REFORM OF LINNAEUS. 363 



tuted. Such appellations somewhat remind us of 

 the Aristotelian and Platonic schools of ancient 

 Greece. In the same spirit it was, that the artificial 

 system was at one time here considered, not as 

 subsidiary and preparatory to the natural orders, 

 but as opposed to them. This was much as if the 

 disposition of an army in a review should be con- 

 sidered as inconsistent with another arrangement 

 of it in a battle. 



When Linnaeus visited England in 1736, Sloane, 

 then the patron of natural history in this country, 

 is said to have given him a cool reception, such as 

 was perhaps most natural from an old man to a 

 young innovator; and Dillenius, the professor at 

 Oxford, did not accept the sexual system. But as 

 Pulteney, the historian of English Botany, says, 

 when his works became known, "the simplicity of 

 the classical characters, the uniformity of the gene- 

 ric notes, all confined to the parts of the fructifica- 

 tion, and the precision which marked the specific 

 distinctions, merits so new, soon commanded the 

 assent of the unprejudiced." 



Perhaps the progress of the introduction of the 

 Linnsean System into England will be best under- 

 stood from the statement of T. Martyn, who was 

 Professor of Botany in the University of Cambridge, 

 from 1761 to 1825. "About the year 1750," he 

 says 22 , " I was a pupil of the school of our great 

 countryman Ray ; but the rich vein of knowledge, 



22 Pref. to Language of Botany, 3d edit. 1807. 



