Character of linn^us. 267 



" LiNNiEus is censured," says Dean B.«ck, « for having aspired at 

 « universal dominion in botany, and for iiaving been angry with those 

 " who strove Hke him to acquire eminence in that science. Jealousy 

 " is almost constantly found to operate upon great men. And the re 

 « public of science has neither PoMPiiYS nor C/£,sars, Exclusive do 

 " mination in the regions of literary eminence belongs to him alone 

 " who has truth on his side; nature confirms the truth, svhile time on 

 *' the other hand, destroys presumption and caprices. And who had 



more virtue and more merit on his side than Lin n^eus ? Wlio could 

 « with greater right raise himself the monarch of natural science ? 

 " Hence how generally and voluntarily have his laws been adopted." 



We will readily allow that Linnaeus wished to acquire honour by 

 his labours. But he did not negleft, as his pupils can prove, to pay 

 proper homage to the discoveries of other men. He mentioned with 

 gratitude all those, who showed or sent him the least curiosities of 

 nature. He thought it was his prerogative, to see and describe those 

 plants, which his disciples procured by resources of their own. He ac- 

 knowledged their confidence as a strong mark of politeness; but when 

 they lost sight of this confidence, he could not forbear expressing 

 his displeasure. In other respe6ls he did not like to speak publicly of 

 things w^hich he had not seen himself. 



The arms of Linnaeus were perhaps the most expressive of any 

 learned man of the age ; at the top above the helmet was the plant 

 j^vhich bears his name, and whose leaves hung down on both sides, in 



Apud nos inLiNN.5;o ipsiusque discipulis Academias Upsalise fere unica spes, quoniam alii, 

 '« quamvis in Chemicis, Medicis peritissimi, raro sua inventa communicant. Ne itaque mi- 

 *• reris, quod quandoqnc Linn^eum impensius laudemus. H^ec ipsius unica est merces pro 



?ot laboribiis," 



M m 2 the 



