NA TURE 



391 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1909. 



APPRECIATIONS OF CARL VON LINNE. 

 Carl von Linni's Bedeutung als Naftirforscher und 

 Arzt. Schilderungen herausgegeben von der 

 Konigl. Schvvedischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 

 anlasslich der zoo-jahrigen Wiederkehr des Geburts- 

 tages Linni's. Pp. iv+168; 48; 43; 188; 86, 2 pi.; 

 42. (Jena : G, Fischer, 1909.) Price 20 marks. 



THIS volume is a German version of that issued in 

 May, 1907, by the Royal Swedish Academy of 

 Science, and consists of six appreciations of the great 

 Swedish naturalist. 



The first of these, by Emeritus Prof. Otto E. A. 

 Hjelt, was written at the request of the Academy, and 

 is a revised edition of a former work prepared for the 

 celebration of the quatercentenary of Upsala Univer- 

 sity in 1877, embodying various improvements through 

 recent investigation into Linnean matters, due to the 

 devotion of the late Dr. E. Ahrling and Prof. T. M. 

 Fries. In common with the other essays, this is 

 separately paged, and may be procured apart from its 

 accompanying discourses. 



Linni's remarkable services to botany and zoology 

 have thrown somewhat into the shade his acquirements 

 as a practising physician and professor of medicine. 

 This essay will do much to draw attention to this 

 side of Linne's activities. It must not be forgotten 

 that he was rescued from a suggested apprenticeship 

 to a tailor or shoemaker, by the sagacity of his early 

 teacher, Rothman, who assured Nils Linnaeus that 

 his son showed great aptitude for medicine. It was 

 for this that Linn6 entered the University of Lund, 

 and afterwards migrated to Upsala for further im- 

 provement; he took his degree of M.D., to earn a 

 livelihood, and he practised in Stockholm after his 

 return to Sweden. His first chair at Upsala was of 

 medicine, and though soon afterwards he exchanged 

 it for that of botany, he continued to keep in touch 

 with it during his career, and left manuscripts showing 

 his unabated interest, in spite of his exertions in other 

 directions. A list of his medical writings at the end 

 of this essay contains eighty-six titles. 



This is follovi'ed by " Carl von Linn6 und die Lehre 

 von der Wirbelthieren," of Prof. Einar Lonnberg, in 

 which a risiimi is given of Linne's predecessors in 

 zoology, from Conrad Gesner, Rondelet, Aldrovandi, 

 and others, to Ray and Willoughby, and contrasting 

 the order brought in by methodical arrangement under 

 Classes, Orders, and Genera. 



The third essay, " Carl von Linn6 als Entomolog," 

 is by Dr. Chr. Aurivillius, and is here separately 

 given; in the original Swedish edition, Linn6 was 

 considered as a zoologist, in a joint memoir with the 

 previous author, but in this issue the part of each 

 writer is set out separately. Following the same line 

 of thought as in the foregoing essay. Dr. Aurivillius 

 points out that the collections formerly belonging to 

 Queen Lovisa L'lrika at Drottinngholm and of King 

 Adolf Fredrik at Ulriksdal, which had been arranged 

 and catalogued by Linn^, have been in the keeping 

 of the University of Upsala since 1803. 

 NO. 2083, VOL. 81] 



Dr. C. A. M. Lindman is responsible for the next 

 memoir, " C. v. L. als botanischer Forscher und 

 Schriftsteller," and is the longest of the series. Be- 

 ginning with Linne's early training and first catalogues 

 of local plants, it deals with that wonderful series of 

 books which were printed in Amsterdam, the 

 " Systema Naturae," " Genera plantarum," " Flora 

 lapponica," " Hortus Cliffortianus," &c., especially 

 drawing attention to such parts of Linn6's botanical 

 teaching which are apt to be overlooked, such as his 

 attempts at a natural system, and observations in mor- 

 phology and physiology of plants ; of these, many are 

 to be found in his dissertations and travels, rarely 

 looked at now. Indeed, Linne's books are chiefly re- 

 ferred to at the present day from the systematic point 

 of view. The fact that his busy mind had occupied 

 itself on problems which even now are unsolved is 

 lost sight of, because his observations must be sought 

 for in their original Latin or Swedish dress. The 

 latter portion especially of Dr. Lindman 's work should 

 be carefully read, and will heighten our wonder at the 

 enormous amount of work accomplished by the occu- 

 pant of the Chair of Botany at Upsala. 



Linn6 regarded as a geologist forms the next part 

 of this volume, and is due to Prof. Nathorst; it is 

 illustrated with two plates, and ten figures in the 

 text. Both as petrologist and palaeontologist the merits 

 of Linn6 are set out, and his keen insight into geologi- 

 cal causes are dwelt upon. Linn^ had but Uttle op- 

 portunity as a field geologist; his travels were practi- 

 cally bounded by his official journeys to Gotland, 

 Westgotland, and SkSne, and yet his observations 

 merit careful reading in the light of modern science. 



A similar appreciation is given by Prof. Sjogren 

 in the last section, "Carl von Linn6 als Mineralog." 

 The Linnean collection of minerals was sold by Dr. 

 J. E. Smith in 1796, when about to remove from 

 Chelsea to Norwich, and its present condition and 

 place are unknown. But it is enough to gather from 

 tlie various statements in the writings of Linn^ to put 

 before us the views of the great naturalist, in honour 

 of whom these essays were composed. 



The chief difference noticed between the original 

 and the present edition is the omission of the reprint 

 of Linnd's " Clavis medlcinse," which formed an 

 appendix of ninety pages to Prof. Hjelt's memoir. 



B. D. J. 



INDIA-RUBBER MANUFACTURE. 

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 TT is now several years since the late Dr. Weber's 

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 the practical manufacture of rubber articles was con- 



P 



