272 LINNiEUS. 



SECTION VIII. 



Account of the Systema Natures of Linnceus. 



Linnaeus's Classification of the Animal Kingdom — Remarks on the 

 Gradations employed, and on Nomenclature — Classification of the 

 Animal Kingdom — General Remarks — Method of Tournefort — 

 Method of LinnEeus — Classification of the Vegetable Kingdom 

 Theor}^ of the Formation of Minerals and Rocks. 



The work just mentioned bears the title of Sys- 

 tema Naturae per Regna tria Naturae^ secundum 

 Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteri- 

 bus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis, — A System of 

 Nature, in which are arranged the objects consti- 

 tuting the three kingdoms of nature, in classes, or- 

 ders, genera, and species, with their characters, dif- 

 ferences, synonymes, and places of occurrence. 



The first volume contains the animal kingdom. 

 The introduction presents a brief view of the con- 

 stitution of the world, in the usually laconic style 

 of the author. In it the three kingdoms of na- 

 ture are thus defined : — Minerals are concrete bo- 

 dies, possessing neither life nor sensibility; vege- 

 tables are organized bodies, possessed of life, but 

 without sensibility ; animals are organized bodies, 

 possessing life and sensibility, together with volun- 

 tary motion. Objections may be made to these 

 definitions ; but it is not our object at present to 

 criticise his views and arrangements, our inten- 



