﻿34 
  Elementary 
  Species 
  

  

  living 
  beings, 
  the 
  genera 
  were 
  then 
  accepted 
  as 
  

   the 
  created 
  forms. 
  They 
  were 
  therefore 
  re- 
  

   garded 
  as 
  the 
  real 
  existing 
  types, 
  and 
  it 
  was 
  

   generally 
  surmised 
  that 
  species 
  and 
  varieties 
  

   owed 
  their 
  origin 
  to 
  subsequent 
  changes 
  under 
  

   the 
  influence 
  of 
  external 
  conditions. 
  Even 
  Lin- 
  

   naeus 
  agreed 
  with 
  this 
  view 
  in 
  his 
  first 
  treatises 
  

   and 
  in 
  his 
  " 
  Philosophical 
  Botany' 
  ' 
  he 
  still 
  kept 
  

   to 
  the 
  idea 
  that 
  all 
  genera 
  had 
  been 
  created 
  at 
  

   once 
  with 
  the 
  beginning 
  of 
  life. 
  

  

  Afterwards 
  Linnaeus 
  changed 
  his 
  opinion 
  on 
  

   this 
  important 
  point, 
  and 
  adopted 
  species 
  as 
  the 
  

   units 
  of 
  the 
  system. 
  He 
  declared 
  them 
  to 
  be 
  

   the 
  created 
  forms, 
  and 
  by 
  this 
  decree, 
  at 
  once 
  re- 
  

   duced 
  the 
  genera 
  to 
  the 
  rank 
  of 
  artificial 
  groups. 
  

   Linnaeus 
  was 
  well 
  aware 
  that 
  this 
  conception 
  

   was 
  wholly 
  arbitrary, 
  and 
  that 
  even 
  the 
  species 
  

   are 
  not 
  real 
  indivisible 
  entities. 
  But 
  he 
  sim- 
  

   ply 
  forbade 
  the 
  study 
  of 
  lesser 
  subdivisions. 
  

   At 
  his 
  time 
  he 
  was 
  quite 
  justified 
  in 
  doing 
  so, 
  

   because 
  the 
  first 
  task 
  of 
  the 
  systematic 
  botanists 
  

   was 
  the 
  clearing 
  up 
  of 
  the 
  chaos 
  of 
  forms 
  and 
  

   the 
  bringing 
  of 
  them 
  into 
  connection 
  with 
  their 
  

   real 
  allies. 
  

  

  Linnaeus 
  himself 
  designated 
  the 
  subdivisions 
  

   of 
  the 
  species 
  as 
  varieties, 
  but 
  in 
  doing 
  so 
  he 
  

   followed 
  two 
  clearly 
  distinct 
  principles. 
  In 
  

   some 
  cases 
  his 
  species 
  were 
  real 
  plants, 
  and 
  the 
  

   varieties 
  seemed 
  to 
  be 
  derived 
  from 
  them 
  by 
  

  

  