he system is
the introduction of binomial nomenclature--that is to say, the use
of two names and no more to designate any single species of animal or
plant. The principle is quite the same as that according to which
in modern society a man has two names, let us say, John Doe, the one
designating his family, the other being individual. Similarly each
species of animal or plant, according to the Linnaeean system, received
a specific or "trivial" name; while various species, associated
according to their seeming natural affinities into groups called genera,
were given the same generic name. Thus the generic name given all
members of the cat tribe being Felis, the name Felis leo designates the
lion; Felis pardus, the leopard; Felis domestica, the house cat, and so
on. This seems perfectly simple and natural now, but to understand
how great a reform the binomial nomenclature introduced we have but to
consult the work of Linnaeus's predecessors. A single illustration will
suffice. There is, for example, a kind of grass, in referring to
which the naturalist anterior to Linnaeus, if he would be absolutely
unambiguous, was obliged to use the following descriptive formula:
Gramen Xerampelino, Miliacea, praetenuis ramosaque sparsa panicula,
sive Xerampelino congener, arvense, aestivum; gramen minutissimo semine.
Linnaeus gave to this plant the name Poa bulbosa--a name that sufficed,
according to the new system, to distinguish this from every other
species of vegetable. It does not require any special knowledge to
appreciate the advantage of such a simplification.

While visiting Paris in 1738 Linnaeus met and botanized with the two
botanists whose "natural method" of classification was later to supplant
his own "artificial system." These were Bernard and Antoine Laurent
de Jussieu. The efforts of these two scientists were directed towards
obtaining a system which should aim at clearness, simplicity, and
precision, and at the same time be governed by the natural affinities of
plants. The natural system, as finally propounded by them, is based on
the number of cotyledons, the structure of the seed, and the insertion
of the stamens. Succeeding writers on botany have made various
modifications of this system, but nevertheless it stands as the
foundation-stone of modern botanical classification.

APPENDIX

REFERENCE LIST

CHAPTER I

SCIENCE IN THE DARK AGE

(1) (p. 4). James Harvey Robinson, An Introduction to the History