ON A DOMINANT LANGUAGE FOR SCIENCE. 



By Alphonse de Candolle, 



Of Geneva, Switzerland* 



At the jjeriod of the Eenaissance, Latin was the language employed 

 by all the learned men of Earope. It had been carefully preserved by 

 the Romish Church ; and not one of the modern languages presented, at 

 that time, a sufiicientlj'^ rich literature to become its rival. But at a later 

 period the Eeformation disturbed the unity of the Komish influence. 

 Italian, Spanish, French, and English gained successively regular idi- 

 oms, and became rich in literary productions of every kind ; and at last, 

 eighty or one hundred years ago at most, the progress of science caused 

 the inconvenience of the use of Latin to be felt. It was a dead language, 

 and, in addition to that, was wanting in clearness, owing to its inver- 

 sions, to its abbreviated words, and to the absence of articles. There 

 existed at that time a general desire to describe the numerous discover- 

 ies that were being made, and to explain and discuss them without the 

 necessity of seeking for words. The almost universal pressure of these 

 causes was the reason for the adoption of modern languages in most 

 sciences, natural history being the only exception. For this, Latin is 

 still employed, but only in descriptions — a special and technical part, 

 where the number of words is limited and the construction very regular. 

 Speaking truly, what naturalists have preserved is the Latin of Linnteus, 

 a language in which every word is i^recise in meaning, every sentence 

 arranged logically, clearly, and in a way employed by no Eoman author. 

 Linnaeus was not a liuguist. He knew but little even of modern lan- 

 guages, and it is evident that he struggled against many difficulties 

 when he wrote in Latin. With a very limited vocabulary and a turn of 

 miud which revolted equally from the periods of Cicero and the reticence 

 of Tacitus, he knew how to create a language precise in its terms, ap- 

 propriate to the description of forms, and intelligible to students. He 

 never made use of a term without first defining it. To renounce this 

 special language of the learned Swede would be to render descriptions 

 less clear and less accessible to the savants of all nations. If we attempt 

 to translate into the Latin of Linnaeus certain sentences in modern 

 floras, written in English or German, we quickly perceive a want of 

 clearness. In Euglish, the word smooth applies equally to glahcr and 



■* The fifth chapter of the Histoire des sciences et des savants depuis deux si^cles, 8vo, 

 Geneve, ]873. Loudon, Dulan. Translated by Miss Miers, by permission of the author. 

 Ann. & Mag. N. Hist., ser. 4, vol. xi. 



