26 



LINNiEUS 



*' a visit I found him pale, downcast and weeping because his father had 

 "just died. Our conversation soon turned upon plants, stones and anr- 

 * mals. The new remarks he made, the knowledge he displayed, struck 

 " me with amazement. I solicited his friendship, he wished for mine. 

 " How valuable, how happy was our intercourse ! With what pleasure 

 " did we see it cemented ! If one of us made some new observation, he 

 " communicated it to the other; not a day elapsed without our re- 

 *' ceiving reciprocal instruction. Rivalship increased our diligence and 

 " researches; though we lived at a great distance, yet it could not pre- 

 " vent us visiting each other every day. Even the dissimilitude of our 

 *' character turned out to advantage. His temper was of a more 

 " serious cast. He excelled me in chymistry, and I outdid him in the 

 « knowlege of birds and insects, and in botany." 



Artedi finally confined his botanical studies to that division of the 

 vegetable reign which treats of the plantce umhdliferts, (umbelli/erom 

 plants )i in which he pointed out a new method of classification, which, 

 was afterwards published by Linn^us. But the chief objeQ: of his 

 pursuits, which transmitted hi^ fame to posterity, was the empire 

 of Neptune, or the knowledge of the natural history of fishes, called 

 Ichthyology. Even in this branch of science Linn^us first stood 

 up his rival, but found himself so far exceeded in point of abilitie* 

 by his friend, that he relinquished to him this province, on which the 

 latter afterwards bestowed all his juvenile labours. « Thus," says. 

 Baeck, " these two young rival geniuses divided among themselves 

 « natural history, as the Romans once had done the domination of 

 « the world," 



s Artsdi. 



