AND NOMENCLATORS. XXX111 



violent arid groundless hatred for her only son ; this son 

 afterwards succeeded his father in all his university 

 offices, and died unmarried in 1784, when the library and 

 herbarium of the great Linne were purchased by Sir 

 James Edward Smith, and are now in the possession of 

 the Linnsean Society of London. Depreciators of his 

 fame have said that Linne was nothing more than a mere 

 nomenclator ; but it may be remarked that " the only 

 persons who succeed in making great alterations in the 

 language of science are not those who make names arbi- 

 trarily, and as an exercise of ingenuity, but those who 

 have much new knowledge to communicate ; so that the 

 vehicle is commended to general reception by the value 

 of what it contains. It is only eminent discoverers to 

 whom the authority is conceded of introducing a new 

 system of names, just as it is only the highest authority 

 in the state which has the power of putting a new coinage 

 in circulation *." Still it is true that Linne' s real claim 

 to admiration is not so much that he was a great disco- 

 verer, as that he was a judicious reformer ; he embodied 

 the convictions which had been gradually rising in the 

 minds of scientific men, and, by remodelling both termi- 

 nology and nomenclature, produced a complete reform in 

 science. DeCandolle f gives as the causes of the success 

 of the Linnsean system, the specific names, the charac- 

 teristic phrase, the fixation of descriptive language, the 

 distinction of varieties and species, the extension of the 

 same method to all the kingdoms of nature, and the 

 practice of introducing into it all the species most re- 

 cently discovered. This last plan Linne always pursued ; 

 and for thus enriching his works he had unrivalled faci- 

 lities. His pupils travelled to distant countries, and sent 

 to him from every quarter the most interesting objects, 

 Alstromer from Southern Europe, Berg and Talk from 

 Gothland, Forskal from Arabia and the East, Hasselquist 

 from Egypt and Palestine, Kalm from Canada, Kohler 

 from Italy, Lofting from Spain and America, Martin 

 from Spitzbergen, Montin from Lapland, Osbeck from 

 China and Java, Pontin from Malabar, Rolander from 

 Surinam, Solander from Lapland, the South Sea Isles, 

 and England, Sparmann from South Africa, Ternstrom 

 from Asia, Thunberg from Japan, Toren from Malabar 

 and Surat : and his botanical friends sent him seeds and 

 dried plants from various countries, Lagerstrom many 



* Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, vol. ii. p. 518. 

 t The*or. Ele*m. p. 40. 



c 



