18 



AMKRICAX MCSh'CM OF XATl'RAL II I STORY 



of (■j)i«i('ii('sis held tliat cacli spcnii or 

 ovuiii contained a r('lali\-('l>- lumto- 

 ijcticou.s Iiviii«»; su'hstancc which Ix-caiiic 

 (hlTcrcntiatcd hy «!;ra(hial chan«!;t's into 

 a mature ln(li\i(hial resenihlin*;- tlie 

 l)arent. Prelonnation was sui)|)orte(l 

 l)y SpaUanzani. l^onnet, IIallerande\'en 

 ("u\iei-. It> al)surdit\- was shown l)y 

 the work ol" W'ohe (IToV)). who fiiini>' 

 estal)hslied the doctrine ot epigenesis 

 as it is un(h'rst()()(l to-(hi>'. 



The stiniuhis «2;iven to research ])y 

 Harv(\v's (Hscovery, the intercourse 

 and exchan«»;e of views anion<»; men. 

 and the voyages to all parts of the 

 world resulted in an accumulation of a 

 great mass of facts, which were of little 

 value unless classified. Conrad Gesner 

 (in 1551-1558) had given a complete 

 ])il)liography of zoology, and was one 

 of the most important of the earlier 

 naturalists. About a hundred years 

 later Kay, an English zoologist (1670), 

 made an attempt to establish a "sys- 

 tem of classification," but he had not 

 the true concei)tion of species. It 

 remained for Linnaeus to complete a 

 system which served its purpose so well 

 that it has remained practically un- 

 changed to the present time. 



Linmeus (1707-1778) was far and 

 away the leading naturalist of his day, 

 and his sy.stem of classification in 

 which plants and animals were placed 

 in groups according to clearly desig- 

 nated characters, was a great advance 

 over any scheme previously devised. 

 His great service to science, however, 

 was the perfecting of the ])inomial 

 system of nomenclature, or method 

 of definitely naming animals and 

 plants. Up to his time animals were 

 known by brief descrii)tions of their 

 more evidcMit characteristics written 

 in Latin, as that was the universal 



language in science, and men of 

 science (the term scientist had not 

 then been devised). This descrip- 

 tive method did very well so long as 

 the number of known animals was 

 small, but as the tide (jf commerce 

 of the eighteenth century brought to 

 Juirope tliousands (jf species before 

 imknown, it became cumbrous. To 

 overcome the difficulty Linna,»us de- 

 vised the plan of giving to each animal 

 two names^ the first, a general or 

 generic name which should indicate 

 the particular grouj) to which the ani- 

 mal belonged; the second, a special 

 or specific name to apph' to that kind 

 of animal alone. To fix the name 

 still more definitely the name of 

 the first describer of the species is 

 now attached to the scientific appella- 

 tion. 



The Sequoia, for example, is known 

 as Sequoia washingioniana (Winslow), 

 though, unfortunately this particu- 

 lar species does not offer a good, clear 

 illustration of the principles of ]:)inomial 

 nomenclature.* 



BufTon (1707-1788) was the first 

 of the great founders of the modern 

 doctrine of descent with evolution. 

 He supposed, like Bonnet, that the 

 main groups of animals had arisen 

 in a linear series, and he believed 

 that the direct action of the environ- 

 ment brought about structural modi- 

 fications that were inherited. 



Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802), 



*The name SvquDia gigantca is sometimes 

 applied erroneously to the Big Tree, the correct 

 name being Sfquaio wofihingtimiana (Winslow) 

 Siuiworth. The (luestion is considered at some 

 length by Sud worth in Check List of the Forest 

 Trees of the United States. Washington. 1908. 

 pages 2S. 29. 



Briefly stated Sequoia gigantca is a synonym of 

 Sequoia seiiiperrirens, the Redwood and if for no 

 other reason the rule "once a synonym always a 

 svnonvm" would prevent its being used for the 

 Big Tree. 



