204 



NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



I 



felts catus, and the house cat felis 

 domestica. This method was per- 

 haps suggested to him by the cus- 

 tom in society of having family 

 names and baptismal names, by 

 which members of the same fam- 

 ily may be distinguished. Before 

 the time of Linnaeus, the different 

 names of the individual plants and 

 animals formed a perfect chaos; 

 but the dual nomenclature not 

 only necessitated a classification, 

 but became its basis. The two 

 names soon proved the value of 

 the system, as by them attention 

 was drawn to the similarity and re- 

 lationship between the various 

 plants or animals. Linnaeus in 

 fact attempted to complete the 

 whole system, and divided, for in- 

 stanch, the whole vegetable king- 

 dom into 24 classes, which be sub- 

 divided into orders, these into gen- 

 era, and these again into species. 

 Notwithstanding that his classifi- 

 cation has been modified, and has 

 been based on facts since ascer- 

 tained to be more fundamental 

 than those on which he grounded 

 his theory, the honor of the reform 

 belongs to him; although he was 

 often in doubt, especially whether 

 some particular animal had to be 

 considered as a separate species, 

 or only as a variety of the same 

 species. He even went so far as 

 to admit that hybrids may coasti- 

 tute the origin of new species, and 

 even that a great number of new- 

 species had originated by the in- 

 terbreeding of other species. This 

 opinion was very remarkable as 

 that of a man who had already ac- 

 cepted the theory of the miracul- 

 ous creation of every species; and 

 it would have been in direct con- 

 tradiction to his creed, were it not 

 that he had claimed as an excep- 

 tion to the rule that some species 

 were originated by hybridism or 

 incidental changes: and all that 

 Lamarck and Darwin did was to 

 extend Linnaeus' exceptional theory 

 to the origin to all species whatso- 

 ever. 



In regard to the origin of the 

 distinct species, Linnaeus, as before 

 remarked, believed in special acts 

 of miraculous creation, and adhered 

 strictly to the Mosaic account, ac- 

 cording to which plants and ani- 

 mals were created by God, "each 

 after its own kind." Linnaeus ex- 

 panded the idea, and went into de- 

 tails, expressing the belief that, or- 

 iginally, either a single individual 

 or a pair of each animal or plant 

 had been created. He believed 

 that "man and wife created He 

 them" of every specieswhich exists 

 in two sexes; however, in those 



cases where every individual is 

 possessed of both sexual organs, as 

 is the case with many kinds of 

 snails, worms, parasites, and the 

 majority of plants, Linnaeus believ- 

 ed that God created only one in- 

 dividual, as this was sufficient. 

 Linnaeus further believed that, in 

 the deluge, all the then existing 

 organism were drowned, except 

 the few individuals of the species 

 which were saved in Noah's ark, 

 and afterwards put ashore on 

 Mount Ararat. The geographical 

 difficulty of which widely differing 

 animals and plants living together 

 when put ashore, he explained by 

 the fact that Ararat, in Armenia, is 

 situated in a warm climate; and be- 

 ing more than 16,000 feet high, it 

 unites in itself all the conditions 

 for affording diversity of climate 

 to suit animals of different zones. 

 The animals accustomed to the 

 climate of the polar regions, such 

 as polar bears, could therefore at 

 once ascend to the cold snow-cov- 

 ered summits; those accustomed 

 to a warm climate could go to the 

 foot; while the inhabitants of the 

 temperate region could remain 

 where they were, half way up. 

 From this mountain, he asserted, 

 the animals distributed themselves 

 afterward again over the wdiole 

 earth, 



Haeckel makes a serious objec- 

 tion to the possibility of existence 

 of a single pair of animals of each 

 kind at the same time. He says 

 that, for the first few days after the 

 creation or after the deluge, the 

 carnivorous animals would have 

 eaten all the herbivorous cattle, the 

 lions 'and tigers would have eaten 

 the single pairs of sheep and goats 

 in existence; while the herbivorous 

 animals would have eaten as once 

 all the single plants before there 

 was a chance of propagation. Cer- 

 tain it is that the balance in the 

 economy of Nature, such as we see 

 it now, could never have existed if 

 only one single pair of each species 

 had been created at the same time. 

 It is seen, then, that the hypothes- 

 is of Linnaeus is scarcely worth a 

 serious discussion; and when we 

 consider that he had a clear head 

 and excellent reasoning powers, it 

 is indeed very doubtful if he could 

 believe in it himself. 



This hypothesis prevailed, how- 

 ever, for about a century without 

 being disputed; and this was per- 

 haps partially due to the merits of 

 Linnaeus as a naturalist, and the 

 great renown he had earned by his 

 systematic description of the works 

 of Nature. This, added to the 

 prevailing idea of considering the 



Bible to be intended to teach the 

 sciences, retarded the acceptance 

 of sound and correct ideas concern- 

 ing the institution of the Universe. 



In closing this review of the 

 merits and errors of Linnaeus, we 

 cannot abstain from expressing 

 our surprise that Professor Huxley 

 in his recent lectures in this city, 

 selected Milton in place of Linnaeus 

 as the defender of the six day mir- 

 aculous creation. Milton should 

 be considered by every one as 

 drawing on his imagination, and 

 availing himself of poetical license 

 to the fullest extent. He was no 

 scientist, but a poet;and he should 

 on this account not be held re- 

 sponsible for his quasi scientific 

 opinions. But Linnaeus was a 

 scientist,and his opinions, hypothe- 

 ses, and theories fall within the 

 pale of scientific criticism: and he 

 was especially scientifically defin- 

 ite in all he said and wrote. If 

 Professor Huxley selected the poet 

 because everybody knows Milton 

 and his works, we may suggest 

 that some information about the 

 great naturalist Linnaeus and his 

 services to Science would have 

 served the purpose, of bringing out 

 the truth of the evolution theory, 

 far better than the beautiful poeti- 

 cal dreams of "Paradise Lost." — 

 P. H. Vander Weyde, in Sci. Am. 



Arizona's Petrified Forests. 



The Legislative Assembly of 

 Arizona has addressed a memorial 

 to Congress, asking that the lands 

 covered by the famous "petrified 

 forest" be withdrawn from entry 

 and be made a public park. This 

 so-called "forest" of chalcedony is 

 in Apache County. An area>of ten 

 miles square is covered with trunks 

 of agatized trees, some of which 

 measure 200 feet in length and 10 

 feet in diameter. Ruthless curios- 

 ity-seekers are destroying the trees 

 by blasting them to pieces in search 

 of the pretty crystals which are 

 found inside many of them. Limbs 

 and similar pieces are shipped 

 away by car-loads to be ground up 

 for various purposes. It is urged 

 that to make the tract a public 

 park would preserve it from van- 

 dalism and would injure nobody, 

 inasmuch as there are no settlers 

 on it. The other day a cowboy 

 rode over the "agatized bridge"*on 

 horseback, ing to try break down 

 the tree that spans the chasm, and 

 was disappointed at not succeed- 

 ing. — Rene Bache in Boston Tran- 

 script. - 1 



* See Natural Science News of Dee. 16th, 

 No. 46, for an illustration of this bridge.— Ed. 



