LINNEAN SOCIETT OF LONDON. 35 



The acquisition by Dr. Jas. Smith of everything which Liuuteus 

 possessed relating to Natural History or Medicine, with his entire 

 library and manuscripts, and the correspondence of his whole 

 life, raised him at once to a position of high eminence among the 

 students of Natural History in England. He liad just finished 

 his medical education in Edinburgh, having specially distinguished 

 himself in the study of Botany, and had resolved to settle iu 

 London and devote himself to his profession. The widow of 

 Linnteus, on the death of her son in 1783, offered the museum 

 and library formed by her husband and increased by her sou, 

 which had again become her property, to Sir Joseph Banks for 

 the high price, as she thought, of one thousand guineas, liightly 

 estimating the value of the collections, and yet not inclined to 

 acquire tiiem himself, he urged young Smith to purchase them. 

 The proposal being favoured by Smith's father, a man of cultivated 

 mind and in prosperous circumstances, the price was provided, 

 and Dr. Smitli became the fortunate possessor of the Linnean 

 collections in 1784, when he was not yet 25 years of age. The 

 transaction was precipitated from the fear of the owner that, 

 on the return of tlie King of Sweden from his travels, she might 

 be compelled to dispose of them at a cheaper rate to the Uni- 

 versity of UpsaLi. 



The transference of the Linnean collections to England created 

 a second centi-e for Naturalists in London. Sir Joseph Banks 

 had opened his house, and given free access to his collections and 

 library, to scientific enquirers. Abundant evidence could be 

 adduced of the unselfish aud important services tiiat he rendered 

 to science during the long time he occupied the illustrious 

 position in which scientific men had placed him ; but no more 

 laappy instance could be given than this occasion, on which he 

 exerted his iufluence with the view of inducing Smith to secure a 

 collection which would rival, aud in some respects sur2:)ass, that 

 which he himself possessed. 



The system of Linnaeus had completely displaced all others. 

 The happy inventions and the careful definitions by Linneeus of 

 the words he employed, the precision of his descriptive characters, 

 his binomial nomenclature, aud, above all, the clear and certain 

 divisions of his sexual system, presented such favourable contrasts 

 to the systematic works of earlier authors, that he had secured 

 absolute sway over English naturalists. They looked to him as 

 the schoolmen looked to Aristotle or Dioscorides. The great 

 work was to discover the name of an object if it had been already 

 described by Linnaeus, and, if not, to determine its place in the 

 Artificial System and intercalate it with a concise description and 

 a suitable name. The Artificial Classification did not encourage 

 investigation ; it was suflicient in the case, for instance, of a plant 

 that the number of its stamens and pistils should be ascertained, 

 and. its position determined, it was then disposed of in its proper 

 cover in the herbarium. Under these circumstances the possession 



