B I C E N T E N A R Y OF L I N i V k / l . S

a U

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interest of natural history. He left Upsala on the 12th of May, and after an absence of five months returned to Upsala on the 10th of October. This remarkable journey of 4600 miles was made partly on horseback, partly by boat, and partly on foot; it extended northwestward across the Norwegian Alps to the coast of Norway beyond the Arctic Circle; the return journey wm made by way of eastern Finland It was an undertaking of great hardship and much danger, being performed alone, aided only by local guides employed to conduct the way from one point to another. On his return a report of his journey was presented to the Academy, hut it remained in manuscript until translated and published in English by Dr. James Edward Smith, the first president of the Linnean Society of London, in 1811.’ The botanical results, however, were published separately by Linnaeus himself, in 1737.

The following year was spent at Upsaltl, where he attempted to eke out his scanty means of support by giving lectures on botany, mineralogy and chemistry. This proved contrary to one of the statutes of the university, to the effect that no onc should give public lectures who had not obtained his doctor’s degree, which statute was invoked against him by Rosen, the successor to Rudbeck in the professorship of medicine and anatomy, who was jealous of Linnteus’s abilities and attainments. Deprived of this financial resource, he took some of his pupils on excursions into the neighbor- ing mountains, where he met the governor of the province of Dalecarlia, who sent him to explore and report on certain coppcr mines in which he was intercstcd. While on this journey he gave lectures at Falun on mineralogy kind assaying. Here he made the acquaintance of DP. Morreus (a learned and wealthy physician of the district) and his two daughters, to one of whom he became betrothed; the father. however, insisted on deferring the marriage till Linncus had completed his professional studies and obtained his medical degree. For this purpose, in the spring of 1735, he journeyed to Lubeck and Hamburg, and later to Holland, where, in June, he receivcd from the University of Harderwijk the degrec of doctor of medicine. At I q d e n he becamc acquainted with the leading men of science ofthat city, which soon Icd to his engagement hv Dr. George Cliffort, a wealthy burgo- rnnster of rlmsterdam, to take charge, at n liberal salary, of his extensive

I The hrrhnri;r, iii)r:iry (aboiit 2500 voilrmes). mimiscripts and r,:rrr!a.pondencn of Linnarls. wen? offetrd hs ills ~ i ~ l o w nnd cinughters. “hg the ndvlce of friends.” to Sir Joseph Rnnks. ”for thr slim of 11 t,horlnnnci rllinrns.” Sir Josepll. not feeling inclined to the pmchase. recom- mended It t o the ronskicmtinn of his friend. Dr. (Inter Sir) J. E. Smith. by whom thesctreas- iirm wcrc srcnreci. an11 tmnsfwrrd to England (TvnToN. Lilo and Writings of Li~~nceus. 1806. p. 1391). nnd Inter pnssed into thr possession of the Llnnrenn Socicty of Idondon. founded in 1788 throudi bhe eRorts of Dr. Smith. who wyns its first pre3ident. (See JARDINE’S Nalurni- id’s Libmrv. Pol. I. 1833. p. 65.)

BICENTENARY Odr LI N NE US 1 1

museum and botanic garden. Liiter he \vus sent by liiiii to England to secure rare plants for his garden, a.ith a letter of introduction from the great Boerbnave tos i r Hans Sloune. He thus came in contact with the botanists of London, where, however, his reception was not d w y s cordial.

O n his return to Holland he was offered the position of govcriinient physician to the Dutch colony in Surinam, dl ich he prudently declined, and became an assistant to his friend Van Royen at the botanic garden in Ikyden. After a brief visit to Paris he returned to Stockholm in September, 1738, where he determined to settle as a physician. Notwithstanding his fame abroad and his skill as a botanist, the pecilniary returns from his profession were at first small, but they gradually increased; and, obtiiining some government patronage, his marriage to hliss hlorreus was celebrated on June 26, 1739.

He remained only three years in Stockholm, during whiclt pcriod he helped to found the Royal Academy of Sciences of that city, imd served as its first president. In 1741, under an order from the governnicnt, he made :I journey through Oland aiid Gothland. In the same year he was called to the chair of botany at thc University of Upsala, a position to which he hacl long aspired, and which he filled for thirty ycars, whcn impaired health c*ompclled him to resign his official duties and to discontinue his literary labors. The University of Upsala, through the fame of Linnms, became widely renowned as n seat of learning, and attracted students from various l w t s of Europe. During these years of almost uninterrupted activity, most of [innms’s numerous botanical and other works w r e puhlished, the nlaterial for which reached him in ever-increasing abundmcc, not only from tIisl:int parts of Europe, hut from Siberia, China, India, Egypt, South :\fric.n iind North and South America.

.Academic lionon wcre showered upon him by all the lcarnecl socic4es of I?iiropc; a gold medal was struck in his honor by thc nohlcs of Swcdcm: ancl in 1757 he mascreated by King Frcrlcric B Knight of the Polar St;ir,:tntl :idmittet1 to hereditary nobility. Foreign coirrts made overtures for his

presence, and his own country neglected no opportunity to do him lionor His death in 1778, after sis rears of invalidism resilltin:: from ;in ntt:lcli of

apoplexy, was recognizcd ns :t nation:il calamity; t h t b 11niversity of [‘psnl:~ went into mourning, and tlw King nrdcrtd :i mcdal to hc striwli i n hi,< rnvmorv.

i\lthoiigh c~mml)cd 1)y povwty ditrirtg thc cm1ic.r p r t of his carwr, pros- perity did not. long withhot(! hvr srnilc. Not only w r t t t l w noblcs of his country his p:rtrnns, h i i t tic miis an ospecial filvoritc of hoth King Freeclvric, and his qiiccn. ‘Throrlgli various rmolilincwts showcwd iipon him, he was able, later in lifc. to piirchaw :I large wiatc nnrl to (’onstriict for himself n

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museum, wherein he gathered the largest collection of botanical treasures that at that time had anywhere been brought together. He was happy in his domestic relations, and lived to see his son succeed to his chair at the University of Upsala.

Although Linnms’s publications relate mainly to botany and medicine, they cover the whole realm of natural history. His earliest contribution to science is generally considered to be his.“ Florida Lapponica,” the first part of which appeared in the Transactions of the Swedish Academy in 1732.‘ This waa followed by the first edition of his ‘ I Systema Nature,” published in Leyden in 1735. The ‘ I Fundamenta Botanica ” followed in 173G, and was later enlarged and republished as the ‘ I Philosophia Botanica,” in 1751. During the next ten years various other botanical publications appeared in rapid succession. His “ Fauna Suecica,” published in 1746, was his first special work relating to zoology. It is also notable as being the first work especially devoted to the entire fauna of any country. It was republished, with many additions, in 1761. Other botanical and several medical works followed during the next seven years, including his monumental “ Species Plantarurn,” published in 1753. In the same year also appeared the ‘ I Mu- seum Tessianum,” consisting chiefly of descriptions of minerals and fossils, the latter mainly shells and corals, and in 1754 the “Museum Adolphi Friderici,” relating exclusively to exotic animals. This ww a folio with thirty-three plates, the most extensive and most elaborately illustrated of all of Linnaus’s works. Two important medical works appeared in 1760, and his third zoological work, the “ lLluseuur Ludovicise Ulrice,” in 1764, a thick octavo, to which was annexed the second part of the “Museum Adolphi Friderici.”

During these thirty years of marvelous scientific activity, Linnteus also contributed many papers to the Transactions of the Upsala and Stockholni academies and to the “ Amcenitates Academici.” The latter, in ten octavo volumes, consist of dissertations or academical theses, mostly by his students, selected, edited and published by him, and thus may be regarded as of equal authority with his own writings. Seven of these volumes were published during his lifetime, and contain a number of his own minor papers.

This hrief outline of Linnleus’s life, his opportunities, and the publishrtl results of his scientific Iabors, affords thr basis for the consideration of

Linnreus as B zoiilogist. As has been shown, he WBS priinarily a botanist; he wm also n mineralogist. a n entomologist and a conchologist, but only incidentally a vertebrate zodogist. I n this field his interest was less strong, his opportunities for research the most rcstricttd His zoiilogiral writings,

fllr Works ~ ~ ~ ~ ~. ~

- _ ~ _ ~ . . __ ~ ~ - ~~~ .

I His Hortus Uplnndlcus Is said to hnve nppeared one yenr earlier. See List of Llnnreus. In Jnrdlne’q Nnturnlist’s IAhrnry. Vol 1. IR33. p. xvii, footnote

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exclusive of a few minor papeiu, are comprised in the “ Fauna Suecicu,” the “ Museum Adolphi Friderici,” the “ illuseurn Ludovicirc Ulrice ” and the several editions of his “ Systeuia Naturre.” The first edition, uppeuring in 1735, wis a folio of ody 12 pages, consisting nierely of a conspectus of his Systcma in tabuliir fonn. Tlie second edition, published in 1740, was an octavo of 40 pages, in which were added, for the animal kingdom, thc characters of the groups. l’lic sixth, published in 1748, was greatly en- larged, the zoiilogical part done consisting of 76 pages, illustratcd with six plates, or one for each of his six cl es of animals. The tenth, publislied in 1758, was in two octavo volumes, of which the xoiilogy formed thc first volume, consisting of 824 pages. Tlie twelfth, and the last edition revised by the author, was issued in thrce volumes, the first of which, coritaining the zoology and comprisiiig 1427 pages, appeared ir i 1766. Thus in thirty-three years this work grew from a brochure of 1% pugho‘s to it work

The first cbditiori of the Systeina was published w l i c ~ n the ;iutlior was oiily twenty-cight years old, during his sojourn in Hollimd. l le had never previously been beyond the confines of soutlierri Swctlcn, cwcpt on his journey to Lapland ;md Finland in 1732, and lie had had ;iccess to no hrgc collection of anirnsls. ’I’lius his resources for such an iniportarit untlrrtak- ing were extremely limited, being rclstrictetl to his own considerable first- hand knowledge of the fauna of Sweden, to the I’cn. sprciiiiens of cxotic aniiuals he liad been ;tl)lc to sec in I,und, I;ps:tla arid Stockholm, arid to thc scanty literaturc of the suOjcct then, awdablc. LYheii tlic second edition appwrtd, in 1740, he hiitl spvnt less thaii tliree y:us iind i i h;ilf iii foreign coirntries, mainly in tlollantl with siriglc brief visits to Lontlon ; i n c l I’nris; but his interests oii thcse owisibiis werv hot;inical and n(Jt zodogical.

T h e sixth edition ( t h v third rcvisvd by the iiuthor), publishrtl iii 174S, w;is in effect (I syiiopsis of tlir. f:iun:i of Swetlen, fillvtl in, as rvgnrcls thr faunit of t l i v rest of thc: ivorltl. hy wrnpilations fnm his prcdccrssors. Strange i t s

it inay seem, outside of tlic tmpicxl gvnera Sittiia, Ur(id!~pi/.s, Dcls,r/pc.?. M!/rtJtrcop/tclgn arid .llmtiv, this tdition twrimer:ittbs cml,v t l i i r t w i i s p t G s of

mninm;ils not found i r i S\vctleii. Only 140 are rwortlctl for his n ~ l i o l ~ ~ ( h s .Aiiiinditini qiiii(lrii~~,(liiiiii, oncb-hiril of viliic.li arc Sc:intliiin\i;iii

T h i n :in:ilysis r o i i l t l br r~stc~ided to ot1it.r (+isscs w i t l i pr;ii.tic.;iIl! siiiiiliir

wsiilts. ‘rtw dt i ss Insc~c~t;i, for t snnipl~ , incllitl(.s only t h i r t w r s:pc\c.ic-s t1i:tt

lire not :tIso r(~coriltd in thr “1~:tii11:1 Siiccicx,” showing how liniitcvl n x s his knowlt~tlgr of t l i v world’s fiiiiiin tit 17-kx.

‘rhe t,vnth c t l i t i o i i ( tbc foiirtli rcvisrtl I)? the iitit l ior), ~~111~1is11c~I t i t 1 7 3 , IS fhr cpdi-inaking work i i i tlic Iii.;tory of zoo log!^., :L$ i i i t h i s t l i c b 1)iiioiniaI svsteni of norncwlnttiw for thv ~ v I i i ) l v iiniin:il kingdom is introdiicwl for t h v

of 2400 pages.

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first time. The work is also greatly enlarged, and the classification greatly improved, especially that of the mammals, which class is now f6r the first time aptly designated Mammalia. The ordinal term Primates is substituted for Anthropomorpha of the sixth and previous edition, the sloths (genus Brdypus ) are removed from it, the genus Lemur is added as a new genus, and the bats are transferred to it frDm the Ferre. A new order, Bruta, is made up of his former third order Agrice (now suppressed) and of such other extremely heterogeneous elements as the elephant, the manatee, sloths, ant-eaters and the scaly ant-eaters. The order Ferce consists of six properly associated genera; the armadillos, insectivores and bats, formerly included in it, being removed elsewhere. His fourth order, Bestioe, is a new group, composed of the pigs, armadillos, opossums and insectivores. The fifth order, Glires, is a natural group, except for thc inclusion of the genus Rhino- ceros, now most strangely placed with the squirrels and mice. His sixth order, Pecora, is retained as in the previous editions, and is also a natural group. The seventh, Bellure, is a new ordinal group, consisting of the genera Equus and Hippopotumus, transferred from the here disrupted order Jumenta of previous editions. The Cetc, now removed by him from the fishcs, form his eighth and last order. This reconstruction of the ordinal groups is a great improvement: five new genera are added, two old ones eliminated, and the number of species is increased from 140 to 155. In some of the other classes there are similar radical changes, but there is not time to refer to them.

The twelfth, and the last edition revised by the author, published in 1766, shows many improvements over the tenth. It is greatly incrcased in bulk through the addition of many new genera and a large nriniber of new species. The classification is also judiciously modified at many points. Tdring again the class of mammals for illustration, the numbcr of orders is reduced from eight to seven, through the suppression of the grossly unnatural order Bestire and the transference of its genera to other associations, with, however, the retrograde change of placing the insectivores and the genus Didclph,ia among the E'er=. The Glires is modified by thr rrmnvnl of the genus Rhinocaros to the order Belluae and the addition to it of Soctilio, II genus of bats. The order Bruta is the same incongruous essocicition of rlephnnts, manatees, sloths iind ant-eaters as in the trnth edition.

The orders of lnarnmals as now left correspond 11) srveral instances very ncnrlv with those of our modern systems, notithlp t h r Primates, Glires, Rcom :ml Cete. The Ferce of the tenth edition corresponds to the motiern Cttrnivora, but in the twelfth hr made the mistake of putting hack into it thc m:irstipials and the insectivores. His order Brlliirr being essentially the modern suborder Perissodactpln. his order Rnttti is thr only grossly inrongriintis :tssociation of t,ypes.

HICEN TE"V'.4 R I' 01: I, I .\'.\'.E C'S 15

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It is not, however, just to judge Linnaus’s work by the standards of to-day. The above comparison of the zoological part of the “Systema Naturre” with our present knowledge of animals is not to be taken as a disparagement: we merely note the progress of zoology during the last century and a half of the w&ld’s history. Linnreus was a born systematist; his energy and industry were enormous; his isolation promoted independence and originality. He devised new classifications, and thoroughly systema- tized not only the knowledge of his predecessors, but the vast increment he himself added. He inspired his students with his own enthusiasm, taught them his own advanced methods, and influenced a goodly number of them to undertake natural history explorations in distant and zoologically unknown parts of the world.

In special lines of research he was far behind several of his contempo- raries, notably Brisson, in respect to both mammals and birds. But he nearly doubled the number of known forms of reptiles, amphibians and fishes, and increased many fold the number of species of Ccelenterates, on the basis of wholly new material gathered through his own efforts.

Disgusted with the needlessly detailed accounts and repetitions that characterized the writings of most of his predecessors, he unfortunately adopted the extreme of condensation, thereby adding greatly to the diffi- culties of his successors in determining to just what forms the thousands of new names he introduced really belonged. Many of his species, based on the accounts given by previous authors, were also composite, often con- taining very diverse elements. But this detracts little from his credit. As one of his appreciativc biographers has tersely put it, “He found biology a chaos; he left it a cosmos.”

Linnleus’s beneficent influence upon biology was hardly less as a nomen- clator than as a taxonomist. He not only invented a descriptive terminology for animals and plants, but devised a system of nomenclature at once simple and efficient, and which for a hundred and fifty years hay been accepted without essential modification.

Linnreus divided the three kingdoms of nature into classes, the classes into orders, the orders into genera, the genera into species, under which latter he somcbtimes rccognized varieties Of these groups, as he understood them, he gave clear definitions, but they were in most cases much more comprehensive than the limits now assigned to groups of corresponding rank. His genera rorrespond in some cases to groups now termed orders, and frequently to the modern idea of family; in some cases they contained species now placed in separate orders Prior to Linnms, these groups had 1e.s~ definite significance, and were often designated by a phrase instead of a h g l e word Species were indicated onlv hy U cumhcrsome diagnosis

’

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1s ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

snakes. The greater part of the 20 North American species of reptiles and amphibians known to him personally were based on specimens transmitted by his former student, Dr. C. D. Garden, from the Carolinas, and on a few sent from Pennsylvania by Pehr Kalm, also onc of his students. Thus the greater part of the snakes of the eastern United States became known to Linnaeus prior to 1766.

About 500 species of fishes are recorded, of which 100 are American, divided about equally between North and South America. Forty of the nearly 60 North American species described are based 011 specimens sent from the Carolinas by Dr. Garden, the others mainly on specimens in the museum of King Frederic.

There is not timc to notice in detail the various classes of Ctelenterates. A few words about insects will serve as a general illustration for this phylum. Linna?us recorded about 2400 species, the greater part of which he was the first to describe; about 300,000 are now recognized. Of the insects known to him, 65 per cent are recorded in the second (1761) edition of his " Fauna Sueccia," and many of the rcmaindcr are European, so that his knowledge of exotic species was exceedingly restricted. Of Coleoptera hc recorded about 800 species; the number now known is estimated at 12,000. Of Lepidoptera he recorded about 800; 7000 are now known from North America alone. Of Diptera he recorded 278 spccies, of which 200 wre from Sweden; 12,000 are now known from North America.

Linneus's system of classification was based on a few external characters, and was recognized by himself as artificial and provisional. It was intendctl only as a stepping-stone to better things, when the structure and affinities of animals should become better known. The statistics already given in- dicate how limited was his knowledge OF the world's fauna; his classifica- tion of animals shows how little he knew of their structure, and how often he was misled by shperficial resemblances. Yet his "Systema Natura?" was the working basis of all naturalists for the next hulf-century.' ~f Twelve editions were published during his lifetime, and it was later transiited into several of the continental languages. To such an extent was it regarded as final by many subsequent naturalists that, when his groups began to be changrd arid new genera interpolated, it was deemed by some of them little less than sacri- Icge. When convenience demanded subdivision of the larger gcsnera, owing to the great number of new species that had hecome known sinrr 1766, it

1 Turton. in his Life and Writings of I.inne. says. "To this system mny be Justly npplied LIK. nervous ohservations of Dr. Johnnon. in his delinentlon of the character of Bhnkesperrro- 'The strenm of time, which Is coiitinunlly washing. nwsy the dlssoluble fabrics of other systems. pnsses without injury hy the adamant of Linn6.'" - WILLIAM TwnToN. A Ommnl Ryqtmi ,,r Nirtrcrr . . Rv SIT Chnrlrn L i m e . Vol. VI1 . ISOB. p [J?].

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The following address was prepared for the celebration, but was read only by title. I t is inserted here on account of its close relations with the address of Dr. Allen.