INTRODUCTORY 7 



quacunque occasional!. " Those sayings however do not stand 

 alone. In several places, notably in the famous dissertation 

 on the peloric Linaria he explicitly contemplates the possibility 

 that new species may arise by crossing, declaring nevertheless 

 that he thinks such an event to be improbable. In that essay 

 he refers to Marchant's observation on a laciniate Mercurialis, 

 but though he states clearly that that plant should only be 

 regarded as a variety of the normal, he does not express any 

 opinion that the contemporary genesis of new species must be an 

 impossibility. In the later dissertation on Hybrid Plants he 

 returns to the same topic. Again though he states the belief 

 that species cannot be generated by cross-breedings, he treats 

 the subject not as heretical absurdity but as one deserving 

 respectful consideration. 



The significance of the aphorisms that precede the lectures 

 on the Natural Orders is not easy to apprehend. These are 

 expressed with the utmost formality, and we cannot doubt that 

 in them we have Linnaeus's own words, though for the record 

 we are dependent on the transcripts of his pupils. 



The text of the first five is as follows: 



1. Creator T. O. in primordio vestiit Vegetabile Medullare 

 principiis constitutivis diversi Corticalis unde tot difformia 

 individua, quot Ordines Naturales prognata. 



2. Classicas has (i) plantas Omnipotens miscuit inter se, 

 unde tot Genera ordinum, quot inde plantae. 



3. Genericas has (2) miscuit Natura, unde tot Species con- 

 generes quot hodie existunt. 



4. Species has miscuit Casus, unde totidem quot passim 

 occurrunt, Varietates, 



5. Suadent haec (1-4) Creatoris leges a simplicibus ad 

 Composita. 



Naturae leges generationis in hybridis. 



Hominis leges ex observatis a posteriori. 



I am not clear as to the parts assigned in the first sentence 

 respectively to the " Medutta" and the " Cortex," beyond that 

 Linnaeus conceived that multiformity was first brought about 

 by diversity in the "Cortex." The passage is rendered still 



