35 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



introduced a precision it had never before possessed. 

 His object was to make known every natural pro- 

 duction there discovered, in the most simple and 

 concise terms ; and to institute rules and forms of 

 description, by which other objects, as they were 

 progressively discovered, might be distinguished 

 and registered in the same manner. In this he 

 succeeded more completely than any who had 

 then, or who has since, undertaken the same task. 

 Unlike his great successor Cuvier, he knew the 

 difference between a natural and an artificial system ; 

 he appreciated the value of the former, but he pro- 

 secuted his invention of the latter, because he saw 

 it was more suited to the then state of science. 

 That he possessed no inconsiderable knowledge of 

 comparative anatomy, is abundantly evident ; but he 

 knew that the external characters of most animals 

 were quite sufficient for the purpose of identifying 

 them : and he wisely refrained from overburdening 

 his definitions with unessential details and characters. 

 Simplicity, in short, was his ruling passion, and it 

 would be well for modern science if this principle 

 had been imbibed by his successors. That he was 

 ever anxious to improve his classification, to institute 

 new divisions, modify his old genera, and make new 

 ones, is attested by every succeeding edition of his 

 Sy sterna Naturce, which he went on to improve until 

 his death. These augmentations, however, were 

 almost solely the result of personal knowledge. He 

 possessed the spirit, the judgment, and the caution of 

 Willughby, in rejecting all the vague and ill-defined 

 species both of plants and of animals, mentioned 

 by other writers and thus purged the science of a 



