CAROLUS LINNAUS ' 173 



legged), and included in this race is a variety or lesser 

 group, called whymperi after the well-known climber of 

 mountains who discovered it. Most people, of course, 

 would be satisfied to call the animal Formica rufa, but 

 the more intricate investigations of Forel and others 

 are very important as throwing light on problems of 

 evolution, and the nomenclature has to meet the re- 

 quirements of the work. 



The question may be asked, how far should the 

 naming of things go ? Will not science be smothered 

 by the mass of verbiage ? The answer must be, that 

 names are only means to the end of designating the 

 objects with which we are concerned. The question is, 

 then, how far is it worth while to go in separating out 

 and distinguishing natural objects ? Every individual 

 of Homo sapiens has a name, and no inconvenience re- 

 sults. An infinite intelligence might be able to know 

 and name every individual insect or bacillus, but the 

 human mind has its limits. To the scientific man, 

 however, the question is not so much one of ability to 

 discriminate, as of ability to derive any general ideas 

 or broad principles from the analysis. The work which 

 seems to an outsider hopelessly petty and trivial may 

 reveal the hidden forces of the universe, or may afford- 

 means of dealing with the most pressing problems of 

 mankind. The individual naturalist does not usually 

 expect to attain any far-reaching results, but he knows 

 that he is contributing to a structure of knowledge, 

 which when reasonably complete will begin to yield 

 fruits of a kind he may only dimly foresee. His faith 

 is, that the building will be serviceable, and all human 

 experience goes to justify it. 



12. After the death of Linnaeus, writers in all coun- 

 tries continued to describe "new genera" and "new 



