156 Life of Linneus. 
first appearance, was without any doubt, the most able of his time, 
distinguished himself by great exactness in the study of details, but 
never appeared to be seriously engaged with general ideas ; he had, 
of course, but a very inadequate perception of the real value of the 
innovations of Linneus, but felt strongly the embarrassments which a 
new language, momentarily, introduces into science. 
This man ts confounding all botany, said Dillenius to his friend 
Sherard, on seeing Linneus enter. In many respects, however, he 
yielded his prejudices. Linnzus, in his sojourn in England, and in 
his correspondence, astonished him by the extent of his knowledge, 
and brought him over by his urbanity. 
Another rival of Linnzeus, who would have been the most danger- 
ous of all, had he proceeded directly in the same career, was Haller. 
This astonishing man, at once a poet, physician, anatomist, physiole- 
gist, bibliophile, and naturalist, had very remarkable ideas relative to 
the natural method, and would doubtless have made immense strides, 
if botany had been the special object of his researches. He confine 
his ideas to a too contracted sphere, the Flora of Switzerland, and 
he rendered his work less popular, by not distinguishing the nomencla- 
ture of Linnzus from his classification ; and in rejecting the first, which 
is excellent, from an antipathy to the second. These two celebrated 
men were, for a long time, on a footing of intimacy and confidence, and 
notwithstanding a diversity of opinions, they rendered each other jus- 
tice. Some light clouds appeared, from time to time, on occasion of 
their reciprocal criticisms, and there arose a sort of misunderstand- 
ing between them, by reason of Haller’s indiscretion, in publishing 
some old letters of Linneus, which contained private details of his 
life, and especially relative to his marriage. 
It is but justice to Linnzus, to state that during his whole life he 
refrained from replying to the criticisms, (often very severe,) that 
were made upon him and his writings, either because he disdained 
them, or because he felt that he had a larger and more glorious mis- 
sion to fulfil.—He allowed Siegesbeck, Browall, ete. to let loose 
their choler against him, and enjoyed, in peace, the admiration of bis 
age. “The only instance of transient ill will, which can be cited, is 
against Browall. This person, in his youth, was very humble, in 
relation to Linnzus, and the latter dedicated to him a genus which 
contained only one species, Browallia demissa. Afterwards, made 
Bishop of Abo, Browall assumed to be a great lord, and Linneus 
found a second species which he named Browallia exaltata, Brow- 
