PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR. 



a man who has lived many years in the closest ties of intimacy 

 with the deceased, who combines with the rarest qualities of 

 the heart, an universal scientific renown. 



I hope the addition of the following observations will not be 

 deemed extraneous to my subjeft. 



It is well known, that the works of Linn.eus are charafte- 

 rized v/ith his religious sentiments. Nevertiieless, they had 

 the misfortune of being considered at Rome as heretical and 

 materialist Lc produ61ions. In 1758 they were inserted in the 

 catalogue of forbidden books. No one durst either print or 

 sell them, under pain of having every copy confiscated or pub- 

 licly burnt ; this proceeding was opposed by a fine contrast 

 during the reign of the excellent and truly enlightened Gan- 

 GANELLi, or Pope Clement XIV. Linnaeus himself men- 

 tions this occurrence in a letter to the Chevalier Thunberg, 

 in the following v/ords : " The Pope, who fifteen years ago 

 " ordered those of my works that should be imported into his 



his dominions to be burnt, has dismissed the professor of bo- 

 " tany who did not understand my system, and put another in 



his place, who is to give public le6lures according to my 



method and theory *" 



* Pafven, som for 15 ar sedan befalt, at, om mina boker ditkomma, skulle de 

 brannas, bar afsat Professor Botanices, some ej forstod min method, och tillsatt en 

 annor some skall lasa publice min method och theorie. — See Colka'io Ephtolarum 

 Car. a Linne,&c. edid. D. H. Stoever, Hamb. 1792, odavo. 



What 



