Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London - University Library

LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 2^
advance towards the modern conception of variation : but still
there is no hint of the suspicion that a variety may become a
species. It must, however, be conceded that, from his keen and
constant observation of animals and plants in a state of nature,
Linnaeus had not failed to recognise what is now termed " the
struggle for existence,"' of which he drew a vivid picture in
the dissertation 'Politia Xaturae ' (Amoen. Acad, vi.), without,
however, attaining to the idea of " the survival of the fittest" and
so to the theory of organic evolution.
If so far the claims of Linnaeus to high distinction have been
scrutinised and disputed witl) some measure of success, further
attempt at objection becomes futile when his merits as an organiser
of knowledge are brought forward. The state of iS'atural History
early in the eighteenth century Avas indeed such as to call for
reorganisation. The active exploration of the world, and more
particularly of the New World, had brought to light such a wealth
of new forms that the existing resources of description, of nomen-
clature, and of classification were proving altogether inadequate to
deal with them. Some idea of the condition of Botany at this
period may be given in the words of Linnaeus himself. " I praise,"
says he in the ' Critica Botanica,' " the names given by the old Greeks
and Romans, but I shudder at the sight of those given by many
recent authoi's ; since they are for the most part nothing but a
chaos of confusion, whose mother is barbarism, whose father
authority, whose nurse prejudice." In the ' Eeformatio Botauices '
(Amoen. Acad, vi.) we read : " The genera are false and defective
and are daily multiplied by ne\^" authors and new systems
The generic names are for the most part erroneous, barbarous, and
Indian names have been given, and the names of other natural
objects have been accepted for plants, so that it is not clear whether
they indicate a plant or a fish .... The generic characters were
so expressed that they scarcely sufficed to distinguish the known
genera : consequently, when a new genus was discovered the
characters of the allied genera had to be altered The
descriptions of plants are written in so oratorical a style, and in
such pompous language, that they filled whole pages."
It must be admitted that Linnaeus was singularly quahfied to
undertake the herculean task of reducing this chaos to order.
As he well says in the ' Systema Xaturae,' " the first step in knowledge
is to know the things themselves " ; and this equipment he
certainly possessed. Xo man of his time has shown so comprehensive
an acquaintance with animals and plants—to say nothing
of minerals— or was more deeply versed in the lore accumulated
by his predecessors in the study of Natural History. He combined
a wonderfully lucid and methodical mind \\ith indefatigable
industry and inexhaustible energy ;
and the results that he achieved
were commensurate with these exceptional endowments. AVhat
these results were is so well known that I need not dwell upon
them at any length ; I will merely indicate the course that he
pursued. The first step was the publication, in 1735, of the