals with twelve plates.
The fourth, the Fishes, with eleven plates.
The fifth, the Inse€ts, with thirty-fix plates.
The fixth, the Worms, with thirty-seven plates.
The seventh, the Supplements and an Index, with three plates, The price of this work is eighteen rix-dollars.
Compendium of the System of Nature of Cuarites Linnaus, as far as it relates to the Animal Reign, with a complete display of Muyxter’s edition, Nuremberg, 1781, and 1782; 2. vol. with thirty- nine coloured plates; price eight rix-dollars.—German.
Systeme Naturel du Régne Animal par classes, famiiles, genres et cs- peces, avec une notice de tous les animaux, les noms Grecs, Latins et vulgares, suivant la méthode de M. Linnaus. a Paris, 1754. Vol. il. 8vo. with plates. oa
Entomological Supplements to the twelfth edition of Linn uss System of Nature, by J. A. E. Gorrzr. Levpsic, 1777, to 1781, three volumes in oftavo, the last of which consists of three parts. German.
C. a Linn: Entomologia Faunie Sueciz descriptionibus auéta, curante et augente Car. De Vitvers, four volumes. Lugd. Batav. 1785—9.
Institutions of Entomology, being a translation of Linn aus’s Ordines et Genera Inseéorum; or a systematic arrangement of in- se&ts, collated with the different systems of Grorrroi1, SCHAFFER, and Scorott, together with observations of the translator; by Tuo- MAS YATES. London, 1773, in o€tavo. |
The Genera Inseétorum of Linnaus exemplified by various speci- mens of English inseéts, drawn from nature, by James Barsurt. London, 1784, in quarto.
UU 2 The
332 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN-4US.,
The Genera Vermium of Linnaeus ‘exemplified’ by several of the rarefL and most elegant subjefts,; in the orders of Testacea, Lithophota and Zoophyta, by James Barsut, London. 2 Vol. in quarto with coloured plates. ,
J. J. Romer’s Genera Inseélorum Linna&r et Fapricir, tconi- bus illustrata, Twrict, 17906 ;
Di€tionario dos termos technicos de historia natural, extrahidos das obras de Linnzo, com sua explicacdo e estampas, para facilitar a intelligencia dos mesmos; pelo Dr. Domincos VANDELLI. Coimbra, 1788, quarto— Portuguese.
Systematical Compendium of the Three Reigns of Nature, for the use of teachers and authors instru ing young people. Nuremberg, 1777, and 1778, 2 vol. with plates—German.
The above work is an extra€t from the German translation of the System of Nature.
Systema Nature, cx editione xil. in epitome reda€ium et preleionibus academicis accomodatum, a Jo. Beckmann. Goetling. 1772, in 2 vol.
C.a Linn £1 Terminologia Conchyliogica, edit. a Jo. BeckMANN. Goetting, 1780, small o€tavo.
Synonima Linn& ANA, by the same, a correéted edition at G. Reycer’s, Danizic, 1760, quarto—Also in the first number of the German Naturalist, publifhedin German. Halle, 1774.
CArozrt Linnar Nomina Inse&torum in usum auditorum edita a Sam. Gust. Witcke. Gryphiswald, 1763—32 pages in quarto.
Sir Cuarves Linnus’s Termini Conchyologici, or technical ter ms for shells, in Latin and German, by J. J.Scuro ETER.—Weimar, 1782, oftavo, pages 45.
4 The
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN US. 338
The above work is stri€tly speaking the following dissertation of Linnezus: Fundamenta Testaceologie, resp. Ap. Murray, in the Ameenitat. Acad. vol. 8.
Doftoris J. F. Borten ad Linnaum Epistola de novo quodam Zoophytorum genere; Hamb. 1771. quarto, 12 pages *.
F. A. Donnvorr’s Zoological Supplements to the 19th edition of the Linnean System of Nature. 3 vol. large ottavo, Lezpsic, 1792.
Commentatio Philologica.de Simiarum, quotquot veteribus inno- tuerunt formis carumgque nominibus, pro specimine methodi, qua historia naturalis veterum ad Systema Nature Linnzanum exigenda atque adornanda, ab auctore M. A. A.’ H. Licurenste1n, Johann,
Hamb. Re€tore. Hamb. 1791, 80 pages o€tavo.
ON
THE VEGETABLE REIGN.
No:;; VIII.
Supplementum Plantarum Systemat. Vegetabil. xiii. Generum edit. vi. et Specierum edit. ii. Brunovicz, 1781, 30 sheets, in.ottavo. Respett-
ing this work, see the Life of the YouNCER LINN£US,
* Thofe writings which were publifhed ad modum et methodum LINNX1, are not placed here. Their titles alone would be fufficient to fill a volume.
The
334 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNAUS.
The Younger Linn us’s Supplement to the sixth edition of the Genera Plantarum and the first and second Mantissa, transiated from the Latin into German, by J. J. Praner. Gotha, 1785, 112 pages oftavo.
Francis Exruart’s Supplement to the Linnzan Supplementum
Plantarum. Hanover, 1787---8, vol. 1, from page 174 to 194.
NG. TOS,
Systema Vegetabile, secundum illustris au€toris observationes emendationes novissimas, editum a J. A. Murray. Goetting, 1774. This was the 13th edition of this part of the system.
The fourteenth edition; precedente longe au€tior et correctior, by the same. Goetting, 1784---987 pages, in large o€tavo.
Observationes Botanice circa Systema Vegetabillum Divi a Lin- NE, Goetting. 1784, editum &c. auctore AnpR. Dau, Westgothia— Sueco. Havanie, 1787, Zurich, 1788. |
The System of Plants of CoarLtes Von LinnéE; the fourteenth edition by J. A. Murray. Vienna, 1786.-- German. The same re- published. by G. A. Wetzensecx, 2 volumes. Munich, 1786---7.
Ov. Scuwarz Observationes Botanice, quibus plante Indie Occi- dentalis alieque Systematis Vegetabilis, edit. xiv. illustrantur, earum- -que chara€teres passim emendantur, cum tab, zn. Erlang. oftavo, 1791.
Additions and emendations to the 14th edition, in A. J. Rerzir Observat. Botanice, fascicul. v. Lips. 1789, in fol.
Caro: Linna1 Systema Vegetabilum secundum classes, ordines
et genera cum chara€teribus et differentlis juxta edit xiv. a Clar. J. A.
Mur-
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN&US. 335
Murray; edit. xv. curante J. Scannacata, Custod. Hort. Reg. ‘Ticinens. Ticinz, +789, 288 pages in o€tavo, an abridgment.
A fifteenth edition of the Systema Vegetabilium will be. published in course of time, by Dr. J. E. Smirn of London*.
In the year 17914, an edition of the Vegetable System was advertised for publication in Portugal. }
Linna1 Regnum Vegetabile, juxta Systema Nature in classes, ordines et genera constitutum, ex ejus operibus redattum, nec non ¢ Philosophia Botanica ejusdem, aliorumque operibus locupletatum, premissis definitionibus, curante Xaver. Manerri. Florent. 1756, ottavo, with two plates.
Castm Brancar Vademecum Botanico, continente gli caratteri della, roth edit. del Linngo, Sc. Firenze, 1763.
Puriip Mixver’s Short Introduétion to the Knowledge of the science of Botany, explaining the terms of art made use of in the Linnzan System. London, 1760, o€avo.
C. F. Arenporr Comparatio nominum officinalium plantarum cum nominibus botanicis Linn ar et TourNnerortil, Lat et Germ. Berolin, 1762, oftavo.
J. G. Berwaxp of the Sexes:and the Fructification of Plants. Hamb. 1778, o€tavo---German.
Jo. Berxennour Clavis Anglice Lingua Botanice Linnei. London, 1764, oftavo, and 1766.
* Dr. SmitH’s Edition of the SystTeMA VEGETABILIUM promises to be a most value able one.—I am alfo preparing fays he, in a Letter to the Author, a new Edition of Systema Vegetabilium; but this must be a work of time,.as I mean to examine every plant with my own eyes, and not bea mere copier lke my predecessors. “fhe work will be accompanied
with a volume of Odservationes Botanica, in which | thall give my reasons for all the changes Lmake, and descriptions of all my new plants.
D.. W..
x
336 A LIST OF THE WORKS-OF LINNAEUS.
D. W. WirHerine’s of Birmingham, botanical arrangement of all the vegetables growing in Great-Britain, according to the Linnean
System. London, 1789. F. J. Liez1 Enchiridion Botanicum, sistens delineationem plante
C. Von Linné definitam, exemplis et figuris illustratam. Vienn. 1766, odiavo, five sheets and an half.
The Vegetable Reign, after the most Modern System of Nature, of Srr Cuartes Von Linnf, 2 vol. Erfurt, 1770; by C. F. Dierricu.— German. His Elements of Botanical knowledge, by the same author; £yrfurt, 1771, o€tavo, three hundred and fifty-eight pages, and 1785, with plates.---German.
G. C. Ozvex, Index Plantarum in Linn a1 Systemate, Nat. edit. x. recensarum. Havn. 1761, in twelves.
Index Regni Vegetabilis, qui continet plantes omnes, que habentur in Linna&anr Systematis, edit. xii. auctor, N. J. Jacquin. Vindob. quarto 1770. .
Index Plantarum, que continentur in Linn ar Systemat. edit. xiv. edit. novissima by the same.---Vienne apud Warp Ler, 1785, quarto, one hundred and seventy-six pages. This work contains 10271 plants.
Nomenclator Botanicus enumerans plantas omnes in Systemate Na- ture, Speciebus Plantarum, edit. 11. et mantissi binis, 8vo. Lips. 1772.
Catalogus Plantarum omnium juxta Systema Vegetab. Linn-ar ad edit. xili. in usum Horti Pragensis, auct. J. Micxavu. Praga, 1776, twenty-six sheets, in o€tavo.
Index Linn us, in Plukeneti Opera, &c. et Index Linn anus in Dillenii Historiam Muscorum, auét. Dr. P. D. Grsexe. Hamb. 1779,
large
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN AUS. 937
large quarto---39 pages. Linn us himself has revised this work in manuscript.
Dominicr VanpeEtur1 Viridarium Grisley Lusitanicum, Lrin- N£ANIs nominibus illustratum jussu academiz in lucem editum, Co- nimbrica, 1789, o€tavo.
Dire€tions for beginners to colle& plants with utility and pleasure, and to define and fix them according to the Linnean system; by A. W. Rotu, GoTua, 1778, o€tavo.—German.
Compendio de Botanica, ou Nocoes elementares dessa sciencia, segundo os melhores escritores modernos, (especially according to Linneus,) ex- postas na lingua Portugueza;, por Ferix AveELLAR. BorTeERo. Lisbon, 1778.---vol. ii. large oftavo.
Compendium Botanices, Systematis Linnzanr conspeétum ejus- dem-que explicationem ad seleétiora plantarum Germanie indigenarum genera, earumque species continens, auctore, C. F. Reuss, edit. prima. Ulme, 1774. Edit. secunda, ibid. 1785.
Hr. Arch. och. Ridd, C. Von Linné Inledning i ort. Riket, efter Systema Nature, pa Suenska ofversatt of J. J. Hartmann. Edit. ii, Westeras, 17773 eleven sheets, in o€avo, with three plates. Swedish.
C.a Linn Systema Plantarum, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, nominibus trivialibus synony- mis seledtis et locis natalibus, a J. J. Retcuarp. Francof. ad Moen. Vol. iv. 1779,—1781.
‘Institutiones Botanica, au€t. Petagna; Neapol. Vol. v. The last was published in 1787. This work consists of commentaries on the
LINN 4ZAN System.
.
xXx CHARLES
338 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNAUS.
Cuaries Von Linné’s Vegetable System reduced to a tabular .
form, by G. A. We1zemsBacu. Munich; large oftavo, 1785. German. Epitome of the Linnean Vegetable System, for the use of the lovers of ceconomy, manufaétures and commerce. Vol. i. with plates; large
oflavo. Nuremberg, 1791. German.
C. Von Linné&’s description of all the plants. of- the bulbous kind,.
with plates, 1784. German.—also at Nuremberg.
~ Methodi Linneane Botanice delineatio, exhibens chara€teres essen-.
tiales generum, nec non specierum, que in demonstrationibus beta-
nicis describuntur &c. opus, herbationibus accommodatum, curante,
J. C. Grrizerr. Lyon, 1790; four hundred and eighty-two pages,.
octavo.
Plante Cryptogame Linn a1, Auét. Fr, Exrnuarz. Hannov. 17855
folio.
Guit. Dresxy de Valeriana officinali Linnai. Erlang. Quarto,-
1776.
Dr. G. A. Sucxow’s Diagnosis of the genera-of plants, according-
to the newest and eighth edition of the Linnaan sexual method. Lips.
1792, large o€tavo, German.
N.E. Preeresom Materia Vegetabilis, Systemati: Plantarum, pre--
sertim Philisophie Botanice inserviens, chara€teribus quoscunque
Linnus. indicavit, delineatis, Decas ii. cum fig, Lugd. Batav..
quarto, 1787.
Tuomas Marryn, thirty-eight plates, drawn and engraved by Os..
Nopper, with explanations to illustrate Linn aus’s System of Ve-
getables. Lond, 1788, o€ttavo. | .
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNAUS. 339
C. a Linné Systema, Genera et Species Plantarum Europe, cura j. E. Gitisert, cum fig.—viil. volumes the last publifhed in 1788, octavo.
“ Illustratio Systematis Sexualis. An Mlustration of the Sexual Sys- tem of Linnaus, by Joun Mruver, Lat. and English. London, 1777, large folio.
This work appeared from 1770, to 1777, in fifteen nuumbers, con- taining altogether two hundred and fourteen copper-plates and one hun- dred and eleven leaves of letter-press. In front of the splendid title is prefixed the Portrait of Liynaus. This is the most sumptuous and valuable work of its kind which ever appeared. The Author was a native of Wurtemberg in Germany, and presented a copy of it to the University of Goettingen. The price is twenty guineas.
Jouanni Mitucery Illustratio Systematis Sexualis Linnzi. Franc- fort, 178g, in o€tavo, with coloured plates, Price four ducats; com- mon, six rix-dollars.
Plantarum Icones, haétenus inedite, plerumque ad plantas in Her- bario Linneano conservatus delineate, au. Jacoso Epuarpo Smitu, M D. Societatis Regie Londinensis, Ulyssip. Agron. Paris. So- cio, Societatis Linn £AN ® Londinensis Preside. Lond. 1789. Fascicul. ii. fourteen sheets and an half, and twelve plates.—Fascicul. ii. 1791. Fascicul. iii. 1791.
Ejusdem Icones piéte plantarum rariorum, Lond. 1790-2. ii Fasc. and Spicilegium Botanicum, Lond. 1790-2, Fascicul. ii. fol. Lat. et Angl. .
K XQ Colleétion
340 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN US.
Colleétion of dried plants, named on the authority of the Lin- naAN Herbarium, &c. by James Dicxson. Lond. 1789-90. Fasci- cul. il. fol.
In 1792, appeared at London, the second volume of the oétavo edition of Joun Mixver’s Illustration of the Sexual System of Lrn- NUS, containing the Termini Botanici, illustrated with fix-hundred and seventy-five figures; delineated from such plants as have the cha- raéter of each term.
TovurneErormtii et Linn a1 Institutiones rei herbaria, edit. nova auéta et corre€tior, cumicon. 4 tom. oftavo Lugd. (properly speak- ing at Lyons) apud pe La MoLuiERE, 1792.
Jo. Extis’s Dionza, de muscipula planta, irritabili nuper deteéta ; Epistola ad C. a Linné. Lond. 1769, quarto.
Icones Plantarum Indigenarum et Exoticorum ; ora Colle&tion of Figures of Indigenous and Exotic Plants, drawn from nature, and des- cribed in the last edition of Murray’s LinnZan System of Plants, by a Society of Botanists, in fix Numbers. Vienna, 1791, 5th year, large o€tavo edition, in German. This whole work which consists of thirty numbers, may be had for thirty rix-dollars, or about six guineas and an half English money.
Of the Practica Boranica del CavaLiero Car os Linnevus, appeared at Madrid, in 1788, the 7th vol. in large oftavo, contain- ing two hundred and twenty-seven pages. It comprises from the 21f to the 24th class.
Nuevos Remepios, que ha puesto in Pra€tia Don ANTONIO Car- DEVILA deducidos del metodo Botanico ‘de LinNEo; en Madrid
1779. Spanifh. Separate
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNAUS. 341
Separate remarks and allegations upon the Linn an System. Sce Roemer and Usrzri’s Botanical Magazine, Zurich, o€lavo, 1757 to
1791. German, No, X.
Linn £1 Epistolaad BatpinGgerum de Filicibus, Feng 1771.
ON
THE MINERAL REIGN.
SIR Cuares Linn xvs’s complete Natural System of the Mineral Reign, according to its twelfth edition ; a free translation with additions, by J. F. Guerin. Nurembergh, 1778 to 1779, in four large oftavo volumes, with fifty-six plates.
No. XI.
Hypothesis Nova de Febrium Intermittentium Causa. Harderovicr, 2735 in quarto. This Dissertation of Linnaus was composed when he first took his degree as Do€tor of Medicine at Harderwyk in Hol- land. It. is copied in. ScureBeER’s edition of the Amoenitat. Acad. vol. x. Erlang. 1790-
2 No. XIII,
$42 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN AUS.
No. XII. The First Edition.—Fundamenta Botanica, que majorum operum pro- dromi instar, theoriam scientiz Botanice per breves aphorismos tra-
dunt. Amstelod. apud ScuouTen, 1736. Thirty-six pages in twelves.
No. XIII.
The Second Edition—Aufiior a Linn £0, Stockholm, 1740, thirty- two pages o€tavo.
The Third Edition—Abo, 1740, thirty-two pages, quarto.
The Fourth Edition.—Leyden, 1741, fifty-one pages, o€tavo.
The Fifth Edition —Paris, 1744, twenty-six pages o€tavo.
The Srxth Edition—Halle, accedit Dissertatio J. Grsneri de Ve- getabilibus, apud BrerwirTH, 1747, p. 78, oftavo.
Seventh Edition.—Lucca, 1.758, in o€tavo.
The Eighth Edition —Parisy 1774, o€tavo.
David De Gorter (Jon. fil.) Elementa Botanica, methodo Linn a1 accommodata, ac in usum auditorum evulgata, Harderovicit, 1749, ninety o€tavo pages, with eleven plates.—This work is a commentary on Linnzus’s Fundamenta, from page seventy-eight to two hundred and nine.
Linn «1 Elementa Botanica, per Dan. SotannveEr. Ups. 1756, con-
taining sixty-four o€tavo pages.
No. XIV. The First Edition.—Bibliotheca Botanica*, recensens Libros plus
mille de plantis, huc usque editos, secundum systema auétorum na-
* Etsi parum plena est, neque subito potuit plena enasci, ingenii tamen sui auctoris vestigia fert in tabulis inque tota dispositione. HALLERUs in Biblioth. tom, ii. Ps 2456
ay turale,
A-LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN AUS. 343
turale, in classes, ordines, genera et. species dispositos, additis edi- tionis-loco, tempore, forma, lingua. Amstel. apud ScuouTEN, 1736, one hundred and thirty-six pages in twelves.
The Second Edition.—Correftior precedente. Halle, apud Brer- WIRTH, 1747, one hundred and twenty-four pages in o€tavo.
The Third Edition.—Amstelod. 1751, two hundred and twenty pages,
in ottavo.. No. XV.
Musa Currrortrana, Florens Hartecampi prope Harlemum, 1736;
Lugd. Batav. forty pages in quarto*,. No. XVI..
The First edition —Genera Plantarum earumque charatteres natu- rales, secundum. numerum, figuram, situm: et proportionem omnium: fruétificationis partium. Lugd. Batav. apud Wisuor, three hundred and eighty-four o€tavo pages. It contains nine hundred and thirty-five genera T.
The Second Edition—Aula et emendata ibid. apud eundem, 1742, five hundred and sixty-nine pages in o€tavo, with one copper-plate.
Contains one thousand and twenty-one genera.
* Plena historia plant et character expeditus, etsi alii Clariss. Viri paulo aliter florem se habere repererunt, difficilis enim et paradoxa planta est. HALER, in Biblioth. tom. ii, p. 245. -
+ Hauer judges thus of this work: Charatteres hiulcos TouRNEFoRTHI, laxos Ran, nimis partiales Rivin1, non semper fideles MaGNoum, ita uberrimos, ita ex ipsa natura erutosreddidit, ut perinde cuivis systemati condendo fidi sunt duces futuri-
The
344 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNAEUS.
The Third Edition.—Paris, 1743, four hundred and thirteen pages, in o€tavo, with the French terms:—a mere copy of the preceding edition replete with errors.
The Fourth Edition.—Genera Plantarum, é&c. que novis }]xx. gene- ribus auétoris, sparsim editis locupletata, in usum auditorii recudenda curavit C. C. Srrumpr, Botan. Prof. Hale apud Kimmen, 1752, four hundred and seventy-three pages in o€tavo. Contains one thou- sand and ninety genera.
No. XVII.
The Fifth Edition.—A Linnezo reformata et au€ta. Holm. apud
SALviUM, 1754, thirty six sheets in o€tavo, Contains one thousand
one hundred and five genera.
No. XVIII.
The Sixth Edition —Also by Linnaus; it was the last which he published, Holm, 1764, five hundred and eighty pages in o€tavo. It contains one thousand two hundred and thirty-nine genera,
The Seventh Edition.—Vienna, 1764, by Trattner.
The £ighth Editione—Vienna, 1767, by the same.
The Ninth Edition—Novis generibus ac emendationibus, ab ipso auCtore sparsim evulgata et auéta, cura J. F. Reicuarn. Francfort, 1778, in o€tavo ; contains one thousand three hundred and forty- three genera. . ee
The Tenth Edition.—Prioribus editionibus longe au€tior atque emen- datior, curante J. C. D. Scureser, who reckons it for the eighth edition. Francfort, 1790, and 1791, two vols. o€tavo. - |
The Eleventh Edition.Precedentibus longe auttior, curante THAD.
Hanke, 2 vol. Vindob. 1791, o€tavo. SUPPLEMENTS.
(ngasun]
SUPPLEMENTS
ADDED TO
THE ABOVE WORKS
BY LINNAZUS HIMSELF.
No. XIX.
CAROLI LINN I Corollarium Generum Plantarum; cui accedit Methodus Sexualis. Lugd. Batav. 1737, o€tavo,
No. XX.
Carori Linna1 Decem Plantarum Genera et additamenta ad Gene- rum editionem secundam, in the Ada Societ. Scient. Upsal, 1741, pages seventy-eight.
XXI.
Mantissa Plantarum, Generum editionis sexte et epecierum Edi-
tionis secunde., Holm. 1767, one hundred and forty-two pages in
oftavo. XXII.
Mantissa Plantarum altera. Holm. 1771, five hundred and fifty-eight
pages in oftavo, vy Essay
346 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNAUS.
Essay of a German Nomenclature of the Genera of Linn aus, by J. Praner. £vfurt, 1771, two hundred and twenty-four pages in o€tavo, German.
Cuarztes Von Linné’s Genera of Plants and their natural dis.
tin€tive marks, from the number, form, situation and proportion of all
the parts of the flower; translated according to the sixth editition, ©
and the first and second Maniissa, by J. J. PLaner. Gotha, 1775, two volumes in o&avo. German.
Lraducion de las Generos de las Plantas pt Linneo, per D. Anto- Nio Cappgvita, Medico in esta Corte, Professor Real de Botanica, Socio de la Real Sociedad de las Ciencias de Gottingen, &c. en Ma- drid,1774. Spanish.
Het. xix. Classe van de Genera Plantarum van de Heer Linnazvus, Syngenesia genaamt; opgeheldert en vermeedert &c. door Davin Mexrse, te Leuwarden, 1761, large oftavo, Dutch. .
A. C. Ernstine’s historical and physical description of the genera of plants, to which has been added Linnavus’s systematic list of the genera of plants. Lemgo, 1762, two volumes in quarto ; German,
On some artificial Genera of the family of the Malva, also of the classes of the Monadelphios, to which is added an opinion upon the Linnnazan Genera and their classification, &c. by F. C. Mepicus.
Manheim, 1787, one hundred and fifty-eight pages in oftavo. German,
No. XXIII.
Viridarium Ciirrortianum. Amstel. apud SCHOUTEN, 17375 efavo. |
No. XXIV..
es 1
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNAEUS. 247
No. XXIV.
Hortus CtirrortTianus, plantas exhibens, quas in hortis tam vivis, quam siccis, Hartecampz in Hollandia coluit Vir nobil. et gener. GEORGIUS Currrort, J. V. D. reduétis varictatibus ad species, spe- ciebus ad genera, generibus ad classes, adje€tis locis plantarum natali- bus, differentiisque specierum. Amstel. 1737, five hundred and two
pages in folio, with thirty-two copper-plates*,
No. XXV.
The First Edition.—Flora Lapponica, exhibens plantas, per Lappo- niam crescentes, secundum Systema Sexuale, colle€tas itinere impensis Societ. Reg. Litterar. Scientiar. Suecia, anno 1732 instituta, additis synonymis et locis natalibus omnium, descriptionibus et figuris ra- riorum, viribus medicatis et ceconomicis plurimarum Amstel. ap. ScHou- TEN, 1737; three hundred and seventy-two pages, in o&avo, with plates.
The Second Edition,—Aufta et correéta, auét. J. E. Smitu, Lon- don, 1792 T.
. No. XXVI.
The First Edition—Critica Botanica, in qua nomina plantarum gene- rica, specifica et variantia examini subjiciuntur, sele€tiora confirmantur,
indigna rejiciuntur, simulque do@rina circa denominationem planta.
* Hic incepit (ut in Flora Lapponica) vir Cl. species generibus subjicere et synonyma, in plantis fere peregrinis et hortensibus, quarum multe rare et nove. Hater in Bibl. Bot. T. H. p. 246.
} I am also printing a new edition of Linneus’s Flora Lapponica, enlarged and correéted, ‘which will be out in two or three months.—In a Letter from Dr. SMiTH to the Author, written in November, 1791.
yy 2 rum
348 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN AUS.
rum traditur; cui accedit Browatzi1 Discursus de introducenda in scholas Historie Naturalis le€tione. Lugd. Batav. nla W1sHOF, 17375 two hundred and twenty pages in o€tavo-*,
The Second Edition—Critica Botanica Linn«t, cum dissertatione de
vita et scriptis au€toris. edit. a J. E.Griizerr, Colon. 1788.
No. XXVII.-
The First Edition—Classes Plantarum, seu Systema Plantarum; omnia, a fruétificatione desumta, quorum sexdecim universalia et tredecim par- ticularia, compendiose proposita secundum classes, ordines et nomina generica, cum clave cujusvis methodi et synonymis genericis. - Lugd. Batav. apud Wisuor, 1738, six hundred and fifty-six pages in o€tavo. The Second Edition.— Hale, apud BrrwiktH, 1747, in o€tavo. Supplements’ and Continuations of the Linn#zan_ Colleétion of Botanical Systems, are to be found in’ thé Botanical Magazine of -Roemer and Uren,’ published at Zurich. No. 1. 1787, begins with
the System of Prof. Arrioni at Turn. German.
No. XXVIII.
The First Edition—Petri Artept, Sueci Medici, Ichthyologia, sive
opera omnia de piscibus; scilicet Bibliotheca Ichthyologica; Genera
* Partem quartam Fundamentorum Botanicorum hic uberius deducit, que agit de nomini- bus plantarum. Generum nomina vult sibi stare, neque ab alia similitudine deduci, neque ‘barbariem sapere. Nomina Cl. virorum.in plantis suadet dedicari, reétius quam VAILEAN~ yrus. Nomina specierum jubet -definitionem. exprimere sue plante ; ideoque Rivin1ana et BAUHINIANA rejicit. Jdem tam in posterioribus operibus preter nomina erudita, trivialia introduxit, quorum vulgo usus esset; et que ipsa sunt Rivini nomina. Multum hoc opere sibi conflavit invidie Audlor, quo, ut puto, voluit rationem reddere, cur nomina in recepta undique rejecerit. HALLER in Bibliorh. Botan, tom. ii. p. 246.
Piscium
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNEUS. 349
Piscium; Synonyma Specierum et Descriptiones; omnia in hoc ge- nere. perfe€tiora quam antea ulla. Posthuma vindicavit, recognovit, coaptavit et edidit. CaroLtus Linnaeus. Lugd. Batav. apud Wisuor, 1738, in o€tayo, five hundred and fifty-six pages.
The Second Edition—Aufta et Emendata. A J. J. WALBAUM, Gryphishw, 1788 and 1791, three volumes in quarto.
Petri ArTEDI, Synonyma Piscium Greca et Latina, emendata, illustrata atque auéta; seu Specimen Historia Literarie Piscium; cum
Hippopotami Veterum Historia Critica, Auttore J, Gotti. ScuneEt-
DER, Lezps. 1789.
ORATIONS OF LINNALUS.
No. XXIX.
THE First Edition—Tal om Merkwaerdigheten uti Inseélerne. Stock- holm, 1739, o€tavo.—This oration was made by Linnus in the Swedish language, when he resigned his office as President of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm.
The Second Edition—-Translated into Dutch. Leyden, 1741, in oc-
tavo.
The
350 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN CUS.
The Third Edition—Oratio de memorabilibus in Inse&tis; Latine verti, Asrag. Bacx. Paris, 1743. Inserted in the Amoenitat. Acad. vol. vi. ERD Thi
The Fourth Edition—Reprinted in Swedish. Stockholm, 1747, in octavo.
The Fifth Edition.—Stockholmy 1752; in oG@avo, with the inse&ts num- bered as in Fauna Suecica.
The Sixth Edition—Translated into German in the Universal Repo- sitory of Nature, Art and Science. Lezps. 1754, wol. ii. page three hundred et seq-—-German.
The Seventh Edition—Also in German, translated from the last
Swedish edition, by C. H. Grogenine. Schwerin, 1784, o€tavo.
No. XXX.
The First Eduion—Oratio de Peregrinationum intra Patriam Necessi- tate. Upsal, 1742, quarto; delivered when Linn aus assumed his pro- fessorial functions.
Second Edition—Eadem Oratio—accedit Elenchus Animalium Sue- cie; BrowaArrii Examen Epicriseos SrEGESBECKIAN& et GESNERI Dissertatio de Vegetabilibus. Lugd. Batav. apud Haak, 1743, oftavo.
The Third Edition—Inserted in the Amocnitat, Acad. vol. ii.
No. XXXI. The First Edition—Orbis Eruditi Fudicium de Car. Linnat M. D. Scripiis. Upsal, 1741, one small o€tavo sheet. Linn us published the above pamphlet in an anonymous manner, chiefly to vindicate himself against the attacks of WaLLeERIUus. 2 The
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN AUS. 353
The Second Edition—In the Colleétio Epistolarum Carorr a Linnie; accedunt opuscula pro et contra Linné scripta extra Sueciam raris- sima; edid. D. H. Stozver. Hamburg, apud Horrmann, 1792,
oftavo.
No. XXXII.
The First Edition.—Oratio de telluris habitabilis incremento. Upsa/, 1743, quarto.
The Second Edition—una cum Anor, Cexst1 oratione de mutatio- nibus generalibus, que in superficie corporum ccelestium contingunt. Lugd. Batav. 1744, one hundred and four pages in o€tavo.
The Third Edition—Reprinted in the Amoenitat. Acad. vol. Vi.
The Fourth Edition—Translated into German in the Universal Maga- zine of Nature, Art and Sciences. Lezpszc, vol. vil. page 37, et seq.
The Fifth Edition—Translated into Swedish by the title: Tal om Jordens tilvaxt. Stockholm, 1776, in o€tavo.
Thoughts on the Opinion of Linn us on the Increase of the Habi-
table Earth. Danizic, 1767.
No. XXXIII.
The First Edition—Oratio Regia, coram Rege Reginaque habita. 1759, in folio—Swedish.
The Second Edition—Translated into Latin in the Amenitat. Acad. Edit. Scureser, vol. x. Erlang, 1799.
No. XXXIV.
The First Edition—Delicie Nature, oratio habita, 177. ‘The
352 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNAUS.
The Second Edition—Translated into Swedish by Linn £us himself, at the request of the students from the different Swedish provinces, under the title of Carortr Von Linné Delicie Nature; Tal, hallit Upsala Domkyrka, ar 1772, den 14 Dec. vid Rettoratets nedlaggande. Stock. 1773, two sheets o€tavo.
The Third Edition—In Latin, in the Amoenitat. Acad. ScHREBER. vol. x. 1790.
NARRATIVES
OF
THE TRAVELS OF LINN.ZUS.
No. XXXV.
Orxrinosxa och Gothlanska Resa. Stockh. och Upsal, 1745, three hun- dred and forty four pages, in oftavo, with two plates—Swedish. : Cuarres Von Linné’s Travel’s through Oéland and Gcthland, trans- lated into German by J. C.S. Scureser. Halle, sold by J. J. CurT, 1763; four hundred and thirty-two pages, large oftavo, with five plates —German. No.
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN ZUS. 353
No. XXXVI.
Wastgotha Resa; af Ricksens Stainders befalning fordttad. Stockholm, 1747; two hundred and twenty-four pages in o€tavo, with five plates—
Swedish. Cuarces Von Linné’s Travels in West Gothland, translated by J.
C.D.Scureser. Halle, 1765, large oftavo—German. No. XXXVII.
Skanska Resa, Forrdttada1749. Stockholm, by Sarvivus, 1749: four hundred and thirty-four pages in o€tavo, with six plates.
Cuarces Linnaus’s Travels in the Kingdom of Sweden, under. taken by command of the Swedish Government, for the benefit of Natu- ral History, Qiconomy and Medicine. Translated from the Swedish by C.E. Krein. Stockholm and Leipsic, vol. i. with three plates—German.
No:second volume of the above work has ever appeared.
zag VOYAGES
354 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN US.
VOYAGES AND TRAVELS
OF THE
PUPILS OF LINNAEUS,
PUB LIS HEVD.2Y.9H 1M 5S ELF:
No. XXVIII.
FREDERICI HASSELQUIST, Iter Palestinwn; Eller Resa til Heliga Landet. Holm. 1757, o€tavo__Swedish and Latin.
Frepericx Hasserourst’s Travels in Palestine, from the year 1749 till 1752; published by command of the Queen of Sweden, by CuarvesLinnaus. Translated into German by Tu. H. Gapesuscu. Rostock, 1762, o€tavo.
Translated into French. Paris, 1769, twelves.
into English. London, 1771, o€tavo.
No. XXXIX.
Perri Loariiner: Iter Hispanicum; Ella Resa til Spanksa Lan- derna, uti Europa och America, fOrrattad ifran 1751 til 1756; med beskrifninger och rén 6fver de markwardigeste waxter. Stockholit,
1758; large oftavo. Swedish.
PETER
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNEUS. 355
Perer La@riine’s Travels in the Spanish Territories in Europe and America. . Translated from the Swedish by A. B. Korrpin. Berlin, 1766; large o€tavo, with plates. Reprinted in 1776, inoftavo. German.
Translated into English by JR. and J. Forster. London, 1771. [Compare here the article in the Biography, which treats of the
travelling Pupils of Linn us. ]
Now. XL. ~The First Edition—Flora Suecica, exhibens Plantas, per Regnum Sueciz crescentes, systematice cum differentiis specierum, synonymis auctorum, nominibus incolarum, solo locorum, usu Pharmacopeorum. Lugd. Batav. apud Wisuor, 1745; three hundred and ninety-two pages
in o€tavo; contains one thousand one hundred and forty plants *,
No. XLI. The Second Edition—Au€a et Emendata. Stockholm, apud Satvium, 1755. Thirty-four sheets and an half in o€tavo; with one hundred
and fifty-six plants, augmented with the trivial names f.
\
No. XLII. The First Edition— Fauna Suecie regni, mammalia, aves, amphibia,
pisces, inse€la, vermes ; distributa per classes, ordines, genera et species.
* Multas ubique veras meridionalium regionum species pro varietatibus habuit, quas ipse _non legisset. Nonnunquam in alios scriptores asperius animadvertit. HALLER. in Brdfiorh. Botanica, tom. ii. page 247.
* The younger Linn us had prepared and got quite ready for the press, a third and much enlarged edition of the Flora Suecica. On account of his sudden death it did not appear in Sweden. The manuscript, with his additions and emendations is in the possession of Dr,
. James Epwarp Situ, who has since published this new edition. ZL 2 Holmia,
356 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNZUS.
Holmie, apud Sarvium,1746; four hundred and eleven pages in oc- tayo, with two plates. Dissertatio Entomologica, sistens Insefta Suecica. Upsal, 1790 and
4791; in quarto; Au€tore Becxuin ; contains additions,
No. XLIII.
The Second Edition—Augmented with additions and the trivial names. Holm. 1761, apud Satvium; five hundred and fifty-nine pages, oftavo, with two plates; contains one thousand two hundred and sixty-nine indigenous plants.
Dr. Arzexttus has increased the number of the Swedish indige- nous plants with eighteen more, which were inserted in 1787 in the Transa€tions of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences.
Nos X LIV.
The First Edition—Flora Zeylanica, sistens plantas Indicas Zeylonae insulae, quae olim 1670—1677 leéte fuerea PAuLo HerMANNO, Pro- fess. Botan. Leydens:; demum post 70 annos ab A. Gintuero orbi reddite. Holm. 1747; two hundred and fifty-four pages in o€tavo,
with four plates.
The Second Edition—Copied from the former. Leipsic, 1748.
No: ey.
Hortus Upsaliensis, exhibens plantas exoticas, horto Upsaliensis Aca-
demiz a Car. Linn <o iJlates ab anno 1742, in annum 1748, additis
* Opus magni momenti e¢ multi laboris, cujus fru@us in breves aphorismos colleéti hic habentur, Multa et pulchra de floribus plenis, &c. Hater in Bib, Bot. tom. ii. page 250
differentiis,
A LIST OF THE LIFE OF LINN “US. 359
é differentiis, synonymis, habitationibus, hospitiis, rariorumque descrip- tionibus, in gratiam studiose juventutis. Holm. 1748; three hun-
dred and six pages in o€tavo, with three plates.
No. XLVI.
The First Edition—Philosophia Botanica, in qua explicantur Funda- menta Botanica, cum definitionibus partium, exemplis terminorum, ob- servationibus rariorum, adjeétis figuris. Holm. apud KizsnweETTer ; three hundred and sixty-two pages in o€tavo, with nine plates.
The Second Edition—Vienna, 1755; ottavo,
The Third Edition—Vienna, 1763; o€tavo.
The Fourth Edition—London, 1765—English.
The Fifth Edition—Vienna, by TrattNner, 1770; o€tavo.
The Stxth Edition—Berlin, 1780; revisa et emendata curante J. G. Grepitscu. Is like the second edition, except the additions.
* The Seventh Edition—Colon. 1787; curante J. E. Girizerr; large oftavo; called in the title Editio Quarta.
Hucu Rossz’s Elements of Botany, being a translation of the PaAzio- sophia Botanica and other Treatises of Linnaeus. London, 1775, 8vo.
Linn 21 Institutcones Botanica, translated, with a view of the ancient and present state of Botany, and a Synopsis, exhibiting the essential or striking chara€ters which serve to discriminate the genera of the same class and order. By C. Mine, two volumes; London, 17725 with a Supplement, 1772; in quarto.
Traduccion de la Filosofia Botanica del celebro Carios Linné, por D. Anronio Carpevita, Medico, Prof. Real, &c. en Madrid, 47713; o€tavo,
2 There
358 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN AUS.
There is another translation in Spanish with notes, by Don Anron10 Patan y Venera, Professor of Botany at Madrid*.
N. J. De Necxer Elementa Botanica, &c. cum tabulis; accedit Corollarium ad Philosophiam Botanicam Linn £1 speétans, &c. 3 vol. Argentorati, 1791, 8vo. Also withaseparate Corollarium. Neoweda@,1791.
Additions and Illustrations relative to the Philosophia Botanica, in J. A. Scotor: Fundamenta Botanica. Pavia, 1783 and 1786; one hundred and forty-seven pages, o€tavo. Italian
Epitome of the Philosophy of Plants, according to the Linn “An
system. Augsburg, 1787, ninety-three pages, o€tavo.
No, ak) LI.
The First Edition—Species Plantarum, exhibens plantas, rite cogni- tas, ad genera relatas, cum differentiis specificis, nominibus triviali- bus, synonymis seleétis, locis natalibus, secundum systema sexuale digestas Holm. apud Sarvium two volumes in ogtavo, 1753, one
hundred and twenty pages *.
No. XLVIII. The Second Edition—Au&a ab au€tore, 1762—--. vol. sixteen hun- dred and eighty-four pages, in o€avo.
* See CAVANILLEs on the Present State of Spain. Berlin, 17853; page 74. German.
* Primum adnotasse oportet, solas hic plantas recenseri, quas auctor coram habuerit, nue merossissimas adeo, etiam Europzas omitti, quoties viri oculos fugerant. Deinde, copio- sissimum tamen esse catalogum, cum undique per difcipulos, amicos, etiam incognitos, plantz rarissime ad Cl. virum confluxerint. Passim priora sua placita emendavit, et quas varietates dixerat, inter species recensuit. Rariores passim deseruit.—Ed/tio fecunda potissimum in- dicis et percgrinis plantis ditior. Studiym idem. Iterum passim aliquas. species recepit, quibus fidem negaverat, et tamen in plusculis pergit in.sententia, quam nuper demum deseruit, ut plerasque nunc pro speciebus adgnoscat, quas inter varietates relegaverat. Maximum opus, et @ternum, plenius futurum, si aliis, etiam plantarum gnaris wviris, fidem habuisset, qué in regione magis australi plantas, Septentrion? a natura negatas, recentes et florentes vide- rant, HALLER. in Biél, Bot. t. il. p. 252.
The
A LIST. OF THE WORKS OF LINN £US. 359
The Third Edition—Vindob. by TRATTNER, 1764, two volumes.
Caroti a Linné systema, genera et species plantarum Europe, cura-J. E. Girisert, tomi xii. cum fig. large oftavo. Colon. Allobrog. 1764.
A new edition of the Species Plantarum may be expeéted in course of time of Dr. J. E. Smiru, at London*.
J. H. H. Luper, on the Botanical definition of some culinary plants which are not described with sufficient accuracy in the third edi- tion of Linn zus’s species of plants. Inserted in a German work en- titled: «* The most Modern Varieties ;” Third Year. Berlin, 1780, large o€tavo.— German.
Two hundred Botanical Remarks upon the Species Plantarum of Lin- n £us, by B. P. Scuranx, in the Ada Academica Elettoralia Mogun- tina, Erfurt. ad anno 1780-1.—German.
Linnaéus’s Mantisse to the second edition of this work, of 1767 and 1771, may be seen above, under the head of Genera Plantarumt.
The following work, which lately made its appearance in Germany, ought also to be mentioned here as an effort of Linn«us.
Caro. A Linné Praele&iones in Ordines Naturales plantarum, ex manuscripto proprio et Jo. Curist. Fasricii, edid. Dr. P. D. Gresexe, accedit palmarum, &c. uberior expositio. Hamburg. apud
HOFFMANN, 1792, octavo, cum figuris.
* The [cones omnium Specierum Plantarum Linn £1 Equitis, which was prépared for the public at an immense expence, by the late Carotina Louisa, Margravine of Baden, has not yet made its appearance.
+ “There are an infinite number of errors in the Species Plantarum,” says Dr. SMITH, s¢ which can only be corrected from the LINN# awn Herbarium.”
No.
360 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN AUS:
No. XLIX.
Museum Tessinianum, opera Comitis C. G. Tessin, Regis Regnique Senatoris &c. colleétum :
Han’s Excellence Rickrodets Heer. Gr. C. G. Tessin’s Naturalie Samling. Holm. 1753, Latin and Swedish, ninety pages in folio, with plates.
No. L.
Museum Regis Apoxpui Suecorum, &c. in quo animalia rariora, im- primis exotica, quadrupedia, aves, amphibia, pisces, inse€la, vermes describuntur et determinantur. This work is in Latin and Swedish. Stockholm, 1754, one hundred and thirty-five pages in folio, with thirty- five plates.
Dr. James Epwarp Smiru has translated the preface to the above work into English, under the following title: ‘* Linn 2us’s Refleétions
on the Study of Nature.” London, 1785, o€tavo.
Now lie
Museum Regine Louise UtRic& in quo animalia rariora exotica, imprimis inse€ta et conchylia describuntur et determinantur ; et Musei Regis Apo.tpui tomi secundi prodromus. Holm. 1764, seven hun- dred and twenty pages in o€tavo, and the prodomus one hundred and ten pages, same size.
The Queen’s Museum contains four hundred and thirty-six inseéts,
and four hundred and thirty conchylia.
No. LII.
AZLIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN ZUS, 361
No. LIT.
Disquisitio questionis, ab Acad. Imper. Scientiar. Petropolitane in annum 1759 pro premio proposite: Sexum Plantarum argumentis et experimentis novis, prater adhuc jam cognita vel corroborare vel im- pugnare, &c. ab eadem Academia die 6 Sept. 1760, in conventu pub- lico preemio ornata. Petropol. typ. Acad. 1760, forty pages in quarto.
The Second Edition— Also in the Nova Commentaria Academ. Scientiar. Imperial. Petropolit. Tom, vii. 1761.
The Third Edition —Linn svus’s Dissertation on the sexes of plants; translated by J. E. Smitu, M. D. &c. Lond. 1786, o€tavo.
The Fourth Edition —In French, by P. M. A. Broussoner, in the Fournal Encyclopedique. vol. xxii. 1788, August 2, page one hundred and one to one hundred and eight, and Sept. 1, page two hundred and ninety-eight to three hundred and seven, by the title: Remarques con- cernant la Dissertation de Linné sur le Sexe des Plantes, &c. suivies de la traduétion de cette dissertation.
The Fifth Edition-—With notes by Broussonert in the Ameenitat. Academ. Edit. Scureser, Vol. x. Erlangen, 1790*.
No. ‘Lill.
Nitraria, planta obscura explicata, in the Nova Commentaria Petre-
polit. tom. Vili. p. 315.
* « The Dissertation de Sexu Plantarum in Amoenitat. Acad. vol. x.” says Dr. SMITH, in a Letter to the Author, ‘ is augmented from the French edition;—my English one has « more notes, which BronssoneT did not choose, because they relate to ADANSON.”
Aaa No. LIV.
362 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN AUS.-
No. LIV. The First Edition —Materia Medica Regni Vegetabilis. Holm. 17495
otlavo*.
Materia Medica Regni Animal. Upsal, 1750.
Materia Medica Regni Lapid. Upsal, 1752.
The three above works were published as dissertations, and the two latter are inserted in the Ameenitat. Acad. vol. ii. and ili.
The Second Edition.—Published complete, for the first time, by Dr. L. Tessar. Veneti@, 1762, in o€tavo; with his Materia Medica Contra€ta. ee |
The Third Edition.—J. C. D. Scureper. Lips. et Erlang. 1772, augmented and published by Linn £us’s own previous knowledge.
The Fourth Edition.—Vienna, 1774; reprinted from the preceding Edition.
The Fifth Edition—Auttior, Cura J.C. D. Scureser, Lips. et Erlang. 1787, three hundred and eightcen pages, large o€lavo.
Mantissa Editionis quarte Materia Medice, Erlang. 1783, oc- tavo.
The Sixth Edition,—By the same, Lips. et Erlang. 1787, three hun- dred and eighteen pages, large o€tavo. :
Franciscr Tavares Medicamentorum Sylloge, proprie pharma- cologie exempla sistens, in usum academicarum prale€lionum. Conim- brice, ex typogr. Academico. Regia, 1787, o€tavo.
* Plantas plurimas et celeberrimas, ob utilitatem medicam, ut tamen verum earum genus ignoraretur, ad sua genera revocavit.. Varias etiam plantas ob: vires medicatas celebrat, quas
officinee ignorant :—Sed totum opus legere oportet quod-sit inter opt'ma Audoris. HALLER. in Bibliotheca Bot. vol. ii. p. 249.
2 ° The
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF: LINN AUS. 363
The Linn #an Materia Medica is the basis of this work. Dr. W. Cutten’s Epitome of Medical Nosology, or a systematic division of diseases, by Cutten, LiNNa&us, Sauvaces, VoceEL, and Sacar. Lips. 1786, two volumes, large o€tavo.
-
No. LV.
First Edition.— Genera Morborum. Upsal, 1763, with a Swedish No- menclature, first published as a dissertation in the Amenitat Acad.
The Second Edition.—In usum auditorum publicata, by J. C. Ker- sTENS. Hamb, et Gustrow, 1774.
The Third Edition.—Monspelie, 1787, quarto, by M. Govan.
No: LV I.
The First Edition.—Clavis Medicina duplex, exterior et interior. Holm. 1763, twenty-nine pages, in o€tavo.
The Second Edition.—Cum prefatione edidit, Fr. Gr. BALDINGER. Longosalisse, 1767.—Aphyteia & Hypericum. Upsai, 1766.—Two Aca- demical Dissertations, the two last produétions of Linnaeus, in the Ameenitat. Acad. Edit. Scureser, vol. vili. The former plant has been sent to him in 1774, by Tire t ees from the Cape of Good Hope. ae. SNE
The Linnaan Le€tures upon the Clavis Medicine, which Dr. Giusexe of Hamburgh promised to publish ten years ago, will appear
in the course of the present year at farthest.
Aaa 2 No. LVI.
364 A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN AUS.
No. LVII.
The First Edition.—Amoenitates Academica, seu dissertationes varie physica, medicaw, botanice; ante hoc seorism edita, nunc colleéte et
audie.
Tomus Primus. Holm. et Lips. apud KizsEwETTER, 1749, O€lavo,.
with fifteen plates.
Tomus I. Lugd. Batav. apud Haax, 1749, different from «the
Stockholm Edition. No continuation has since appeared at Leyden. Fomus I. London, 1762; English. Tomus II. to Tom. VII. Holm. apud SALVIUMy £751 to 1769. Contain altogether one hundred and fifty dissertations. The Second Edition —Aufte cum tabulis eneis, curante J. C. D. SCHREBER. Erlang. 1785. to 1791.
This Edition contains the seven original volumes, besides the latter
dissertations of Linn aus, and the shorter traéts and writings both ef |
him and his son, augmented to ten volumes*.. 4 Sele&tze ex.Ameenitatibus. Academicis Caror: Linn «1 Disserta- tiones, ad universam historiam naturalem pertinentes,. quas edidit et: auxit L. B. & S. J BiwaLD, e Societate Jesu. Graci, apud Lecu-
“NER, 1764 to 1769, three volumes in, quarto.
Reprinted in the same place, by ZaunRiTH;.in 1786.. Seleé&t Dissertations from the Amanitates Academica of LinN&USy by.
BRAND, vol. il. Lond. 1781, o€tavo..
* The younger Linw£us intended to publish himself an eighth volume of the Ameeni-- tates Academic ; but certain obstacles prevented that publication. .
SiR.
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNAEUS. 365
Srr CuHarres Linneus’s Sele Dissertations on subjeéts relating
to Natural History, Natural Philosophy and Medicine; with plates
and notes. Lezpsic, three volumes, large oftavo, from 1776 to 1778.
German.
This work contains a German translation of the following Disserta-
tions, namely in the first volume.
=
oO Ons Aa fF Ww bw
mo = O .
be i)
- [s%)
2.
2
be 6.
. On the Espousals of the Plants. ; On Coffee:
On Tea,
. On the Utility of Natural History.
- On Sea-hogs.
» On.the Diet to be observed in drinking, Mineral Waters; . On Bread.
» On the change of Corn..
A list of GEconomical Plants.
. On the Sleep of Plants.
. On the New Discoveries in Natural History. . On the Inhabited Earth.
- On the. Virtues of Plants,
VOLUME II.
. On the Géconomy of Nature.
On the Abodes of the Plants.
. On the Worm Tenia.
On the Generation of Crystals.
On the Drilling of Chocolate.
On the Esculent Plants and the trees which grow wild in Sweden, 3. 7, On
| 366
7 3. 9
10.
Ai.
=
© ON AN Bw w
pea ie)
ii.
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNAUS.
. On the Plants of the Sallad-kind.
On the transmigration of Birds.
. Onthe Odor of Medicines.
On the Fig-tree.
On Fruit Brandy.
VOLUME Ill,
» On the cause of Intermitting Fevers.
On Botanical Gardens.
. On the Tussilago Anandria.
. On the Corals of the Baltic.
. On the attention bestowed upon Nature. . On the plant Senega.
On the Pelovia. On the Betula Nana.
. On the origin of the Calculus. | . On the Fodder given to the Swedish Animals.
On the Taste of Medicines.
Several dissertations from the Ameenitates Academicz, are also to be found in a Swedish work entituled Samling af Ron Uptakter ute Physick, &c. Gothenburgh, 1781. |
SEPARATE
[ 367 ]
SEPARATE DISSERTATIONS
FROM THE
AMOENITATES ACADEMICZA,
REPRINTED, TRANSLATED OR COMMENTED.
VOLUME LL.
I. 1. SPon SALIA. PLANTARUM, respond. Wan L3om. Upsal. 1746. » In Swedish. Stockholm, 1758.
&
g. In Italian, in the Memorie sopra la Fisica e Historia Naturale, vol. iv.
4. In Danish, in KiopenHAvn’s Patriotske Samlingar, 1771, o€tavo.. . a
§- In German, in the Universal Magazine of Nature, Art and Science. Lips. vol. 4th, page one hundred and seventy-two, ¢
Seq.
II. 1. Occonomia Nature, Ups. 1749, respon. J. Bierce. 2. In Swedish, by J. Biserc. Stockholm, 1750, o€tavo. 3. In
368
Lit:
Vi.
II.
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN ZUS..
. In French, with notes, by M. A. Mititin pe GRANDMAI-
son, by way of Appendix to the French translation of Dr. Puttinery’s Revne Generale des Ecrits de Linné, vol. ii. page two hundred and eleven to two hundred and ninety seven.
Betula Nana. Upsal, 1743, resp. L. M. Krase.
In French, by the same, also printed at Upsal.
Ficus. Upsal, 1744. Respond. C. Hecarpt.—See the same in German, in the Hanoverian Magazine, 1756, page
one thousand four hundred and fifty-three.
. De Crystallorum generatione. Upsal, 1747, Respond. M.
K £HLER.
. German; in the Mineralogical Recreations. Berlin, vol. 1.
page three hundred and thirty-one.
. Also translated from the Latin into German, by M. Kauver.
Gratz, 1772, in o€tavo. Flora CEconomica. Upsal, 1748, Respond. E. Aspertas The same in Swedish, Stockholm, 1749, o€tavo.
VOLUME II.
. De Tenia. Upsal, 1748, Respond. G. Duzois.
The Contents of this Dissertation are repeated inS. S. Bepps’s Dissertatio de Verme Tanie. Vienne, 1766, thirty-five
pages.
1. Pan Suecus, Upsal, 1749, Respond. N. HessenGReEn.
2, ae
—
A LIST-OF THE WORKS OF LINN AUS. 369
@. The Pan of Sweden, or a Treatise on feeding the indi- genous animals in Sweden; from the Latin; with explanatory notes, by X. J. Lippert. Vienna, 1785, large o€lavo. German.
g. Translated into English, by R. Putreney, M. D. F.R. S.
4. With additions and emendations, by A. G. TeENGMALM in Mopveer’s Hushalnings Fournal, Oftob. 1779, and Jan. 1780. Stockholm. Swedish.
VOLUME Iii.
Calendarium Flore. Upsal, 1756, Resp, A. M. Bercer. in English, in the Miscellaneous Traéts, relating to Na- tural History, Husbandry, and Physic, by B. Stitiince- FLEET. London, 1762. Vernatio Arborum. Upsal. 1753, Raiohdeite Hewr. Barck. 2. In German, in the Hanoverian Colleétions, 1756. 3. In Forster’s German Magazine, vol. vi. page three hun- dred and nineteen. Hospita Insettorum Flora. Upsal, 1752, Respond. J. G. ForsKAL. In Dutch, in the Uitgezokte Verhandeling uit de Nieweste Werken Van de Societeten der Wetenskapen in Europa, vol. ii. page four hundred and eight. Amsterdam, 1765, ottavo. Noxa Insectorum. Upsal, Respond. M. BAKNeR. Treatise on the Noxiousness of Inseéts, with the additions of Bbb Professor
37°
VI.
VII.
Vill.
©S
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN AUS.
Professor Brwa tp, from the Latin, with a variety of notes. Salsburgh, 1783, o€tavo. Miracula Inseflorum. Upsal, 1752, Respond..G. E. AvELIN. German, in the General Magazine of Nature, Art and Science. Leipszic, vol. ix. page three hundred and twenty- one. No&tiluca Marina. Upsal, 1752, Respond. C.F. Apuer. Critical Additions to the above work, in the Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. twenty-seven, page two hundred and
eight.
. Plante Esculente Patrie. Upsal, 1752. Respond. HrortHe . In Swedish, with additions, by C. G. LoEwENTHIELM.
. Translated into German, from the Swedish, with a German
Nomenclature, in a work called the Stockholm Maga-.
zine, vol. iii. page one hundred and ninety-seven.
. Instruétio Musec rerum naturalium. Upsal. Respond. Dz.
HuLtTMANN.
. In German,.entituled: A Treatise on Cabinets of Natural:
History, or an Introdu€tion how to arrange those cabi- nets, and to class natural treasures, from the Latin,.
with notes, by C. Murr. Lewpsic, 1772.
. In German, in the Hanoverian Supplements, 1759, page:
fifteen, twenty-two, forty-two, &c.
VOLUME IV.
Ovis. Upsal, 1754, Respond, J. PALM&RU so.
In
II.
II.
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN AUS. B74
In German, in ScuREBER’s New C&conomical writings, vol. x. Halle, 1768, page one hundred and eighty-two. Somnus Plantarum. Upsal, 1755, Respond. P. Bremer.
» Observations on the Sleep of Plants, dc. in the Philosophical
Transa€tions, vol. 1. 1760, part two, page five hundred
and six.
. Inthe Gentleman’s Magazine. London; published by Nicnots,
1757, page three hundred and fifteen.
VOLUME V.
Transmutatio Frumentorum. Upsal, 1757, Resp. B. Horn- BORG
In German, in ScuREBER’s New Qiconomical writings, vol.
vill. Halle, 1767.
VOLUME VI.
Usus Historie Naturalis. Upsal, 1766, Respond, M. ArHONIN. In German, with notes. Dresden, 1774, in o€tavo.
Termini Botanic. Upsal, 1762, Respond. J. EtmcreeEn.
. Editio Nova Autor, by Dr. Scureser. Lips. 1767, in o€tavo.
Edinburghi, 1764, in o€tavo.
. Termini Botanici, classium methodii Sexalis generumque cha-
ra€teres compendiosi, recudi curavit, primos cum suis de- finitionibus, interpretatione germanica donatos, a P. D. Giesexe. Hamb. 1781, two hundred and nineteen pages in
ottavo.
Bbba2 5. Caro.
37%
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN US.
5. Caroxrr Linné Termini Botanici, Dissertatione academica: explicati. Evlang. 2789, thirty-two pages in o€tavo.
6. Termini Botanici secundum Methodum Caro ri Linné, ex varlis ejus operibus. congesti, v. Jo. Rernu. Forster, Enchiridion histori naturaliinserviens. Hala, 1788, o€tavoy page one hundred and sixty-three.
q. F. J. Maertrer Fundamenta et Termini Botanici, congest.. secund. Method. et ad du€@tum Caro. Linné, in usum.
prelectionum. Bruxel, 1790.
_ VOLUME VII. Fundamenta Entomologia. Upsal, 1767, Resp. A. J. Buapue 1. Fundamenta Entomologiz, or an Instruétion to the knowe. ledge of Insets, by Witi1am Curtis. Lond. 1772, with plates. 2. Translated into French, with additions, by M. de Brucuteres, Fundamenta et. Termini Entomologia, Secundum Methodum et ad du@um C.. a Linné.—See Forsrer’s Enchiridion, page ninety-one, et seq: See in the same work according to the Linnzan method: Fundamenta et Termini Ornithologie et Ichthyologiz. 4. Th. P. Yeares’s Institutions of: Entomology, being a transla- tion of Linnaus’s Ofdines et: Genera Insettorums Lond.
1773) oftavo. [VOLUME VIII.—£did. Scureser.
1. Fundamenta Testaceolgia. Upsal, 17745 Respond, A. Mur-. RAY.
as Ins
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNAEUS. 373
a. In German, in a work called the most Modern Varieties, page three hundred and thirty-seven and three hundred and. fifty- three.
2. In Latin, in de. Bornii Museo Czsareo Vindobonensi .Testac. . Vienne, 1778.
Ir. Plante Surinamenses: Upsal. 1775, Respond. J. Aum.. Reprinted, with additions, in C. C. Gjonvetiio Thesauro Suedico—Gothico, vol. i. Stockholm, 1781, o€tavo.
A
| rma Oden a
OF OTHER TREATISES INSERTED:BY LINN AZUS IN THE. TRANSACTIONS. OE THE.ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF UPSAL, EXCLUSIVE OF THE FLORA LAPPONICA.
a. ANimaria Regni Suecie, 1738.
2. Orchids, lsque affines, 1740.
3. Decem Genera plantarum nova, 1741.
4. Euporista in febribus intermittentibus, 1742: 5. Euporista in Dyssenteria, 1745.
6. Pini Usus GAconomicus, 1743.
7, Abietis Usus Giconomicus, 1744.
. 8. Sexus
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN £US.
. Sexus Plantarum, 1744.
. Sexus Plantarum Usus CGEconomicus, 1745. * . Thez potus, 1746.
. Scabiose nove speciei Descriptio, 1744.
. Péenthorum, 1744.
. Cyprini pinne ani radiis xi. pinnis albentibus descriptio. 1746.
FARTHER TRACTS AND ESSAYS
WRITTEN BY LINNUS, AND INSERTED IN THE TRANS- ACTIONS OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AT STOCKHOLM.
1.
In the First VOL.—1739 and 1740.
Cu LTURA Plantarum Naturalis.
. Gluten Lapponum e perca. . GEstrus Rangiferinus. . Picus pedibus tridaétylis.
Mr. Forsrer also describes this bird in the Philosophical Trans- a€tions. Lond. vol. |xii. page three hundred and eighty-eight. Also Burron, in his Histoire des Oiseaux, vol. vii. page
seventy nine. 5. Mures
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNAEUS. 375
5. Mures Alpini Lemures, 6. Passer Nivalis.— See Burron’s Histoire des Oiseaux, vol. iv. page three hundred and twenty-nine. 7. Piscis Aureus Chinensium. [Cyprinus Auratus.]
8. Fundamenta Oiconomiz.
VOL, Il.—1741.
g. Formicarum Sexus, 10. Officinales Sueciz Plante.
1i. Centuria Plantarum in Suecia rariorum.
VOL. III.—1742.
12. Plante TinGorize Indigene.
A Treatise which proved. the result of a tour to the Island of Gothland. 13. Amaryllis formosissma. ( Facobea.) 14. Gramen Seelting.
15. Foenum Suecicum. (Medicago falcata. Species Plantar. page
one thousand and ninety six.) 16. Phaseoli Chinensis species..
17. Epilepsie vernensis causa.
VOL. IV.—17433
18. De Uva ursi seu Fackas Hapuck Sinus Hudsonici. (Species Plantar. page five hundred and sixty-six.) VOL.
376
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN ZUS.
VOL. V.—1744.
Fagopyrium Sibricum (called afterwards Polygonum Tartaricum
by Linnaus), Spec. Plantar. page five hundred and twenty-
one.
Petiveria. Species Plantar. page four hundred and eighty six.
VOL. VI.—1745.
Passer Procellarius.—See also Burron’s Histoire des Oiseaux,
vol..ix. page three hundred and seventeen,
VOL. VII.—1746. Limnia—Claytonia Sibirica. Species Plantar. page 194.—De Vermibus Lucentibus ex China. (Cicade Species) ibid.
A Plant discovered by Srerier in Sidiria.
VOL. X.—1749.
Coluber (Chersea) scutis abdominalibus centum quinquaginta, ‘squamis subcaudalibus triginta quatuor.
Avis Sommar Guling appellataa—Burron’s Histoire des Oiseaux, vol. iv. page 176.
Musca Frit; inse€tum quod grana interius exedit.
The damage which this inse€t occasions every year in Sweden alone,
is estimated by Linnus at one hundred thousand ducats, or about
fifty thousand pounds sterling. It is known to destroy the tenth part
of the barley crops throughout the country.
26. Emberiza Ciris.
VOL.
27.
29,
30.
31. 32.
33: 34: 35° 36.
37: 38.
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINNUS, 377
VOL, XITI.—1752.
De Charafteribus Anguium.
VOL, XIV.-1753-
- Novee duz Tabaci species, Paniculata et Glutinosa. Spec.
Plantar. page 959.
VOL. XV.—1754.
De Plantis, que Alpium Suecicarum indigenz fieri possint.—A dissertation, for which Linn 2us obtained an academical prize.
Simia, ex Cercopithecorum genere, descriptio, (Simia Diana).
VOL, XVI—1775.
Mirabilis Longiflore: descriptio.
Lepidii descriptio, (Cardamines Syst. 199). A new plant, which Lariine had sent from Spain.
Ayeniz descriptio, (Pusilla Spec. Plantar. 1354). This plant had been sent him by Mitter.
Gaure descriptio. (Biennis. Species Plantarum, page 493). The seed of this plant was sent him by Cottinson.
LarrxuinGoia et Minuartia.
VOL. XX,—1759.
Entomolithus paradoxus descriptus. Gemma, penna pavonis dita.
Coccus Uve Ursi.
cce VOL.
378
a9?
40.
AB.
A LIST OF THE WORKS OF LINN AUS. X XIII.—1763. De Rubo arético plantando.
VOL. XXIV.—1764.
Observationes ad cerevisiam pertinentes.
VOL. XXIX.—1769.
. Animalis Brasiliensis descriptio. (Muris Agati, Syst. page 80). . Viverre Narice ; System. page 64, descriptio. . Simia Oedipus.
. Gordius Medinensis.
VOLi-XXXi—i1770.
Calceolarie pinnate. Syst. Nat. edit. 13, page 60, descriptio. Also some thoughts respe€ting Tea, in Histoire de Academie des Sciences, 1763.
A GENEALOGICAL
[reg790]
A
GEN ELA E.O.G Y.
OF
bet AMY OF
THE -LINNAL
INGEMAR SUENSSON,
A PEASANT AT JOMSBODA, IN THE PARISH OF HWITARYD
IN SMALAND.
O F this man was descended Cuar.es TILIANDER, who took his name of a tall linden-tree (Tzlza), which stands between Fomsboda and Linnhult. He studied at Upsal in 1660, was appointed preacher at Lekaryd in 1678, and died without issue in 1697.
His brother, Stale TILIANDER, studied at Upsal in 1678, lived in the family of Count H. Horn at Bremen, as his domestic chaplain, and died re€tor of Pyetterydin 1712. He wasa peculiar lover cf gardening and natural history. His sons were, AbeL TILIANDER, who succeeded
ccc 2 him
380 A GENEALOGY OF: LINN AUS,
him in his pastoral office, and was accidentally drowned in a well in 1724; and Nicnuoras TitranpeR, chaplain to a regiment. The latter left issue Cuoartes TiL1anpeEr, born in 1701, who studied at Lund in 1720; was made adjunéi teacher in philosophy therein 1729, adjunét teacher in divinity in 1730, rector of Fonkoping in 1741, and at last a do€tor in divinity, and was twice delegated as a representative to the Swedish diet. He departed life in 1764; leaving behind him two sons, namely, Perrer TiL1aNpDeER, adjunét teacher in the college at Wexico,
and NicnoLas TiL1aANnDER, an ensign ina regiment of foot.
ANDERS,
A PEASANT AT JOMSBODA.
| His progeny were, AMBERN LinpeEtius, born in 1600, who took Jikewise his name from the above mentioned linden-tree ; was made Master of Arts in 1632, two years after adjuné teacher in philosophy, reCtor of Bornorp in 1638, le€turer in divinity at Wexzcoin 1643, rector of Landgaryd in 1646, and died in 1684. Lars Linpe tvs, his bro- ther died rettor of Fonkoping in 1672.
Eric AMBERN Lin pe tivs, the son of the former, studied at Upsal in 1655, was appointed vicar at Langaryd in 1681, and died as preacher at Quanberga in 1715.
Lars LinpeExius’s son was Joun LinpExivs,a physician of great professional repute at, Wexzco, who studied at Lund in 1672, at Upsal in 1680, and died in 1711.
The male issue of this collateral line of the family of Linn aus is quite extingt. .
BENGE.
A GENEALOGY OF LINN US. 381
BENGE INGEMARSON,
PEASANT IN THE PARISH OF HWITARYD,
Had issue INcemar Bencrson, born in 1633, farmer of the ma- ‘ nor of Erickstad.
This INcemMAR Bencrson was the grandfather of our celebrated Linnaus. Nits or Nicnouas Linnaus, his son, took his sirname from the same linden tree, from which the families of the Trr1aAnpeRs and theLinpexiuses had borrowed theirs. He was born in 1674, as- sumed his clerical fun&ions in 1704, was made vicar of Stenbrohult in 1705, and in 1708 reétor of the same place, where he died May 1 ath,
1748. He had been married to Curistina Broperson, the daugh-
ter of his predecessor. On the 12th of May, 1707, he had issue of
her at Rashult in Smaland,
CHARLES LINNAUS,
who went to the school at Wexico in 1717, frequented the college there in 1724, studied at Lund in 1727, went to the university of Upsal in 1728, became leéturer in botany for Dean Rups«cx in 1731, took his degree as Doétor of Medicine at Harderwyk in 1735, was eletted first President of the Royal Academy of Stockholm in 1739, appointed botanist to the King of Sweden, and physician to the admiralty in 1740, professor of physic and botany at Upsal in 1741, archiater or dean of the university in 1747, created knight of the order of the Polar Star
in 1753, ennobled in 1756, and died at Upsal January 10th, 7778.
2, His
382 A GENEALOGY OF LINN AUS.
His sisters were:
1. Anna Maria Linneus, married to Gasrizet Hox, reftor of Wrirestadt.
2. Sopnia Jutiana Linnzus, married to Joun Co ruin, re€ior of Rysby.
3. Emerentra Linn aus, married to the police-officer BRAN TNIG
Samuert Linnaus, the only brother of our luminary, was born in 1718, studied at Lund in 1738, was ordained minister in 1741, took his degree of master of arts in 1745, and succeeded his father in the rectory and prebendary of Stenbrohult in 1749. He is still alive, and married to the daughter of Nits Osanpver, prebendary of Makaryd, by whom he has several daughters.
Cuarves Linnaus married in 1739 Saran ExvisaBpetu, daughter of Dr. Joun Morazus, physician at Fahlun, and had issue—
1. Cuarves Linnaus, born at Fahlun January 20,1741; studied at Upsal in 1750, was appointed demonstrator of botany in that univer- sity in 1759, designed professor in 1763, took his degree as doftor of physic in 1765, succeeded his father as professor of botany in 1778, died in a state of celibacy November 1, 1783. With him the male branch of the family of Linn us became totally extiné.
2. Joun Linn avs died an infant.
9. ExisasntH Curistina Linnaus, married to Captain Ber- GENCRANZ, died several years ago.
Louisa Linn aus, lives unmarried with her mother at Hammarby.
5. Saran Curistina Linnezus also lives with her mother at Hamarby in a state of celibacy.
6. Sopuia Linn us was born in 1754, and is married to Mr. Duss
at Upsal. 1 ACCOUNTS
aoe
bse7a]
ACCOUNTS
RESPECTING
aN Us. (GIVEN BY HIMSELF)
DURING THE EARLIEST PART OF HIS LITERARY CAREER,
FROM 1730 TO 1735.
%* Upsal, JANUARY, 1732.
co Student of medicine and natural history at this University *, “of the name of Cuartes Linn us, takes great pains to repre. .
s¢ sent those two sciences, and botany likewise, in a better light, and
*¢to render them more flourishing. The foreign herbs and plants
‘6 which are cultivated either in the fields or gardens of Upland. have
* This first account respecting Linnzus, appeared in a German periodical work, pub- lished at Hamburgh, by Dr. Kou., entituled Hamburgische Berichten, &c. 1732, No. Vi. page 45.
ii already,
384 LINN ZUS'S ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF.
“¢ already been collefted by him in a little work, which appeared last
a oS
« December, 1771, with the following title:
*¢ Hortus Uplandicus, sive Enumeratio Plantarum Exoticarum Up-
a o
landiz que in hortis vel agris coluntur, imprimis autem i horto acas “6 demico, Upsaliensi——The author of this work expresses himself
’
s¢ in the Preface as follows :”—*+ Secutus sum,” says he, “« methodum propriam et artificialem, a staminebus et pistillis, quod sexum vo-
*¢ cant, deswmtam. Incertasscu classes et~se€tiones stirpes exaticas,
6
n
in hortis Uplandi@ repertas dispescuit, in classibus staminum, in se€ti-
¢
ay
onibus pistillorum rationem habet.” In other respetis, the author
a
‘¢ has also assigned to most of the plants new and particular names, and
é
a
added to each of them their synonyma. He has also found it abso-
a
“‘lutely necessary to alter some general denominations. The work
4
a
consists of ten sheets, in o@avo.”
“6 Upsal, FEBRUARY 155 17326
& AN able student of medicine*, Mr. Cuar.tes Linn &us, causes «a botanical work to.be printed here, entituled: Funpamenta Bo- “6 TANICA, which isto consist of the following twelve partst. In the
s¢ first part, he relates in a quite novel and masterly manner, the botanical
* See Hamburgische Betichtén, 1732, No. XI\. Page 94.
+ The Fundamento Botanica did not appear till four years after, namely, in 1736, at Amsterdam. Linn&us sent the mauuscript afterwards to Greifswalde, but could not find a person that would undertake to publish it. This shows, how early Linn£us prepared his system, what alterations he made in the Fundamenta Botanica,—and at the same time, how eager he was to make himself known, even by advertising works which still remained in manuscript. .
«6 books
—
66 66 66 66 66 66
6
on
66
66
66
&
on
é
an
66
66
6e
66
6
n
6
n
6
a
&
n
66
$
nan
66
6
nn
66
66
G6
LINN.ZUS’S OWN ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF. 385
books and the history of their respeétive authors. In the second part, he touches upon all the botanical systems and opinions, accord- ing to the classes, se€tions, and general names of the plants; particu- larly upon the methods and opinions of Czsatrinus, HERRMANN, KwnautTius, Ray, Rivini, Tournzrort, PONTEDERA, Kc. KC. besides his own system, to which he intends to add Macy ov’s as soon as he shall have received the valuable work of the latter. In the Methodi Specialiores, he will observe the generical charaéters. For instance, in the mosses, he will give both the charaéters of Dit- LENius and his own, &c. &c. In the third part of this work he treats on the parts of fruétification; he explains what they are, how they are to be distinguished, and points out in what manner they can be regularly ordered and divided. In the fourth, he treats of the sex of the plants, and demonstrates ut plainly. In the fifth, he discriminates the true and general charaéters from the false ones, and teaches how cautiously this must be done, and. how not only one, but all the parts of fruétification ought to be most carefully observed, and how the outward form is chiefly to be looked after in doubtful cases. He maintains, that the greatest part of the plants may be known by their blossom. or flower. He ascribes the errors of most of the botanists to their ignorance of some of the principal rules. In the sixth part, he refutes with sound proofs upwards.of seven hundred general denominations of plants. In the seventh, he speaks of the Differentie Specifice, which have been omitted in most of the names, merely because the right method to discover them was not known. In the eighth, he treats of the variations of plants, and points out how they are to be discriminated, In the ninth part, he enumerates the new:
pdd species.
386 LINN AZUS’S OWN ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF,
“species of plants discovered, according to TourNneErort’s me- * thod by several botanists, especially by Rivin1, PoNTEDERAy ¢ BoERHAAVE, BUXBAUM, VAILLANT, &c. and reduces the two ss hundred new species of TourNneErFortT to seventy-five. In the tenth,
‘¢ he mentions the synonynia, in what manner they are to be used, and
r
Lal ©
what is to be observed in each of them. The eleventh, contains in- ¢¢ structions how to arrange the description of plants, with suitable ex- «¢ amples by way of illustration. In the twelfth and last part he con- “ cludes with demonstrating, the great utility of the classes and orders é¢as arranged by Nature herself, how manifold they are, and what
‘‘ species of plants must be reckoned to each class.”
The Author prefixes the following advertisement to his work: “ Heec *¢ omnia C. CX XX. regulis sive canonibus superstru€ta, exemplisque ‘¢ stabilita sunt. Observationes autem omnes dutoWid au€toris nituntur. «¢ Earum in classes distributio a certa corporis parte desumitur, sec- «¢ tiones, chara€teres generici prorsus nova methodo instituuntur,
‘© Nomina specifica nova unicuique tribuuntur, allegatis synonymis.”
Upsal, Marcu 15, 1732. « CHARLES LINNAUS, the student of medicine, whose name
¢¢ has already been several times mentioned in an honourable and flat- « tering manner, is now occupied with two new works, which have *‘ never before been the objeét of the efforts of our learned men, but
“¢ which,
LINN EUS’S TRAVELS IN LAPLAND. 387
** which, owing to their rare contents and utility, will probably meet «¢ with a good reception.”
The first will be entituled: ** Methodus Avium Suecicarum, seu Enu- *‘ meratio Avium CC. in Suecia observatarum .*”
The second is to bear the title of: « Inse&ta Uplandica, quorum per &¢ duas /Estates DCC. colleéta suntt.”
“© In this latter work, the author will distinguish the inse€is in a s¢ quite new manner, by certain classes and settions, and also by gene- s¢ ral and particular species. He will likewise observe, in the most «© accurate manner, the Synonyma & Differentie, which have not been «‘ noticed by other authors, and describe every thing that has been
s¢ left undescribed respe€ling those objeéts.
LINNZ.US'S TOUR THROUGH LAPLAND. . “ Upsal, JUNE 3, 1732.
“ THE Royal Academy of Sciences in this city having resolved to “‘ have the most exaét researches made in Lapland, after every thing © which may be considered as remarkable or rare in natural history; “ Cuartes Linnaus, who has given public lettures in the garden of “ this University for about two years, has been unanimously chosen “ for that purpose. He will perform the task the more ably, having “‘ already been occupied several years, in exploring the three reigns of
nature, and proposed to himself to make the most careful search in
* See Hamburgische Berichte, &c. 1732, No. xxil. page 177+ + Both the above works have not appeared with the above title and form. f See Hamburgische Berichte, for 1733, No. 64, page 523.
pdd 2 “© Lapland,
388 LINN ZUS'S TRAVELS IN LAPLAND.
“© Lapland, not only for all kinds of fossils and minerals, but also «for all the trees,- herbs, grasses, mosses, plants, animals, birds, “‘ fishes, worms, décc. and to observe with equal attention the mode of ‘¢ living of the inhabitants, its influence upon their health, and every «¢ thing worth notice. He has already set out on his journey to “¢ Lapland last May, at the expence of the eR and . highly
‘¢ pleased with his enterprize.”
Upsal, JUNE 24, 1733. *“ CHARLES LINN AUS, our skilful physician and botanist*, has ' & returned for some time past, from his travels in Lapland, which he «¢ undertook at the expence of the Royal Academy. He travelled by «6 water as wellas by land altogether to a distance of six hundred and «¢ seventy Swedish miles. He remained some time in the mountains of © Lapland, through which he travelled one hundred and fifty Swedish «¢ miles on foot. When he came under the seventieth degree of polar ‘‘ longitude, on the frozen sea, he saw the sun eight whole days without ‘¢ setting. Among the principal curiosities which he met with on his sé return, he reckons a flying white squirrel, which he saw near Tawastia.
«¢ Since his return, he occupied himself with a Flora Laponica, in
«¢ which he gives an account of all the rare and unknown flowers of
“6 Lapland. This work, which is already finished, consists of thirty-six « sheets, and eighty plates.
* See Hamburgische Berichte, for 133) No. 64, page 523.
He
ae
LINN £ZUS’S TRAVELS IN LAPLAND. 389
¢¢ He has now another work in hand, to which he gives the name of sé Lachesis Lapponica. He will give aproper description in it of the ‘¢ ceconomy of the Laplanders, of the causes of their longevity, and not ¢‘ only contradi€t Scuerrer and other writers on Lapland, but make s¢ plain truth the charafteristic of his narrative. Linn 2uscan boast of “ being the first who travelled in summer through the mountains of Lag- ‘¢ Jand. He says: that he generally found a very great similarity be- «6 eween those mountains and the Alps, even with regard to the plants. «¢ Their summits are generally of so very sandy a nature that no plants «© can grow upon them. He further adds: that in the province of “6 Lapmark, the soil is every where so very sterile on account of the * cold northern winds which constantly blow from the monntains, ¢¢ that no corn will grow, except on the banks of the rivers, and that 6 hardly one hundred inhabitants are to be found in the whole distri&t.” % He observes, however, that he discovered in that province and in «¢ Finnemark a kind of wild corn, which shoots forth from the dry sand, ‘and bears the most rigorous cold blasts which prevail in Lapland,
“¢ even in summer, without the least prejudice to its growth,”
LINN ZUS’S
[ 39° ]
LINNAUSS TOUR TO HOLLAND,
LITERARY AND MISCELLANEOUS TRACTS RESPECTING HIM.
Dr. NetTTELBLApT writes from Greifswald*, July, 12, 1734» that he has received the following work: Caroi1 Linnar Stipend, Wredian. Fundamenta Botanica, que majorum operum prodromi instar theoriam Scientia Botanice per breves aphorismos, sistunt; in quarto; and that an editor is wanted. The work contains two tables: 1. Systema Vegetablium sexuale, &c. staminibus et pistillis construétum. 2. Systema Vegetabilium Calycinum: e calycis diversis speciebus compositum.—Doftor NetTTELBLADT has the manuscript in his own hands, and he who may desire to publish it, is requested to apply to him. Linnavs is in other respeéts a young but very able Swedish botanist, whose exertions will prove very great and service-
able in time, and are already extensive.
=
«Cuar.es Linneus, the celebrated Swedish physician and botanist who has frequently been mentioned, travelled a few days ago through
Hambro’ to Holland, accompanied by M. Sou.szerxe, his pupil. He
* Sce Hamburgische Berichte, 1734. No, 59) 1735, No. 47+ 1 means
LINNAUS IN 1733 AND 1734. 391
means to reside a few years in Holland, for the purpose of acquiring still greater perfe€tion in medicine, natural history and botany, by his intercourse with the most celebrated scientific Batavians, especially with BorrHAave, with whom he has already carried on a learned cor- respondence.
Linnzus also came to Holland to get published, ina manner ad- vantageous to himself, the works which he wrote in Sweden, especially three tables in large folio, finished with the most surprising diligence and ability. On one of those tables he represented all kinds of flowers and plants which can be thought of, in a quite new but very plain manner ; the flowers are reduced to classes by means of the two differ- ent sexes, and by the number of the petals or leaves; on the second table he has colleéted all the genera of stones in the same manner, and with such excellent order and classification, that he believes to be able to give any person in a few hours a general notion both of bo- tany and mineralogy. He farther intends to publish a work, which he calls Flora Lapponica, and in which he describes and gives plates of all the unknown plants and flowers which he discovered on his tour through Lapland ; also another produétion to which he gives the title of Occonomia Lapponica, and in which he takes notice, in a masterly and regular style, of all he has seen in his extremely difficult, and in some instances dangerous peregrination, with regard to ceconomy and natural history, the dresses, dwellings, rearing of cattle, manners, occupation, diligence and charaéter of the Laplanders.
Whatever this great man thinks and writes is systematical, and he can- not rest till he has brought science, or those defeéts which he pur- poses to mend, to that order which is alone congenial to her. It may
2 be
392 LINNAUS IN 1733 AND 1794.
be inferred from this, that he is endowed with the most acute judg- ment anda large share of natural genius and inventive powers. His se- dulity, perseverance and diligence are quite uncommon. Few can equal him in zeal and eagerness to fathom and scrutinize whatever has hitherto remained a secret to the most prying eye, and whatever is worthy of any particular attention in the three reigns of nature. Although he has only attained his twenty-eighth year, he has acquired so much experience by his indefatigableness in reading and making annotations, that he excels in this respe€&t many eminent men.
The excellencies of his mind are heightened by the charms of a most amiable charaéter. Endowed with a softness and sweetness of temper uncommon among men of letters, he can also boast of a natural candor, a love of truth and piety, a readiness of rendering ser- vice, anda philanthropy free from all envy, asperity and ostentation.
Among many curiosities he brought with him from Lapland, a Laplander’s dress made of rein-deer skins, and a very curious magic drum. He will give a circumstantial account of all these things, as he has been able to enquire into their use, by means of an interpreter who was his guide through Lapland. He needs not therefore to have recourse, like ScuzrreR, to the spurious accounts of others.
Linn us even took all possible pains to explore the greatest secrets of the Laplanders. Among these their famous love of magic may: be reckoned as one of the foremost. He can imitate exaély their contortions of face and body, and assures us, that those grimaces are more the effeét of gross superstition and a narrowness of imagina-
tion, than of a pretended supernatural enchantment, performed by the
LINNZUS IN 1734 AND 1735. 393
the aid of the devil. If, for instance, they go out a hunting, and wish to know what game it would be best for them to shoot on that day, or in which distri they may meet with it soonest, they take their magic drum, and having laid a little brass ring upon it, beat it with two small sticks, then drop suddenly upon the ground, as it were, in a trance, and utter a kind of howl not unlike that of the dogs*, By the spot on which the ring happens to fall, they prognosticate the good or ill success of their chace.
The second curiosity which he showed us, consisted of an excellent colle&tion of inseéts, gathered in his two tours through Lapland and Dalecarlia, and neatly pasted upon paper; their number amounted to one thousand, among which there were sixty-five different species of flies, besides the inseét which was known to the ancients by the name of Ocestrum,—a wasp, of which no modern naturalist had as yet given an accurate description, whose size is considerably large, and not unlike that of the fly, which makes such great havoc among the rein-deer in Lapland, as to kill annually several thousands of them. The Swedes would fain give a million of their money for an efficacious remedy to extirpate that vermin.
We have in other respeéts found an opportunity of obtaining an ac- count of Linn aus, written in good Latin by an eminent Swede; also a short description of his last journey through Dalecarlia, and of the companions who attended him on that tour, from which we will occa-
sionally give extraéts.
* Linnzvs also informed us, that no Laplander could sing, but ed ae singing ute tered a noise, which resembled the barking of dogs.
pee . We
394 LINN£US-IN 1734 AND 1795.
We have to add by way of conclusion, that Linnaus with his travelling companion left this city (Hamburgh) with great satisfattion, having had an opportunity of seeing and examining the public library, in which he perused with great eagerness the Danusius MARsILtIl,y also the principal cabinets of natural history, the botanical gardens and the private libraries, in one of which he was much pleased at finding the botanical work of Ray, which he had so long: wished to see. He above all thought himself extremely happy, in obtaining a sight of the seven-headed Hydra, which the celebrated Szpa at. Am- sterdam inserted in his Thesaurus, as-a euriosity at Hamburgh. To a.naturalist of his experience, who had never seen such a phenomenon, its existence appeared’ at first an utter impossibility. But having viewed this monster, at the house of a merchant where it laid deposited in a box about an ell and an half long.and embalmed ina perfeét man- ner, he could:not.sufficiently admire and examine it, till after the most scrupulous and minute examination, he finally. discovered in the wide gaping mouths of the heads of this Hydra, which had. been: a little shrivelled and worn by. the edge of time, thatits teeth bore a strong resemblance to those of the weasels. A person worthy. of being depen ded on, also informed him, that this rare masier-piece of nature had for- merly been exhibited on an altar, in a catholic church at Prague, whence it had been first removed by the Swedish Count of KoznicsMaRk, after the last capture of that city; that the Count made a present of it toa Nobleman of the name of Brzetxen, whose heirs sent it‘some years
after to be soldat Hamburgh. They affixed so high a price to it, that its
acquisition was even refused Freperick IV. Kine of DENMARK, who.
bid 30,0090 rix-dollars, and it is probable that it will after all become the- 3 property
—
LINNZUS IN 1734 AND 17935. | 395
property of a certain great court, whose offer does not exceed 2000 dollars. A plate representing this monster is to be found in the
THesaurus Natruratium, published by M. Sepa at Amsterdam.
LINN/AEUS’S TOUR THROUGH DALECARLIA.
HIS CURIOUS TRAVELLING COMPANIONS.
WE will now give an account * of the scientific tour, which was made Jast year [1734] all over the Swedish province of Dalecarlia, and of which we have received the principal particulars from Linn«&uS, who lately passed through this city on his way to Leyden,
Before the latter set out in the summer months on this expedition, undertaken by advice, and at the expence of Baron Nicnovas Rev- THERHOLM, Governor of Dalecariza, several students applied and request- ed to accompany him. He chose seven of the ablest and most zealous of them, that he might proceed on his way with more convenience, and formed in this manner a kind of a caravan of naturalists, and enafted with their assistance certain laws and regulations, for the due
observance of which every member made himself answerable, For
* See Hamburgische Berichte 1735, Page 586, No. 71.
ree 2 his
396 LINNAUS IN 1734 AND 1795.
his own part he chose to be their governor, to superintend the whole enterprise, and to take care that every body discharged the fun&ions of the office allotted him.
N&AuEMANN, the first companion, who had made himself known by a good dissertation on the Darlecarlian language, (de Lingua Dalecarlica) was to aét as geographer, to give an accurate description of all the villages, mountains, lakes, rivers, roads and districts, &c. to say morn- ing and evening prayers, and to preach on Sundays.
CrewsercG, the second companion, as naturalist, was to make ob- servations on the four elements; such as on the quality of the water, on mineral springs, on sources, on the snow which never melts in the Alps in summer, on the height of the mountains, the weather, the fruit- fulness or sterility of soil, &c. &c, He was also charged with digesting, -as secretary, the transa¢tions of the society in a proper written form,
Faust tent, the third companion, as Metallist (Metallur gus), besides colleéting stones, minerals, earths, all kind of petrifatlions, &c. &c. was further employed as groom, to saddle, water and attend the horses. ) |
SToHLBERG, an able student of physic, as botanist. or herbalist was to examine and to preserve as well as possible, all the trees, plants, herbs; grasses, and fungi, which occurred to his view. He was moreover: appointed to precede the company as a quarter-master, to procure them good lodgings, and to provide every necessary for their reception. |
To Emrore Lius, the fifth companion was assigned the office of Zoologist, to describe and depiét the quadrupeds and all the animals
living as well in the water as.on the land, such as.ishes, birds, worms, écc. 2 His
LINNZUS IN 1733 AND 1734. 397
His collateral occupation consisted in shooting the game, which was necessary for the support of the company, and in fishing and angling whenever it was deemed expedient.
Hepens.ap, the sixth companion was commissioned to a€t as ceco- nomist, to examine the dress of the Laplanders, their dwellings, their way of preparing provisions, their matrimonial and funeral rites, their knowledge of medicine, mode of living, dict, &c. &c. and to describe with the pen or the pencil such objeGts as were most worthy his atten- tion. His additional employment was to communicate to his fellow companions the dispositions and regulations of the president, in the same manner as the adjutant of a regiment announces the orders of the general to his corps, and to call them together whenever it was required, especially in the evening when an account was always given of the transactions of the day ; he wasalso to take care that every companion. went to bed and rose again to continue the journey at the proper time appointed.
Sanpex, an American born in Pensylvania, as the seventh compa- nion, did the duty of a steward and treasurer ; he had the chief care of. the fodder, cattle, wood, buying and selling, and discharged the ex- pences of the whole company.
Owing to these excellent regulations and. their due observance, the tour was.continued and terminated with the greatest ease and convenience.. When the president discovered a village, it was not necessary for all the company to ride thither, but the geographer alone was sent to enter jt. If some particular stone or fossil was found on the way, the metal- list was direCted to alight; at the sight of some curious plant or inseét,, the botanist or zoologist did his duty; they took the respective objeéts with them, and prepared a description to. be inserted at night in
the:
398 LINNEUS IN 1734 AND 1735.
the transa€tions, ‘besides the name of the place where they had been found. The above regulations being thus uniformly observed, the pre- sident had nothing to do on the road but remind his companions of what they were to set down in the diary.
At night they all met together, the president then ditated to the secre- _tary the memoranda colleéted by each companion, in a regular turn from the geographer to the steward; and if he happened to forget any remark, the companion to whose office that part of the science belonged, refreshed his memory. The president was quite surprised at the readiness and diligence with which his attendants discharged the duties of their re- spective offices. In the short space of a few weeks, they appeared to him as if they had been accustomed to it for whole years together.
In this manner they travelled through all Kast and West Dalecarlia, the Alps, a large tra€t of Norway, especially through the parishes of Binsoas Retwick, Oret, Orsa, Mora, Elfdalen, Seina, Idre, Fielten, Roras, Cranstrand, Lima, Malunos, Iarna, Floda, Gagneahl, and Fahlund.
The transa€tions or operations of the society are printed on forty-eight written sheets, containing many important observations and discoveries; for instance, in the geographical part is a faithful description and repre- sentation of the Dalelren, the largest river of Dalecarlia, with all its arms and sources; also a geography of the Alpine mountains. In that part which treats of natural philosophy it is stated, that on the highest moun- tain called Slerol Sladet, the cloudswhich first appeared below, approached the travellers. In mineralogy, there exists a description of one hun- dred and twenty different curious sorts of minerals and fossils, most of which are to be found in the distri€&t of Rettwick. In the botanical part
is a list of all the plants growing in the whole province, under the title Fic of
LINN £U8 IN- 1734 AND 1735. 399
of Flora Dalecarlica, with their synonyma and their ceconomical and pharmaceutical virtues, written by Baron ReutTHERHOLM. In zoology, there is described, among many other curiosities, a magpie never de- scribed before, which exists in the Dalecarlian Alps, and whose feet are not armed like those of the other magpies with four claws, but have only three, namely, two from before, and one from behind, which is rather stronger than those in front. In domestic medicine, the pleurisy is mentioned as a distemper of an epidemical nature in that country ; it is alledged, that it arises from the excess which the inhabitants commit by gorging themselves with a kind of pap made of flour. It is also observed, with regard to the inhabitants. of the distri of Orsa, that they Have the misfortune seldom to outlive thirty years of age, and’ Linn us is of opinion, that the complaint which they labour under is an heétic fever, and arises trom the pernicious exhalations of the mines.- The tour through Dalecarla also mentions the Dalecarlian dances; how the inhabitants masticate a certain kind of rosin, and dress it in a still more disgusting manner as an aliment ; how they bury in the earth a species of rotten fish, which is called Lunsfisk, and dig them out again to prepare them for their food. The same transaétions describe a kind of bed called Fullar, in which the girls amuse themselves with their lovers. In ceconomy the work expatiates on the particular prero- gatives of Dalecarlia, if compared with other Swedish provinces, how these advantages may be farther improved, and all sorts of useful plants.
cultivated. on those Alps.
Harderwyk,
’
409 LINNZUS IN 1735,
Harderwyk, August 1, 1735.
ON the 23d of June, Cuartes Linnazus made his dissertation at this university, for the purpose of obtaining his degree of doétor of medicine. In this dissertation, which is entituled Hypothesis de febrium intermittentium causa, the author founded every thing upon observations and experiments ; and having resided in the northern parts of the world, he made his remarks upon what chiefly attraéted his notice in those quarters. |
This celebrated physician put to press at Leyden his Systema Nature, of which one half is already printed off. It consists only of seven sheets in large folio, and contains an uncommon number of ob- servations.
He founded the system of the mineral reign upon principia docimas. tica. The genera concretorum et petrificatorum have been so arranged by him, that it appears impossible to add a single genus. He expatiates a great deal on the generation of stones, and states especially, that they are all either primordial like the glarea and argilla, or produced by time like humus, ochra and arena. He has added the generical chara€ters to all the genera, which has never been done in mineralogy, which science may by this means be easily acquired at the expiration of a few hours study.
He divides the vegetable reign according to a new system, borrowed from the Sex of the plants. He has more real genera, inserted in their
proper places, than any other systematist ever had. All the general
* See Hamburgische Berichten, Hamburgh, 1735, No. 75, page 617.
methods
LINNAZUS IN 1734. . 40k
methods in botany acknowledge the system of Ca#saxrrinus as their basis; but the do€trine of Linnaus is of a quite different nature. He suppressed the great number of false genera, and reduced every thing to its real genus: he omitted the absurd nomina generica, and substituted new ones in their place. He added, by a double theory, the art of getting acquainted with the virtues of the plants. He also first described a great number of new genera of plants from the East and West Indies.
He divided the animal reign into six classes, namely into quadrupeds, birds, amphibious animals, fishes, inse€ts and worms. He added to each the generical chara€ters and the species. No naturalist but himself had ever accurately distinguished the worms from the inseéts, although in his opinion they are more distin& from each other than the amphibious animals and the birds, or the birds and the quadrupeds. He is of opi- nion, that the generation of the worms in the bowels of human beings, is not to be attributed to the spawn of the inseéts.
The Hygra, which has been described by the ancients, and denied by some modern writers, he also mentioned as it has been lately found,
and is preserved alive in England.
rf f | AN
AN
ACCOUNT OF LINNZUS,
e
BY THE CELEBRATED MINERALOGIST
E. C. SCHULTZ, AT HAMBURGH.
W HAT occasioned my first literarry correspondence and acquaint- ance with Linn aus, was a prince and a book. I published in 1769, a description of several curiosities of nature, art and antiquity, which had deservedly attra€ted the notice and attention of the curious in
Mover’s cabinet of natural history at Hamburgh*. This cabinet of
* The above work appeared at Hamburgh in two volumes, oétavo. ‘The reader will not be displeased with the following brief account respecting the author himself.—Mr. Ernest CurisTOPHER SCHULTZ was born in 1740, at Koenigsberg in Prussia. He wasat the univer-. sity with Baron Jacos, the present Prussian minister at the court of Lovdon. His parents: wanted him to study divinity, but like Linnaus, he preferred natural history. In the year 1764 his considerable cabinet of natural treasures, especially a fine collection of ambers, and a considerable library of natural history, were destroyed at Koenigsberg, by the dreadful: conflagration which ravaged that city. He was so affcéted at this loss, that he resolved to travel. He afterwards fixed upon Hamburgh as the most eligible spot for his general resi- dence, and began to collect another cabinet, and to enrich it, travelled through the principal
% countries
ACCOUNTS RESPECTING LINNAUS. 403
having been destined for sale, and my description having been sent to several amateurs in foreign countries, it so happened that it fell into the hands of the Queen of Sweden, the sister of FREDERICK the Great, whose love of natural history was so conspicuous. Another copy of my work being at the same time transmitted to the celebrated Count ScuerreR, governor to the late King, he could not help communicating it likewise to his favourite Linnaus.
Gustavus the Great, then Prince Royal, went two years after ‘to France, accompanied by his governor. The latter introduced me to this Prince during his stay at Hamburgh, which lasted from the 23d to the goth of December of the same year. Several precious stones, very scarce, and partly unknown, amongst others the Asterias, whose wonderful appearance I had first discovered shortly before in 1770; and which I illustrated afterwards, besides many other valuable pro-
duftions of nature, which I had the honour en that eccasion to show
countries of Europe. He made several valuable discoveries, especially that of the rainbow- coloured agate and the Astertas of Puiny, which the curious had considered as a nonentity. He composed a treatise upon the Asterias, which was read with universal applause at the meeting of the Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburgh; and Freprricx the Great of Prussia was so pleased with it, that he sent Mr. ScHuLTz a most flattering note in his own hand writing, in which he thanked him for his discovery. The present King of Prussia pre- sented him also with two gold medals, which he received from the hands of Count Von HeRzBerG. He first gave the best description of the gem called the oculus mundi. It was doubtful whether that gem was the work of nature or of art; but Mr. ScuuttTz proved it to be a natural production, by a treatise which was read in the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris in 1776. Prince FREDERICK of Brunswick also complimented him in a letter on the revival of the 4sterias of PLiny. While he was at Paris he bought of an ig- norant person a crystal of Madagascar, for the sum of three Louis d’ors, which represented in its internal structure the perfect form of anet. The great mineralogist, DELISLE, soon after offered him 4000 livres for it, on the part of the late Queen of France.—As a naturalist, his knowledge was of the first rate, and his merits are acknowledged by the first literati of the age,
rif 2 . and
404 ACCOUNTS RESPECTING LINNZUS.
and to explain to the Prince, especially the opal of Nonnius, and that most rare one, which Cronstrept, the Swedish mineralogist, describes to be of a brown and of a blood red colour, made his Highness desire me to give Linnaus some account of the above interesting and cu- rious opal. |
I obeyed the Prince’s command with. the greatest pleasure, gave Linnaus the desired account, and sent him at the same time some curious gems. He thanked me for my present in a most obliging letter, which I received June 24,1771 %*. Long had I-felt a wish of getting acquainted with that great man. My mineralogical tours to the forest Harzwald, through Saxony, Holland, France, &c. precluded me however from gratifying that wish. In 1775.1 went to Copenhagen, where I had formerly passed a few weeks with great utility and delight. On the 2oth of September I took my departure from that capital in company of a a Swedish literatus, with whom I made acquaintance at the house of the Swedish ambassador; repaired to Lund, where I saw the botanical garden and every thing that was remarkable, and reached Stockholm at the end of the same month. During my abode in Sweden 1 visited the villa of Toreso, belonging to Count Scuerrer, who received me with un- bounded kindness and cordiality. The late King, to whom I had been presented at Hamburgh, while Prince Royal, had ascended the throne, and was just then on a tour through the Swedish provinces. “ I had “‘ the pleasure,” said Count Scurerrer, “to introduce you to his Ma- *6 jesty as Prince Royal, and you shall not go hence before I shall also ‘‘ have introduced you to him as King. Waiting his return, you would
* See the above letier in Colledio Epistolarm Canotr a Lixne, &c. Edidit. D. H. STOEVER, Hamburg , 17192.
3 h 66 do
ACCOUNTS RESPECTING LINNEUS. 405
“do well to take a trip to Upsal, ona visit to Linna&us.”—The Count spoke in terms of the greatest veneration of Linn aus, and I had in other respe&ts long ago resolved in my mind to have an interview with him, I set out accordingly early in the morning of the twenty-fourth of October from Stockholm, and reached Upsal on the same evening. I had hardly time to rest myself for a few minutes at my lodgings, before the younger Linn us surprised me witha visit, and invited me to his father’s house the next day.
Sir Cuarves received me with that openness, and that pleasing affability of temper for which he was so strongly remarkable. Although he had then attained the sixty-seventh year of his age, yet he still appeared quite brisk and lively ; his stature was short, but his body of a strong and robust make.—“ Well!” said he to me in Latin, after we had exchanged the usual compliments, “ What new natural curiosity «¢ do you bring me?”—“ Alas!” replied I, “ how difficult, how bor- «¢ dering upon impossibility would it be, to bring any thing new to a “ Linnaus. —As it happened, I had taken with me, and. colleGed some natural curiosities by the way. I showed him therefore among others, a small crab, which from the characteristic description in his system of nature, appeared to be the Cancer Hirtellus. Linn aus re- cognized it to be the same, and asked me, if there was none of a larger size ; he owned, that having never seen them any larger, he had assigned to those little hairy crabs, the Latin diminutive hertedli. I then showed another specimen of the same kind which had not the supposed hair on the back of the shell. He was surprised at seeing on the surface of the back the natural figure of an human face. Cautious and provident as he was in all his researches, he now began to think that art had lent
her
406 ACCOUNTS RESPECTING LINN £US,
her aid in this singular and striking phenomenon. To remove all doubts, I took the other crab still covered with the supposed hair, di- vested it of that cover which nature has laid on the backs of all those species, and showed him on every one the appearance of an human face. His attention was still more engrossed, at my making him perceive through the glass, that those little filaments which sometimes appear on the back of those crabs and resemble a hairy cover are not hair, if viewed with the naked eye, but a sort of coraline moss, which some- times settles upon those crabs, in the same manner as there are among some sorts of the small shell fish, certain species encrusted with a madreporous or milleporous sediment.
Linnus convinced himselfin the same manner, that the number of prickles on the back of the Cancer Hirtellus, which he had fixed at ten (thorace hirto, utrimque quinque dentato) was not a solid description; but that most of them bore only eight, some nine, and the smallest number ten. I afterwards gave a separate description and representa- tion of this species.
The elder Linnazus, gave no le€tures at that time, but I wished at least for an opportunity to hear his son. The latter just read a lec- ture in the forenoon upon botany. The time having elapsed with our conversation upon Zoology, I left his father with the promise accord- ing to his request, to come and see him every day during the whole of my stay at Upsal.
The younger Linn xus was somewhat taller than his father, but at that time less corpulent. His delivery was fluent, but’ mixed with a certain cold indifference. It appeared as if his exertions were rather a stri€t performance of the duties of his station, than a real zeal flow-
ing
ACCOUNTS RESPECTING LINNAUS. 407
ing from a natural fondness of his science: his father, on the contrary betrayed even in his conversation upon subjetts relative to natural his- tory an enthusiastic predile€tion and a most scrutinizing zeal.
The leéture which the younger Linn zus gave, was upon the classes of the plants, with five stamina, many living ones were exposed in garden pots in the le€ture room, then taken out of the mould, di- vided into small branches, and distributed among those of the audience, who were the most attentive.
- When the le@ture hour had expired, the younger Linn zus showed me the Casuar from Ceylon, of which the late Queen Dowager of Sweden had made a present to his father. This large bird was uncom- monly tame, moved about with a grave strut, and eyed attentively every body that would notice him. Hehad in his company two English ban- tams, with their bantlings. The gigantic Casuar showed himself very complaisant and attentive to his Jittle companions, and looked down on the ground at every strut he made, as if he was apprehensive lest he should crush any of his little chucking companions.
At another visit to Linn 2us I showed him a very rare shell, both halves of which were remarkable for their camera. As it seemed new and unknown to him, I gave him a specimen, to which I added a still greater curiosity, namely a well-dried original of the Asterza Columnaris, so remarkable among the petrifications. He refused at first to accept of these small presents, unless I would take some others in return from his own colleétions, and proposed to me.to take a ride with him to his villa at Hammarby. | Pay
This excursion however did not take place. At another visit our conversation turned again upon mineralogy. I showed him a rough
and
408 ACCOUNTS RESPECTING LINN AUS.
and perfeétly crystalized ruby, which I had received at Copenhagen of Mr. Caprer, to whom Dr. Koenrc had sent it from Ceylon: its uncom- mon sexagonous blunted columnar form quite struck him, having never before seen any thing of the kind. I colleéted afterwards many more species of this class, some of which were still greater curiosities. I stood indebted to a fatal catastrophe for the acquisition of these trea- sures; namely to the ship of Admiral Sir Hype Parxer, which was wrecked during the last American war on the coast of the Dutch settlements, and the cargo of which was sold at Amsterdam.
I presented to the sight of Linnaus a curiosity, still newer and more interesting to him. This was the opal called Oculus mundi. He freely owned that he had never seen it, and borrowed the account which is inserted in his system from Wa tterius’s mineralogy. In my opinion, I was the only one at that time, who was positively ac- quainted with the nature of this stone.—* I envy you,” exclaimed the
venerable Linnaus, * the possession of a gem, which has hitherto
‘¢ exclusively been preserved in the British Museum* ; and I have not ©
«¢ now the least doubt respe€ting the genuine reality of this extraordi- “‘ nary opal of which you have given me an account some years ago.” — Every shadow of doubt was effectually removed, when A showed him the very opal itself, which is the mother of the most beautiful and rarest oculus mundi. His joy and satisfa€tion was also farther in- creased, when I laid before him the rainbow coloured agate which I also discovered, and the brillianey of whose colours surpass the most
beautiful gems of the East. Enraptured with admiration at the beauty of
* Sir Hans SLOANE gave five hundred pounds for two of those gems, which are not Jarger than a pea. ~
this
atts
ACCOUNTS RESPECTING LINN US. 409
this stone, Linnzus began in a strain of enthusiastic language to expatiate on the magnificence and grandeur of the Creator.—% Theologia “ Naturalis,” exclaimed he, est vera Philosophia: or Nature best pro-
‘ claims a God, &c.’’
Time finally bereft me of the exquisite delight, which I should
a
have experienced, had I been at liberty to enjoy any longer the conver- sation of this great man. I returned to Stockholm, where Count Scuer- FER presented me to the late King. His Mayrsry was graciously pleased to discourse with me upon the Oculus mundi which I had dis- covered, and even to make experiments on the changes of colours.
When I went the next day to take leave of Count Scuerrer, he presented me, in his Majesry’s name, with two gold medals. “ Linnaus, added he, “ complains of you to me, for having made *¢ too short a stay at Upsal. The opinion which he entertains of you ‘6 may be-colle€ted from the answer which he returned to the enquiries ¢ of two of my friends at Stockholm*.”
My return by the Baltic to Courland was far from being a pleasant one, as the winter season had then begun to set in. But the remem- brance of the happy hours which ‘I passed in Sweden, made me forget all the inconvenience of my voyage ;—and this remembrance
will always continue precious and dear to my reflexion!
* These answers were written on two cards; one of them contained these words : “« Dominum E. C, SCHULTZ. ex professo Curiosum et Mineralogum pulcherrime differentem de Japidibus; cum ob-
le&t{amento exaudivimus. Car_ Von LINNE.
The second card bore: Quo, quantoque ardore fervet in scientiam Mineralogicam Clarissimus E. C. SCHULTZ,
non latebit quemquam, qui breyi tempore ejus conversatione utitur. Cari Von LINNE.
cee BIOGRAPHICAL
{ 410 |
BIOGRAPHICAL ANECDOTES
FROM THE
LITE. OF LLNN Adio,
AS RELATED BY HIMSELF.
[Extracted from the Eatin Diary of Dr. Gresexe.]
* DABO tibi plantas Lapponicas, inter alia mihi dixit, quum fami- % liariter aliquando cum ipso colloquerer, Non enim cuivis volupe est, *‘ adscendere nives et per pedes iter facere 32 milliarum Suec. ubi: nullus equus incedere potest, ibique pane et sale ex. solo lagte ran- st giferino et pisciculo vivere.”
Quum in Lapponia iter facerem, facies obtegenda erat panno reticu-. ‘ato quem vocant Flor, propter, ingentem culicum copiam; quod si: omittis, sub quavis inspiratione aliquot culices tibi sunt exspuendi.. Lappones faciem et. manus pice (liquida ?) illinunt, ut ab eorum punc- turis tuti sint. Ea vero copia ipsorum avibus migratoriis in escam: cedit, illaque iterum Lapponidus. Quippe per 12-14 dies ripas fluvit, legi, cujus latitudo quater superavit diametrum urbis Upsalie, eumque
3 totum,
- bis ~
ANECDOTES. 41k
totum, quantum longitudine et latitudine, coopertum anseribus anati- bus, écc. vidi, adeo, ut non nisi sclopetis opus sit Lapponibus, ut per
zstatem partemque hyemis earum carne vivant et recenti et fumigato.
Dre XXIV. Juni, (1771) QUUM ME INVISERET, NARRAVIT
FATA SUA HOC MODO: “ Boeruavius fuit Crirrortii medicus ipsique dixit: nihil ad
« heatam vitam tibi deest, nisi Medicus, qui tecum sit quotidie, quum «¢ sepe epuleris et malo hypochondriaco labores, qui diztam tuum ordi- * net, Sc. et si quid majoris momenti accidat, me consulet. Vellem 66 quidem, Cuiirrortius inquit, talem habere si possem, sed ubi in- * veniam ?—Est hic Suecus, quem eo fine tibi commendo, qui Botanicus “ simul, potest horti tui prefe€tus esse.— Fueram tunc apud BurMan- ¢¢ Num (Jo.) quem a Boreruaavio, salutarum, et tunc rogavit me: * num vellem plantas videre ? quod prima vice, sub negotiorum pre- * textu, roganti denegaverat.”—s* Quasnam videre vis ?’—Multas vel- lem, ego, quin omnes, sed non novi quales habeas? Porrigit 1s ali- quam, et “ est rarissima,” inquit. Petii unum florem, quem ore emol- litum examino, et pro Lauri specie declaro. Non est Laurus, ait “ BuRMANNUS, —Attamen est Laurus, inquam, et quidem Cinnamo- mum. ¢ Est Cinnamomum” respondit ; tunc eum auétoribus convici, esse generis Lauri et sic cum pluribus. Tum ille: “ Vis me adjuvare in opera Zeylanico ? et habitatio tibi parata erit mecum.” Hoc ego accipio et interea BorRHAAViUsS me commendat CuiirrorTio, ad quem cum BurMAnNno Hartecampum invitatus, videmus ibi Biblio- thecam ejus, inque ea BuRMANNUs invenit Tomum II. dum Stoanet quem nondum conspexerat. Currrortius: habeo bis, dixit, et dabo tibi, si miht Linna&uM concesseris. Tandem res meo arbitrio relin-
Ggg 2 quitur,
412 ANECDOTES.
quitur, et ego eligo CLIFFORTIUM qui 1000 florenos pro annuo salario cum domo et mensa offert, nec unquam beatior vixi! Quum hortum intravimus, ducor ad hybernaculum, ubi plante erant ignote, impri- mis ec Bona Sper, Has ego post examen partim indico, partim pro novis deblaro, quo CLirrortTius letatus est.
Dum sic per annum circiter vixi, animum incessit cupido Angliam videndi. Propono Crirorrio et consentit; convenerat, ut o@tiduum modo manerem ; et uno die iter, itemque uno reditum absolvi posse credidi, sed tantundem (o€tiduum) in ipso itinere Roterdamo Londinum consumsi. Dum Mitierum, (Pihil.) cujus precipue causa veneram, convenio, ostendit is hortum Chelseanum, et usque tunc receptis utitur nominibus, v. g. Symphytum, que consolida major, &c.. Ego sileo. Altero die dixit: Botanicus alle CLIFFORTII ne unicam quidem plantam novit !—Quod quum rescivi et iterum ipsum adeo, continuat (iisdem nominibus uti;) tum ego: * Non sic appelles, sint nobis certa nomina ‘6 brevioraque; sic dicendum est.” Tunc irascebatur et morosus dein fa€ius est.” Jam ego plantas cupiebam pro horto Crirrormii, et quum redil, erat Londinz, nec nici vespera rediit; bono tum animo fuit, et se daturum promisit que rogabam fecitque, quas ego Cuir- FORTIO misi et Oxoniwm petii.
Ad Dittenium accedens, ibi reperio alium, cui is dixit: Hic est, qui totam Botanicam confundit. Heec quidem verba intellexi, sed non yidebar. Dein per hortum obambulans cum ambobus (erat autem alter ile JacoBuS SHERARD,) video Antirrhinum minus quod tunc nondum conspexeram, DILLENIUMQUE rogo: que sit?—Hoc tu ignoras ? in- quit.—Si licet florem sumere, dicam mox, ego.— Sumas ;—ct dixi. Yertio die, quum viderem, non mutari DitLentum, et quum mee
opes
ANECDOTES. | 413
opes ad finem vergerent, rogavi, ut vehiculum pro me curaret per servum, crastino die Londznum redituro, quum linguam non intelligerem. Misit; et ego: Unicum hunc, inguam, favorem a te peto, explices, cur nuper ea verba dixeris? Negavit explicationem; sed quum insta~ rem, “ adscendas mecum” dixit et tunc Genera Plantarum, quorum di- midiam partem Gronovius ipse me inscio miserat, promit; in omni fere pagina erat VB.—Quid hoc fibi vult?—Tot falsa genera, quot nota in tuo libro !—Ego contendo, non falsa esse, aut si essent, doceret ipse, et mutarem lubenter.—Vide jam in horto, respondit, e prioribus unam, et sumsit Blituwm, quod stamina tres habere ipse cum aliis dixerat; aperui florem, et reperi unum.—O hoc forte in uno flore aberrat; et plures dum aperiebantur in quibus unum modo, Tum plura genera examina- vimus, et semper fuit, uti scripseram. Miratus Dinusnivus dixit; jam tu non abibis, et retinuit per mensem, deditque quascunque plantas op- tavi vivas pro CLIFFORTIO qui magno cum gaudio me reducem acce- pit.
Sic vixi, donec Nostalgia me incessit, ideoque discessi a CLIFFORTIO, ut Galliam ct inde patriam peterem., Lugdunum Batavorum quum ve- nissem, obtulit Royenus 800 florenos, et ut hortum ex systemate sexu- ali disponerem voluit, gui ha€tenus secundum Borruaavir methodum erat dispositus; 1s autem munere botanices se abdicaverat, et Royvenus in eum valde iratus faétus, quod filiam petenti repulsam dederit. Hoc ego nolui, qui BoERHAAVIo tantum non omnia debebam; sed abso- lute aliter disponi voluit hortum Roysnus. Tunc faciamus, inquam, methodum, que nec Borruaavir nec mea sit, sed tha, et secundum eam plantas disponamus.—Placuit hoc ipsi et sic orta .est methodus ROYENT, quam ego scrips, non. tlle 3, (sed hoc publicari nolo). + Jam vero
1 iratus
Ath ; ANECDOTES.
iratus Crrrrortius Lugdunum venit, et ursit, quod si pretio me reti- nuissent Belga, ipse idem solvere potuisset; laboraram autem febre in- termittente, et vix quum exire potui, Angli invitant, ut secum irem os- treas comederem; persuasere, ut unicam sumerem et unum cyathum vini generosi haurirem. Sequenti die Cholera atrocissima correptus, Borerwaavius exhibit Laudanum, quod non, nisi vite: periculum in- stitisset, sumsissem, et intra 24 horas deglutivi drachmas aliquoit ac restitutus fui. Sed adeo debilis fui, ut quotidie gtt. 1. olei Cinnam. sumenda erat, alias vacillabam. In eo statu me invenit CLirFroRTIUS et secum duxit Hartecampum, ubi per diem dedit monetam Batavorum auream: (ducat) et te€tum vi€tumque. Sed post duos menses iterum in- gruit Nostalgia ; et Galliam petii. Simulac Brabantiam attigi, eo ipso die quasi revixi, et onus, quod antea incubuerat, subito evanuit, nec am- plius oleo cinnamoni opus érat. Postquam parum temporis Pariszis steti, Rothomago (Rouen), Helsinburgum petii, et intra quinque dics appuli.
Jam redux, Holmie vixi ibidemque amicum sanavi intra quatuorde- cimo dies a gonorrhoea, quam chiurgus, quo utebatur, intra annum sa- nare non potuerat; et hinc plures eyus amicorum, qui vinum nullum assumebant in prandiis, pe€tus infirmum sibi esse pretexentes. Sanati, heroice bibebant; mirantur commilitones, et illi dicunt, me posse egre- gie mederi morbis pectoris. Vocor ad uxorem senatoris, que tussi la- borabat; quam ex acrimonia oriri perspiciens, do Trochiscos e Tragacan- tha, que involveret zria, ut semper scatulam secum haberet, iis reple- tam. Bene ex iis habuit, et cum Regina Utrica Exreonora chartis ludens, etiam sumsit ex lis. Querit ex illa Regina: cur hoc faciat ?— Narrat, et me commendat ei, que et ipsa tussiebat. Idem prescribo,
et
: ' ‘ (
ANECDOTES. A15
et levatur. Tum Txss1no innotui, qui interrogat: Num quid cupe- rem e Comitiis? que tunc erant. Ego, nihil, inquam. Promittit se effeCturum.—Vacat munus medici classici, inquam, sed ego non ob- tinebo, habebit alius (quem futurum rumor ajebat.) Sed is non habe- bit, respondit ille ; et post aliquot hebdomades ego accipio diploma. Ibi vero occasionem habui per quinque annos noscendi morbos et remedia per observationes et experimenta; dein usa hee fuere, quum genera morborum ederem; que riserunt omnes et imprimisis Rosen ;
sed. aliquot annos post, preleciiones in eadem habuit.
ALIO- DIE.
*¢ Sed. unde tot habes Arabicas plantas etiamnum, quum dudum obiit ForsKaui?—ego rogavi. Habeo aliunde, Linnaeus respondit, ab Italis, a Bass10, Monspeliensibus et aliis. Prasertim a Donati, cujus: historia singularis est. Misit eum Rex Sardinie in Orientem et Alex- andriam. Is vero amatorius capitur ibi pulcherrima puella, quam obti- nere non potuit, nisi fratrem ejus socium in itinere sibi jungeret. Id facit, ut sororem obtineat ; ille vero totum mox thesaurum argenti se- minumque Donari abstulit et aufugit in Galliam. Pre timore autem ne Regi Sardime traderetur, ulterius ivit Byzantium, postquam Massilia omnia illa ad me miserat semina, in quibus aliquot egregia, guamuis nun- quam ansea de me audiverat. Donati autem naufragium faciendo periit
Jul. 14, 1763, natus 1732.
ALIO DIE.
«6 Certum est, quicquid Tartarum dentium non solvit, nec lithontrip- s ticumerit. Nam tartarus dentium, tartarus Podagre, Arthritidis, et
sé Calculus sunt una eademque materia. Jam hec vulgatiora in Suecza,
ac
416 ANECDOTES.
$¢ ac olim fuere; ergo vitium admittitur in dizta quodcunque antea ig- * notum. Sed quale? nondum.constat..» Forte in purificando Saccha- ¢ rum Calx admiscetur et: hinc oritur.’—Non potest, inguam, heec causa esse, quum: omnis aqua Goettimge calce plena sit et incrustet, calculum non norunt tamen, . Et aqua calcis remedium ad eum sit—‘* Novi hoc, *¢ sed dubitavi, at illud de aqua Goettingensi singulare-est.” |
_Ego a juventute inde muliwm laboravi tartaro dentium, parum curavi. At. a 1750, malo ischiadico tam vehémenter corripiebar, ut vix possem domum redire. Per septimi nychthemera somnum:non novi pra do- lore et fiebat intolerabilis; ergo opium volui assumere, sed impeditus ab amico, qui accedebat ad oftavam vesperis septimi, rogat me uxor: num Fraga edere vellem? tentabo, inquam; erat circa initium temporis istorum, et sapiebant. Dimidia hora post obdormivi in secundum noétis A evigilans miror, dolorem non esse tam ferocem; rogo: num dormiis- sem? quod asseruere adsidentes vigiles. Num plura adessent Fraga? —et reliqua comedi. Iterum obdormio in matutinas, et circa malleo- jum erat dolor. Altero die tantum fragorum comedi, quantum potui, et secundo mane expergefaétus nullum dolorem sentio. Sphacelum adesse credo, sed pars erat integra et surgere potui, quamvis debilis essem. Sequenti anno circa idem fere tempus ridiit dolor, et tertio quoque, sed mitior semper semperque fragzs superatus est. Et ab eo tempore liber fui. Non possum autem per hyemem ea servare, nec
ulla successit methodus, quum proximo jam die putrescent.
AN ACCOUNT
ai
AN
ACCOUNT
GIVEN BY LINNAUS HIMSELF,
OF
HIS TOUR THROUGH LAPLAND
AND
SOME OF HIS FIRST LITERARY LABOURS.
E{XCERPTUM ex litteris Domini Carox: Linn ar ad Dominum AnDREAM CELSIUM, (qui itinere per Germaniam aliasque in posterum terras instituto, tunc Berolini versabatur) Upsalie, die 4 Januarii 1733 datis*.
«¢ Non debui diutius morari, quin te, venerabilis Crxst, itineris meis Laponici, au€toritate et impensis Societatis Regia suscepti, paucis in antecessum certiorem faciam.—In tota mea profeétione, a mense Majo usque ad Oélobrem preteriti anni (1732) continuata, et vel sexcentis peri- culis obnoxia, 672 milleari Suecica consumst. Neque omne uer terra, sed mul. tum per mare et flumina institutum. In montibus Lapponicis 150 milliaria Suecica pedibus ivi. Sub elevatione poli 70. grad. in ipso oceano sep- tentrionali huc illuc navigando, per o€tiduum solem inocciduum vidi.
+ Vide Commercium Litterarium, ad Rei Medicz et Scientize Naturalis incrementum insti- tutum, &c. Annus1773. Hepdomas x, p. 73 et 74, Norimberg. 1733-4.
uhh Per
418 LINN £US'S. TOUR FHROUGH LAPLAND
Per orientale latus Sinus Bothnict Upsaliam reversus, in Tawastia sciu- rum volantem. deprehendi. Omne reditu meo tempus in conscribendam Floram Lapponicam im-
pendi. Continebit hac vegetabilia, in Lapmarkis et jugis montium.
Lapponicis crescentia, novis nominibus et specierum synonymis, novo-.
rum generum charatteribus, rariorum accuratis descriptionibus, planta-
rumque nondum descriptarum figuris, una cum usu earundem apud:
Lappones ceconomico et medico, locupletata. “Ante paucos dies hocce opus ad finem perduxi, 36 plagulis et 80 figu- ris constans. Jam tantum. restat ejus in Latinam linguam translatio,
quam proximo Paschatis tempore prelo paratam, D. V. promitto. In-
terea temporis ut editorem opusculo meo in Germania, vel alibi, procures.
humilster peto.
Flora mea absoluta, Lachesin Lappomcam elaborandam aggredior. In.
hac de ceconomia Lapponum agam, causas sanitatis et longevitatis eorum, simulque prerogativas hujus gentis prez aliis, indigitaturus. Quocirca non ScHEFFERUMy, etalios rei Lapponice scriptores corrigere, sed que ipse vidi, fideliter et simpliciter referre lubet.
Probe quidem scio, neminem eorum juga montium. Lapponica
estatis tempore, transivisse. Miram convenientiam inter hosce montes
Lapponicos et Alpinos deprehendi; adeo, ut omnes fere plantas, qua
non nisi in Alpibus florent, huc quoque invenerim. Sane quam plurima, rem botanicam egregie illustrantia, reperiisse mihi videor. Tuo quoque desiderio satisfa€turus, rebus. ceconomicis in
itinere meo attendi.
Ipsa.
LINNAUS’S TOUR THROUGH LAPLAND. 419
Ipsa montium juga nullo modo vegetabilibus excoli possunt. Lap- markiz enim omnes, traétibus plerumque arenosis abundantes, terra ni- era carent. Nullibi idoneus agricole locus, nisi circa fluviorum ripas; quamvis id etiam difficillime. Hinc in Lappmarkiis vix centum dantur agricole, lique pauperrimi, quia ventie, jugis montium provenientes, fri- gus semper, imo in ipsis dicbus canicularipus, afferendo labores eorem non raroirritos reddunt. Speciem tamen segetis in Lappmarkiis et Fin- markia Norwegica sponte nascentem inveni, qua in sola arena crescens frigore estiva difficulter corrumpitur. P
Societati Regize (Upsaliensi) indicem observationum mearum obtuli. E. gr. n. 21. in Regno Minerali, de metallo ferreo, quod magnes non attrahit. No 37. de alumine sponte confeéto, in montibus Lulensibus. No. 56. de arena nigra martiali in omnibus fluviis contenta. No61.de terra conchis referta, in sylvis Helsingicis. No. 24. vinis supra mare elevatis. No. 65. de saxo, quo juga montium Lapponicorum constant. No. 66. de saxo seminifero Lapon. Tomasii. No. 100 de 32 speciebus mineralium Lappon. No. 106. de ceconomia mira Purkijauri.
In Regno Vegetabili: No. 19. de 23 specibus salium, maximam par- tem incognitis. No, 24. de modo, le&tum sibi commodum in sylvis ex tempore adornandi. No. 2g. de gramine, omne frigus arcente. No. _ 40. de quadam vegetabili esca vaccarum, butyrum colore creceo im- buente. No. 44. de philtro Lapponis. No. 77. de moxa Lapponum. No. 78. de vegetabili, lac, instar casei, sine coagulatione, condensante.
In Regno Animali: No. 35. historia avis Caroline. No. 41. de pisce Selsensogd, ha€tenus non descripto. No. 54. historia inseéti, pellem Rangiferi terebrantis.
uhh 2 In
420 LINN AUS'S TOUR THROUGH LAPLAND,
In Occonomicis: No. 104 de decem panis speciebus usitatis a Norlan- dis et Fennonibus, annona laborantibus. No. 156. de speciebus la€tis Westrobotniensium. No. 205. de tempestatum prognosi, quam Fen- nones a cornicibus ducunt. No. 206. de Lapponum compasso tripli- cis generis.
A SUMMARY
ee tome
[ 421 ]
SUMMARY VIEW
OF THE
BOTANICAL REFORMS OF LINNAEUS,
Partes Plantarum haud satis indagate erant; in has igitur Lin- N £US Sollicitius inquisivit et defe€tum implevit *.
Sizpule adeo parum erant observate, ut nune primum obtinerent nomina.
Pediculus antecessorum in duas partes diversas, in Petiolum et Pedun- culum est divisus, quem Scapo separabat, ut Frondem a folio; ne dicam quod Braéteas Thyrsum, Corymbum, aliasque partes introduxerit.
Calyx in diversas species, ut in Perianthiumy Involucrum, Glumariy Amentum, Spatham, Calytram et Voluam ab Volvam abiit.
Organea mellea, quibus sepissime petala instruuntur, Nectaria dita, ct ambo Corolle nomine insignita sunt.
Stamina, novis nominibus, in Filamentwm et Antheram distinxit.
* V, Amenitat. Academ, edit, SCHREBER, Vol. vi. Erlang. 1789, page 312, seq. Pistillum
422 BOTANICAL REFORMS.
Pistillum in tres partes divisit, quarum superior Stigma, inferior Germen, media vero Stylz nomen retinuit, eliminato Tube seu Vagine nomine.
Pericarpium dicebatur antiquorum fru€tus, par scilicet illa, que se- mina includit.
Distin@lionem determinavit inter Szleqguam, Legumen, Pomum, Bac- cam et Drupam, que antea fru€tu carnoso aut succulento innotuerant.
In semine spe observavit tegumentum quoddam speciale, quod Arillus dicebatur.
Veterum Placenta vel basis floris compositi nomen Receptaculi com- munis sibi nunc vindicavit, quod in Umbellam aliarum et in Cymam
aliarum divisum est. II.
Termini Artis apud Auttores partim insufficientes, partim promiscue sumti erant; itaque eos, qui deerant, addere, et omnes ita definire e re erat, ne huc illucque varie distraherentur. Ad hunc finem obtinen- dum, primas lineas Systematis foliorum in Horto Cliffortiano duxit in Philosophia Botanica (cap. 3. et 4.) auxit, et in System. Natur. adhuc completiores reddidit, ubi termini etiam ad alias partes plantarum ex- tendebantur*.
IIT.
Sexus Plantarumeque pulchrea VAILLANT10 determinatus, ac misere fuit a Pontedera impugnatus, hic etiam accuratius expendebatur, velut nucleus totius floris, cui etiam Systema Sexuale fuit superstru@um.
* Nova Auttoris vocabula erant Nefarium, Stigma, Germen, Drupa, BraGea, Scapus,
Arillus, Cyma, Stipula. Minus usitata Filamentum, Anthera, Stylus, Pericarpium, Perian- thium, Spatha. Distincta veto antea synonyma Pesiolus et Pedunculus Soliqua es Legumen.
3 Hoc
BOTANICAL REFORMS. 423
Hoc vero opus fuit infiniti fere Jaboris; nam non tantum Genera sin- gula, verum etiam singule Species erant examinande ad Stamina et Pistilla, antea adeo- contemta et nihili estimata, ut pro partibus ex- crementitiis haberentur. Hoc facinus utut varii primum nimiam sub- tilitatem sapere judicabant, nec naturam in his minutissimis partibus conformem et constantem augurabantur, attamen nunc nullus exstat Botanicus, qui unius quidem generis charatterem certum formare po- test, nisi tam accuratam habuerit staminum et pistillorum ideam, quam:
unquam fructus aut corolle. IV.
Charafteres Generici antea ita erant constructi, ut vix generibus cog nitis dignoscendis sufficerent, quam ob.causam, detetto novo quodam genere, mutandi erant vicinorum generum cliaratteres, pretcrquam quod in qualibet methodo dissimiles essent. Chara€teres igitur per- petuos indagare, hoc opus erat, hic labor; et quia omnes Botanic: solide eruditi, Fundamentum Fruétificationis, atque adeo partem quan- dam fruétificationis pro Fundamento agnoscere debent, e novo coniecit sunt omnes charatteres a Numero, Figura, Situ et Proportione om. nium Fru€tificationis partium, adeo constantes, ut omnibus methodis,
vel jam adoptatis vel postmodum eligendis inservire queant.
V.
Species, non tantum generibus suis subjeCte sunt, verum etiam ut distinguerentur a se inviceim, omnibus ac singulis nove adjette Dif- ferentie, antecessorum nominibus specificis omnibus rejettis. Nam id. agebatur, ut adsumtis in diffentiam notis certissimis, a congeribus.
species
424 BOTANICAL REFORMS.
species quzstionis, ea qua fieri posset brevitate, sed sufficienter tamen, dignosceretur, ne ad quamvis speciem, Auctorum descriptiones et
figure, non raro insufficientes, evolvere opus esset.
area
VI.
Varietates idem jus cum suis speciebus quondam: possederant, a qui- bus solum proprietatibus accidentalibus differebant; nunc igitur pro- scripte speciebus adjeéte sunt, unde numerus specierum dimidio faétus
minor. VII.
Loca Nataha, de quibus altum fuit silentium apud plerosque, nisi in nomine specifice plantarum adjeéta, diligentius investigari coepere et speciebus subjici. Hisce dein Fundamentum. Culture plantarum ine- dificabatur, preter illud commodum, quod planta quelibet quesita,
per semen aut specimen, e loco natali facile obtineretur.
Vill.
Descripiiones Plantarum hujusque stilo oratorio, vel pomposis verbis confeéte, totas paginas implebant; jam vero ulta substantiva ex nomi- nibus partium, et adjeétiva ex vocabulis terminorum, se extendere pro- hibentur, omnibus verbis inanibus exclusis, ut quot verba, tot pondera, evaderent.
IX.
Nomina Triviala tandem 1755 primum accesserunt, que mirum in modum scientiam facilitabant, et hisce pistillum quasi additum est cam- pang ; cognitis enim his, unaqueeque planta aque commode nominari
2 potest
BOTANICAL REFORMS. 425
potest ac proponi. Antea autem, ad quamlibet plantam determinan- dam, recitanda erat tota differentia, maximo cum memorize, lingue et penne negotio.
».
Ordines Naturales depromebantur, eisque sua adsignabantur genera, quotquot obtineri poterant, etsi multa forte secula requirantur, prius- quam perfeéta naturalis methodus eruatur. Interim hi ordines, tan- quam speculum omnium methodorum in affinitatibus et ut lapis lydius
in viribus plantarum dijudicandis, adhiberi possunt.
AT:
In Usum Plantarum, tam Oeconomiwm quam Medicum curatius ccep- tum est inquiri. Ad QC&conomicum Rajus fere solus inter Botanicos attenderat, jam vero observationibus et itineribus Linna1 multum crevit. Medicina autem, seu Materia Medica clariori nunc splendere ccepit lumine, fundamentis firmis superstru€la, dum Sapor et Odor, una
cum Ordinibus Naturalibus, in fundamentum assumta sunt,
» COE
Tandem ad Proprietates Plantarum est perventum, que subjegta sunt penitiori disquisitioni. Exempla in Gemmationes, Metamorphosin, Prolepsin, Sponsalia, Somnum et Vernationem Plantarum, Calendaria et Horologia Flore nos ducunt, passimque in Oeconomiam et Politiam Na- ture, ubi Pan et Pandora per viridantia Flore prata pecora sua agunt et pascunt; quamvis hac quasi ostia reserata videantur, per que in posterum Botanici ad immensa Nature Theatra intrent, dum presens
111 ztas
426 BOTANICAL REFORMS.”
ztas adhuc in litteris et elementis Botanicis heret, Primum.enim est,
sibi tam familiares reddere plantas, ut nomine, omnibus perspicuo, spe-', ciem quamcunque primo intuitu dignoscere queamus, et profetto, in. tanta confusione et mixturo rerum naturalium, primo intuitu quamcun- que plantam oblatam, licet antea non visam, nomine, per totum orbem intelligibili, nominare, naturamque ejus ex Frudificatione cognoscerey res non levis censenda est, quam certe veterum nullus possibilem judi-
casset.
f Bez. ]
REFERENCES
AND
EXPLANATORY NOTES.
WITH the following farther clucidations and illustrations of certain passages of this biography the author has been favoured, by several persons of literary eminence, who contributed to this work. Though he obtained them at a time when the printing had for the most part been completed, yet the valuableness of their contents induces him to communicate them verbatim to the reader.
The first part of these notes come from Dr. Scureser of Erlangen,
President of the Imperial Academy of Naturalists at Vienna.
N. B.—-To each note 1s prefixed the number of the. page to which it relates. PAGE 7s THE father of Linn£us took the resolution of binding his son an apprentice to a shoemaker, at the persuasion of those persons, who for want of penetration, gave it as their opinion that the latter was not endowed with such parts as would ever qualify him for any learned 1li2 profession.
428 NOTES.
profession, They grounded this judgment upon the little progress which young Linnzus had then made in Latin, His proficiency in this language was certainly far from being considerable ; and it so happened merely because he felt no inclination of learning it from those books, which were assigned to him for that purpose. No sooner, however, had Rotumann dire€ted him to read Piiny, than his progress became most rapid ; because the contents of that author corresponded entirely with his own natural propensity. To this circumstance may be ascribed
his predileétion for Pirin y, and likewise the laconism of his style.
PAGE 23.
OF the first volume of OL. RupBeEcx’s Campi Elysii, no more than three copies were preserved, one of which is at Oxford and two in Sweden. Several copies of the second volume were extricated from the flames ; but they are become a rarity. Those of the wood-cuts of the first volume and some others which were saved, have since been
reprinted by the care of Dr. J. E. Smiru.
PAGE 24.
When Linnaeus gave le€iures for Ot. Rupsecx, he composed a catalogue of the plants which he saw in the Swedish gardens, especially in those of Upland. This work is entituled: Caroxir Linnat, M. B. et Z. C. S. R. Hortus Uplandicus, sive enumeratio stirpium, que in varlis hortis Uplandiz, imprimis autem in horto botanico publico Upsaliensi coluntur, nec non quz in agris ferunter ; Methodo propria in classes distributa. Upsal, M.DCC.X XX. seventy-four pages in oc- tavo, besides a plan of garden of the palace at Upsal, a pre- face in Swedish, and an index. This catalogue has never been
printed,
me ea
—
NOTES. 429
printed, notwithstanding its having been originally intended for pub- lication. On the back of the title of the manuscript is a dedication to Rupseck the patronof Linnaus. He says in the preface, that he wrote the work, by the desire of his audience, to save them the trouble of writing down the names of plants, perhaps erroneously, during his de- monsirations. He also speaks in it with praise of his father’s garden at Stenbrohult, on account of the great number of rare plants contained in it. Linn aus had, therefore, already laid the foundation to his system, at least in 1729. But the system according to which he wrote bis Hor- tus Uplandicus, is only a rough sketch, widely different from the sub- sequent arrangement, as well in the classes of which he counts twenty- one, andin their names. He refers on this account to his Nuptie Plantarum, and apologizes for not having given any Differentia Spe- cifice of the plants, which he promises to do in the second edition. I have this work in my possession in the author’s own manuscript.
Thus it appears, that the said Nuptiea Plantarum were written be-
fore the year 1730. I have also a copy of it in the author’s own hand-
writing, which has been written at a later period. It is entituled Caro t Linnar Alumni Wrediani Extraord. M. C. Nuptie Plantarum, in qui- bus Systema Vegetabilium Universale a Staminibus et Pistillis, sive sextty desumtum, secundum classes, se€tiones, et nomina generica brevissime
proponitur. Stockholmie, 1733, one sheet, in o€tavo. (Compare this with
the note, page 319 and 320). That this latter work does not contain
the first plan, but is full of alterations, appears from its great con- cordance, with the first edition of the System of Nature, in which the table exhibiting the animal reign, agrees with the little pamphlet, except
a few trifling passages. The system itself has only twenty-three classes.
1 I received
430 NOTES.
2) re)
I reccived both manuscripts of the late professor Lance at Halle, whe vas a special friend and correspondent of Linn aus, and formerly my
own teacher.
PAGE 56.
Conrap Gesn_er himself died without issue, but at his death there remained alive of ANDREW GesNeR, his father’s brother, one hundred and thirty-five descendants in children, grand-children, and great-grand- children. From the latter are decended the present family of the Ges- NER’s, One of whom as a poet, is universally known by his Death of Abel and his beautiful pastorals. See SimueR1 Oratio de Vita C.
Gesneri. Tigur. 1566, quarto.
PAGE 57. The Egyptian Herbarium of Prosper Atpinus.is in the library of the University of Leyden. It consists of four volumes in folio, classed
after the Lr1nn 2£an method, and described with the L1InN Zan names.
PAGE 58.
The voyage of Don Hernanpez has not yet appeared completely. It consisted of ten, others say of twelve, and others of fifteen complete volumes in manuscript, which are still in the library of the Escurial. That part of the work which has been published, consists only of ex-
tra€ts, and many notes are added to it by the publisher.
PAGE 62. The preface of Linn aus to his Bibliotheca Botanica is dated by him as early as August 8, 1735. i
z PACE
——
at at ee
ee a
« NOTES. A31 * PAGE 63.
Beton, Rauwotr and others, had already travelled through the other parts of the world, and Cxrusius also. obtained from North America many of the natural curiosities colleéied by Sir Francis Drake in his voyage round the world. The garden at Kew was first - arranged by order of the Princess Dowager of Wa es, the aunt
mother of his Majzsry, now reigning.
PAGE 66. Linn aus, as he frequently told his pupils, never ceased to esteem AY, as one of the most penetrating observers of the natural affinity of Ray, f the most trating obse f the natural j
plants,
PAGE 69. Tournerort found an opponent long before VaiLianT his pupil, in Perer Macnot, of Montpellier, formerly his professor, whose
Charatter Plantarum was not printed till 1720.
PAGE 86.
Linnavus was the four hundredth and sixty-fourth member of the Imperial Academy of Naturalists. He was reccived on the third of O&to- ber, 1736, by the name of Droscoripes I]. Dr. Anprew Cirver born at Cassel, afterwards first physician at Batavia, and a member of the great council there, received the honourable title of Dioscoripes I. of that learned body, and professor Joun BurrMann at Amster-
dam, was chosen in 1740, by the appellation of DioscoripDes II]...
432 NOTES.
PAGE 7.
Enrer was a Palatine by birth. When he first began to draw for Linnazus he gave himself no trouble about the number of stamina and pistilla ; but the instru€tions which were given him afterwards pros- pered so well in his produétions, that he could anatomize the plants in a
very short time, and in the finest and most delicate manner.
PAGE 116.
The principal cause of the indifference which Baron Hatter testified with regard to Linn aus, is to be found in all kinds of tell-tale reports of a&ts or words of Linn £us, by which he was stated to have expressed how little esteem he had for Hatter. But these reports were frequeutly the work of misconstru€tion, wilful malice, or fition. By such scandal how often have not the learned been exasperated and embittered against one another? Perhaps more than one enemy of the good Linnaus had recourse to those vile arts of prejudicing him in the mind of the Baron, who was not always strongly enough upon his guard, to treat such insinuations with the contempt which they so justly merited. One of these enemies waited once upon Baron Hater about the time when this coolness first began to manifest itself between him and Linn aus, and intimated to the Baron, that LINN aus made it his business to tra- duce him (Hater); and to make good his assertion, the base slan- derer added, that Linnavus had assigned a disgraceful place to the portrait of Hat er, almost behind the door of the hall where he kept the portraits of the botanists. The insinuations of this calumniator are said to have operated most forcibly upon the mind of the Baron to the
prejudice of Linnaus.
That
NOTES. 435
That the hall of the latter contained the portraits of many botanists in different forms and sizes, is a faét which cannot be denied. But they were not fitted up according to their rank and pre-eminence, but placed so, as to produce the best effe€t upon the eye. For instance, the portraits of Rupsecx and GMELIN, painted in oil, and of a very large size, were facing the principal entry ; Linn zvs’s portrait, also large, .and executed in the same manner, was ‘suspended sidewards to the left, near a door, &c. Had even Hattrer’s portrait been exposed near the principal’ door, its position ought solely to have been attributed to its size, to symmetry, or to some other circumstances of a similar descrip- tion. Thus operated the most insignificant trifles ;—thus was Linn £us
calumniated, and Hater deceived!
PAGE 119.
“* The younger Baron Hatter had been ensnared to write against Tee He assured the latter afterwards, that he was sorry to have written against him. What a fine triumph of truth and justice for Linnaus! But this was not the only one; even SrEcEsBECK, his first and most inveterate enemy, likewise intreated him in a letter “ to forgive the injury he had done him, and to exert his interest to procnre & him the place of keeper of the botanical garden at Upsal.”
The latter part of his request could not, for many reasons, be
granted, although SIECESBECK well understood the cultivation of plants.
PAGE 137. The Heisteria of Linn aus (afterwards Polygala Heisteria) is a bush
with spiny leaves, but otherwise not of an unpleasant appearance. Kkk The
434 NOTES.
The Siegesbeckia Orientalis is quite a beautiful plant, The Adansonia
digitata is one of the finest and tallest trees, with an elegant flower. -
The Pontederie are also neat looking plants, with handsome flowers.
PAGE 181.
Kam made likewise an extensive tour in Russza, at his own expences These travels have not yet completely appeared, though the author is dead. A Swedish literatus at Ado has been charged with. publish- ing in an abridgement that part which remains unprinted. But he has
not yet performed the task assigned to him.
PAGE 195.
The do€trine of Linn aus, respeéting the bastard-species in the ve- getable reign, has enabled the celebrated M. Koe.treuTErR at St. Pe tersburgh, to produce a vast number of bastard-plants, and even. to change one species into another, by means of an artificial fru€tification.
See Nova Ada Academe Petropolitane.
PAGE 203.
It is a matter of the highest regret, that the Icones Specierum Planta- yum Caro. Linnat, of which the Margravine Carotina Louisa of Baden proje&ted a publication, has never appeared: The Princess did not like execution of the work, which was interupted by the return of the French artists, whom she employed, to their country. No more than one hundred and thirty-eight plates were finished, and even these never presented to the public. Linnus honoured the memory
of the Margravine by the genus of the Carouinea. The first species
2 or
Be RN ae el
tn} ai
NOTES. 495
or Carolinea Princeps has been inserted by AuBLeET, in his Histoire _ des Plantes de la Guianne Francaise, plate 291 and 292, and the second
species, or Carolinea insignis, in the Monadelphe of Cavani Les, tab,
154:
FINIS.
. ’ ‘
, \ -
» - ‘ a
si gaa ail ly ‘Bus
Gy ie ei8
‘ * « \ . : 14 Mi ‘ i a r . f ‘hii 7 ‘ ; t 7 . ; i ps So ae . - « _ x - Ne . 7 r { ¢ > ae - + we 5 aaa it ‘ ‘ ; ‘ j itis -¥ a ” * “ ¥ B f ' a det ’ Vaan 7 y Shh P . ‘ 1 ‘ ; F t=
(292. a Si /298 oo otnangt Vea saya to aalatybangtl, 2
BA are eee ge ae