_A brief Notice of Linnaeus's Son._
Unnatural Conduct of the Mother of the Younger Linnaeus--His
Birth and Education--In his eighteenth Year he is appointed
Demonstrator of Botany, and, three Years after, Conjunct
Professor of Natural History--He visits England, France,
Holland, Germany, and Denmark--On returning engages in the
Discharge of his Duties; but at Stockholm is seized with
Fever, which ends in Apoplexy, by which he is carried
off--His Character and Funeral.
Although the younger Linnaeus has been considered as a botanist rather
than a zoologist, a brief notice of him may be suitably appended to the
biography of his father, more especially as he can scarcely be said to
have possessed an independent existence, either as a man or as a
naturalist. The victim of domestic tyranny, he seems to have lost
whatever energy he might originally have possessed, and to have passed
through life without being influenced by those powerful motives which
usually impel ambitious men in their career. His mother, who in her
conduct towards him bore some resemblance to the infamous mother of
Savage the poet, entirely broke his spirit, which perhaps was never of
the most ardent or aspiring description. Not content with making his
home as uncomfortable as she could, she conceived a positive hatred for
her only son, which she displayed by every affront and persecution that
her situation gave her the means of inflicting on his susceptible and
naturally amiable mind.[L]
Charles Linnaeus was born on the 20th January 1741, at the house of his
maternal grandfather, Moraeus, at Fahlun. From his earliest childhood he
was encouraged by his father in the attachment which he manifested to
natural objects, especially plants; and when only ten years old, he knew
by name most of those which were cultivated in the botanic garden at
Upsal. A stranger, however, to the "stimulus of necessity," which had
urged his parent to surmount every obstacle, he appears not to have
exhibited any indications of enterprise or enthusiasm. Notwithstanding
this, in his eighteenth year, he was appointed demonstrator in the
botanical garden, and at the age of twenty-one commenced authorship by
publishing a decade of rare plants. Within twelve months another decade
was produced, but the work was discontinued, for what reason is not
known. In 1763, he was nominated conjunct professor of botany, with the
promise that after his father's death he should succeed him in all his
academical functions. In 1765, he took his degree of doctor of medicine,
and began to give lectures; but, owing to the causes already alluded to,
his fondness for science soon degenerated into disgust.
When he was thirty-seven years of age his father died, and he succeeded
to his offices; but his mother forced him to pay for the library,
manuscripts, herbarium, and other articles, which he ought to have
inherited. However, a stimulus was thereby imparted which roused him
from his lethargy, and he began in earnest to discharge the duties that
were imposed upon him, among which were the arrangement of his father's
papers, and the superintendence of new editions of several of his works.
A third mantissa or supplement to the Systema Vegetabilium, left in
manuscript by Linnaeus, and enlarged by his son, was published at
Brunswick in 1781, under the care of Ehrhart.
The young lecturer had long been desirous of travelling, but during his
father's life had found it impossible to gratify his inclination. Being
now his own master, he prepared to visit the principal countries of
Europe; and, as Thunberg had been appointed demonstrator of botany, the
government granted him permission. Want of money, however, presented an
obstacle; to overcome which he found it necessary to borrow a sum of his
friend Baron Alstroemer, to whom he resigned his juvenile herbarium in
pledge. At London, where he arrived in May 1781, he was received with
enthusiasm, and treated with every possible attention by his father's
friends and correspondents, especially Sir Joseph Banks, in whose house
he principally resided. Here he occupied himself in preparing several
works, such as a System of the Mammalia, and a Treatise on the Liliaceae
and Palms; but an attack of jaundice interrupted his pursuits, and his
happiness was further diminished by the death of his friend Solander.
On recovering from his illness, he proceeded to Paris in the end of
August, accompanied by M. Broussonet. In that capital he was loaded with
all the attentions which were due to the son of Linnaeus, and passed the
winter among a circle of learned and ingenious persons. In the spring of
1782, he visited Holland, where he inspected the gardens and museums,
and received, as in England and France, the most valuable contributions
to his collections. He next proceeded to Hamburg, from whence he went to
Kiel to visit his friend Fabricius, the great entomologist. At
Copenhagen he experienced the same respectful kindness as in the other
great cities. In January 1783, he went to Gottenburg, to render his
homage of gratitude to Baron Alstroemer, and in February returned to
Upsal.
By this journey he had increased his knowledge, established useful
connexions, collected many valuable specimens, and emancipated himself
from the state of listlessness into which he had previously fallen.
Hopes were entertained that he might prove a worthy successor to the
legislator of natural history; and there is no reason to doubt that he
would at least have acquitted himself honourably in the discharge of his
duties.
But in the month of August he had occasion to go to Stockholm, where he
was seized with a bilious fever, which, however, soon abated, so that he
was able to return home. There he experienced a relapse; and having
imprudently exposed himself to the cold and damp of the apartment in
which his collections were kept, a third accession of fever came on,
accompanied with apoplexy, which carried him off on the 1st of November
1783, in the forty-second year of his age.
He is said to have possessed a vigorous frame of body, and even to have
inherited his father's looks, but without his energy, his activity, his
consciousness of talent, or his love of adulation. He was, on the
contrary, gentle and retired. Had he really been endowed with genius
similar to that of his parent, he must have distinguished his career,
brief as it was, by some meritorious performance. But it is no doubt
wisely ordered that superiority of intellect should not, like the
distinctions conferred by birth and fortune, be hereditary.
His remains were solemnly deposited, on the 30th of November, in the
cathedral at Upsal, close to those of his father. A funeral oration was
pronounced by M. Von Schulzenheim; and as the male line of the family
had become extinct, his coat of arms was broken in pieces. The gardener
of the university then strewed flowers over the grave "of a generation
that," to use the words of one of its historians, "will remain great and
imperishable as long as the earth, and Nature, and her science shall
exist!"
After the death of this young man, the collections, library, and even
the manuscripts, of his father, were offered for sale, and purchased by
Sir James Edward Smith, the founder of the Linnaean Society of London.
They are now in the possession of that illustrious body, whose labours
have tended so much to forward the progress of natural history in
general, and of botany in particular. The herbarium, which is contained
in two deal presses, similar to the model described in the Philosophia
Botanica, is to the botanist an object of great interest, and has been
the means of elucidating many doubtful points. The building in which
his museum was kept at Hammarby, although it now contains only the chair
in which he sat when delivering his lectures, and a stuffed crocodile
suspended from the roof, continues to attract the notice of strangers,
who generally carry away with them a specimen of the _Linnaea_, which
grows profusely in the neighbourhood.
It may be mentioned, in conclusion, that the widow of the great Swedish
naturalist survived him fourteen years, having died in 1806, after
attaining the 94th year of her age.
FOOTNOTES:
[K] A singular objection, remarks Sir James E. Smith, from the great
sharp-eyed cryptogamist!
[L] Life by Sir J. E. Smith.
THE END.
Printed by Oliver & Boyd,
Tweeddale Court, High Street, Edinburgh.
Edinburgh, _June 1834_.
PLAN
OF THE
EDINBURGH CABINET LIBRARY;
CONTAINING
A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF THE WORKS ALREADY PUBLISHED,
WITH
NOTICES OF THOSE WHICH ARE IN PREPARATION.
The Edinburgh Cabinet Library having now reached its Sixteenth Volume,
the Proprietors are desirous of offering a few observations, with a view
to elucidate the general character and plan of the Publication more
fully than could be done in the original Prospectus.
The primary object of this undertaking was to construct, from the varied
and costly materials that have been accumulating for ages, a popular
Work, appearing in successive volumes, and comprising all that is really
valuable in those branches of knowledge which most happily combine
amusement with instruction. A scheme so comprehensive necessarily
embraced a wide range of subjects; all of which, however, though treated
by separate writers, were designed to form component parts of one
uniform system. To record the prominent changes and revolutions in the
history of nations;--to follow the progress of inland and maritime
discovery, embodying the researches of those fearless adventurers who
have traversed stormy oceans, or penetrated into the interior of
barbarous kingdoms;--to mark the steps by which the sciences and arts
that refine and improve human nature have arrived at their present
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circumstances and forms, Man and the objects by which he is
surrounded,--are among the leading features in the design of the CABINET
LIBRARY.
Its reception hitherto has exceeded the most sanguine anticipations of
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executed from time to time; and in America, the volumes, as they appear,
are regularly stereotyped. The method adopted from the beginning, of not
restricting the publication to monthly issues, has proved of material
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respective contributions in the most satisfactory manner; while, by
employing on the more important subjects a combination of talent, and
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These form properly the basis of the system; for surely no study can be
more interesting, or more instructive, than that which makes us
acquainted with the political institutions and domestic habits of
foreign nations; with their productions and resources, their literature,
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every particular country in one work, instead of having to search for
them in many volumes, and these frequently so expensive as to be beyond
the reach of ordinary readers. This department, in so far as it has yet
advanced, may serve to illustrate the general plan.
The AFRICAN division of the globe has been nearly completed, three
volumes on the subject,--the second, third, and twelfth of the
series,--having already appeared. The first of these, entitled NARRATIVE
OF DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE IN AFRICA, not only describes the natural
features of that continent, and the social condition of its people, but
also exhibits a view of whatever is most interesting in the researches
and observations of those travellers who have sought to explore its
interior, from the times of the Greeks and Romans down to the recent
expeditions of Park, Clapperton, and Lander; thus presenting within a
narrow compass all that is known of those immense deserts which have
hitherto been a blank in the geography of the world. A VIEW OF ANCIENT
AND MODERN EGYPT, and an Account of NUBIA AND ABYSSINIA, the _Ethiopia_
of the ancients, are comprised in the third and twelfth volumes. These
countries, alike interesting to the antiquary and the scholar as the
cradle of the arts, have been carefully illustrated from the
descriptions of the classic writers, as well as from the labours of
scientific travellers, who, in recent times, have contributed by their
discoveries to disperse the clouds that so long enveloped the splendid
monuments of the Pharaohs, and obscured our geographical and historical
knowledge of that portion of the globe. The greater part of the northern
coast of the African continent still remains to be described; but when
this want is supplied, by an Account of the BARBARY STATES, which is now
in progress, the public will be in possession of a concise survey of the
History, Geography, and Statistics of one grand division of the earth.
To ASIA several works have already been devoted, and others are in a
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and more remarkable scenes, chiefly drawn from the works of travellers
and pilgrims who have successively visited the country.
The importance of BRITISH INDIA, both in a political and a commercial
point of view, made it necessary to give a minute and comprehensive
account of that portion of Asia; and, accordingly, three volumes,--the
sixth, seventh, and eighth,--have been appropriated to that interesting
subject. In these will be found a luminous view of the civil history of
Hindostan; exhibiting, in succession, those splendid achievements, both
by sea and land, which signalized the early voyages and settlements of
the English and Portuguese;--the revolutions effected by the Mohammedan
invaders, and the various dynasties established there by that
devastating power, the career of which is diversified by such striking
vicissitudes of grandeur and humiliation;--and, finally, those still
more brilliant events, so glorious to our countrymen, who with a handful
of troops subverted all the states which had sprung from the ruins of
the Mogul empire, and made themselves masters of a wealthy and fertile
territory, containing a population of more than one hundred millions,
that still remain in subjection to a government seated at the opposite
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an explanation of the mode and terms on which young men going out to
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India by way of the Red Sea, which now engages so much of the public
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by none in the knowledge of all that relates to the management and
resources of our Oriental possessions. To render the information
concerning these extensive regions as complete as possible, the Natural
History has been fully and methodically treated,--the separate articles
being contributed by writers of acknowledged scientific acquirements; so
that, by thus directing to one object the talents and learning of many,
a more perfect work on British India has been produced, than if the
undivided task had been assigned to any one individual.
Next in importance and equal in interest to Hindostan is ARABIA, the
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primitive race by which it is inhabited;--the life and religion of the
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Caliphs;--the civil government, religious ceremonies, and social
institutions of the modern Arabs;--these are the prominent topics
illustrated in this work.
PERSIA is connected, both locally and historically, with the preceding
countries; and, in the fifteenth volume of the series, a descriptive
account is given of its antiquities, government, resources, productions,
and inhabitants. Its ancient and modern history is critically detailed;
and a lucid sketch is given of the religion and philosophy of Zoroaster.
As this work is the production of a writer who has travelled in that
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BELOOCHISTAN. At no very distant interval works will appear, on CHINA,
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between the Tigris and the Euphrates; and when to these are added some
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the LIBRARY, like the African, will be perfect in itself,--forming a
complete epitome of the social and religious, as well as of the
political and commercial state of those vast and important nations, so
many of which are now closely connected by ties of reciprocal
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AMERICA has as yet occupied comparatively less space than the two
preceding divisions of the globe; but a survey of its several states, as
well as those of EUROPE, forms part of the plan upon which the CABINET
LIBRARY has been constructed. A History of the Scandinavian kingdoms,
DENMARK, SWEDEN, AND NORWAY, and of the adjacent Islands and
Dependencies in the Northern Seas, is in course of preparation; and
among the contributors to this work the Proprietors may mention HENRY
WHEATON, Honorary Member of the Scandinavian and Icelandic Literary
Societies, who, from his long residence at Copenhagen, in his official
capacity of Charge d'Affaires from the United States, has had access to
the best sources of information. GREECE and ITALY, both ANCIENT AND
MODERN, are now in a state of considerable progress; and from what has
already been accomplished, some idea may be formed by the reader as to
the nature and contents of this department of the LIBRARY.
II--MARITIME DISCOVERY.
This subdivision of the plan is intimately and essentially connected
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CABINET LIBRARY have already been assigned. The Series opened with a
description of the POLAR SEAS AND REGIONS,--giving a connected narrative
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geological structure and other remarkable features peculiar to the
sublime scenery of the Polar latitudes; with a copious account of the
whale-fishery. To complete the history of Arctic adventure, the subject
was resumed in the ninth volume, which delineates, in the same condensed
manner, the PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY ON THE MORE NORTHERN COASTS OF
AMERICA, including a detail of the numerous expeditions undertaken by
the nations of Europe, and particularly by Britain, to trace the extreme
limits of that vast continent, partly by land, and partly by coast and
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consecutive view of the various efforts that have been made to explore
the Arctic Regions, from the times of Cabot and Cortereal to those of
Parry, Franklin, and Beechey.
There is now also in preparation a minute narrative of The
CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE GLOBE, FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT
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Proprietors have introduced into their Work what may be termed a new and
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in the present day. Instead of discussing the subject in a merely
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interest and a more inviting aspect have been given to an important
branch of knowledge, which has not hitherto been treated in combination
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The lives of distinguished men are often intimately associated with the
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as already mentioned, comprised in the fifth volume; in which is
embodied much curious information relative to the romantic spirit of
maritime enterprise by which their times were distinguished, and a
picturesque Narrative is given of the daring adventures of the
BUCCANEERS. The LIFE OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH, in the eleventh volume,
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have not hitherto been explained or understood. The TRAVELS AND
RESEARCHES OF BARON HUMBOLDT, one of the most eminent naturalists of the
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kindly pointed out sources of information to the Editor. In addition to
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* * * * *
Such is a general outline of the plan on which the EDINBURGH CABINET
LIBRARY will continue to be conducted. To point out its peculiar
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additional evidence can be requisite, to satisfy the public that the
Work advances no claim for which it does not offer a sufficient
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THE LATE SIR JOHN LESLIE,
Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, and
Corresponding Member of the Royal Institute of France.
ROBERT JAMESON, F.R.S.E. & L., F.L.S., M.W.S.,
Regius Professor of Natural History, Lecturer on Mineralogy, &c.
in the University of Edinburgh.
WILLIAM WALLACE, A.M., F.R.S.E.,
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REV. MICHAEL RUSSELL, LL.D.
HUGH MURRAY, F.R.S.E.
P. F. TYTLER, F.R.S. & F.S.A.
JAMES BAILLIE FRASER.
ANDREW CRICHTON.
JAMES WILSON, F.R.S.E., &c.
R. K. GREVILLE, LL.D.
W. MACGILLIVRAY, F.R.S.E., &c.
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CAPTAIN CLARENCE DALRYMPLE,
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NEW ISSUE
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learned Contributors to its different editions, its pages have been
stored with a mass of valuable and varied information. In its third
edition, it became, through the numerous contributions of the late
PROFESSOR ROBISON, the most complete Digest of the modern improvements
in Physics that had yet been presented to the British Public; and in the
fourth, it was raised, by means of those of PROFESSOR WALLACE, to a
similar eminence in the Mathematical Sciences. The compass and variety
of its plan and information, the general ability of its execution, and
its approved method of treating the Sciences, have, in a word, given it
so decided a preference in public favour, that its popularity, instead
of suffering any diminution from rivalship, has continued to increase to
the present day.
This is sufficiently proved by the successive publication of SIX
extensive Editions, three of which have appeared within the last twenty
years, and it is well known that the SUPPLEMENT to the last of these
Editions, completed in six volumes in 1824, attained a degree of
celebrity never before reached by any similar undertaking in this
country. But whilst it must be admitted to be one of the most valuable,
it is also one of the cheapest publications of the day. If the quantity
and quality of the matter, as compared with the price (not to mention
the superior style in which both the printing and engraving are
executed), be taken into account, this will be too evident to require
further illustration. Every part indeed contains an interesting
collection of Philosophical Disquisitions, Scientific Treatises, and
articles on History and Biography, by the most eminent authors in these
several departments, each of them respectively embracing the newest
discoveries, the most recent improvements, or the latest information,
which the progress of knowledge has supplied. These contributions,
therefore, besides possessing the interest of entirely new works
periodically issuing from the press, will, when completed, form THE
MOST VALUABLE DIGEST OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE THAT HAS YET APPEARED IN
BRITAIN, IN THE CONVENIENT FORM OF A DICTIONARY. To those who value the
acquisition of Useful Knowledge, this Work, accordingly, offers peculiar
advantages; nothing being admitted into its pages of a frivolous or
ephemeral description, or unfavourable to the best interests of morals
or revealed religion; and every part being corrected, improved,
remodelled, or enlarged, so as not only to enhance the general value of
the work in a literary point of view, but at the same time to bring down
the information in each department to the date of publication. The
additions which have thus been made, both in the way of amending former
articles, and introducing, in every branch of science, literature, and
general knowledge, a very great number of new contributions, expressly
written for the purpose, are perhaps without precedent in any similar
undertaking; and, upon the whole, the present is not so much a new
edition of the ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA as a new work under that title.
In every view, therefore, no periodical can be more beneficially put
into the hands of the young, who can scarcely fail to find some source
of attraction in every Part of it, and who, in the course of the
publication, must acquire a stock of information altogether invaluable.
In the execution of the numerous improvements which are in course of
being made in every part of the Work, the Editor is aided by those
eminent scientific and literary men whose co-operation he enjoyed in the
preparation of the Supplement, as well as by many other Contributors of
distinguished reputation, both in this country and on the Continent.
* * * * *
MODE AND TERMS OF PUBLICATION.
I. By augmenting the contents of the page, without decreasing the size
of the type, the Work, while much improved in appearance, will,
notwithstanding the great extension of its matter, be comprehended in
TWENTY Quarto Volumes, handsomely printed on paper of a superior
quality; twenty volumes of the present being nearly equal to twenty-four
of the former Editions. Each volume will consist of eight hundred pages,
containing a much greater quantity of matter than any similar
publication; and the Proprietors hold themselves distinctly PLEDGED to
the Public, that the Work shall not, on any account, exceed TWENTY-ONE
Volumes; their present confident belief, at the same time being, that it
will be completed in TWENTY.
II. The publication will proceed in THREE SHILLINGS PARTS, published
every alternate week, Twelve of which Parts will form a volume; each
Part thus averaging above sixty-six pages, and containing three and two
Plates alternately. The First Part was published on the Twelfth of July
1834. As the printing of the whole will be finished long before the
expiration of the period required for the periodical issue of the PARTS,
the Subscribers will have the option of more speedily completing their
copies of the Work, or of abiding by the publication in Parts till the
end of the Series.
III. Each Part will be sold for THREE SHILLINGS, thus making the price
of a quarto volume, of eight hundred ample pages, only THIRTY-SIX
SHILLINGS; a price very considerably lower than that of any similar
publication of the day, and which, when the quantity of Matter in each
volume, the quality of Paper and Printing, the numerous Engravings, and
the ability of the Articles, are taken into account, must be allowed to
place the Work in a highly advantageous point of view, even at a period
when the modes of diffusing useful knowledge at a moderate expense have
so justly engaged the attention of the Public. Considering its Extent
and Execution, it will unquestionably form the cheapest, as well as the
most valuable Digest of Human Knowledge that has yet appeared in
Britain.