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LIFE OF LiNNJEus By A. L, A. Fee * 



Much has been written concerning Linnaeus, and the eminent 

 station which he has occupied, the prodigious influence which he 

 exercised over natural history, easily account for it : but of the 

 many biographical accounts of this remarkable man, which are 

 to be found in the French language, some were either so barren 

 of details as to prevent us being thoroughly acquainted with his 

 history, or were published too recently after his death to enable 

 his influence to be impartially appreciated. Men in fact are 

 like edifices : viewed near one cannot j udge correctly except of 

 the details, and even of those chiefly, if the structure be not 

 very lofty ; but as to temples and towering obelisks, a correct 

 notion may be formed by surveying them at a distance ; — it is 

 the same with men who stand pre-eminent in their own age and 

 impel it in a new direction. We cannot form a correct opinion 

 of them till the fruits of their works have been reaped and pre- 

 judices have been overthrown. M. Fee has rendered a great 

 service to the history of science by carefully collecting and ar- 

 ranging what is authentic, either in works that were published 

 in Sweden and Germany, or in manuscripts that he procured, 

 respecting the life of the reformer of natural history. 



His work consists, \st^ of a translation of the life of Lin- 

 Dseus, written by himself, and published by his disciple Afzelius;t 

 2rf, of extracts from his correspondence with the naturalists of 

 his time ; 3c?, of a collection of anecdotes relating to him and his 

 writings ; ^th, of a bibliographical note of his works. 



Linnaeus himself has related his life on many occasions, and 

 the account which forms the first part of the work of M. Fee 

 is the most complete of these various autobiographies. The 

 peculiar style of Linnaeus is recognised even in the translation ; 

 it is a hasty yet concise recital pregnant with facts, and in which 

 the flashes of a poetical imagination occasionally break forth. 



• Vie de Linn6, par A. L. A. Fee, 1 vol. 8vo. 1832. 



-f- This interesting autobiography of Linnaeus has been translated from 

 the original Swedish into German, under the title " Linnes Eigenhandige 

 Anzeichnungen Uber sich selbst, mit Anmerkungen und Zusiitzen Von Af. 

 zelius." Berlin, 1 820. 



