318 THE HISTORY AND SCOPE OF ZOOLOGY IX 



subjected to tlie traditions of tlie medical profession 

 and regarded as mere branches of "materia medica." 

 Linngeus taught Zoology and Botany as branches of 

 knowledo^e to be studied for their own intrinsic 

 interest, and not for the sake of the " simples " yielded 

 by animals and plants to the pharmacopeia. His 

 great work, the Systema Naturw, ran through twelve 

 editions during his lifetime (1st ed. 1735, 12th 1768). 

 Apart from his special discoveries in the anatomy of 

 plants and animals, and his descriptions of new species, 

 the great merit of Linnseus was his introduction of a 

 method of enumeration and classification which may 

 be said to have created systematic Zoology and Botany 

 in their present form, and established his name for 

 ever as the great organiser, the man who recognised 

 a great practical want in the use of language and 

 supplied it. Linnaeus adopted Kay's conception of 

 species, but he made species a practical reality by 

 insisting that every species shall have a double Latin 

 name, — the first half to be the name of the genus 

 common to several species, and the second half to be 

 the specific name. Previously to Linnaeus long many- 

 worded names had been used, sometimes with one 

 additional adjective, sometimes with another, so that 

 no true names were fixed and accepted. Linnaeus by 

 his binomial system made it possible to write and 

 speak with accuracy of any given species of plant or 

 animal. He was, in fact, the Adam of zoological 

 science. He proceeded further to introduce into his 

 enumeration of animals and plants a series of groujDS, 

 viz. o'enus, order, class, which he compared to the 



