those of Ray, Hermann, and Tournefort, but it met with no support on any other grounds.
We here take our leave of the systematists of the 17th century, and, passing over the mere plant-collectors of the first thirty years of the 18th, turn at once to Linnaeus.
Carl Linnaeus[1], called Carl von Linné after 1757, was born in 1707 at Rashult in Sweden, where his father was preacher. He began the study of theology, but was soon drawn away from it by his preference for botany, and in this pursuit he was encouraged by Dr. Rothmann, who sent him to the works of Tournefort. In Lund, where he now studied medicine, he became acquainted with Vaillant's treatise, 'De sexu plantarum,' and had his attention drawn by it to the sexual organs. In 1730, when he was only twenty-three years old, the aged Professor Rudbeck gave up to him his botanical lectures and the management of the botanic gardens, and here Linnaeus began the composition of the 'Bibliotheca Botanica,' the 'Classes Plantarum,' and the 'Genera Plantarum.' In the year 1732 he made a botanical journey to Lapland, and in 1734 to Dalecarlia; in 1735 he went to Holland, where he obtained a degree; in that country he remained three years, and printed the works above-named, together with the 'Systema Naturae,' the 'Fundamenta Botanica,' and other treatises. From Holland he visited England and France. In the year 1738 he returned to Stockholm and was compelled to gain a livelihood as a physician, till in 1741 he became Professor of Botany in Upsala, where he died in the year 1778.
Linnaeus is commonly regarded as the reformer of the
- ↑ In addition to the Autobiography of Linnaeus, various accounts of his life have been written, some of which are mentioned in Pritzel's 'Thesaurus Lit. Bot.' A strange revelation of his character and sentiments is to be found in his treatise on the 'Nemesis divina,' which he bequeathed to his son. Of this work Professor Fries has unfortunately published an epitome only, which is noticed in the Regensburg Flora, No. 44 (1851). On Linnaeus' services to zoology, see Carus, 'Geschichte der Zoologie,' München, 1872.
