306 LINNvEUS. 



nation/' says Dr Stoever, '' can produce so com- 

 plete a repertory of natural history as the above. 

 With infinite labour, exertion, and judgment, all 

 the recent discoveries and observations in all the 

 branches of natural science have been united in it." 

 It is, however, as every one who has had occasion 

 to consult it must be aware, a most injudicious 

 compilation, in which a single species is often de- 

 scribed under two, three, or even four different 

 names, and in which no improvement correspond- 

 ing to the advanced state of the science was made 

 in the grouping of the species or genera. 



There is an English edition of the same work, 

 translated by William Turton, M. D. London, 

 1806, 7 vols 8vo. 



" We may venture to predict," says Sir J. E. 

 Smith, in his account of the Life of Linnaeus, ^'^that 

 as the Systema Naturae was the first performance 

 of the kind, it will certainly be the last ; the science 

 of natural history is now become so vast, that no 

 man can ever take the lead again as an universal 

 naturalist." 



