*5S LINN 
him his habitual indulgence of frnokingeven in her apart¬ 
ments, that he might continue his labours with more eafe 
and fatisfa&ion to himfelf. 
About this time, (1751,) he publifhed his Philofopkia 
Botanica , a comment on, or amplification of, his own Fun¬ 
dament a, and effential to the full comprehenfion of his fyf- 
tem. But the work of Linnaeus, which Haller terms his 
maximum opus et ceternum , appeared in 1753. It was the 
Species Plantarum, in 2 vols. 8vo. containing a defcription 
of every known plant, arranged according to the fexual 
fyftem. The defcription, however, is independent of any 
fyftem, as being founded on the effential character of each 
fpecies, with a further reference to the generic defcrip¬ 
tion given in the Genera Plantarum. In this publication 
Linnaeus firft introduced his admirable invention of fpe- 
tific or trivial names, epithets taken from the mod promi¬ 
nent fpecific mark of the fubjeft, or from fome other cha- 
rafteriltic circumftance. The fpecific defcriptions are 
given in the concife form of a definition, with a great va¬ 
riety of terms of his own invention, fimple and com¬ 
pound, forming, as it were, a new botanical language. 
If in thefe terms he has not aimed at a claffical purity, 
Scarcely attainable in fo modern a fcience, he has in ge¬ 
neral formed them upon a correft analogy ; and it cannot 
be denied that they are excellently adapted to their purpofe. 
In the mean time honours of the literary kind had been 
accumulating on him from foreign countries. Befides 
feveral learned focieties of inferior rank, he was aggre¬ 
gated to the Imperial Academy, to the Royal Societies of 
Berlin and London, to the Academy of. Peterfburgh, and 
finally was nominated one of the eight foreign members 
of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, being the firft Swede 
-who had obtained that diftinftion. The remote city of 
Upfal was vifited by many ftrangers, attracted by his re¬ 
putation, -which extended throughout Europe; and the 
number of ftudents in its univerfity was doubled. His 
correfpondence included almoft all the eminent culti¬ 
vators of natural hiftory ; and be was continually receiv¬ 
ing tributes from all parts, of books, plants, and fpeci- 
mens, which enabled him to complete his vaft plan of 
carrying a new fyftematic arrangement through every de¬ 
partment of nature. This he effected by the completion 
•of his great work, Systema Nature, which had grown 
in fucceftive editions, from a few tables, to two, and finally 
to three, volumes; and received his finilhing hand in 
1768. In this performance Linnaeus is the methodifer 
and nomenclator of all the known productions in the three 
kingdoms of nature. His claftifications are all fo far ar¬ 
tificial, that he conftitutes divifions and fubdivifions from 
minute qualities in the fubjeft, which ferve very well as 
external marks, but frequently have little relation to its 
effential character, and therefore bring together things 
in their nature very diffimilar. They are framed, how¬ 
ever, with wonderful ingenuity; and have undoubtedly 
produced a more accurate identification in all the branches 
of natural hiftory than before prevailed. This is the firft 
ftep to an exaft hiftory of every fubjeft; and it is only 
ignorance which treats it with contempt as mere nomen¬ 
clature. Although arrangement was the point which 
Linnaeus peculiarly laboured, yet many of his fmaller 
works prove his great attention to matters of ufe and cu- 
riolity ; and no fchool has contributed fo much to a tho¬ 
rough acquaintance with the produclions of nature as the 
Linnsean. Linnaeus alfo carried his methodifing plans 
into the fcience of medicine, and publithed a claffified 
Materia Medica, and a fyftem of nofology under the title 
•of Genera Morbxrrum. His idea of a fyftematic arrangement 
•f difeafes by technical characters, was followed up and 
■illuftrated on a large fcale, by his friend Sauvages of Mont¬ 
pellier ; and the celebrated Dr. Cullen of Edinburgh juft- 
ly attributed to the Swedifh philofopher the foundation 
of his own performance in this line. Such fchemes of ar¬ 
rangement indeed can be confidered merely as helps to 
the memory, and in thernfelves altogether artificial; and 
£US. 
the abilities of Linnatus appear to the greateft advantage 
in his claflification of natural objects. 
Thefe valt literary labours, combined with the pra&ictt 
of phyfic, were more than the bodily conftitution of Lin¬ 
naeus could fupport. He was attacked with the (tone; 
and had alfo, from time to time, fits of gout. He confi- 
dered the wood-ltrawberry as a fpecific for both difor- 
ders; and they never greatly interfered with his comfort 
or his duties. On the 27th of April, 1753, he received, 
from the hand of his fovereign, the order of the Polar 
Star, an honour which had never before been conferred 
for literary merit. A ftill more remarkable, if not more 
grateful, compliment was paid him not long after by the 
king of Spain, who invited him to fettle at Madrid, with 
the offer of nobility, the free exercile of his religion, and 
a fplendid botanical appointment. This propofal- was 
conveyed to him in a handfome letter by the duke of Gri¬ 
maldi, then prime minifter; and was as handfomely de¬ 
clined by Linnaeus, who declared, that, if he had any me¬ 
rits, they were due to his own country. This patriotic 
moderation received its juft reward in November 1756, 
when he was raifed to the rank of Swedifh nobility, and 
took the name of Von Linne. But his patent of nobility 
did not receive his majefty’s fign manual till 1761, though 
it was antedated 1757. It was confirmed by the diet in 
1762 ; and he then took a coat of arms expreffive of the 
fciences he cultivated. That auguft body honoured him 
with a ftill more folid reward, upwards of 520I. fteriing, 
for what feetns to have been the lead valuable of his dif- 
coveries, the art of producing pearls in the river-mufcle. 
This was accomplished by wounding the (hells in their 
natural fituation, as appears by fome fpecimens illuftra- 
tive of it in his mufeum ; but the practice does not feem 
to have been profecuted to any great extent. 
In 1763 Linnaeus was permitted to avail himfelf of the 
afiiftance of his fon, then twenty-one years of age, in the 
labours of the botanical profefi'orfhip, and the young man 
was thus trained up for his future fucceffor. His'eldeft 
daughter was married to an officer in 1764.. His worldly 
concerns appear to have been in a profperous train, except 
that he fuffered this year from a dangerous attack of pleu- 
rify; but it is pleafing to read, in his private memoran¬ 
dums, the gratitude he expreffes to his old rival Rofen, 
for his (kill and attention during this illnefs, and the ex- 
preffions of intimate regard by which they were now be¬ 
come attached to each other. 
A moderate degree of opulence (confiderable, indeed, 
relatively to the country in which he lived) attended the 
honour and reputation which Linnaeus enjoyed. He was 
enabled to purchafe an eftate and villa at Hammarby near 
Upfal, which was his chief fummer-refidence during the 
laft fifteen years of his life. Here he had a mufeum of 
natural hiftory, on which he gave ledtures ; and here he oc- 
cafionally entertained his friends, but with that economy 
which had grown to be a habit with him, and which the 
poffeffion of wealth, as is frequently the cafe, rather ftrait- 
ened than relaxed. His vigour and activity continued 
to an advanced period ; though his memory, overburthened 
with fuch an imrnenfe load of names, began to fail after 
his fixtieth year. An attack of apoplexy, in May 1774, 
obliged him to relinquifh the mod laborious part of his 
profefforial duties, and to clofe his literary toils. In 
1776 a fecond feizure rendered him paralytic on the right 
fide, and reduced him to a deplorable ftate of bodily and 
mental debility. An ulceration of the bladder was the 
concluding fymptom, which carried him off on January 
10th, 1778, in the feventy-firlt year of his age. 
The death of Linnaeus was regarded in Sweden as a 
national calamity. The whole univerfity went into mourn¬ 
ing; his funeral was attended by all the profeffors, doc¬ 
tors, and ftudents, then at Upfal; and his pall was fup- 
ported by eighteen doctors, who had formerly been his 
pupils. The Academy of Belles Le.ttres at Stockholm 
offered a gold medal for the belt eulogium on him; and 
1 another 
