481 



much more correct in its names, than it, or any other 

 similar performance, could have been, without this advan- 

 tage. It could scarcely be imagined that Sweden would, 

 unmoved, thus let the botanical sceptre pass from her; 

 but it is much to the honour of the nation, that all her 

 naturalists have ever preserved the most friendly inter- 

 course with us, particularly with the person who deprived 

 them of this treasure. They have not merely pardoned, 

 but publicly sanctioned, the scientific zeal which prompted 

 him to this acquisition, by associating him with all their 

 learned establishments, without any solicitation on his 

 part. 



The institution of the Linnsean Society at London in 

 1788, especially under that name, must be considered as 

 a triumph for Sweden in her turn. By this establishment 

 the intercourse of science is facilitated; essays, which 

 might otherwise have never seen the light, are given to 

 the world ; and a general taste for the pleasing study of 

 nature is promoted. Learned and worthy people are thus 

 made acquainted with each other, from the remotest cor- 

 ners of the kingdom, and their information enriches the 

 common stock. The state has given its sanction to this 

 rising establishment. Its publications and its members 

 are spread over the Continent, and other similar institu- 

 tions have borrowed its name, imitated its plan, and paid 

 respect to its authority. Yet it is not in the name alone 

 of Linnaeus, that the members of this Society place their 

 confidence; still less do they bow to that name or to any 

 other, at the expense of their own right of private judge- 

 ment. Their Transactions are open to the pupils of every 

 school, and the observations of every critic, that have any 

 prospect of being useful to the world. The writer of each 

 communication, must, of course, be answerable for the 

 particulars of his own performance, but the Society is re- 

 sponsible for each being, on the whole, worthy to be 

 communicated to the public. The possession of the very 

 materials with which Linnceus worked, his own specimens 



VOL. II. 2 I 



