MEMORY OF LINN.EUS. 251 



caused a monument to be ere£led in his garden in honour of Li n n u s- 

 It consists of a cenotaphium, or an empty tomb, on which stands the bust 

 of LinnjEUs, and the plants Linnxa and Ayenia spring up by the side 

 of it. 



In the year 1787, a society of lovers of natural history assembled at 

 Paris, under the name of Societe Linneenne. Their intention was to 

 cultivate and improve natural history, according to the Linn an 

 system, and to communicate to each other their observations and dis- 

 coveries once a week. In this manner they endeavoured to render 

 moi"e general the system of LiNN>¥.ns ; the different branches of which, 

 excepting botany, were but little known then in France. But this laudable 

 institution could not expeft to make any great progress as long as 

 Count de BuFFON lived. It is well known, that Buffon, who did 

 not understand the Linn^an system, nor chose to give himself any 

 trouble to understand it, had frequently censured Linnaeus, and his 

 influence over the royal academy of sciences being great and even 

 general, no member of that learned body durst venture to say any thing 

 in praise of the Linn^ean system. The society, however, had long ago 

 -wished to erefl a monument to Linn^us, their patron, in the royal bo- 

 tanical garden, where Buffon resided; but these wishes availed nought 

 as long the Count was in being. His death on the 16th of April 1788, 

 and the French revolution which followed soon after, gave the society 

 that liberty to follow their inclination, of which they had hitherto been 

 deprived. Several members of the royal academy, who had till then 

 assisted at the meetings of the society in a clandestine manner, now 

 avowed themselves openly as members, and though, amidst the tumult 

 and shocks of the revolution, it could but seldom assemble, though 

 K k 2 many 



