The death of Rudbeck, professor of bo tany at Upsal, in 1740, opened to Linnxus a prospect of the literary situation which had always been the object of his wishes, in which he might devote himself entire ly to the improvement of natural history, uninterrupted by the cares of medical practice. He had, however, a competi tor, Rousen, his ancient rival and antago nist, whose superior academical claims obtained the preference. But the resig nation of Rouberg, the medical professor, having made another vacancy, that chair was given to Linnxus, with the condition that be and Rousen should divide the business of the two professorships between them ; and to the former were allotted the departments of the botanic garden, materia medica, simiology, dixtetics, and natural history in general. Before his re moval to Upsal, he was engaged by the States to travel through the Southern pro vinces of Sweden, for the purpose of col lecting such information as might tend to the improvement of agriculture and manu• factures. In this tour he was accompanied by six pupils, and he performed the task to the satisfaction of the States : its re sult was printed. He entered on his pro fessorship in the autumn of 1741, on which occasion he pronounced a Latin oration " On the necessity of travelling one's own country." His own past exer tions in this respect rendered it a very entertaining and interesting composition. In the same year he made the tour of the islands of Oeland and Gothland, by order of the States ; and in subsequent years he travelled, by the same requisition, through West Gothland and Scania. Ex clusive of these exertions his abode was henceforth fixed at Upsal, and the re maining history of his life is only that of his literary and scientific labours, and of the honours and distinctions which were accumulated upon him.
One of his first cares was to improve and new model the academic garden. He procured the erection of several new buildings, arranged the plants according to his own system, and founded a mu seum of natural history in part of the green-house. In 1745 he published the first edition of his " Flora Succica," an admirable specimen of a local catalogue, and the pattern of all those which have since been made upon the Linnxan sys. tern. In the next year appeared his " Fauna Succica," or Catalogue of the Animal Kingdom in Sweden, arranged also according to his own method. In the numerous and difficult class of insects he adopted an entirely new method of an. rangement, which has been adopted by most later entomologists. His merits, indeed, with respect to this class of na tural productions, stands next to those with respect to the vegetable produc tions. The same accurate inspection was requisite in both, and from the immense number of subjects in each, it was equally necessary in both to search out for minute diversities, where on to found an artificial classification. The credit he was now acquiring in his own country appeared in his election to the post of Secretary to the Acade my of Sciences at Upsal, in a medal of him struck at the expence of some noble men in 1746, and in his nomination by the king to the rank and title of archiater, in 1747. He now also began to exert his in fluence in procuring the mission of his young disciples to different parts of the globe, in order to make discoveries in na tural history and economy ; a circum stance by which he is distinguished above all other naturalists, and which has re dounded equally to his own glory, and to the public advantage. The travels of Kalm, of Osbeck, of Hasselquist, of Lo lling, were the fruits of his zeal in this point. To Linnxus may also be ascribed that curious collection of treatises, which, under the name of " Ammnitates Aca demicze," began to be published in the year 1749, and were continued to a num ber of volumes. They are academical theses, held under Linnxus in his profes sional capacity, and may be regarded as containing his own doctrines and opinions on most of the points discussed.
The work of Linnxus, which Halter terms his " Maximus Opus et /Eternum," appeared in 1753. It was the " Species Plantarum," in two volumes, 8vo. con taining a description of every known plant, arranged according to his sexual system.
The description, however, is independent of any system, as being founded on the essential character of each species, with a further reference to the generic descrip tion given in the " Genera Plantarum." In this publication Linnxus first int•oduc ed his admirable invention of trivial names, or epithets taken from the most prominent specific mark of the subject, or from some other characteristic circumstance. The specific descriptions are given in the precise form of a definition, with a great variety of terms of his own invention, simple and compound, forming, as it were, a new botanical language. If in these terms he has not aimed at a classical pu rity, he has in general formed them upon correct analogy ; and it cannot be denied that they are excellently adapted for their purpose. In the same year he was creat ed by the king a Knight of the Polar Star, an honour which had never before been conferred on a literary character. His elevation to the rank of nobility, by the king's sign manual, took place eight years after, in 1761, but antedated 1757, and from that time he wrote his name C. Von Una. In the mean time honours of a literary kind had been accumulating upon him from foreign countries. Besides many learned societies of inferior rank, he was aggregated to the Imperial Acade my, to the Societies of Berlin, London, and to the Academy, and finally was no minated one ofthe eight foreign members of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, being the first Swede that had obtained that distinction. The remote city of Upsal was visited by many strangers, attract• ed by his reputation, which extended throughout Europe, and the number of students in its university was doubled. His correspondence included almost all the eminent cultivators of natural history ; and he was continually receiving from all parts tributes of books, plants, and spe cimens, which enabled him to complete his vast plan of carrying a new systema tic arrangement through every depart ment of nature. This he effected by the completion of his great work, " Systems Naturx," which had grown in successive editions from a few tables to two, and finally, to three volumes, and received his finishing hand in 1768. In this perform ance Linnxus is the methodiser, and the nomenclator of all the known productions of the three kingdoms of nature. His classifications are all so far artificial, that he constitutes divisions and subdivisions from minute qualities in the subject, which serve very well as external marks, but frequently have little relation to its essen tial character,and therefore bring together things in their nature very dissimilar. They are framed, however, with wonder ful ingenuity, and have undoubtedly pro duced a more accurate indentification in all the branches of natural history than before prevailed. 'Phis is the first step to an exact history of any subject, and it is ignorance that treats it with contempt as a mere nomenclature. Although ar rangement was the point at which Un mans peculiarly laboured; yet many of his smaller works prove his great atten tion to matters of use and curiosity ; and no school has contributed so much to a thorough knowledge of the productions of nature as the Linn2ean. With regard to the particular parts of his system, the botanical was the most generally receiv ed, and bids the fairest for duration. The entomological, though possessing great excellence, has in some measure been abrogated by the more comprehensive but more difficult method of Fabricius. Those in the other branches of zoology are generally in use, but have been im proved or rivalled. The mineralogical has been entirely set aside by the great advances made in chemical knowledge. Linnxus also carried his methodising plants into the science of medicine, and published a classified " Materia Medica," and a system of nosology, under the title of " Genera Morborum." Neither of these, however, are considered as happy efforts, and he can scarcely rittilir an-hang the improvers of hiS proper profession, except as having brought into notice some popular remedies, and recorded some curious dietetical observations.