Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnaeus Part 12

Smith's Remarks on it--Quotation from the Preface, with Remarks--Linnaeus publishes improved Editions of his Works--Obtains Prizes for Essays from the Royal Societies of Stockholm and Petersburg--Is elected a Member of the Academy of Sciences of Paris--Receives Plants and Seeds from various Quarters--Purchases two Estates--Delivers private Lectures at his Museum--His Emoluments--His Son appointed his a.s.sistant and Successor--He receives Letters of n.o.bility; and is rewarded for his Discovery of the Art of producing Pearls--His domestic Troubles, Infirmities, and sincere Reconciliation to his old Antagonist Rosen, who attends him in his Sickness.

It has been already mentioned that Linnaeus, when residing in Holland, printed a short treatise containing his theoretical views respecting the cla.s.sification of plants. This work, to which he gave the t.i.tle of Fundamenta Botanica, consisted of a series of aphorisms or propositions, which his friends afterwards repeatedly urged him to demonstrate at length, so as to const.i.tute them into a body of doctrine which might be considered as the code of botanical science. Accordingly, in 1751, he published the Philosophia Botanica, one of the most remarkable performances that any age or country can boast of. It consists of 12 chapters, 52 sections, 365 aphorisms, in imitation of the different divisions of the year,--a puerile conceit, with which his enemies have not failed to taunt the ill.u.s.trious author. Had there been a hundred days more he might have found aphorisms for them all; and any one conversant with zoology might engage to construct a cla.s.sification of animals on the very same principle. Since he was so attached to numerical a.n.a.logies, it is surprising that he did not form 12 cla.s.ses of plants, 52 orders, 365 families, and a number of genera corresponding to that of the hours in a year. On such an arrangement might, with due calculation, have been founded a system of botany as perfect as any that had appeared before his time. The distribution of his materials, however is the only childish part of the book; for in other respects it must be acknowledged to be a model of perspicuity, precision, and force.

The first chapter gives an account of the princ.i.p.al writers on botany; the second, of systems of cla.s.sification; the third, of the roots, stems, and leaves of plants; the fourth, of the parts of fructification.

In the remaining chapters are discussed the doctrine of s.e.xes, the characters of the cla.s.ses and subdivisions, the names of the genera, the specific differences, varieties, synonymes, the descriptions of the species, and the virtues or uses. At the end of the volume are several curious fragments, containing directions to students of botany, the method of forming herbariums, a plan to be followed by naturalists in travelling, and other matters of a like nature.

"The Genera Plantarum," says Linnaeus in his private memoirs, "the most important of all the works on botany, and which was intended for facilitating the study of that science, being completed, he laboured at the species. He was at this period the only person who had at his disposal the materials necessary for the composition of that great work.

His herbarium was immense, and no one had seen so great a number of gardens and collections. With the a.s.sistance of this methodical book, any person can make out the plants already described by authors, and those which have become known only of late, or which are entirely new.

He laboured, two successive years at the species; and it was at this period that he felt the first attacks of calculus, the usual consequence of too sedentary a life, and of long-continued pressure on the lower abdominal viscera."

In 1753, being again called to Drottningholm, he was desired to describe the natural productions contained in the museums of his majesty and the Count Tessin. The former rewarded him with a valuable ring, the latter with a gold watch and a copy of Rumphius's splendid Herbarium Amboinense. But what delighted him most was the a.s.surance given by the queen, that should his son evince a liking to natural history, she would send him to travel over Europe at her own expense.

This year appeared the Species Plantarum, which was published at Stockholm in two volumes, and contained the characters of 7000 species.

Haller denominates this production "maximum opus et aeternum." It is unnecessary here to offer any detailed account of it, as it is well known to every botanist. Sir James E. Smith, in his Life of Linnaeus, observes, that "it is ever memorable for the adaptation of specific, or, as they were at first called, trivial names. This contrivance, which he first used in his Pan Suecicus, a dissertation printed in 1749, extended to minerals in his Museum Tessinianum, and subsequently to all the departments of zoology, has perhaps rendered his works more popular than any one of their merits besides. His specific differences were intended to be used as names; but their unavoidable length rendering this impracticable, and the application of numeral figures to each species, in Haller's manner, being still more burthensome to the memory, all natural science would have been ruined for want of a common language, were it not for this simple and happy invention. By this means we speak of every natural production in two words, its generic and its specific name. No ambiguous comparisons or references are wanted, no presupposition of any thing already known. The distinguis.h.i.+ng character of each object is mostly stamped in its name; and if this perfection of the art cannot always be attained, the memory is a.s.sisted, often very ingeniously, with collateral information, indicating the colour, the habit, or the qualities of the object of our examination. The philosophical tribe of naturalists, for so they are called by themselves and their admirers, do not therefore depreciate Linnaeus when they call him a nomenclator. On the contrary, they celebrate him for a merit which no other person has attained, and without which their own discoveries and remarks, of whatever value, would not be understood."

In the preface to this work, which he dedicated to the king and queen, we find the following pa.s.sage, which will enable the reader to form an estimate of that kind of forbearance which he showed towards his critics:--"I have never sent back upon my enemies the shafts which they have hurled at me. The grins of the malicious, the ironies and attacks of the envious, I have quietly borne. They have always been the reward of the labours of great men; but nothing of all this can hurt a hair of my head. Why should I not tolerate the wretches, when I have been loaded with the praises of the most celebrated botanists, before whom they must bend in the dust. My age, my profession, and my character, prevent me from waging war with my opponents. I will employ the few years I have to live in making useful observations. In natural history, errors cannot be defended nor truths concealed. I appeal to posterity." The decision of posterity, however, may be as unjust as that of our contemporaries, and the former is in all cases of less importance to us than the latter, for it can in no degree benefit the author who relies upon it. And to show that Linnaeus severely felt the censure of his opponents, we have only to refer to his private memoirs. His treatment of them seems to have been the effect of pride more than of magnanimity, although it appeared to belong to the latter. Rousseau, who greatly admired it, was heard to exclaim, "Would that I had imitated the Upsal professor! I should have gained some days of happiness and years of peace."

About this time also was published his description of the museum of Count Tessin, already alluded to, under the name of Musaeum Tessinianum.

Loefling sent him plants from Spain, and similar accessions poured in from other quarters; but he occasionally experienced a return of his complaints, which were relieved by the plentiful use of wild strawberries. His account of the king's museum appeared the following year.

Besides his ordinary occupations of lecturing and accompanying his pupils on their excursions into the country, he sent forth successively improved editions of several of his works, which he endeavoured to bring up to the level of his expanding knowledge. The Stockholm Academy having offered a prize, consisting of two gold medals, for the best essay on the means of improving Lapland, he composed a treatise on the subject, which received the approbation of that learned body. Although no regular cultivation could be applied to so dreary a region, he showed that considerable improvements might be made by introducing plants which grow in the mountainous districts of similar lat.i.tudes, and especially by planting trees suited to the climate. In 1759, the Imperial Academy of Sciences at Petersburg announced a premium for the best work on the confirmation or refutation of the doctrine of s.e.xes in the vegetable kingdom. He wrote on this topic also, in which he established the fact by new and irrefragable arguments, and the reward was of course adjudged to him. The motto which he affixed to this tract was indicative of his prevailing pa.s.sion: "Famam extendere factis."

The celebrity of his name now attracted pupils from many parts of Europe; obtained him admission into most of the distinguished learned societies; and rendered him an object of attraction to travellers. In 1762, he was elected a foreign member of the Academy of Sciences of Paris,--a circ.u.mstance of which he was not a little proud. "It was,"

says he, "the greatest honour that could be conferred on a man of science, and hitherto no Swede had enjoyed it. The number of foreign members is limited to eight. The following are the names of the persons who were then invested with that dignity:--Morgagni, Bernouilli, Euler, Macclesfield, Poleni, Haller, Van Swieten, and Linnaeus."

The botanic garden at Upsal received accessions corresponding to the increasing fame of its restorer, and was enriched by specimens or seeds transmitted from many remote regions; from Kamtschatka and Siberia, by Demidoff and Gmelin; from China, by several of his pupils; from Egypt, Palestine, Java, and the Cape of Good Hope, by Thunberg, Sparrmann, and others; from Canada, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, by Kalm and Gronovius; from Jamaica, by Dr Browne; and from South America, by Miller. A great quant.i.ty of African seeds came into his possession in the following singular manner:--Donati, a young Italian naturalist, had been sent to Egypt and the Levant, at the expense of the King of Sardinia. At Alexandria he fell in love with a young lady, the daughter of a Frenchman, and in order to forward his suit, allowed her brother to accompany him on his travels. The intended relative, however, robbed him of all his money and collections, and carried them to France. Not finding himself safe there, he embarked again for Constantinople; but being still unable to turn his stolen seeds to any account, he sent them to Linnaeus, whose name he had often heard mentioned by Donati. Among the rare exotics which he procured was the tea-plant, which his friend Ekeberg brought from China in 1763, and which had not been previously seen in Europe.

In 1758, he purchased for 80,000 dollars (above 2330 sterling) two estates, situated at the distance of about three miles from Upsal, to which he retired during the vacations, and where he spent the last ten years of his life. On an eminence, near the mansion at Hammarby, he erected a museum, in which he deposited all his collections. It was of an oblong form, and had a magnificent prospect over an extensive plain sprinkled with villages, the city of Upsal and the river Sala appearing at a distance, and the lofty mountains of Dalecarlia lining the horizon.

Here he occasionally gave lessons to foreigners, and improved his various works.

These private instructions seem to have been a source of great emolument to him. They were confined chiefly to strangers, who used to lodge in the neighbouring villages of Honby and Edeby, and to whom he p.r.o.nounced his lectures, not in the grave and solemn habit of a professor, but as a companion, frequently wearing his dressing-gown and a red fur cap, with a tobacco-pipe in his mouth. Lord Baltimore, governor of Maryland, having gone from Stockholm for the purpose of seeing him, was entertained with a discourse on natural history; for which he presented him with a splendid gold snuff-box, 100 ducats, and a superb piece of silver plate.

A pleasing picture of his manners and amus.e.m.e.nts is given by his pupil Fabricius, although, in one circ.u.mstance at least, his example may not be considered as commendable: "We were three, Kuhn, Zoega, and I, all foreigners. In summer we followed him into the country. In winter we lived facing his house, and he came to us almost every day in his short red robe-de-chambre, with a green fur cap on his head, and a pipe in his hand. He came for half an hour, but stopped a whole one, and many times two. His conversation on these occasions was extremely sprightly and pleasant. It consisted either of anecdotes relative to the learned in his profession with whom he got acquainted in foreign countries, or in clearing up our doubts, or giving us other kinds of instruction. He used to laugh then most heartily, and displayed a serenity and an openness of countenance, which proved how much his soul was susceptible of amity and good fellows.h.i.+p.

"Our life was much happier when we resided in the country. Our habitation was about half a quarter of a league distant from his house at Hammarby, in a farm-house, where we kept our own furniture and other requisites for housekeeping. He rose very early in summer, and mostly about four o'clock. At six he came to us, because his house was then building, breakfasted with us, and gave lectures upon the natural orders of plants as long as he pleased, and generally till about ten o'clock.

We then wandered about till twelve upon the adjacent rocks, the productions of which afforded us plenty of entertainment. In the afternoon we repaired to his garden, and in the evening we usually played at the Swedish game of trisset in company with his wife.

"On Sundays the whole family usually came to spend the day with us. We sent for a peasant who played on an instrument resembling a violin, to the sound of which we danced in the barn of our farm-house. Our b.a.l.l.s certainly were not very splendid,--the company was but small, the music superlatively rustic, and no change in the dances, which were constantly either minuets or Polish; but, regardless of these defects, we pa.s.sed our time very merrily. While we were dancing, the old man, who smoked his pipe with Zoega, who was deformed and emaciated, became a spectator of our amus.e.m.e.nt, and sometimes, though very rarely, danced a Polish dance, in which he excelled every one of us young men. He was extremely delighted whenever he saw us in high glee, nay, if we even became very noisy. Had he not always found us so, he would have manifested his apprehension that we were not sufficiently entertained."

The presents which he received from his admirers, the fees of his pupils, his salary, and the property which he had acquired by marriage, rendered him one of the richest of the Upsal professors; and, during the latter period of his life, his stated income was doubled by order of the king. The emoluments which he derived from his works were not great, as he got only for each printed sheet the small sum of one ducat, or about nine s.h.i.+llings and sixpence sterling.

To add to his happiness, his son, at the age of twenty-one, was appointed his a.s.sistant and successor, shortly after he himself had received letters of n.o.bility, which were antedated four years. In 1748, Frederick I. had founded the order of the Polar Star for men of merit in the civil line, and Linnaeus was the first who was admitted into it by his successor, Frederick Adolphus. He proposed for his arms the three fields of nature, black, green, and red, surmounted by an egg, with the Linnaea for a crest; but the keeper of the great seal adopted a different arrangement. The Diet at the same time bestowed on him a reward of upwards of 520 sterling, for his discovery relative to the production of pearls; and it is even a.s.serted that his elevation to the rank of n.o.bility was not given on account of his botanical labours, or his general merits, but for this alleged discovery, which, however, has turned to no account.

But the interest which we have felt in the progress of this great man now begins to be less intense. He seems to us to have accomplished his destiny, and we prepare to trace his steps to the grave. In his domestic life he is supposed to have been subjected to many mortifications, arising from the parsimony and domineering temper of his wife. Long before this period, too, he had become subject to attacks of rheumatism, gravel, and gout; while his too-sensitive mind was hara.s.sed by the open as well as more insidious attacks of his opponents. It is pleasing to witness the reconciliation of enemies, and we have already remarked that Linnaeus and his old antagonist Rosen were ultimately on the most friendly terms. "In 1764," says the private ma.n.u.script, "he was attacked by a violent pleurisy. He was anxiously attended by Dr Rosen, who saved him from certain death. From this time he conceived the most sincere affection for his brother-professor."

Before proceeding to convey the prince of naturalists to the tomb, it seems expedient to examine the most important of his numerous works,--that, namely, in which he arranges all the known objects of nature, and of which the last edition, brought out under his own inspection, appeared about this epoch of his life.

SECTION VIII.

_Account of the Systema Naturae of Linnaeus._

Linnaeus's Cla.s.sification of the Animal Kingdom--Remarks on the Gradations employed, and on Nomenclature--Cla.s.sification of the Animal Kingdom--General Remarks--Method of Tournefort--Method of Linnaeus--Cla.s.sification of the Vegetable Kingdom--Theory of the Formation of Minerals and Rocks.

The work just mentioned bears the t.i.tle of Systema Naturae per Regna tria Naturae, secundum Cla.s.ses, Ordines, Genera, Species, c.u.m Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis,--A System of Nature, in which are arranged the objects const.i.tuting the three kingdoms of nature, in cla.s.ses, orders, genera, and species, with their characters, differences, synonymes, and places of occurrence.

The first volume contains the animal kingdom. The introduction presents a brief view of the const.i.tution of the world, in the usually laconic style of the author. In it the three kingdoms of nature are thus defined:--_Minerals_ are concrete bodies, possessing neither life nor sensibility; _vegetables_ are organized bodies, possessed of life, but without sensibility; _animals_ are organized bodies, possessing life and sensibility, together with voluntary motion. Objections may be made to these definitions; but it is not our object at present to criticise his views and arrangements, our intention being simply to offer a brief account of them, omitting all that is not absolutely essential. It ought to be understood, that the entire work is merely an index or catalogue of the productions of nature; that it was obviously intended as such by its author; and that they who object to the Systema Naturae, because it contains nothing more than characteristic notes methodically arranged, forget that Linnaeus never professed to give descriptions in it.

The natural division of animals, he says, is indicated by their internal structure. This principle his modern adversaries have chosen to overlook, a.s.serting that his cla.s.sification is founded on external form.

In some species the heart has two distinct cavities, and the blood is warm and red; of these some are viviparous,--the _mammalia_,--others oviparous,--the cla.s.s of _birds_. In certain species the heart has only a single cavity, with a single auricle, the blood red but cold; of these the _amphibia_ have a voluntary respiration, while _fishes_ respire by gills. In other animals the heart has also a single cavity, but without an auricle, while the blood is cold and of a white colour; of these the _insects_ are characterized by their antennae, the _vermes_ or _worms_ by their tentacula.

The _Mammalia_, which const.i.tute the first cla.s.s, are the only animals furnished with teats. Their clothing, hoofs, claws, horns, teeth, and other organs, are briefly described, in such a manner as to enable the student to comprehend the meaning of the terms to be subsequently employed. The characters of the orders are derived princ.i.p.ally from the teeth.

I. PRIMATES or _n.o.bles_: Mammalia furnished with fore teeth, of which there are four in the upper jaw, and two pectoral mammae.

II. BRUTA: No fore teeth in either jaw.

III. FERae, _Beasts of Prey_: The fore teeth conical, usually six in each jaw.

IV. GLIRES or _Gnawers_: Two chissel-shaped fore teeth in each jaw.

V. PECORA, _Cattle_: No fore teeth in the upper jaw, several in the lower.

VI. BELLUae: Fore teeth obtuse; feet furnished with hoofs.

VII. CETE, _Whales_: Pectoral fins in the place of feet, and in place of a tail the hind feet united so as to form a flat fin; no claws; the teeth cartilaginous.

The order _Primates_ contains four genera:--

1. _h.o.m.o_, _Man_, of which (strange to say) he makes two species, viz.

_h.o.m.o Sapiens_, including all the descendants of Adam, and _h.o.m.o Troglodytes_, the orang-outang! The varieties of the human race are the American, the European, the Asiatic, the African or Negro, and those called monstrous, such as the Patagonians, characterized by their great size, the flat-headed Indians of Canada, &c. His description of the human figure is amusing; and as it may afford an idea of his mode of viewing objects, we shall translate it in part:--

"The _Body_ erect, bare, sprinkled over with a few distant hairs, and about six feet high. The _Head_ inversely egg-shaped: scalp covered with longer hairs: the fore part obtuse, crown very obtuse, hind-head bulging. The _Face_ bare: _Forehead_ flattish, square, compressed at the temples, ascending at the corners among the hair. _Eyebrows_ somewhat prominent, with hairs closely set and directed outwards, separated by the flattish glabella. Upper _eyelid_ moveable, lower fixed, both pectinated with projecting somewhat recurved hairs. _Eyes_ round: pupil round, without nict.i.tant membrane. _Cheeks_ bulging, softish, coloured, their lower part somewhat compressed, the buccal portion looser. _Nose_ prominent, shorter than the lip, compressed, higher and more bulging at the tip; nostrils ovate, hairy within, with a thickish margin. Upper _lip_ nearly perpendicular, grooved in the middle; lower _lip_ nearly erect, more prominent. _Chin_ protruded, obtuse, bulging. _Mouth_ in the male bearded with bristles, which on the chin especially form a bundle.

_Fore teeth_ in both jaws sharp edged, erect, parallel, close; _canine teeth_ solitary, a little longer, close to the rest on both sides; _grinders_ five, bluntish. _Ears_ lateral; auricles roundish-semilunar, pressed in some measure towards the head, bare, vaulted above the margin; bulging and soft below." He then proceeds to state more particularly, that there is no tail, and that the thumb is shorter and thicker than the fingers. Man, therefore, differs from other animals, as he says, in having the body erect and bare, although the head and eyebrows are covered with hair, two pectoral mammae, a brain larger than that of any other creature, a uvula, the face bare and parallel to the abdomen, the nose prominent and compressed, the chin projecting, no tail, feet resting on the heels, the males bearded on the chin, the females smooth.

As to the orang-outang, which forms his second species of man, he might have known that having four hands, and being incapable of carrying its body erect, it had no right to stand beside the lord of the creation.

The second genus, _Simia_, includes the baboons and monkeys, of which, with and without tails, he enumerates thirty-three species.

3. _Lemur_, the macaucos: 5 species.

4. _Vespertilio_, the bats: 6 species.

These are the _n.o.bles_ of the animal kingdom: men, monkeys, lemurs, and bats. There could hardly be a more unnatural a.s.sociation; but all artificial systems, founded upon the consideration of a single organ or set of organs, are chargeable with similar absurdities.

The second order, BRUTA, is composed of the following genera:--

5. _Elephas_, the elephant, of which there is only one species.