72 
MEMOIR OP LINN2EUS. 
injustice to their memory, and betrays a want of 
power to appreciate their respective merits. 
With regard to Buffon, those who would draw a 
parallel between him and Linnaeus, cannot but per- 
ceive that there is no true resemblance between 
them. The Frenchman, though an excellent inter- 
preter of Nature, painted her only in her more 
striking and general features, clothing his ingenious 
conceptions and his fascinating hypotheses in a style 
always pure, free, and eloquent. The Swedish 
philosopher is the reverse of all this, sacrificing 
every consideration of style to one quality alone,' — 
that of conciseness ; and so remarkable is this con- 
densation, that a single page of his writings has 
frequently given occasion to long treatises, and 
even been expanded into voluminous and import- 
ant works. 
Sometimes he is eloquent too ; when admiring 
the works of creation, or paying a last tribute to 
the memory of a departed friend, his poetic mind 
gives utterance to its emotions in the most touching 
and expressive language. But excepting in these 
instances, his style was laconic and full of matter. 
Buffon wished to make Nature appear lovely. 
Linnajus sought to make her plain and intelligible ; 
he had, moreover, studied her in all her depart- 
ments, whereas the other rarely seized upon any 
objects but such as were fitted to make him shine 
as a writer. Linnaeus intended to found a school, 
