LINN^US. 359 



still supposed him living (as I saw the illustrious 

 name of Von Linne among the members of the 

 Royal Academy of Paris, in a list at the end of the 

 Connoissance des Terns), I was particularly happy 

 to obtain the complete fructification of that most 

 elegant tree which yields the Peruvian balsam, in 

 order that I might satisfy his curiosity, so often ex- 

 pressed, on the subject of the genus of this tree, 

 either by describing it among my new genera, or 

 by transmitting any observations for his use. But 

 when I had just overcome the difficulties which had 

 so long deprived me of this acquisition, and was an- 

 ticipating the pleasure my excellent friend would 

 receive from the communication, the world was 

 deprived of him. You have lost an affectionate 

 parent, and I a most highly-esteemed patron. I 

 trust that you, my honoured friend, will, with his 

 blood, inherit his exalted genius, his ardent love of 

 science, his kind liberality to his friends, and all the 

 other valuable endowments of his mind. On my 

 part, I shall show my gratitude to his memory by 

 teacliing and extolling the name of Linnaeus, as the 

 supreme prince of naturalists, even here under the 

 equator, where the sciences are already flourishing, 

 and advancing by the most rapid steps ; and where, 

 I am disposed to believe, the muses may, perhaps, 

 in future ages, fix their seat. If my opinion be of 

 any weight as a naturalist, I must declare that I can 

 find no name, in the whole history of this depart- 

 ment of knowledge, worthy to be compared with 

 the illustrious Swede. Of this at least I am cer- 

 tain, that the merits of Newton in philosophy and 

 mathematics are equalled in botany, and all the 

 principles of natural history, by the immortal Von 



