142 Notice of British Naturalists. 



tram, Audubon, Say,* Conrad, Nutall and many others testify to 

 our successful cultivation of Natural History, and the works which 

 have been published within the last few years in the United States, 

 evince an increasing taste for natural science.f 



We now come to a new era in Natural History. 



In 1735 LiNNiEus published in Sweden the first edition of his 

 '^ Sy sterna NaturcB.^ The great and most obvious improvements 

 which he made, were the introduction of the binomial nomencla- 

 ture, and the natural classification of all departments of nature, 

 — beginning with man and gradually descending as he could 

 trace similitudes. And here he appears to have had some idea, 

 but which he did not live fully to elucidate, of the circular theory, 

 since brought more clearly into notice by Mr. Mac Leay, Mr. Vi- 

 gors, and Mr, Swainson, of London. 



The discovery of new truths is the peculiar province of an origin- 

 al genius. Linnaeus, absorbed in the studies of nature, carefully 

 reviewed all former systems, thus laying his foundations deep ; and 

 collecting what he held to be true in each, he then digested, re- 

 arranged, modified, and invented, according to one general plan. 

 As the greatest genius is unavailing without strenuous industry, 

 Linnceus labored incessantly either in his closet or in the fields. 

 The grandest as well as the most correct views, are those which 

 have been gained by minute observations, and by the application of 

 all the more precise and accurate methods of study. He regarded 

 all Nature as a grand unity, infinite in detail, but consistent in exe- 

 cution and end ; and with Bacon for his guide, he examined each 



* The greater part of his library and collections he left, on his death, to the Acad- 

 emy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. We are truly glad to find a late English 

 writer speak as follows of this really excellent man : " How few form an adequate 

 idea of that ardent zeal, that untiring energy, that perserverance under the most de- 

 pressing circumstances, that indefatigable industry in collecting, that laborious ac- 

 curacy in describing with precision and clearness ; and above all, that high moral 

 worth, that kindness of heart and gentleness of disposition, which make Say the 

 object of veneration to all who knew him, and cause his memory to be cherished 

 with fondness by all who had once the happiness of calling him their friend." 

 Doubleday, in Mag. of Nat. Hist., No. xxvii, new series. 



t Among the signs of this, which we rejoice to see, may be named the increasing 

 demand in our great cities, and even in our smaller towns, for lectures. " Not, as 

 Dr. Channing justly observes, that these and other liks means of instruction, are able 

 of themselves to carry forward the hearer ;'but they stir up many, who, but for such 

 outward appeals, might have slumbered to the end of life." And they not only do, 

 as we find by experience, impel many on to deeper research, but they are forming 

 an elevated national taste. 



