THE KNIGHT OF THE POLAR STAR 281 



cannot be expected to look as why should it ? but a 

 picture of the splendid autumn of this great man's life 

 may have its attractions, nevertheless, to those who care 

 for the story of life's work and its rewards, and not only 

 for rhapsodies on misery quenched in love, or vice versa. 

 Linnaeus, from 1750 onwards, excited and directed the 

 prevalent taste for natural history; heading a great 

 movement, not national merely, but European, and 

 indeed of universal application. 



' To Linnaeus belongs the renown of having been 

 the only individual who arranged and described all the 

 animals, plants, and minerals known in his time. And 

 the fact of his having accomplished this herculean task 

 is sufficient to prove his extraordinary genius and 

 energy, his excellent judgment, and unwearied zeal.' 



His life is a turning-point in our knowledge ; hither- 

 to all learning had been veiled in a cloud of words, in 

 the dead languages, which had long been used for 

 the purpose of concealing the thoughts of learned men. 

 Linnaeus was the Luther of science ; he revived the lan- 

 guages, raised them to life (galvanised them, if you will, 

 though I say he gave them a new lease) for the purpose of 

 clearing up all science to all the world by the use of one 

 common tongue ; he created, in fact, a new language out 

 of a dead one ; the phoenix of scientific terminology, with 

 its uses and universal application, has arisen from the 

 ashes of the ancient tongues. ' His unrivalled invention 

 of nomenclature, which came from his hands, as it were, 

 perfect, will remain of undiminished value so long as 



