HISTORY OF THE THEORY OF EYOLUTION 3 



of the world, with the minute description, arrange- 

 ment, and classification of which he charged himself. 

 The first edition of his " Systema Naturae " appeared 

 in t 735, and the twelfth edition in 1766. The great 

 merit of Linnaeus lay in the fact that he was a man 

 of method, and his strength lay in the orderly 

 arrangement of his knowledge. He introduced a 

 clear, precise, and definite terminology, and that this 

 might be universal he employed Latin, the universal 

 scientific language even at the present day. Still 

 more important than this, he limited and defined the 

 use, not only of words but of names, and established 

 the binomial system. For instance, all roses were 

 called Rosa : the common dog-rose was described as 

 Rosa sylvcstris vulgaris, flore odorata inearnato, 

 which means, " The common rose of the woods, with 

 a flesh-coloured sweet-scented flower." This system 

 was sufficient perhaps, but clumsy. As we with 

 our friends find it convenient to use a double name, 

 so with plants and animals Linnceus gave a double 

 name — a generic and a specific, or, as he called it, a 

 "trivial" name. Larger groups of families and 

 orders were defined by a few easily recognised 

 points, such as the number of stamens and pistils 

 in the case of flowers, and the mode of their 

 attachment. 



This precise and accurate terminology and orderly 

 arrano-ement for the first time made it possible to 

 determine the number of different kinds of animals 

 and plants, and to define their characters. This was 

 a service of the utmost importance, and through 

 Linnaeus botany first became a science ; so also with 



