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give to posterity the works of his friend Artedi. They 

 appeared in Leyden in 1738, under the title "Petri Ar- 

 tedi Sveci, Medici Ichthyologia sive Opera Omnia de 

 Piscibus", and have assured to Artedi for all time the 

 honour of being the Father or Founder of the Science 

 of Ichthyology; they possess, however, a still greater 

 import in the history of the development of zoological 

 science generally, as will be seen from what follows. 



In order to arrive at a just estimate of the work 

 achieved by Artedi and its significance in the history 

 of scientific investigation, it is essential for us to keep 

 in mind three factors materially bearing upon the mat- 

 ter, viz. the general standpoint of natural science at the 

 time he began to study it, the great difficulties and ob- 

 stacles he had to contend with and surmount in the 

 pursuit of learning, and the early age at which he died. 

 The first work he produced, dealing, it will be remem- 

 bered, with the flora of Nordmaling, was not published 

 until the present year; practically speaking it has, as 

 might be conjectured, only a historical interest; it con- 

 tains, certainly, an excellent account of the Nordmaling 

 flora of that time, and the names of certain Swedish 

 plants that are given in it are of interest just now, when 

 the subject of nomenclature is being so much debated; 

 its form, too, lends it a certain degree of linguistic in- 

 terest from the quaint phonetic spelling adopted, though 

 that by no means constitutes its only claim to our no- 

 tice. It is plainly a reflex of the works of the celebrated 

 botanist Tournefort, more especially of his "Institu- 

 tiones Rei Herbaria?" (Paris, 1700), to which reference is 

 made in it. Though we can unmistakably discern that 

 Tournefort's system formed the basis of Artedi's work, 

 it would be an error to suppose that the Swedish natu- 

 ralist blindly followed his French forerunner. It is true 

 that, in the works of both, the classes that embrace 

 trees and bushes occur by themselves and separated 

 from the classes of the herbaceous phanerogams which 

 include the cryptogams, but whereas Tournefort finishes 

 up with trees and bushes, Artedi begins with them, 



