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and would tell you very little about their real relationship. Therefore this classification has now been partly set aside for another or natural classification, which Linnæus also suggested, only he thought it too difficult for ordinary people; and which was worked out by a French botanist named Jussieu, as we shall see by-and-by. But the Linnæan system is still extremely useful for finding the name of a plant or animal, and many people in the last century were led to study zoology and botany by the simplicity of the classifications of Linnæus.

The other useful point in Linnæus's system was the accurate and precise terms he invented for describing plants. Before his time naturalists used any words which suited them, and as different people have often very different ideas as to what is meant by long or short, round or pointed, &c., the descriptions were often of very little value. But Linnæus could not work out his system without using very clear terms and explaining beforehand what he meant by them; and as his nomenclature, or system of names, was soon followed in other countries, botanists in all parts of the world were able to recognise at once what was meant by the description of any particular plant. The same advantage arose out of his classification of animals, and the care with which he traced out their chief characters. I wish I could have given you some idea of this system, which was fully explained in the 'Systema Naturæ,' completed in 1768. But when you remember that Linnæus classified minutely the whole of the animals and plants known in the world, you will perceive that I should have to write a separate book to make you understand it. If you can only remember that he did build up this artificial system, and that he was the first to give specific names to plants and animals and to create an

accurate nomenclature all over the world, you will, I think, have learnt as much as you need at present about the work of the great Swedish naturalist.

Linnæus was not a vigorous old man. The hard struggles of his youth and the immense work of his afterlife had worn him out, and at fifty-six he was obliged to ask the King of Sweden to let his son lecture sometimes in his place. With this help he continued to work at science till within two years of his death, when his mind became feeble. He died in 1778, loaded with honours and beloved and esteemed by the greatest men all over the world. His had been a noble life; enthusiastic and truth-loving, he had worked, even when he was poor, for science and not for wealth, and when he became famous and rich he helped his pupils as others had helped him, and lived simply and frugally till his death. Unlike Buffon, his private life was as pure as his public life was famous. Over the door of his room he placed the words 'Innocuè vivito, Numen adest, (Live innocently, God is present'), and he lived up to his motto. His study of nature had filled him with deep reverence and love for the Great Creator, and he used often to tell his friends how grateful he was to God for those gifts which had made his life so full of interest and delight.

After the death of Linnæus his mother and sisters sold his collection of plants and insects, and all his books and manuscripts, to Dr. Edward Smith (afterwards Sir E. Smith), for one thousand pounds. The King of Sweden was at this time away from Stockholm, but directly he returned and heard that such a valuable national treasure was on its way to England he sent a man-of-war to try and bring it back. A very amusing chase then took place; Dr. Smith did not mean to lose his prize if he could help it, so he set full sail

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and literally ran away till he reached the Thames, and landed safely in London without being caught. Thus the Linnæan collection came to England, and is now in Burlington House. The Swedes are naturally sorry that it left their country, but on the other hand it has become more known to scientific men in London than it could ever have been in Stockholm. With Linnæus we must end for the present the history of the sciences relating to living beings. Early in the nineteenth century we shall return to them again, but in the next chapter we must learn something of a new science which arose about this time; namely, the science of 'Geology,' or the study of the earth.

Chief Works consulted.-Jardine's 'Naturalists' Library,' vols. ii. and xiii.; Brewster's 'Encyclopædia'—'Buffon and Linnæus;' Cuvier, 'Histoire des Sciences Naturelles ;' Smith, Sir J., 'Introduction to Botany;' Pulteney's View of Writings of Linnæus;' Linnæus, 'Systema Naturæ.'

CHAPTER XXVI.

SCIENCE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED). The Study of the Earth neglected during the Dark Ages-Prejudices concerning the Creation of the World-Attempts to Account for Buried Fossils Palissy, the Potter, first asserted that Fossil-shells are real Shells-Scilla's Work on the Shells of Calabria, 1670— Woodward's Description of Different Formations, 1695-Lazzaro Moro one of the first to give a true explanation of the facts-Abraham Werner lectures on Mineralogy and Geology, 1775-Disputes between the Neptunists and Vulcanists-Dr. Hutton first teaches that it is by the Study of the Present that we can understand the Past-Theory of Hutton-Sir J. Hall's Experiments upon Melted Rocks-Hutton discovers Granite Veins in Glen Tilt-William Smith, the Father of English Geologists'-His Geological Map of England.

Early Prejudices concerning the Formation of the Rocks. You will no doubt remember that when we were speaking of the science of the Greeks, we learnt (p. 11) that Pythagoras made many interesting observations about the crust of the earth, which led him to say that the sea and land must have changed places more than once since the creation of the world. Especially he pointed out that seashells are found inland, deeply buried in the hills; and that the sea eats away land on the coast in some places, while in others earth is washed down by the rivers and laid at the bottom of the ocean.

We have now passed over more than 2,000 years since the time of Pythagoras, and you will notice that we have

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heard nothing more about observations of this kind. The fact is, that during the Dark Ages the study of the earth had been almost entirely neglected, and people had taken up the mistaken notion that they ought to believe, as a matter of faith, that the world was created in the beginning just as we now see it. But knowledge and inquiry were advancing so fast in the eighteenth century, that it was impossible for such ignorance to continue long. People could not go on digging wells and making mines in all parts of the world without being struck by the way in which the different strata, or layers of rock, are arranged in the earth's crust, nor without noticing the fossil shells, plants, and bones of animals which they found buried at great depths.

At first they were very unwilling to believe that these remains had ever belonged to living animals and plants, and they tried to imagine that they were only stones resembling shells, leaves, &c., which had been in some way mysteriously created in the earth. Then, when this absurd idea was given up, they next enquired whether a universal flood might not have spread them over the land; but though this opinion was upheld for more than a hundred years, yet it was clear to all those who really studied the subject that it could not account for the many layers of fossils deeply buried in the earth.

First Attempts to study the Fossil Remains and the beds containing them.-At last, little by little, there arose men who adopted the more sensible plan of studying the different formations in the crust of the earth before making theories about them. Bernard de Palissy, the maker of the famous French pottery, was the first to assert, in 1580, that the fossil shells were real sea-shells left by the waters of the ocean; then, in 1669, we find Steno, a Dane, writing a re