CARL LINNAEUS 315 



medicine, first in his birthplace and then in Holland, but 

 he always paid particular attention to plants. He then 

 practised in Stockholm, where he married, until in 1741 he 

 received a professorial chair and the botanical garden at 

 Upsala, where he remained for the rest of his life as regards 

 the main part of his work. But repeatedly, also in his 

 earliest youth, he undertook expeditions, and proved a tire- 

 less and wide-ranging observer of nature, and collector of 

 plants, animals and minerals; which activity, combined with 

 a wide study of literature, made him an incomparable expert 

 regarding all kinds of living beings. In later years, when he 

 had already become famous, he was then further aided by re- 

 ceiving all kinds of natural objects from all parts of the world. 



Gifted with a rare power of taking a wide view, he was able 

 to create, in several large works, a classification and nomen- 

 clature for all living beings, which was immediately generally 

 accepted, and acted upon botany and zoology like a new 

 creation of their whole content. Everything that lived now 

 had a fixed name, and was fitted into classes, orders, families, 

 species, and varieties; a complete survey was now possible 

 of the mass of single facts which had become quite unman- 

 ageable; the sciences of life had also likewise received a use- 

 ful artificial language, which was actually an essential 

 preliminary for all further prosperity, since it enabled one 

 botanist or zoologist to understand others. Hence the re- 

 cognition which Linnaeus, ennobled under the name of 

 Linne, already received during his lifetime was very great. 

 The Queen of Sweden, the sister of Frederick the Great, and 

 also her son (Gustave HI), showed him the greatest respect 

 and assistance. He died in 1778, aged seventy-one. 



It would be wrong to regard Linnaeus merely as the great 

 systematist, as was done for a very long time.^ Although 

 his works are by far the greater part, and in the first instance 



* I must here acknowledge my indebtedness to Professor E. Almquist 

 in Stockholm for many detailed hints in the second edition. 



