Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnæus: with Introductory remarks on the Study of Natural History
Aristotle · en
On his return to Holland, which took place in September, Linnaeus
continued his researches with increased diligence. In the course of the
year 1737, he laid before the scientific world about two hundred printed
sheets, not of compilation, nor of fiction, but for the most part
completely original. The Genera Plantarum, containing the characters of
all the genera of plants according to the number, form, situation, and
proportion of their organs of generation, was the first work published
by him after his return from England. This treatise exhibited 935
genera, to which were added during the same year sixty others, in a
supplement, to which he also appended a concise view of his system. A
full account of the plants observed by him in Lapland, arranged
according to the method invented by himself, formed his next
undertaking. It was dedicated to the Royal Society of Upsal, and
contained a brief physico-geographical description of the country. At
the solicitation of Gronovius, he permitted one of the productions of
that northern region to be named after himself, _Linnaea borealis_. The
great object of his residence at Hartecamp was now completed by the
publication of his Hortus Cliffortianus, in which were described all the
species of plants cultivated in the burgomaster's garden. The Critica
Botanica, in which he attempted to reform the absurd nomenclature that
then prevailed, and the Viridarium Cliffortianum, describing the
greenhouse-plants of Cliffort's establishment, were the other books
published by him during this year.
Boerhaave, who had been in a great measure the author of his good
fortune in Holland, now procured for him the appointment of physician in
ordinary to the Dutch colony of Surinam, which, however, he declined,
both on account of the insalubrity of the climate, and because he could
now entertain the prospect of a more eminent station. He therefore
recommended a young friend named Bartsch, who died in six months after
his arrival in South America.
When about to depart from Leyden, Linnaeus went to take leave of
Boerhaave. The interview, which, however melancholy, was very
flattering, is thus related by him: "That great man, who was affected
with a dropsy of the chest which forced him to keep himself always
sitting in his bed to prevent suffocation, would not receive visiters,
but admitted me to bid him farewell. Summoning the little strength that
remained in him, he raised my hand to his lips, and said: 'I have
finished my career, and all that I have been permitted to do I have
done; may God preserve you, who have yet a greater task to perform! What
the learned world expected from me it has obtained; but it expects much
more from you, my dear son. Farewell, farewell, my dear Linnaeus!'"