LINN^US AND NATURAL HISTORY 125 



Personal Appearance. — The portrait of Linnaeus at the 

 age of sixty is shown in Fig. 34. He was described as of 

 " medium height, with large limbs, brown, piercing eyes, and 

 acute vision." His hair in early youth was nearly white, and 

 changed in his manhood to brown, and became gray with 

 the advance of age. Although quick-tempered, he was natu- 

 rally of a kindly disposition, and secured the affection of his 

 students, with whom he associated and worked in the most 

 informal way. His love of approbation was very marked, 

 and he was so much praised that his desire for fame became 

 his dominant passion. The criticism to which his work was 

 subjected from time to time accordingly threw him into 

 fits of despondency and rage. 



His Influence upon Natural History. — However much we 

 may ad mire the industry and force of Linnaeus, we must 

 admit that he gave to natural history a one-sided develop- 

 ment, in which the more essential parts of the science received 

 scant recognition. His students, like their master, were 

 mainly collectors and classifiers. "In their zeal for naming 

 and classifying, the higher goal of investigation, knowl- 

 edge of the nature of animals and plants, was lost sight of 

 and the interest in anatomy, physiology, and embryology 

 lagged." 



R. Hertwig says of him: "For while he in his Sy sterna 

 Naturce treated of an extraordinarily larger number of ani- 

 mals than any earlier naturalist, he brought about no deep- 

 ening of our knowledge. The manner in which he divided 

 the animal kingdom, in comparison with the Aristotelian 

 system, is to be called rather a retrogression than an advance. 

 Linnaeus divided the animal kingdom into six classes — Mam- 

 malia, Aves, Amphibia, Pisces, Insecta, Vermes. The first 

 four classes correspond to Aristotle's four groups of animals 

 with blood. In the division of the invertebrated animals into 

 Insecta and Vermes Linnaeus stands undoubtedly behind 



