Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnaeus Part 22

"But it is time to conclude. I venture to enclose for your opinion the characters of a very handsome plant, which seems to me a new genus. I am very anxious that it should bear the name of my much-valued friend, Mr Ellis; and if, upon mature examination, you should judge it to be new, I wish you would correct my description wherever it may be necessary, and publish it in the new edition of your Genera Plantarum, under the name of _Ellisia_. This plant grows about the bases of the Apalachian Mountains, rising annually from its old roots to the height of about twelve feet, ornamented with whorls of leaves, at the distance of eighteen inches from each other.

"It only remains for me, sir, to beg your pardon for this intrusion. I am well aware how many important labours you have on your hands, and you probably have many more in prospect. Grant me only your friendly a.s.sistance in my ardent prosecution of the study of nature; and may you at the same time go on advancing in reputation and success!

and after you have given your works to the public, may you long enjoy the honours which your abilities have acquired!

"May G.o.d grant you a long life, to investigate the secrets of nature, as well as to improve the powers of your mind in their contemplation! and may your valuable exertions benefit the literary world as long as you live!--Such is my sincere prayer. Farewell!"

In France, the correspondents of Linnaeus were Messrs Angerville, Barrere, De Bomare, d.u.c.h.esne, Carrere, Chardon, Cusson, Guan, Guettard, the two Jussieus, Le Monnier, Maynard, F. de Sauvages, and the Abbe de Sauvages.

ANTOINE DE JUSSIEU, PROFESSOR OF BOTANY AT PARIS, TO LINNaeUS AT HARTECAMP.

"Paris, July 1, 1736.

"SIR,--I received with much pleasure your work on the _Musa_, which I immediately read through with avidity, and no less satisfaction; not only because of the singularity of the plant itself, but for the sake of your remarks. I never suspected that this plant, which I had seen bearing flowers and fruit in Spain, could produce any in Holland, as we have never had an instance of the kind in the royal garden at Paris, where it has not even flowered. None of the other works mentioned as having been published by you have ever reached me, and I shall be greatly obliged by your ordering them to be sent hither at my expense. I long very much to see your Hortus Cliffortia.n.u.s and Flora Lapponica; especially the latter, as the king has recently sent some of our academicians towards the most northern parts of Europe, to whom, in their search after plants in those countries, your book would be a guide, instructing them what seeds or dried specimens to send us. If, therefore, you are likely soon to complete this work, I request the favour of two copies, which shall be paid for with the above-mentioned publications. If you know of any thing issuing from our Parisian press likely to be worthy of your notice, nothing will give me more pleasure than to procure it for you. Be pleased, sir, to accept the respects of my brother and myself."

The writer of the above letter was elder brother to the author of the following, who was also Regius Professor of Botany at Paris, and the reputed inventor of what is called the Natural System of Plants, which was subsequently improved by his nephew, Antoine de Jussieu.

BERNARD DE JUSSIEU TO LINNaeUS.

"Paris, Feb. 15, 1742.

"MY DEAREST FRIEND,--I received your welcome letter, and have several times been desirous of answering it, but have as often been hindered by various affairs. Pardon my past neglect, though I have permitted some opportunities of testifying my regard for you to pa.s.s by. I have been occupied in various journeys. All last autumn I was wandering on the seacoast of Normandy. I have met with many novelties, among which you will be surprised to find some additions to the animal kingdom. I mean, however, before I make my discoveries public, to examine into the matter more fully.

"I have heard with the most sincere pleasure of your being appointed professor of botany at Upsal. You may now devote yourself entirely to the service of Flora, and lay open more completely the path you have pointed out, so as at length to bring to perfection a natural method of cla.s.sification, which is what all lovers of botany wish and expect. I know of nothing new here except an essay on the natural history of Cayenne, and a catalogue of officinal plants. These little works will be conveyed to you by the surgeon of Count de Tessin, when he returns home. I shall also add a fasciculus of medical questions, of the faculty of Paris. I have not yet received what you last sent me; but I return you many thanks for your repeated kindness. I beg leave to offer you, as a testimony of my grat.i.tude, a few exotic seeds. May G.o.d preserve you long in safety! Believe me your most devoted,

BERNARD DE JUSSIEU."

We have nothing of much interest to offer from this quarter, as Buffon, who was the most popular naturalist of his time, showed himself the rival of the Swede and a despiser of all cla.s.sifications; although, as Lord Monboddo says, "those who have merely made themselves acquainted with the first rudiments of philosophy, cannot possibly be ignorant, that a distribution into genera and species is the foundation of all human knowledge; and that to be acquainted with an individual, as they term it, or one single thing, is neither art nor science."

From the long list of correspondents which Linnaeus had in Germany and other parts of the Continent, we shall only mention Professor Gesner at Tubingen; Hebenstreit and Ludwig at Leipsic; Hermann and Jacquin at Vienna; Gieseke at Hamburg; Murray at Gottingen; Brunnich, Fabricius, and Muller, in Denmark; Gmelin, Ammann, and G. Muller, in Russia; Allemand, Burmann, Gorter, Cliffort, and Van Royen, in Holland; John Gesner and Scheuchzer, in Switzerland. We do not, however, find it necessary to insert any of the letters of these celebrated individuals; but shall conclude with part of a communication to the younger Linnaeus, from Don Joseph Celestine Mutis, professor of philosophy, mathematics, and natural history, at the University of Santa Fe de Bogota, in New Grenada.

"From the Mines of Ybagua, Sept. 12, 1778.

"This letter, which I have many a time, in the joy of my heart, had it in contemplation to write to you, my worthy friend, I find myself now scarcely able to begin, on account of the grief with which yours just received has overwhelmed me. As I opened this letter, enclosed in one from a beloved brother of mine who lives at Cadiz, I did not at once discover from whom it came, the superscription being in an unknown hand; but I feared it might bring me an account of the precious life of my valued friend the Chevalier Von Linne being either in danger, or perhaps extinct. When I had read it, I perceived but too certainly the truth of what had been announced in the public papers, that this great man, your ill.u.s.trious father, was no more. To cultivate his faithful friends.h.i.+p has for many years been my chief ambition, in spite of the wide distance between your polar region and the equator. I wanted resolution to open, soon afterwards, a packet from M. Gahn, whose handwriting I recognised in the direction, lest I might perhaps find a letter, the last, and now posthumous, pledge of his friends.h.i.+p, flattering me with hopes which I had already abandoned. Allow me, therefore, my dear sir, to recall to your mind those recollections which, however sad, we ought not to forget. If it were possible for you to overcome the feelings of nature, I cannot satisfy the claims of friends.h.i.+p without lamenting, with you, our common loss.

"Let me inform you, therefore, that, so long ago as the year 1761, when I ventured to introduce myself to this great man by a trifling communication, as I had not enjoyed any intercourse with him before my departure from Europe, I was first favoured, in this my distant abode, with one of those letters, so highly valued by the most learned men in Europe.

In this, according to his usual custom, your distinguished father endeavoured, in the most attractive style, to stimulate my youthful ardour more and more for the study of nature. From that period I rejoiced to devote myself to his service, and our correspondence was kept up for eighteen years, as regularly as the great distance between us, the negligence of those in whom we confided, and my occasional extensive journeys would admit. By some unavoidable accidents, indeed, many of my letters never reached him; and I have also, too late, discovered that many of his had been lost. Meanwhile, our communications were confidential and exclusive, not extended on my part to any other persons, whether my countrymen or not; for I devoted all my discoveries and all my labours to his immortal genius alone.

A little while ago, when I still supposed him living (as I saw the ill.u.s.trious name of Von Linne among the members of the Royal Academy of Paris, in a list at the end of the Connoissance des Tems), I was particularly happy to obtain the complete fructification of that most elegant tree which yields the Peruvian balsam, in order that I might satisfy his curiosity, so often expressed, on the subject of the genus of this tree, either by describing it among my new genera, or by transmitting any observations for his use. But when I had just overcome the difficulties which had so long deprived me of this acquisition, and was antic.i.p.ating the pleasure my excellent friend would receive from the communication, the world was deprived of him. You have lost an affectionate parent, and I a most highly-esteemed patron.

I trust that you, my honoured friend, will, with his blood, inherit his exalted genius, his ardent love of science, his kind liberality to his friends, and all the other valuable endowments of his mind. On my part, I shall show my grat.i.tude to his memory by teaching and extolling the name of Linnaeus, as the supreme prince of naturalists, even here under the equator, where the sciences are already flouris.h.i.+ng, and advancing by the most rapid steps; and where, I am disposed to believe, the muses may, perhaps, in future ages, fix their seat. If my opinion be of any weight as a naturalist, I must declare that I can find no name, in the whole history of this department of knowledge, worthy to be compared with the ill.u.s.trious Swede. Of this at least I am certain, that the merits of Newton in philosophy and mathematics are equalled in botany, and all the principles of natural history, by the immortal Von Linne. These great men stand equal and unrivalled, in my judgment, as the most faithful interpreters of Nature's works. I trust, sir, you will not take amiss this testimony of mine in favour of your distinguished parent; for, as you are closely allied to him in blood, I feel myself scarcely less intimately attached, by the particular friends.h.i.+p with which he was so good as to favour me. His memory will ever be cherished by me, as that of a beloved preceptor, and I shall value, as long as I live, every pledge of his regard...."

With this testimony to the transcendent merits of Linnaeus we conclude the present section, regarding it as a fit introduction to that which follows, in which we shall attempt to sketch the character of this extraordinary man.

SECTION XI.

_Character of Linnaeus._

Specific Character of Linnaeus--Remarks of Condorcet--Linnaeus's Appearance and bodily Conformation--His Habits, mental Characteristics, Sociality, domestic Relations, Parsimony, and Generosity--His Forbearance towards his Opponents, Inapt.i.tude for the Acquisition of Languages, Love of Fame, moral Conduct, religious Feelings--Character of his Writings--Remarks on his Cla.s.sifications.

The character of Linnaeus, marked as it is by features which the least reflective mind can hardly fail to distinguish as indicative of qualities that seldom present themselves in so high a degree of development, is not difficult to be appreciated.

The method which he employed for characterising the genera and species of animals and plants, he applied to himself as an individual, and the description which he gave of his own person and mind is too remarkable to be omitted here. It is this:--

"Occipite gibbo, ad suturam lambdoideam transverse depresso, pili in infantia nivei, dein fusci, in senio canescentes. Oculi brunnei, vivaces, acutissimi, visu eximio. Frons in senio rugosa. Verruca obliterata in bucca dextra et alia in nasi dextro latere. Dentes debiles, cariosi ab odontalgia haereditaria in juventute.

"Animus promptus, mobilis ad iram et laet.i.tiam et maerores, cito placabatur; hilaris in juventute, nec in senio torpidus, in rebus agendis promptissimus; incessu levis, agilis.

"Curas domesticas committebat uxori, ipse naturae productis unice intentus; incepta opera ad finem perduxit, nec in itinere respexit."

To convert this aphoristic description into elegant English, such as is employed by writers of the Buffon school,--men of many words and few facts,--would be to destroy its peculiar beauty, which can only be retained in an appropriate translation:--

"The head of Linnaeus had a remarkable prominence behind, and was transversely depressed at the lambdoid suture. His hair was white in infancy, afterwards brown, in old age grayish. His eyes were hazel, lively, and penetrating; their power of vision exquisite. His forehead was furrowed in old age. He had an obliterated wart on the right cheek, and another on the corresponding side of the nose. His teeth were unsound, and at an early age decayed from hereditary toothach. His mind was quick, easily excited to anger, joy, or sadness; but its affections soon subsided. In youth he was cheerful, in age not torpid, in business most active. He walked with a light step, and was distinguished for agility. The management of his domestic affairs he committed to his wife, and concerned himself solely with the productions of nature.

Whatever he began he brought to an end, and on a journey he never looked back."

"Some time before his death," says Condorcet in his Eloge, "Linnaeus traced in Latin, on a sheet of paper, his character, his manners, and his external conformation, imitating in this respect several great men.

He accuses himself of impatience, of an excessive vivacity, and even of a little jealousy. In this sketch he has pushed modesty and truth to their utmost; and they who have known that great naturalist, justly charge him with severity towards himself. There are moments when the most virtuous person sees nothing but his own failings. After describing universal nature in all its details, it may be said that the picture would have remained incomplete had he not painted himself. At the same time it is vexing that he should have painted himself in colours so unfavourable. Judging him by his conduct, no one could have fancied the existence of these defects, nor could they have been known unless he had revealed them." Yet, if the d.a.m.natory revelation which he made be, as M.

Fee a.s.serts, nothing more than the above sketch, it would appear that he has half in playfulness presented a technical character of himself, such as he would have written of a bear or a baboon. It presents indications of candour and self-reproach, but certainly is, on the whole, much more laudatory than otherwise.

With respect to bodily conformation, he was of a stature rather below the ordinary standard, as has been the case with several very ambitious, active, and successful men. His temperament was the sanguineous, with a proportion of the nervous; whence he was lively, excitable, full of hope, and of great ardour; but since he was in no degree melancholic, some physiologists might puzzle themselves to discover where he obtained his indefatigable industry, his perseverance, his obstinate straightforwardness, and the tenacity with which he held all opinions which he had once received. In youth and middle age he was light, but muscular; whence his personal agility and energy; but as he advanced in years he became rather full, although with little diminution of his corporeal, and still less of his mental activity. In walking he stooped a little, having contracted that habit from his constant search for plants and other objects. He was moderate in his diet, regulated his mode of living by strict method, and by temperance preserved his energies, that he might devote them to the cultivation of his favourite sciences. His hours of sleep were in summer from ten to five, in winter from nine to six.

Punctual and orderly in all his arrangements, he underwent labours which to most men would have been impracticable. Yet the period of study he always limited by the natural flow of his spirits, and whenever he became fatigued, or felt indisposed for labour, he laid aside his task.

Some persons have accounted for the immense extent of his works by simply allowing him industry and perseverance; but they who think so are not aware, that these qualities are generally inseparable from genius of the highest order.

In the evenings he frequently indulged in social intercourse with his friends, when he gave free vent to his lively humour; never for a moment enveloping himself in that reserve with which men of little minds conceal their real want of dignity. Whether delivering a solemn oration at the university, or familiarly conversing with the learned, or dancing in a barn with his pupils, he was respected and esteemed alike.

It is perhaps strange that, although of this joyous temperament, he had not a musical ear, having been in this respect like a man whose character was in almost every point very different, but not less truly estimable,--that great master of moral wisdom, Dr Johnson. It would even seem that he had a kind of antipathy to certain combinations of harmonious sound, although it is clear that he enjoyed the lively song of the thrush and skylark, which he mentions in his Lapland journey as affording him delight.

With respect to his domestic relations, it is agreed by his biographers that he manifested a very amiable character. He was a faithful and tender husband, although his consort possessed few estimable qualities; a fond and indulgent father, although his children obtained a much smaller share of his solicitude than his garden and museum. His wife, who, as we have seen, took charge of all his domestic arrangements, is described as having been of a masculine appearance, selfish, domineering, and dest.i.tute of accomplishments. Unable to hold any share in rational conversation, she had little desire to encourage it in others; and as her parsimony was still greater than her husband's, we may suppose that her mode of management was not very conducive to the comfort of her guests. As a mother being incapable of estimating the advantages of proper training, her daughters were in a great measure left dest.i.tute of the polite acquirements becoming their station in society; and the father being, as he says, "naturae productis unice intentus," did not trouble himself about uninteresting affairs of this nature. The result, so far as regards his son, we shall see in a subsequent section.

It is generally acknowledged that Linnaeus was more addicted to the love of gold than becomes a philosopher, and that his style of living was by no means equal to his income. "For my own part," says his pupil Fabricius, "I can easily excuse him for having been a little too fond of money, when I consider those extremes of poverty which so long and so heavily overwhelmed him. It may also be said in his defence, that the parsimonious habits which he had contracted under the most pressing necessity remained with him ever after, and that he found it impossible to renounce them when he lived in the midst of abundance." This apology may perhaps suffice, especially when we find it a.s.serted that his frugality never degenerated into avarice.

Towards his pupils he conducted himself with the most praiseworthy liberality. To those who were poor he remitted the fees due to him as professor, and even from the rich he on many occasions refused to receive any recompense. Dr Gieseke, when about to leave him in the autumn of 1771, pressed upon him a Swedish bank-note, as a remuneration for the trouble which he had taken in affording him instruction; but he was unwilling to accept it, and it was not till after the repeated entreaties of his pupil that he acceded to his request:--"Tell me candidly," said he, "if you are rich, and can afford it;--can you well spare this money on your return to Germany? If you can, give the note to my wife; but should you be poor, so help me G.o.d, I would not take a farthing from you!"--"To the praise of Linnaeus," says Mr Ehrhart, "I must farther own, notwithstanding his parsimony, that he neither would nor did accept a single penny as a fee for the lectures which he gave me. You are a Swiss," he once said to me, "and the only Swiss that visits me. I shall take no money of you, but feel a pleasure in telling you all that I know gratis."

His excitable temper not unfrequently betrayed him into expressions which indicated a great want of self-control; but if he was easily roused to anger, he was as speedily appeased. He was exceedingly pleasant in conversation, humorous, and fond of telling entertaining stories. Constant in his attachments, he was ever disposed to look with indulgence on the faults of his friends; and he was fortunate in the affection which his pupils manifested towards him. But it is said that he was equally tenacious of dislike towards his enemies, or those of whom he had formed an unfavourable opinion.

His opponents he treated with forbearance or contempt, and on no occasion engaged in controversy. In a letter to Haller he says,--"Our great example, Boerhaave, answered n.o.body whatever: I recollect his saying to me one day, 'You should never reply to any controversial writers; promise me that you will not.' I promised him accordingly, and have benefited very much by it." If he cherished animosity towards his adversaries, it certainly did not prevent him from expressing his esteem for their merits; and as dissimulation had no place in his character, he did not follow the example of those who by private misrepresentations undo the benefits conferred by public encomiums. "I am certain," says Murray, "that had his most unjust and most violent opponents heard him, they could not have refused him their esteem and affection."

No man ever excelled him in the discrimination of natural objects; nor is it necessary for us to enter upon any exposition of the excellencies of his mental const.i.tution, as fitting him for the office which he a.s.sumed as legislator of natural history. Active, penetrating, sagacious, more conversant with nature than with books, yet not unacquainted with the labours of others, he succeeded in eliciting order from the chaotic confusion which he found prevailing in his favourite sciences. His memory, which was uncommonly vigorous, was, like his other faculties, devoted to natural history alone; and it was the first that suffered decay. When he was only fifty years of age it already exhibited symptoms of decline; and a few years before his death it was almost entirely extinguished. In the study of modern languages he had never made sufficient progress to enable him to express his ideas with fluency in any other than his native tongue. His intercourse with strangers was carried on in Latin, of which he had a competent knowledge, although in his letters he paid little attention to elegance, or even in some cases to grammatical accuracy. He used to say to his friends,--"Malo tres alapas a Prisciano, quam unam a Natura,--I would rather have three slaps from Priscian than one from Nature."

The love of fame was his predominant pa.s.sion. It possessed his soul at an early age, strengthened as he advanced in years, and retained its hold to the last. "Famam extendere factis" was his favourite motto, and that which, when enn.o.bled, he chose for his coat of arms. But his ambition was entirely confined to science, and never influenced his conduct towards the persons with whom he had intercourse, nor manifested itself by the a.s.sumption of superiority. Fond of praise, he was liberal in dispensing it to others; and, although nothing afforded him more pleasure than flattery, he was neither apt to boast of his merits, nor disinclined to extol those of his fellow-labourers.

We do not find any remarkable deviations in his general conduct from the straight path of morality. It is true, that in the affair of Rosen the impetuosity of his temper had nearly betrayed him into an act which would have stamped his memory with indelible disgrace; but if he exhibited some of the frailties and errors inseparable from humanity, it is neither our inclination to search them out, nor our province to p.r.o.nounce judgment upon them. He has been accused of betraying a prurient imagination in the names which he gave to many objects, both in the vegetable and animal kingdoms. It is certain, that a more chastened taste would have enabled him to avoid offence in this matter; but neither in conversation nor in act has any moral delinquency been laid to his charge.

In all his writings there appears a deep feeling of reverence and grat.i.tude towards the Supreme Being; and in the history of his life we find nothing which could lead us to suppose that such feelings were a.s.sumed for the occasion. Over the door of his room was inscribed,--"Innocui vivite, Numen adest,--Live in innocence, for G.o.d is present." His more important works he commences and ends with some pa.s.sage from the Scriptures, expressive of the power, the glory, the beneficence of G.o.d, the creator and preserver of all things. Whenever, in his lectures or on his excursions, he found an opportunity of expatiating on these subjects, he embraced it with enthusiasm. "On these occasions," says one of his biographers, "his heart glowed with celestial fire, and his mouth poured forth torrents of admirable eloquence." Where is the naturalist, possessed of the true feelings of a man, who does not honour in his heart the being possessed of such a character! The sneer of the filthy sensualist, who, steeped in pollution, endeavours to persuade his turbid mind that all others are like himself; the scorn of the little puffed-up intellect, which, having traced the outline of some curious mechanism in nature, exults in the fancied independence of its own poor energies; the malice of the grovelling spirit, that, finding itself eclipsed by the splendour of superior talents, strives to obscure them by the aspersions of calumny,--what are they that they should influence our estimation of the character of this great man, who with his ardent piety and the devotion of his faculties to the glory of his Creator, is, amid all his imperfections, an object worthy of our love and esteem. And such he will remain, while the world endures, in the view of every enlightened admirer of the wonderful works of G.o.d.

His writings are characterized by extreme brevity, nervousness, and precision. He expresses in a dozen words what might be expanded into half as many sentences. His style certainly is not always pure, nor even on all occasions grammatically correct. He was more desirous to instruct than to entertain, and therefore his expressions are weighed but not ornamented. Yet no teacher ever excited such enthusiasm in his pupils; and since the world began has there been none who gave such an impulse to the progress of natural history. They who can sneer at such a man must be cold and selfish indeed. "The language of Linnaeus," says Cuvier, "is ingenious and singular. Its very singularity renders it attractive.

His phraseology, and even his t.i.tles, are figurative; but his figures are in general highly expressive. With him, the various means by which Nature ensures the reproduction of plants are their nuptials; the changes in the position of their parts at night are their sleep; the periods of the year at which they flower form the calendar of Flora."