PERIOD III. 

 1741-1789 



Characteristics of the Period. 



THE chief historical events are the decline of the French 

 monarchy, the French revolution, the rise of Prussia, 

 the expansion of England, and the American Declaration 

 of Independence. In the history of thought we remark 

 the introduction of the historical or comparative method, 

 which seeks to co-ordinate facts and to trace events to 

 their causes. Science steadily grows in influence, and 

 freethought wins many triumphs ; this is the age of 

 Voltaire, Rousseau, and the Encyclopaedists, of David 

 Hume, of the French economists and Adam Smith. 



Systems of Flowering Plants : Linnaeus and the Jussieus. 



Linnaeus is remembered as a man of great industry, 

 enterprise, and sagacity, who was inspired from boyhood 

 by a passion for natural history and spent a long life in 

 advancing it. He was early recognised as a leader in 

 more than one branch of the study. 



L'Obel, Morison, and Ray had laboured to found a 

 natural system of flowering plants, and it was they who 

 laid the foundation upon which all their successors have 

 built. The work did not, however, go steadily forward 

 on the original plan. When Linnaeus entered upon the 

 scene the prevalent systems were only moderately 

 natural, and far from convenient in practice. To place 

 the undescribed species which poured in from North 

 America and other distant countries was a difficult task, 



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