LIOT^EUS LINNELL 511 of exotic plants from 50 to 1,100, besides adding largely to the Swedish plants which it contained. Distinctions of all kinds were showered upon him. He received the much coveted appointment of botanical professor, and in 1746 the rank and title of archiater ; in 1757" he was ennobled and took the title of Von Linne ; the chief learned bodies of Europe enrolled him among their members ; and the king of Spain endeavored in vain, by the offer of a liberal salary and letters of nobility, to induce him to settle in Madrid. His material prosperity kept pace with his fame, and during the last 20 years of his life his leisure hours were passed in ease and affluence at a coun- try seat purchased by him at Hammarby near UpsaL His literary and scientific labors were pursued with untiring energy, and from all parts of the world he was constantly receiving rare specimens of animals, plants, and minerals to add to the rich collections of the university, and to enable him to perfect and systematize the results of his former inquiries. The her- barium of Linnseus, a small affair as compared with the collections of botanists of the present day, is now in the possession of the Linnsean society at London. After the king of Sweden learned that it had been sold, and was already on its way to England, he despatched a man- of-war to overtake and restore it, but without effect. A careful examination of his herbarium shows that Linnaeus did not exercise the care necessary to make it of value in determining his plants, and it is of little use save as a me- mento of the great botanist. His chief pub- lications after his establishment at TJpsal com- prise the Flora Suecica (Ley den, 1745) ; Ani- malia Suecice (Stockholm, 1745) ; Fauna Sue- cm Eegni (1746) ; Eortus Upsaliensis (1748), a description of the academical garden ; Mate- ria Medico, e Regno Vegetdbili (1747); Amos- nitates Academics (Leyden, 1749-'77), a col- lection of treatises on various subjects bear- ing the names of his pupils, but inspired and revised by himself ; Materia Medico, e Regno Animali (Upsal, 1750) ; Philosophia Botani- ca (Stockholm, 1751 ; four other editions ap- peared in the lifetime of the author), the principal work on the Linnsean system of botany, and that from which many popular introductions have been compiled ; and the Species Plantarum (2 vols. 8vo, 1753), the author's most important contribution to scien- tific literature. In this last work, which Hal- ler calls maximum opus et ceternum, he first adopted trivial names expressing some obvious character to designate species, thus dispen- sing with the clumsy and tedious descriptions which naturalists formerly employed, and ren- dering it possible to speak of every known plant in two words. So highly is the work still esteemed that an edition of it, together with the Genera Plantarum and other writings of Linnseus in the form in which he left them, was published in Leipsic in 1840, under the title of Codex Botanicu* Linnceanus, collated by Dr. 500 VOL. x. 33 Hermann E. Eichter. A similar improvement was carried out in other branches of natural history, his works upon which, though less im- portant than those devoted to botany, are char- acterized by the same lucid classification and logical precision. In 1774, while lecturing on botany, he experienced an attack of apoplexy, which incapacitated him for the active dis- charge of his professional duties. Two years later a second attack paralyzed his right side and impaired his faculties, and the remaining months of his life were passed in mental dark- ness, which the sight of flowers and opening buds and other familiar and beloved objects could never wholly dispel. His death was the signal for a general mourning in Upsal; a medal was struck and a monument erected to his memory, and the king of Sweden pro- nounced a panegyric upon him in a speech from the throne to the assembly of the states. The sexual or artificial system of Linnseus, though generally adopted soon after its pro- mulgation, has failed to stand the test of time, and has long been replaced by the natural one of Jussieu, De Candolle, and their followers; but it accomplished a useful purpose in redu- cing to order the chaotic state in which classi- fication in all branches of natural history was involved, and was applicable to the compara- tively few plants then known to naturalists. It does not appear that the author regarded it otherwise than as a temporary expedient. As a promoter of the study of botany, and indeed of all the principal branches of natural his- tory, his merit was transcendent, and the en- thusiasm and the systematic spirit of inquiry with which he imbued his pupils raised bot- any within a brief period to the position of an almost perfected science. In stature Linnseus was diminutive, with a large head, and quick, piercing eyes. His temper was irascible, but he was easily appeased, and his relations with his pupils and scientific associates appear to have been on an agreeable footing. He was vain to excess, and is said to have persecuted his only son at the instigation of his wife, a woman of profligate character. Five children survived him, one of whom, Elizabeth Chris- tina, inherited much of her father's genius. She was the first naturalist to observe the in- flammability of exhalations of certain plants, and also the electric sparks to be drawn from the nasturtium. The son succeeded his father in the botanical chair at Upsal, but was not distinguished by discoveries. The family is now extinct. LIMELL, John, an English painter, born in London in June, 1792. He first exhibited at the academy in 1807, and in 1809 gained the prize at the British institution for the best landscapes. Eor many years he mainly painted portraits, among which are many of distin- guished persons, but subsequently devoted him- self to landscape and figure painting. Among his works are : " The Morning Walk " (1 847) ; " The Windmill" and a " Wood Scene," in the
