XXll 
LINN/EAN SYSTEM. 
genius, he possessed in no ordinary degree ; otherwise he could 
never have completed a tenth part of his magnificent design, of 
forming an Index to the countless productions of nature, the 
true light in which his great work ought to be viewed, though 
his followers have so preposterously considered it not as any 
Index, but as the Book of Nature itself. 
Some modern writers tell us, that “the glory of Linnseus is 
built” upon his having “first pointed out the distinction between 
the natural method and the artificial system,” and upon his hav- 
ing “ first remarked the existence of intermediate genera between 
natural orders.” * Again we are told, that “ his great and trans- 
cendent merit lies” in his attempt at “the investigation of the 
affinities which unite the larger groups ” f of animals. It is much 
to be questioned, whether Linnseus himself, had he been alive, 
would have considered these trivial matters very meritorious; 
while he would have stood up most manfully for the value of his 
miraculous Index, upon which, amidst the duties of a laborious 
practice as a physician, he laboured, as he tells us, “for three 
lustres, with new vigour and fresh enthusiasm.” | Who is there 
that can refuse to admire the youthful ardour of this venerable 
naturalist, who has so long given laws to his favourite science ? 
and who is there but must regret that his great Index has been so 
extensively mistaken for a book, and his real merits so far mis“ 
understood. That this great man himself mistook the instrument 
for the execution, and the means for the end, might perhaps 
be proved ; but that is no reasonable excuse for others to follow 
him blindfold into the same error, and shews that they do not 
possess a particle of their master’s spirit of mental independence. 
By fixing upon the numbers and forms of the parts of flowers, 
Linnseus was successful in contriving a system of botany, ingeni- 
ous, simple, and, with some exceptions, easy in its practical appli- 
cations ; but it possessed, with all these excellences, the glaring 
defect of classing side by side a motley assemblage of lofty trees 
and minute herbs, such as the soft and slimy pond weed, the 
prickly holly bush, and the tiny wall duckweed, [Sagina^)^ though 
Horse Eiitomol, p. 20. f Limi. Trans, xiv. 516. 
Fauna Suecica, Dedicatio, p. 2. 
§ See liis class Tetrandria, order Tetragynia. 
