MEMOIR OP LINNAEUS. 
69 
beyond the grave; for if there be flowers in the 
Elysian Fields, I would weave garlands for those 
good men who deserved them while on earth.” 
With regard to the peculiar characteristic of the 
Linnasan system, viz. the sexual distinction of 
plants, Linnams himself confessed, both in con- 
versation and in his writings, that the merit of that 
discovery did not belong to him ; it was known be- 
fore the time of Theophrastus. Nor did he even 
claim the discovery of the sexual organs, which 
has been generally ascribed to him. Nevertheless, 
from his application of that knowledge to the de- 
velopement of science, he may be justly considered 
their discoverer. In his Species Plantarum , he states 
that he had analyzed more than ten thousand spe- 
cies of flowers ; and although he long swayed the 
botanical sceptre of Europe, he never expected that 
the natural system would gain a speedy conquest 
over the prejudices of the learned. Its adoption 
he considered as a thing which posterity might 
witness, but scarcely to be hoped for in his own 
times. 
As a geologist, the opinions of Linnsus, how- 
ever interesting about the middle of last century, 
are not now worthy of special analysis. At the 
period when he formed his theory, there existed 
no satisfactory data as to the structure of the globe. 
All the systems then in fashion had the common 
defect of being based on a few isolated facts, too 
