300 LINNJEUS. 



The number of species mentioned in the Systema 

 Naturae amounts to upwards of 7800. 



We come now to the third and last volume^ con- 

 taining his arrangement of the objects forming the 

 mineral kingdom. This department has received 

 less elucidation from him than the others. In 

 1736, he first digested a mineralogical system, in 

 which he attempted to found the genera on definite 

 characters ; but he seems to have lost sight of the sub- 

 ject until obliged to attend to it when editing the 

 twelfth edition of his work. There he prefixes to 

 his arrangement a brief account of his theory on the 

 origin of fossil bodies in general, and of their several 

 combinations. His views, however, are extremely 

 fanciful, and cannot be said to have produced any 

 beneficial effect on the study of this science. As 

 they have long ago passed into oblivion, it may af- 

 ford amusement, if not instruction, to present an 

 outline of them. 



The earth originated from water, agreeably to the 

 testimony of Moses, Thales, and Seneca ! The sea 

 becoming pregnant gradually produced the dry land, 

 from which the dew rose by evaporation, was ele- 

 vated into clouds, and again descended in showers. 

 No certain indications of a universal deluge have 

 yet been found, but we every where perceive that 

 land has been formed from the sea. 



The water of the ocean, being impregnated by 

 the air, produces a twin birth ; the saline principle, 

 which is masculine, soluble, acrid, transparent, and 

 crystalline ; the earthy, which is feminine, fixed, 

 viscid, opaque, and attractive. It also nourishes the 

 animal and the vegetable beings, which in course 

 of time are reduced to earth. 



