CH. XXV. LINN^AN SYSTEM. 211 



and would tell you very little about their real relationship. 

 Thei:efore this classification has now been partly set aside 

 for another or natural classification, which Linnseus also 

 suggested, only he thought it too difficult for ordinary people ; 

 and which was worked out by a French botanist named 

 Jussieu, as we shall see by-and-by. But the Linnsean 

 system is still extremely useful for finding the name of a 

 plant or animal, and many people in the last century were 

 led to study zoology and botany by the simplicity of the 

 classifications of Linnaeus. 



The other useful point in Linngeus's system was the 

 accurate and precise terms he invented for describing plants. 

 Before his time naturalists used any words which suited 

 them, and as different people have often very different ideas 

 as to what is meant by long or short, round or pointed, &c., 

 the descriptions were often of very little value. But 

 Linnaeus could not work out his system without using very 

 clear terms and explaining beforehand what he meant by 

 them ; and as his nomenclature, or system of names, was soon 

 followed in other countries, botanists in all parts of the 

 world were able to recognise at once what was meant by the 

 description of any particular plant. The same advantage 

 arose out of his classification of animals, and the care with 

 which he traced out their chief characters. I wish I could 

 have given you some idea of this system, which was fully 

 explained in the ' Sy sterna Naturae,' completed in 1768. But 

 when you remember that Linnseus classified minutely the 

 whole of the animals and plants known in the world, you 

 will perceive that I should have to write a separate book to 

 make you understand it. If you can only remember that he 

 did build up this artificial system, and that he was the first to 

 give specific names to plants and animals and to create an 



