LINN^US. 
whereon to found an artificial classification. 
The credit he was now acquiring in his own 
country appeared in his election to the post 
of Secretary to the Academy of Sciences 
at Upsal, in a medal of him struck at the 
expence of some noblemen in 1746, and in 
his nomination by the king to the rank and 
title of archiater, in 1747. He now also 
began to exert his influence in procuring 
the mission of his young disciples to differ- 
ent parts of the globe, in order to make 
discoveries in natural history and oeeonomy ; 
a circumstance by which he is distinguished 
above all other naturalists, and which has 
redounded equally to his own glory, and to 
the public advantage. The travels of Kalm, 
of Osbeck, of Hasselquist, of Lolling, were 
the fruits of his zeal in this point. To Lin- 
n®us may also be ascribed that curious col- 
lection of treatises, which, under the name 
of “ Amaenitates Academic®,” began to be 
published in the year 1749, and were con- 
tinued to a number of volumes. They are 
academical dieses held under Linmeus in 
his professional capacity, and may be re- 
garded as containing his own doctrines and 
opinions on most of the points discussed. 
The work of Linn»us, which Haller 
terms his “ Maximus Opus et Aiternum,” 
appeared in 1753. It was the “ Species 
Plantarum,” in two volumes, 8vo. contain- 
iiig a description of eveiy known plant, 
aiTanged according to his sexual system. 
The description, however, is independent 
of any system, as being founded on the 
essential character of each species, with a 
further reference to the generic description 
given in the “ Genera Plantarum.” In 
this publication Linnaus first introduced 
his admirable invention of trivial names, or 
epithets taken from the most prominent 
specific mark of the subject, or from some 
other characteristic circumstance. The 
* specific descriptions are given in the pre- 
cise form of a definition, with a great vari- 
ety of terms of his own invention, simple 
and compound, forming, as it were, a new 
botanical language. If in these terms he 
has not aimed at a classical purity, he has 
in general formed them upon correct ana- 
logy ; and it cannot be denied that they are 
excellently adapted for their purpose. In 
the same year he was created by the king a 
Knight of the Polar Star, an honour w'hich 
had never before been conferred on a lite- 
rary character. His elevation to the rank 
of nobility, by the king’s sign manual, took 
place, eight years after, in 1761, but ante- 
dated 1757, and from that time he wrote 
his name C. Von Linnii. In the mean time 
honours of a literary kind had been accumu- 
lating upon him from foreign countries. 
Besides many learned societies of inferior 
rank, he was aggregated to the Imperial 
Academy, to the Societies of Berlin, Lon- 
don, and to the Academy, and finally was 
nominated one of the eight foreign members 
of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, being 
the first Swede that had obtained that dis- 
tinction. Tire remote city of Upsal was 
visited by many strangers, attracted by his 
reputation, which extended throughout Eu- 
rope, and file number of students in its 
university was doubled. His correspon- 
dence included almost all the eminent culti- 
vators of natural history ; and he was conti- 
nually receiving from all parts tributes of 
books, plants, and specimens which enabled 
him to complete his vast plan of carrying 
a new systematic arrangement through 
every department of nature. This he ef- 
fected by the completion of his great work, 
“ Systema Natur®,” which li^d grown in 
successive editions from a few tables to two, 
and finally, to three volumes, and received 
his finishing hand in 1768. In this perform- 
ance Linnmus is the methodiser, and the 
nomenclator of all the known productions 
of the three kingdoms of nature. His 
classifications are all so far artificial, that 
he constitutes divisions and subdivisions 
from minute qualities in the subject, which 
serve very well as external marks, but fre- 
quently have little relation to its essential 
character, and therefore bring together 
things in their nature very dtssimilar. They 
are framed, however, with wonderful inge- 
nuity, and have undoubtedly produced a 
more accurate indentification in all the 
branches of natural history than before pre- 
vailed. This is file first step to an exact 
history of any subject, and it is ignorance 
that treats it with contempt as a mere no- 
menclature. Although arrangement was the 
point at which Linn®us peculiarly laboured, 
yet many of his smaller works prove his 
great attention to matters of use and curio- 
sity ; and no school has contributed so 
much to a thorough knowledge of the pro- 
ductions of nature as the Linn®ah. With 
regard to the particular parts of his sys- 
tem, the botanical was the most generally 
received, and bids the fairest for duration. 
The entomological, though possessing great 
excellence, has in some measure been 
abrogated by the more comprehensive but 
more difficult method of Fabricius. Those 
in the other branches of zoology are gene- 
