REFORM OF LINNAEUS. 361 



of his sovereign the knighthood of the Polar Star, 

 an honour which had never before been conferred 

 for literary merit ; and in 1756, was raised to the 

 rank of Swedish nobility, by the title of VonLinne'; 

 and this distinction was confirmed by the Diet in 

 1762. He lived, honoured and courted, to the age 

 of seventy-one ; and in 1778 was buried in the 

 cathedral of Upsal, with many testimonies of public 

 respect and veneration. 



De Candolle 20 assigns, as the causes of the 

 successes of the Linnaean system, the specific 

 names, the characteristic phrase, the fixation of 

 descriptive language, the distinction of varieties 

 and species, the extension of the method to all 

 the kingdoms of nature, and the practice of intro- 

 ducing into it the species most recently discovered. 

 This last course Linnaeus constantly pursued ; thus 

 making his works the most valuable for matter, as 

 they were the most convenient in form. The 

 general diffusion of his methods over Europe may 

 be dated, perhaps, a few years after 1 760, when the 

 tenth and the succeeding editions of the Systema 

 Natures were in circulation, professing to include 

 every species of organized beings. But his pupils 

 and correspondents effected no less than his books, 

 in giving currency to his system. In Germany 21 , it 

 was defended by Ludwig, Gesner, Fabricius. But 

 Haller, whose reputation in physiology was as great 

 as that of Linnseus in methodology, rejected it as 



20 Theor. Elem. p. 40. 2I Sprengel, ii. 244, 



