20 PT?OCKKr)TN(:S OT TWE 



and just ill that order which would enable the scientific world to 

 take advnntage of and believe in them. He saw clearly enough 

 that tlic trivial specific name, if it was to supersede the old- 

 fashioned plirase, must really be associated with good and care- 

 fully recorded specific characters and satisfactory generic 

 diagnoses. 



His reform was conducted very gradually, and, first of all, in 

 the ' Critica Botanica ' rules were given for tlie adoption of the 

 generic name and for the specific descriptive phrase. He clearly 

 desired to exclude extravagant and barbarcius generic names, and 

 to adopt tliose which were convenient and elegant. 



Then the descri])tivc plu'ase (the differentia) he decided should 

 embrace the most fixed characters which can be found. Here 

 the ' Fuudameuta Botanica ' came in, for the terminology of the 

 phrase was regulated by its rules, and the 'Philosophia ' v.as the 

 glossary. He enlarged earnestly on the necessity for using the 

 correct and proper specific phrase, and wrote : — " I beseech all 

 botanists to avoid most religiously ever proposing a trivial name 

 witiiout a suflicient specific distinction, lest the science should 

 fall into its former barbarism." In the ' Species Plautarum ' the 

 trivial names are introduced in the margin ; and this tentative 

 plan soon received the sanction of the botanical world. The 

 phrase disapj^eared, and the trivial name sfood next to the genus, 

 which, with the species, was carel'ully diagnosed according to the 

 Linnean method and with the selected terminology. 



An ordinary botanist would not iiave had the proposed revolu- 

 tion in Botanical nomenclature accepted ; but Linnaeus had such a 

 vast practical knowledge of plants, had explored the floras of such 

 huge districts and countries, had examined so many herbaria, and 

 had had such collections sent to him from foreign countries for his 

 ftudy, that he stood alone in his knowledge of species. Again, 

 his definitions of genera and species commended themselves to 

 practical botanists. Ho the trivial names gradually became the 

 recognized specific terms ; and this revolution has produced 

 lasting results in Natural History. 



The ' Philosophia Botanica' contains here and there some of 

 the sayings and maxims of Liuna?us which explain his beliefs on 

 interesting questions. 



Thus we find, " Confusis generibus, confundi omnia necesse 

 est. Genus omue est naturale, in primordio tale creatum, 

 Species constautissima^ sunt. Species tot uumeramus, quot di- 

 vert a^ formae in principio sunt creata?." "A'arietas est planta 

 nnilala a causa accidentali : climate, sole, calore, ventis &c. I'c- 

 ducitur itaque in solo mulato. Species varietatum sunt magni- 

 tude, plenitude, crispatio, color, sapor, odor." 



" Botanists do not consider slight variations." 



It is perfectly evident that transmutation was not in the 

 liiiinean philosophy, and yet he quotes " Natura uon tacit saltus." 



The scientific botanist will pass over some of the statements 

 of Linnajus concerning the physiology of plants without criti- 



