LINNiEAN SYSTEM. 



xxiii 



the systems lauded as natural are often equally faulty.* It 

 would have been well, however, had Linnaeus confined himself 

 to botany, for his systems of animals appear to me (though 

 not to many others) to be very inferior, and show, most obvi- 

 ously, that he grasped at what was beyond his reach, or rather 

 what he had not leisure, or could not procure sufficient informa- 

 tion to perfect. In some instances, I admit, he shows glimpses 

 of extended views of nature; but there cannot be a question that the 

 general character of all his systems exhibits a deficiency of philoso- 

 phic generalization, and is marked by a narrowness and trifling, 

 whence it is not improbable he has obtained so many disciples, it 

 being much easier to find persons fond of trifling detail than 

 of philosophic deduction. These remarks are easily proved. " The 

 study of natural history," says Linngeus, "consists in the collec- 

 tion, arrangement, and exhibition of the various productions of the 

 earth." f But a study thus narrowed down, and without a refer- 

 ence to causes, effects, or the wise contrivances of the Creator, 

 I am most confident could never lead to the Natural History 

 which Lord Bacon declares to be the basis of all science, and 

 " fundamental to the erecting and building of a true philoso- 

 phy." J The puerility of limiting his descriptions of specific cha- 

 racter to twelve words, § and of dividing one of his works || into 

 twelve parts, because there are twelve months in the year, and into 

 365 paragraphs, to correspond to the number of days in the year, 

 requires only to be mentioned, to show that Linnseus, though well 

 fitted for arranging the specimens in a museum, was little 

 qualified for becoming a philosophic naturalist. It was the opi- 

 nion of Linnseus, that the superiority of a naturalist depends 

 upon his knowing the greatest number of species ; % but though 

 I doubt not that a good gossiping naturalist might thus be made, 

 by storing the memory with specific names and technical distinc- 

 tions, all comprehensive and philosophic views of nature run the 

 hazard of being broken down and lost in an endless and useless 



* See the Rosacea?, Rubiacese, &c. of Jussieu. 

 f Linnoeus, Systema Naturae, Intro. % Sylva Syl varum, Pref. 



§ See an instance of this at page xxv. Note. II Fundamenta Botanica. 



IT Phil. Bot. 8vo, Cura C. Sprengel, Halae, 1809. 



