LINN.EUS. 515 



obtained a glimpse of the true relations of the Mollusca as a 

 class even clearer than Miiller,* but he did not pursue the 

 subject ; and as his slight incidental notice, though it might 

 have originated inquiry in a predisposed mind, was not other- 

 wise of a nature to produce any effect, so the pains of 

 Geoffroy and Miiller were equally unproductive. The au- 

 thority of Linnaeus prevailed everywhere. The force of his 

 genius having swept away all previous systems, there was no 

 other safety for a naturalist, than to take refuge in the Lin- 

 naean ark, which floated on the surface proud amid the ruins, 

 — the systems of his contemporaries also sinking one after 

 another in the waters of forge tfulness ; for " Method, carry- 

 ing a show of total and perfect knowledge, has a tendency to 

 generate acquiescence." His disciples were distinguished by 

 their enthusiasm in the pursuit of nature, and their love of 

 their master ; f and the facility with which they found their 

 discoveries were registered, and the easy nature of the disco- 

 veries which sufficed to give them a certain reputation, re- 

 quiring naught but zeal, opportunity, and a knowledge of 

 the "Systema" not difficult to be acquired, riveted their 

 attachments. % In England nothing was tolerated that was 

 not according to the letter of Linnaeus : his works were a 

 code of laws which, like an act of Parliament, was to be in- 

 terpreted verbally, and the spirit of them was unseen or over- 

 looked. Under his reforming hand, Conch ology having 

 passed " from confusion and incongruity to lucid order and 

 simplicity," the slightest attempt to alter this order was 

 treated as an attempt to replunge us into the chaos whence 

 he had brought us, and further improvement or alteration 

 was declared to be futile, since the " beauties" of the Lin- 

 naean " must perpetuate its pre-eminence." § Were it shown 



* Misc. Zool. pp. 72, 73. Lug. Batav. 1778. 



f " Such a kind of natural sovereignty there is, in some men's minds over 

 others : which must needs be farr greater, when it is advanc'd by long use 

 and the venerable name of a Master." — Sprat, Hist. R. Soc. p. 69. 



I " He owed his influence to various causes ; at the head of which may 

 be placed that genius for system, which, though it cramps the growth of 

 knowledge, perhaps finally atones for that mischief by the zeal and activity 

 which it rouses in followers and opponents, who discover truth by accident, 

 when in pursuit of weapons for warfare. A system which attempts a task so 

 hard as that of subjecting vast provinces of human knowledge to one or two 

 principles, if it presents some striking instances of conformity to superficial 

 appearances, is sure to delight the framer ; and, for a time, to subdue and 

 captivate the student too entirely for sober reflection and rigorous examina- 

 tion." — Sir J. Mackintosh. 



§ Brown's Elem. of Conchology, pref. i. In a similar strain Dr. Turton 

 writes: — "The stream of time, which is continually washing away the dis- 

 soluble fabrics of other systems, passes without injury by the adamant of 



i. i. 2 



