46 TALKS AFIELD. 



the success he won. He brought order out 

 of confusion. His work extended to all 

 kinds of animals and to minerals. Through 

 his exertions a new life was imparted to the 

 pursuit of scientific learning. In this con- 

 nection we can consider but two of the 

 important reforms instituted by Linnaeus, 

 but these two are among his most conspicu- 

 ous labors. He made a radical change in 

 the nomenclature of natural objects, and he 

 propounded a new and important system of 

 classification. We will first speak of the 

 reform in nomenclature. Before Linnaeus 

 plants were named in scientific works by a 

 Latin phrase, which was commonly used in 

 the ablative. Thus "Acer foliis palmato-an- 

 gulatis, floribus subapetalis, sessilibus, fructu 

 pedunculato corymboso " was the name of 

 the red maple. Rendered into English the 

 name reads : " Acer with palmate, angular 

 leaves, sessile and nearly apetalous flowers, 

 and stalked fruit in corymbs." Acer is the 

 generic or general name of all the maples, 

 the same as the word maple is the generic 

 name. The different kinds or species of ma- 

 ples were distinguished from each other by 

 the descriptive phrases. These phrases were 

 unwieldy and inconvenient, and Linnaeus 



