282 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNAEUS 



science exists; while the simplicity of those rules by 

 which he arranged all the productions of nature then 

 known cannot be too closely imitated, however different 

 may be the series in which these productions ars dis- 

 posed. He may be said to have created a language 

 peculiar to natural history, for the sole expression of 

 the ideas pertaining to it ; a language which all, even his 

 greatest opponents, are constrained to adopt, if they 

 desire to be understood. This, and the clear and lucid 

 manner in which he arranged his materials, gave a 

 facility to the study of natural history perfectly delight- 

 ful, and introduced a precision it had never before pos- 

 sessed.' It was like the application of steam-power to 

 locomotion. ' He wisely refrained from overburdening 

 his definitions with unessential details and characters. 

 Simplicity was his ruling passion ; and it would be well 

 for modern science if this principle had been imbibed by 

 his successors/ l And yet his aphoristic and figurative 

 style has been characterised as a defect by a French- 

 man, 2 while by others he has been called too methodical 

 and dry. 



'The omission of the verb in his descriptions was 

 an innovation, and gave an abruptness to his language 

 which was foreign to the writing of his day ; but it pro- 

 bably, by its succinctness, added to the popularity of his 

 works.' 3 



c If he did not, as his detractors aver, widely extend 

 the bounds of knowledge, he set in fair order the 

 1 Swainson. 2 A. L. F6e. > 8 Jackson. 



