_Linnaeus's Occupations from 1750 to 1770._
Publication of the Philosophia Botanica--General Account of
that Work--Linnaeus engaged in arranging the Collections of
the Queen and Count Tessin--The Species Plantarum--Sir J. E.
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
Assistant and Successor--He receives Letters of Nobility;
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
classification of plants. This work, to which he gave the title 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 constitute 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 illustrious 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 classification of
animals on the very same principle. Since he was so attached to
numerical analogies, it is surprising that he did not form 12 classes 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 principal writers on botany;
the second, of systems of classification; 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 sexes, the
characters of the classes 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 assistance 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 assurance 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 distinguishing character
of each object is mostly stamped in its name; and if this perfection of
the art cannot always be attained, the memory is assisted, 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 passage, 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 latitudes, 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 sexes 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 passion: "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 circumstance 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
quantity 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 L2330 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 pronounced
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 amusements is given by his pupil
Fabricius, although, in one circumstance 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 fellowship.
"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 balls
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 passed
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 amusement, 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 shillings and sixpence sterling.
To add to his happiness, his son, at the age of twenty-one, was
appointed his assistant and successor, shortly after he himself had
received letters of nobility, 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 L520 sterling, for his discovery relative to the production
of pearls; and it is even asserted that his elevation to the rank of
nobility 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 harassed 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 manuscript, "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.