MEMORY OF LINNjEUS. 
251 
caused a monument to be ere&ed in his garden in honour of Linnaeus. 
It consists of a cenotaphium, or an empty tomb, on which stands the bust 
of LiNNiEus, and the plants Linncea 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 LinNvEan 
system, and to communicate to each other their observations and dis- 
coveries once a week. In this manner they endeavoured to render 
more general the system of Linnaeus ; the different branches of which, 
excepting botany, were but little known then in France. But this laudable 
institution could not expefcd to make any great progress as long as 
Count de Buffon lived. It is well known, that Buffon, who did 
not understand the Linn as an system, nor chose to give himself any 
trouble to understand it, had frequently censured Lin Naurs, 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 ereS a monument to Linn.eus, 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, anc. though, amidst the tumult 
and shocks of the revolution, it could but seldom assemble, though 
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