BOTANY. 



19 



>' to botany, by the singular neatness and accuracy 

 ' - v' ' with which he described ninny rare a; well as known 

 plants, but chiefly by exemplifying the principles of 

 lii , own system, and thereby paving the way for that 

 triumph which its peculiar advantages gave it over 

 others. 



In 1738, Linnaeus returned to his native country, 

 and being raised, about four years afterwards, to the 

 professorship of botany at Upsal, he devoted himself 

 from that time anew, and with increasing ardour, to 

 the advancement of his favourite study. With the 

 aid of government, lie restored the botanical garden, 

 and brought it, by degrees, to be one of the must 

 complete and valuable in Europe. He read lectures 

 on the principles of his own system, to pupils who 

 resorted to him from every quarter ; and thus suc- 

 ceeded in diffusing widely the same spirit of research 

 with which he was himself animated. He made -se- 

 veral tours through different parts of Sweden, which 

 enabled him to publish a Flora of that country. He 

 likewise wrote essays on various subjects connected 

 with botany, and encouraged his pupils to do the 

 same ; and at length, in 17.51, he published his Phi- 

 lofophia Botanicn, and two years afterwards the Spe- 

 cies Plantarum. In the former, which may be styled 

 the Grammar of Botany, aud which, in fact, is a co- 

 pious and elaborate commentary on the Fiindamenta 

 jBotanica, published fifteen years before, he gave an 

 able defence and explanation of every thing relating 

 to the science in its improved form. And in the 

 latter, which constitutes, as it were, the Dictionary, 

 or Universal Repository of the discoveries hitherto 

 made in the science itself, he described upwards of 

 7300 species of plants ; introducing, at the same time, 

 the use of trivial names ; and arranging the whole, on 

 the principles of his own system, in the way of 

 classes, orders, and genera. The two taken toge- 

 ther, are not only the last, but the most complete 

 and deservedly celebrated of all the works which 

 Linn.eus published on botany. They contain the 

 u-ell-digested result of all his previous reading and 

 observation on the subjects of which they respective- 

 ly treat : And, as they were early sought after, and 

 extensively read, they soon gave rise to a new a:ra in 

 the science, and contributed, more than any thing 

 else, to establish a perpetual monument to the fame 

 of their author. 



The pupils of Linnaeus, imbibing his spirit, and 

 furnished, by his instructions, with an easy method 

 of turning their labours to a good account, had be- 

 gun early to second his views, by dispersing them- 

 selves into various countries for the purpose of disco- 

 Moi.tii:. very. Montin, for instance, travelled through part 

 of Lapland in 174-9, and brought back some valuable 

 gleanings, which had escaped the notice of his mas- 

 Kzhler. ter. Ksehler visited the southern parts of Italy in 

 Hac!- 1752. The well-known Dr Frederick Hasselquist 

 iiist. tioru made a voyage about the same time to Egypt and 

 .D. 1772. Palestine ; but dying prematurely at Smyrna, on his 



Died A. U. 

 1752. 



Loefliiig. 

 Died A. D. 



return, his papers were redeemed by the queen of 

 Sweden, and afterwards published by Linnaeus, in 

 1" .'7, under the title of Iler Palest inum. Locfling 

 was sent, at the expense of the king of Spain, to 

 South America ; but having likewise fallen a victim 

 to fatigue, and the nature of the climate, at Cumana, 



in 175(>, the fruit of his researches was given to ;! "' 

 public, two years after, by Linnxus, in a work entitled ~~ 

 Iler Hispanu-um. Rolander visited Surinam. Kahn. ' 

 a Swedish divine, and member of the Academy of 

 Sciences at Stockholm, who afterwards became ; 

 fessor of CEconomy at Abo, and distinguished him- 

 self much by his writings, spent three years in North 

 America, where Catesby, Clayton, and Golden, had Colden. 

 been lately pursuing the same object, and made no 

 inconsiderable addition to their discoveries. Martin Martin, 

 traversed Greenland, and afterwards part of the Rus- 

 sian empire. Osbeck and Toren went to the East OsbeiJc. 

 Indies: And others, directing their attention different- Tr e "- 

 ly, procured, together with them, a rich harvest of 

 materials, which enabled their illustrious master to 

 give a much more correct and perfect form to the 

 last editions, both of the Species Plantarum and Sys- 

 tcma Natural, Learned men, in different parts of 

 the world, likewise favoured him with valuable com- 

 munications ; and several, who had not been his pu- 

 pjls, but who were partial to his system, began early 

 to promote its celebrity, by adopting it in their pub- . 

 lications. Among these we may particularly men- 

 tion Dr John Frederick Gronovius of Leyden, and Grot-. 

 Dr Patrick Browne, a native of this country. The n ' ed A - iy - 

 former, who had become acquainted with Linnaeus, 1(83- 

 and learned the nature of his system from himself 

 when he was in Holland, published, not long after- 

 wards, an account of the plants discovered by Clay- 

 ton in North America, under the title of Flora J'ir- 

 finica ; and, in 1755, descriptions of those discovered 

 y Rauwolff in the East, under the title of Flora 

 Orientalis, both arranged according to that system : 

 and the latter, after a considerable residence in the Browne. 

 West Indies, prepared with much diligence, and pub- 

 lished in 1756, an account of 1200 species of plants, 

 arranged on the same principle, in his History of' 

 Jamaica. 



There were, indeed, still a few botanists of emi- 

 nence, about this time, and for some years after, 

 who contributed greatly to the advancement of the 

 science, without adopting the Linnaean method. The 

 elder Burman, professor of botany at Amsterdam, John Bur- 

 for instance, favoured the public with two valuable man - 

 works on the plants of Ceylon and the southern parts 

 of Africa, the Thesaurus Zcylaniciis, in 1737, and 

 Rariorum Africanarum Plantarum Decades; and, 

 what was still of greater consequence, he rescued 

 from oblivion the MSS. of George Everhard Rum- Rumphiu-. 

 phius, a gentleman who had resided upwards of forty t !! ed A- l) ' 

 years at Amboyna, as consul to the Dutch East ' C ' 

 India Company, and spent a great part of that time 

 in botanical pursuits, and he published from them, 

 between the years 1750 and 1755, the Herbarium 

 Amboincnse, one of the greatest botani.-al treasures 

 which the world yet possesses ; consisting of 6 vols 

 fol. with a supplement. Adrian Van Royen, profes- Van Rnv- 

 sor at Leyden, and successor to the illustrious Boer- en. 

 haave, distinguished himself also by publishing the 

 Prodroatta Floras Leydensis, and exemplifying in it 

 a method of his own, which was followed by several 

 botanists in preference to that of Linnaeus, on account 

 of its deviating less from the order of natural affi- 

 nities. The characters of the classes adopted in it 

 were taken, generally speaking, from the cotyledons, 



