Biology : a century's progress in zoological knowledge : address in the Department of Zoology and Botany / by William Henry Flower.

  • Flower, William Henry, 1831-1899.
Date:
[1878]
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Credit: Biology : a century's progress in zoological knowledge : address in the Department of Zoology and Botany / by William Henry Flower. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    BIOLOGY. =2 if- A Century's Progress in Zoological Knowledge. Address in the Department, of Zoology and Botany, by William Henry Flower, F.B.S., President of the I ' Section. On the 10th of January, 1778, died the great Swedish naturalist, Charles Linnd, n more commonly known as Linnaeus, a name which will ever be mentioned with * respect and regard in an assembly devoted to the cultivation of the sciences of Zoology and Botany, as whatever may be the future progress of those sciences, the d numerous writings of Linnaeus, and especially the publication of the Systema ij' Natures, can never cease to be looked upon as marking an era in their development, it! That work contained a systematic exposition of all that was known on these If- subjects expressed in language the most terse and precise. The accumulated • ; knowledge of all the workers at Zoology, Botany, and Mineralogy since the world ji began, was here collected together by patient industry, and welded into a complete II and harmonious whole by penetrating genius. Exactly a century has passed since Linnaeus died. What of the progress of the subjects to which he devoted his long and laborious life ? This one century is a brief space compared with the ages which have passed since man began to dwell ! upon the earth, surrounded by living objects, which have, more and more as ij time rolled on, awakened his curiosity, stimulated his faculties to observe, and im- !j pelled him to record the knowledge so gained for the benefit of those to come. How ij does it stand in comparison which those which preceded it, in the contributions it ,i has thus acquired and recorded P It may be not without interest in commencing our work at this meeting to it cast our eyes back and take stock, as it were, of the knowledge of a hundred years ago, and of that of the present time, and see what advances have been made; to r look at the living world as it was known to Linnaeus and as it is known to our- selves. The Systema Natures, the last edition of which, revised by the author, was ; published in 1766, will be a convenient basis for the comparison; but as the subject is one which, even in a most superficial outline, might reach such lengths as would ■ well tire out the most patient of audiences, and absorb time which will be more : profitably occupied by the valuable contributions which are forthcoming from other members of the Association, I will merely take a small section of the work, about ! 100 pages out of the first of the four volumes, those devoted to the first class Mam- t Malta . The comparison of this part is perhaps the easiest, as the contrast is t e h least striking, ant the progress has been comparatively the slowest, the know e ge of large, accessible, and attractive-looking animals had naturally preceded a o minute and obscure organisms, and hence, while in many other depai tmeni s 0 advance has altogether revolutionized the knowledge of Linnaeus, in le ei e brated Classes, especially the one of which I shall now speak, it has on y ex en e and reformed it. , . , „ In taking the Systema Natures of Linnaeus, the comparison is certamly camed >» hack somewhat beyond the hundred years which have elapsed since is e , the brilliant contributions to the knowledge of the Mamma m o^ .1nf;riri nf Daubenton Erxleben // considering the limited time at my disposal, I actual text of the work in question. . . „t.:„i, T.innseus u£*Z. T’ld?rins “d“d divides the class, I must remark in passing upon what is e----- au(l that most marvellous difference between thetoowle,^ ofZoo upon the earth are merely the survivors of an immensity of others, dillonm^ ‘'^of^irae, and and mode of life, which have peopled tho earth threrag ■ - jj ^ that the to which numerically our existing forms are but infinitesimally small, of Linnaeus. Now we know that