MEMOIR OF LINN^US. 73 



and he succeeded ; he also wrote in Latin, the uni- 

 versal language of science in his time. Buffon had 

 no pretensions of this sort; he chose the French 

 tongue, as being that of his countrymen, for whom 

 he wrote. The pupils and successors of Linnaeus 

 advanced onwards in the discovery of new objects, 

 taking him for their guide ; the continuators of 

 Buffon soon lost sight of their master, and in their 

 efforts to imitate when they could not rival, to give 

 importance to what was insignificant or without 

 real interest, they did injury to the science which 

 they designed to promote. 



But whatever may he the difference between the 

 merits of these two distinguished philosophers, it 

 may be truly said that their works form a complete 

 and distinct whole, as they satisfy the two principal 

 intellectual desires of mankind, that of admiring, 

 and that of becoming acquainted with the works of 

 creation. Of Buffon, it may be said, that he was 

 the painter, and of Linnaeus, that he was the ex- 

 pounder of nature ; the former equalled her grandeur 

 in his descriptions, the latter resembled her in the 

 vastness and variety of his acquirements. 



There are other qualities in which few men of 

 science can be placed in contrast with Linnaeus. 

 Though confessed the prince of Naturalists, in the 

 three kingdoms of botany, zoology, and mineralogy, 

 it ought not to be forgotten that he was a urofound 

 linguist, since he was charged by the government 

 with assisting in a translation of the Bible into 



