men are not physiologists in Linnaeus’ sense. The second class of
systematists, the systematists proper, he distinguishes into orthodox
and heterodox, the former taking the grounds of division exclusively
from the organs of fructification, while the latter use other marks
as well. In this manner Linnaeus treats every subject of which he has
to speak, and wherever he can in short, numbered sentences, which
look like descriptions of genera and species. His mind and character
were fully formed in 1736 when he wrote his ‘Fundamenta,’ and he
preserved his peculiarities of style from that time forward; we find
the same modes of expression in the ‘Nemesis Divina,’ a treatise on
religion and morals addressed as a legacy to his son. Where these
peculiarities of manner and expression are suitable they make a
favourable impression on the reader, as for instance in the short
accounts he gives of the various systems in the ‘Classes Plantarum,’
a work in which Linnaeus was quite in his element; there he traces
with a fine instinct the guiding principles of each system, pronounces
upon its merits and defects, and sets it before the reader in numbered
sentences of epigrammatic brevity. This manner is strictly adhered to
in the ‘Philosophia’ also, and it has certainly helped not a little
to withdraw the attention of his reader from his many fallacies in
argument, especially his oft-recurring reasonings in a circle.
This remarkable combination of an unscientific philosophy with mastery
over the classification of things and conceptions, this mixture of
consistency in carrying out his scholastic principles with gross
inaccuracies of thought, impart to his style an originality, which is
rendered still more striking by the native freshness and directness,
and not unfrequently by the poetic feeling, which animate his periods.
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