I860.] REVIEW. 27 



formed the chief materials of Burmann's work, whilst, in the ' Flora Zey- 

 lanica,' Linnaeus distinctly states that it disappeared after Hermann's 

 death (1695) till chance threw it into the hands of M. Gunther (apothecary 

 to the King of Denmark) more than fifty years afterwards (1745). Gun- 

 ther sent it to Linnaeus, requesting him to examine it, and affix the names 

 to the plants throughout the collection. 



" In more than one written life of Linnaeus which we have read, and in 

 which his works are enumerated, we do not recollect the ' Flora Zeylanica'* 

 to have been included, though Linnaeus teUs us that he devoted a consider- 

 able portion of two years (1745-7) to the examination of those plants and 

 to writing the ' Flora Zeylanica.' 



" It was not many years prior to this that Linnaeus published the 

 sexual system of plants, and the classes and orders depending on it, and 

 it is veiy likely that his ' Flora Zeylanica ' was the first work on the par- 

 ticular botanyf of a country arranged according to that system. 



" Hermann's collection had been made seventy years before, and 

 had been considerably knocked about, but by dipping the flowers into 

 spiiits, and by the use of a lens, Linnaeus was able to classify the greater 

 portion of this herbarium. It consists of about 600 plants, of which the 

 true places in the system are assigned to more than 400 ; the rest he called 

 obscure or barbarous. 



" The examination of Hermann's herbarium not only enabled Linnaeus 

 to settle many doubtful species, but to form thirty new genera, which are 

 given in an appendix to the ' Flora Zeylanica.' It contains four plates, 

 and indices to the botanical, Malabar (Tamil), Singhalese, and officinal 

 names. 



" The system of attaching specific to the generic names of plants, which 



* Extract from Linnseus's Diary, written by himself : — " Professor Hermann, of 

 Leyden, who was sent in the last century by the Dutch to describe aU the plants 

 and spices tliat grew in Ceylon, happOy retm-ned hence, but did not complete the 

 undertaking. After his death the herbarium was lost to the learned world, until 

 at last it came into the hands of Gunther, the apothecary at Copenhagen, who, 

 wishing to know the names of the dried specimens, sent to Holland, where he was 

 informed that nobody was likely to discover the names but Linnaeus, in Sweden ; 

 he therefore sent them to Upsala, when Linnaeus discovered the collection to be 

 Hermann's, and was rejoiced to be the person to save from destruction this trea- 

 sure, which had hitherto been missing. He devoted himself day and night to 

 examining the flowers, which, from the great length of time they had been dried, 

 rendered his task almost Herculean ; and he wrote his ' Flora Zeylanica,' which 

 was now about to be printed. 



t The ' Flora of Ivapland ' was published in 1737, ten years before ' Flora Zey- 

 lanica;' and the ' Hortus Cliffortianus,' the most splendid of aU Linneeus's works, 

 was published soon after. In both these works the sexual system is carried out. 

 See Dr. Maton's work on the 'Life and Writings of Linnaeus,' also 'Flora Lapponica,' 

 ' Hort. Chf.,' etc. 



