SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES 109 



atic classification would have to be worked out, the result being the second 

 of the important works written in his youth, Methodus plantariun, wherein 

 he presented most of the principles which have since then been the common 

 property of plant and animal classification. He first of all laid down an ex- 

 planation and a definition of the various parts of the plant, after the model of 

 Jung and Ray, whom, however, he far surpasses in the matter of precision, 

 both of observation and of expression. Further, he worked out in an incom- 

 parable manner the principles of nomenclature, synonymy, and character- 

 istics of the various categories of the system, all of which have since then 

 been the common property of all systematicians of any ability, but which 

 in his time reacted with all the overwhelming force of a novel idea. With 

 all these ideas partly written down, partly in his head, Linnaeus came to 

 Holland, and was able, under the unusually favourable conditions which 

 he enjoyed there, to make them fully available for research. But before 

 giving an account of those, the greatest works of his life, we must devote 

 a few words to a man with whom he closely collaborated and who made a 

 strong and lasting impression on him. 



Peter Artedi was born in 1705 at Anundsjo, in northern Sweden, the 

 son of a priest named Arctxdius. He entered Upsala University in 17x4 and, 

 like Linnasus, had difficulty in obtaining his father's consent to his studying 

 medicine in preference to theology. It was natural science, however, that 

 chiefly attracted him, and in that field he too, like Linn^us, had for the 

 most part to study on his own. At the time when Linnasus came to Upsala, 

 Artedi was considered the most promising naturalist in the University and 

 there soon arose a firm friendship between them, resulting in a co-operation 

 which proved of great benefit to both. Artedi was especially interested in 

 zoology, chiefly in icthyology, while Linnaeus applied himself to botany, 

 so that there was no necessity for them to encroach upon one another's fields 

 of activity, but at the same time they could exchange ideas and observations. 

 In their characters, too, they were fortunate in being able to complement 

 one another; Linnasus was lively and enthusiastic, Artedi calm and critical. 

 Financially they were both in an equally bad way and they had recourse 

 to one another's assistance. In 1734 Artedi received a grant to enable him 

 to travel abroad and he went to London, where he studied zoology, mainly 

 icthyology. A year later he came to Amsterdam without resources and with- 

 out the slightest prospect of getting home. Linnasus, who had already ac- 

 quired some connexions in the city, introduced his friend to a wealthy 

 apothecary who possessed a large collection of fishes. This museum Artedi 

 was now commissioned to catalogue and was able at the same time to com- 

 plete a large work on fishes on which he had long been engaged. His career, 

 however, was short; one evening, upon returning from a visit to his bene- 

 factor, he fell into a canal and was drowned (autumn, 1735). 



