30 Dn. Smiras Introductory Difcourfe. 
in-like manner to define the fpecies upon philofophical principles ; a 
thing hitherto unknown, or at leaft but faintly attempted by fome 
old botanifts. Of the fuccefs of Linnæus in this undertaking, as 
well as his judgment and accuracy in collecting fynonyms, the 
Hortus Cliffortianus and. Flora Lapponica afford: fufficient proofs. 
In them may be feen the dawning of thofe talents which afterwards 
. produced the Species Plantarum; while the didactic precifion and 
critical acutenefs of the Fundamenta and Critica, gave a foretafte 
of that perfection which was hereafter to appear in the Philofophia 
Botanica. | 
Nor were the abilities of Linnæus lefs confpicuous in his diftri- 
bution of the animal kingdom. Of this the firft edition of the 
Syftema Naturæ was but a fketch, which was afterwards correéted 
and much enlarged. It is unneceflary here to enter upon the 
particulars of his fyftem, which has-been familiar to all naturalifts 
for thefe 50 years. I fhall only fay, that what in my opinion are 
the beft parts of it, the claffes of birds and infects, were altogether 
original. For the deteétion of the effential charaéter of the latter 
in their antennæ, we are entirely obliged to Linnæus ; and his fub- 
ordinate diftinétions were not only the firft, but long experience 
has proved them the beft, that have ever been invented. 
. His arrangement of foflils, the beft at the time it was firft pub- 
lifhed, is now generally neglected. Although in fome inftances 
founded on chemical principles, in others the moft obvious laws of 
chemiftry were facrificed to external figure; and the fcience having 
been of late years fo totally reformed, it is no wonder that Lin- 
nzus’s Regnum Lapideum is become obfolete. 
This illuftrious man, returning in 1739 to Sweden his native 
country, there fixed the throne of Natural Hiftory. Soon after his 
arrival he helped to lay the foundation of the Academy of Sciences 
at Stockholm, of which he was the firft prefident. His diftin- 
guifhed 
