160 Life of LinncBvs. 



been done according to the principles laid down by Linnaeus, in so 

 much that it is not without justice that even at the present day, we 

 are disposed to attribute to him, all the happy additions which have 

 been made to that Linnaean language, which has rendered natural 

 history so clear, concise and popular. 



The nomenclature of animals and plants was in a still greater state 

 of disorder, anarchy and embarrassment, than the style of descrip- 

 tion. Each name was composed of a long phrase, so that the sim- 

 ple catalogue of a garden formed a volume in quarto, and no one 

 knowing these names by heart, they were repeated without precision. 

 Linnaeus fancied he might apply to the nomenclature of natural be- 

 ings the same system which is universally admitted for that of the 

 individuals of the human species ; that every animal, every plant, 

 might have a generic name, which would correspond with our family 

 name, and a specific name, which would represent our baptismal 

 name ; thus the names became short, clear, precise ; they could 

 easily be remembered, and their stability might lead us to hope, that 

 they would one day be universally employed. 



These two grand bases, the language and nomenclature, being 

 determined, Linnaeus had the courage to apply them himself to all 

 natural history ; he traced the picture of the three kingdoms accord- 

 ing to these principles, and astonished the world, both with the varie- 

 ty and precision of his knowledge, and by the care which he took 

 to introduce into this vast picture a crowd of new objects, — of point- 

 ed observations ; he cited under each article those ancient names 

 which were the best established, the figures the least imperfect, the 

 localities the most certain, which he could obtain. He authenticated 

 his works by a multitude of ingenious and original memoirs, in which 

 he developed the points which were the least conformable to the con- 

 ciseness of his habitual method, &;c. Was it surprising that such 

 immense labors should astonish the learned world, or such an entire 

 change of forms and terms should embarrass those who had spent 

 their lives in learning others, and that naturalists should thus become 

 divided, on the one hand into admiring enthusiasts, and on the other 

 into detractors, unjust to the merits of Linnaeus? 



If from the form we proceed to the classification, we shall find, 

 in analyzing it, a curious example of this double position ; that some 

 have greatly admired what Linnaeus himself regarded as precarious 

 and conditional, and others have censured those parts of the works 

 of Linnaeus, in which he is the most worthy of eulogy. I will ex- 



