392 Memorial of George Brown Goode. 



Jones, in his History of Georgia^ [I, p. 444] , refers to the Rev. Stephen 

 Hales — "equally renowned as a naturalist and a divine" — who lived for 

 a time in Georgia during the last century. Can this have been the 

 famous author of Vegetable Statics? I have been unable to find any 

 allusion to a sojourn in America, in the published notices of the English 

 Hales, and equally unable to discover a second Hales in the annals of 

 science. 



The central figure among eighteenth-century naturalists was of course 

 lyinnaeus. His Systenia Naturae was an epoch-making work, and with 

 the publication of its first edition at I^eyden in 1735 the study of the 

 biological sciences received an impress which was soon felt in America. 



In 1738, while in lycyden, he assisted Gronovius in editing the notes 

 sent by Clayton from Virginia, and it is evident that Linnaeus was already, 

 at the age of thirfj^, recognized by European botanists as an authority 

 upon the plants of America. It was in this year that he visited Paris. 

 He at once made his way to the Garden of Plants, and entered the lecture 

 room of Bernard de Jussieu, who was describing some exotics to his 

 pupils in Latin. There was one which the demonstrator had not yet 

 determined, and which .seemed to puzzle him. The Swede looked on in 

 silence at first, but observing the hesitation of the learned professor, 

 cried out : "Haec plantam faciem Americanam habet." Jussieu turned 

 about quickly with the exclamation, "You are Linnaeus." 



It is interesting to notice how strongly the Linnaean reforms took root 

 in American soil, and how soon. Collinson wrote to Bartram in 1737: 

 "The Systema Naturae is a curious performance for a young man, but 

 his coining a new set of names for plants tends but to embarrass and 

 perplex the study of botany. As to his system . . . botanists are 

 not agreed about it. Very few like it. Be that as it will, he is certainly 

 a very ingenious man, and a great naturalist. ' ' ' Six years later he wrote 

 to Linnaeus himself : 



Your system, I can tell yoit, obtains much in America. Mr. Clayton and Dr. 

 Colden at Albany on Hudson's River in New York, are complete Professors ; as is 

 Dr. Mitchell at Urbana on Rappahannock River, in Virginia. = 



This may not .seem a very numerous following, but twelve years after 

 this (1755) only seven English botanists were mentioned by Collinson 

 in response to a request from Linnaeus to know what botanical people in 

 London were skilled in his plan.^ 



It is a fact not often referred to that during his period of poverty and 

 struggles, Linnaeus received, through the influence of his patron, Boer- 

 haave, an appointment in the colony of Surinam. His prospects for a 

 successful career in Europe had, however, brightened, and he decided 

 not to come to America. 



' Darlington, Memorials of John Bartram and Humphrey Marshall. Philadelphia, 

 1849, 1S50, p. 106. 

 ^ Smith, Correspondence of Linnaeus, I, p. 9. 

 3 Idem. , p. 33. 



