MEMOIR OF LINNAEUS. 
73 
and lie succeeded ; he also wrote in Latin, the uni- 
versal language of science in his time. Buffon had 
no pretensions of this sort; he chose the French 
tongue, as being that of his countrymen, for whom 
he wrote. The pupils and successors of Linnaeus 
advanced onwards in the discovery of new objects, 
taking him for their guide ; the continuators of 
Buffon soon lost sight of then - master, and in their 
efforts to imitate when they could not rival, to give 
importance to what was insignificant or without 
real interest, they did injury to the science which 
they designed to promote. 
But whatever may he the difference between the 
merits of these two distinguished philosophers, it 
may he truly said that their works form a complete 
and distinct whole, as they satisfy the two principal 
intellectual desires of mankind, — that of admiring, 
and that of becoming acquainted with the works of 
creation. Of Buffon, it may be said, that he was 
the painter, and of Linnmus, that he was the ex- 
pounder of nature ; the former equalled her grandeur 
in his descriptions, the latter resembled her in the 
vastness and variety of his acquirements. 
There are other qualities in which few men of 
science can he placed in contrast with Linnams. 
Though confessed the prince of Naturalists, in the 
three kingdoms of botany, zoology, and mineralogy, 
it ought not to he forgotten that he was a profound 
linguist, since he was charged by the government 
with assisting in a translation of the Bible into 
VOL. VI. 
E 
