66 



SYSTEMATIC BOTANY 



Carolus Linnaeus 



Excerpts from the Critica Botanica 



Reprinted with the permission of the Ray 

 Society from Critica Botanica, translated by 

 the late Sir Artluir Hort and revised by Miss 

 M.L.Green, 1938. 



What difficulty has been caused to 

 botanists from the revival of the sci- 

 ences down to the present day by the 

 invention of new names, is known to 

 ever)'one who has handled the subject: 

 accordingly, when at the beginning of 

 the last century the invasion of bar- 

 barism threatened by the vast horde of 

 names in use was stemmed by C. Bau- 

 hin, by the general consent of botanists 

 anyone who should in the future dare 

 to introduce new names was stigma- 

 tized with a black mark, and this was 

 well advised, since in the circumstances, 

 the stage of learning which the science 

 had at that time reached did not make 

 it possible to frame better names. 



When at length the commonwealth 

 of Botany had been brought by Mor- 

 ison under an ordered constitution, 

 and an eternal law, taken from Nature's 

 book, had been promulgated, anv who 

 should offend against or transgress this 

 law were branded as ignoramuses. No 

 exception was then allowed: all specific 



names which did not suit the genus in 

 question were to be banned by an in- 

 exorable decree of fate. 



However citizens of the common- 

 wealth never ceased to bring in every 

 day new supplies from foreign lands, to 

 distinguish them as they arrived with 

 more suitable names, to restore what 

 was lacking, to repair previous disasters, 

 to become wiser and to devise better 

 counsels, and to provide for the gen- 

 eral well-being of the commonwealth, 

 though not one of them took upon 

 himself to introduce a complete ref- 

 ormation of its constitution or to be- 

 stow new names. Nevertheless by slow 

 and almost imperceptible steps more 

 new names have crept in than were 

 ever bestowed at the bidding of any 

 dictator. It is fated that botanists 

 should impose wrong names so long as 

 the science remains an unfilled field, so 

 long as laws and rules have not been 

 framed on which they can erect as on 

 firm foundations the science of Botany: 



