SOME QUESTIONS OF NOMENCLATURE. 459 



creatures be so exceeding great, how great, nay, immense, must needs 

 be the power and wisdom of Him who formed them all!" 



About 375,000 1 species of animals are now known, and of insects we 

 still know the smaller portion. 2 



As knowledge of species of animals and plants increased, the neces- 

 sity of system in registering them became apparent. Linmeus and 

 Artedi especially appreciated this necessity, and early applied them- 

 selves to the correction of existing evils and the reformation of the 

 classification and nomenclature of all the kingdoms of Nature. The 

 Latin language had been long the means of intercourse among the 

 learned, and was naturally selected as the basis of nomenclature. 

 Instead of Latin words used as equivalents or translations of vernacu- 

 lar, by Linnseus and Artedi they were taken especially and primarily 

 for scientific use. The various lands of animals became the more 

 exact genera of naturalists. A new language, or rather vocabulary of 

 proper names, was developed with the Latin as the basis. As no ade- 

 quate idea was at first had of the magnitude of the subject, rigorous 

 codes of laws were formulated on the assumption that philological 

 questions were involved rather than the means for the expression of 

 facts. But soon the bonds that had been framed for the restriction of 

 the new vocabulary were broken. The idea dawned upon men that 

 they had to do with natural objects rather than philological niceties, 

 and that which was most conducive to facile expressions or exhibitions 

 of facts was more to the purpose than Priscianic refinements. Linnreus 

 himself eventually refused to be bound by the laws which he had orig- 

 inally framed.' The early companion of Linnams — Artedi — who had 

 cooperated with him, and also framed a similar code for ichthyology 

 especially, was prematurely lost to science. The fact that Artedi devised 

 the first code of laws affecting zoology has been generally overlooked, 

 and a few of his "canons" may be noticed here. The extent to which 

 each one of the two — Linnaeus and Artedi — influenced the other can not 

 now be learned, nor will it be necessary to consider here who of the 

 two was the abler naturalist. It must suffice that there was almost 

 perfect agreement between Artedi and Linnaeus in the spirit of the 

 laws they respectively framed. 



COMMENCEMENT OF BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE. 



The question that has been most agitated of late is, what time shall 

 we recognize as the starting point for the binomial nomenclature 1 ? 

 Even now not all will be bound by any such limit for generic nomen- 

 clature; but those who will are divided into two main camps, those who 



'A census of animals recently taken under the superintendence of Dr. Sclater 

 gave 386,000 species. P. Z. S., 1896, 307. 



' J The late Dr. C. V. Riley even went so far as to say "that there are 10,000,000 

 species of insects in the world would be, in [his] judgment, a moderate estimate." 

 The largest previous estimate, by Sharp and Walsingham, 2,000,000, was termed by 

 Riley "extremely low." 



