What did Linnaeus do for biology? History and methodology of biology

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Introduction

1. Biography

2. Scientific achievements

3. Linnaeus Collection

References

Introduction

In the 18th century, zoologists and botanists studied and described the species, but recognizing them was very difficult because the descriptions were imprecise and in some cases erroneous. According to the descriptions of scientists, it was difficult to recognize a plant or animal in nature. Therefore, it was necessary to systematize and improve the data, which is what Carl Linnaeus actually did.

Linnaeus created a system of flora and fauna that summarized the achievements of zoologists and botanists of the 18th century. He defined the concept of “species”. The species, according to Linnaeus' proposal, is denoted by two words in Latin so that when translated into any language the organism can be clearly identified. This species name is called binary nomenclature. It was he who first created the most successful artificial classification of the animal and plant worlds at that time. We know him as the founder of scientific taxonomy, but let's take a look at the other scientific achievements of this outstanding scientist.

1. Biography

Carl Linnaeus was born on May 23, 1707 in the village of Roshult in Sweden in the family of a priest. Two years later he and his family moved to Stenbrohult. Back in early age Carl Linnaeus began to become interested in plants, spending a lot of time in his father's garden studying plants. Primary education received at a school in the city of Växjö, and after graduating from school he entered the gymnasium. Linnaeus's parents wanted the boy to continue the family business and become a pastor. But Karl was of little interest in theology. He devoted a lot of time to studying plants.

Thanks to the insistence of school teacher Johan Rothman, Karl's parents allowed him to study medical sciences. Then the university stage began. Karl began studying at the University of Lund. And in order to become more familiar with medicine, a year later he moved to Uppsald University. In addition, he continued to educate himself. Together with a student at the same university, Peter Artedi, Linnaeus began revising and criticizing the principles of natural science.

In 1729, he met W. Celsius, who played an important role in the development of Linnaeus as a botanist. Then Karl moved to the house of Professor Celsius and began to get acquainted with his huge library. Linnaeus's basic ideas on the classification of plants were outlined in his first work, “Introduction to sex life plants." A year later, Linnaeus had already begun teaching, lecturing in botanical garden Uppsald University.

He spent the period from May to October 1732 in Lapland. After fruitful work during the trip, his book “A Brief Flora of Lapland” was published. It was in this work that the reproductive system in the plant world was described in detail. The following year, Linnaeus became interested in mineralogy, even publishing a textbook. Then in 1734, in order to study plants, he went to the province of Dalarna.

Doctor's degree medical sciences he received in June 1735 at the University of Harderwijk. Next work Linnaeus's "System of Nature" marked a new stage in Linnaeus's career and life in general. Thanks to new connections and friends, he received the position of caretaker of one of the largest botanical gardens in Holland, which collected plants from all over the world. So Karl continued to classify plants. And after the death of his friend Peter, Artedi published his work and later used his ideas for classifying fish. While living in Holland, Linnaeus's works were published: “Fundamenta Botanica”, “Musa Cliffordiana”, “Hortus Clifortianus”, “Critica botanica”, “Genera plantarum” and others.

The scientist returned to his homeland in 1773. There in Stockholm he began practicing medicine, using his knowledge of plants to treat people. He also taught, was chairman of the Royal Academy of Sciences, and a professor at Uppsala University (he retained the position until his death).

Then Carl Linnaeus went on an expedition to the islands of the Baltic Sea and visited western and southern Sweden. And in 1750 he became rector of the university where he had previously taught. In 1761 he received the status of a nobleman. And on January 10, 1778, Linnaeus died.

2. Scientific achievements

The system of flora and fauna created by Linnaeus completed the enormous work of botanists and zoologists of the 1st half of the 18th century. Linnaeus's main merit is that in his “System of Nature” he laid the foundations of modern binomial nomenclature, according to which each species is designated by two Latin names - generic and specific. Linnaeus defined the concept of “species” using both morphological (similarity within the offspring of one family) and physiological (the presence of fertile offspring) criteria, and established a clear subordination between systematic categories: class, order, genus, species, variation.

Linnaeus based the classification of plants on the number, size and location of the stamens and pistils of a flower, as well as the sign of a plant being mono-, bi- or polyecious, since he believed that the reproductive organs are the most essential and permanent parts of the body in plants. Based on this principle, he divided all plants into 24 classes. Thanks to the simplicity of the nomenclature he used, descriptive work was greatly facilitated, and species received clear characteristics and names. Linnaeus himself discovered and described about 1,500 plant species.

Linnaeus divided all animals into 6 classes:

1. Mammals

3. Amphibians

6. Insects

The class of amphibians included amphibians and reptiles; he included all forms of invertebrates known in his time, except insects, into the class of worms. One of the advantages of this classification is that man was included in the system of the animal kingdom and assigned to the class of mammals, to the order of primates. Classifications of plants and animals proposed by Linnaeus modern point visions are artificial, since they are based on a small number of arbitrarily taken characteristics and do not reflect the actual relationship between different forms. So, based on only one common feature- beak structure - Linnaeus tried to build a “natural” system based on a combination of many characteristics, but did not achieve his goal.

Man (whom he dubbed "Homo sapiens") Homo sapiens) Linnaeus, quite boldly for his time, placed the order of primates in the class of mammals along with monkeys. He did not believe that humans descended from other primates, but he saw great similarities in their structure. linnaeus animal plant medicine

Linnaeus approached the systematization of plants in more detail than the systematization of animals. Linnaeus understood that the most essential and characteristic part plants - flower. He classified plants with one stamen in a flower as 1st class, with two as 2nd, with three as 3rd, etc. Mushrooms, lichens, algae, horsetails, ferns - in general, everything , deprived of flowers, ended up in the 24th class (“secret marriage”).

Linnaeus' system was artificial, that is, built on one or two almost randomly taken characteristics. Other signs were not taken into account by him. Therefore, along with many successful encounters, such different plants as duckweed and oak, spruce and nettle turned out nearby.

However, recognizing the merits of Linnaeus, Kliment Timiryazev called the system of the plant world created by him “unsurpassed in its elegant simplicity”, “the crown and the last word artificial classification."

Modern taxonomists take into account something that Linnaeus could not have known: the closer the species are to each other in the system, the closer the common ancestor they have. Such a system is called natural. Linnaeus also classified soils and minerals, human races, illness (by symptoms); discovered the poisonous and healing properties of many plants. Linnaeus is the author of a number of works, mainly on botany and zoology, as well as in the field of theoretical and practical medicine (“Medicinal Substances”, “Kinds of Diseases”, “Key to Medicine”).

3. Collection of Carl Linnaeus

Carl Linnaeus left a huge collection, which included two herbariums, a collection of shells, a collection of insects and a collection of minerals, as well as a large library. “This is the greatest collection the world has ever seen,” he wrote to his wife in a letter that he bequeathed to be made public after his death.

On November 1, 1783, Charles died unexpectedly of a stroke. The house in Uppsala, the library, offices and herbariums were to go to his heirs, so it is not surprising that Linnaeus’s widow tried to get rid of this burden as quickly and as profitably as possible. She asked an old family friend, J. Akrel, to help her, and after some time he contacted Banks through intermediaries. It so happened that a letter from Linnaeus's widow was delivered to Sir Banks at the moment when he was giving a breakfast party, which was attended by the ardent young naturalist, 24-year-old J.E. Smith. Banks’s own collection by that time was so large that he no longer thought about replenishing it, especially so significantly. He also understood perfectly well that such a chance comes only once and there is no time to think. Banks convinced Smith to set a price for the greatest of treasures. And Smith immediately offered Linnaeus’s widow 1000 guineas if a detailed inventory of the collection met his expectations.

Meanwhile, the number of people wishing to purchase the collection of the great Swedish naturalist began to increase. Potential buyers were Baron K. Alströmer, Empress Catherine II, Dr. J. Sibthorp, as well as a certain wealthy merchant from Gothenburg. Realizing how it would all end, scientists and students at Uppsala University appealed to the authorities: Linnaeus’ legacy must remain in Sweden at any cost! The Secretary of State responded that this could not be done without the intervention of the king, who should contribute to the acquisition of collections and a library for the benefit of the crown. But Gustaf was in Italy, and before he could somehow influence the outcome of the case, Smith approved the inventory and approved the deal. On September 17, 1784, Linnaeus's books and samples left Stockholm on the English brig Appearance and were soon safely delivered to England.

The story that the Swedes, having first allowed their national treasure to be taken out of the country, suddenly came to their senses and, realizing their greatest mistake, allegedly sent a warship to intercept the ship, has no basis. Nevertheless, the legend of this chase is immortalized in an engraving from R. Thornton’s book “A New Illustration of the Linnaeus System.”

As soon as the removal of Linnaeus's collection became known, a huge scandal broke out. The Swedish academic community was indignant and looked for those to blame. The actions of Akrel and, on the contrary, the inaction of the nobles who knew Linnaeus during his lifetime were declared a crime. In fact, the fatal accident was precisely the absence of King Gustaf, who would certainly have left the meeting in Sweden.

And how great was the loss! When Smith eagerly unpacked the 26 large boxes, he found even more than he expected! There were 19,000 herbarium sheets of plants, 3,200 insects, more than 1,500 shells, more than 700 pieces of coral and 2,500 mineral specimens. The library consisted of 2,500 books, over 3,000 letters, as well as manuscripts of the scientist himself, his son Karl and other naturalists of that time.

In 1788, on Smith’s initiative, the Linnaean Society of London was founded, the purpose of which was “the development of science in all its manifestations, and especially the natural history of Great Britain and Ireland.” By the way, this is the main difference between the Society and the Swedish Linnaean Society, whose activities are connected only with the works and personality of Linnaeus himself. Smith, who became the first president of the Linnean Society, for his active scientific and social activities was granted the nobility (1814). After Smith's death in 1828, the Society purchased the Linnaeus library and what remained of the collections from his widow for £3,150. The sum was enormous at that time, and the Society was able to pay it in full only in 1861. Unfortunately, the minerals were sold during Smith’s lifetime. The corals and part of the library were not preserved.

Conclusion

Thanks to the scientific works of Carl Linnaeus, biology, and in particular botany, of that time was able to catch up with the development of physics, chemistry and mathematics. The binary nomenclature introduced by Linnaeus for each species is still used today; the work “System of Nature” laid the foundation for the modern classification of the living world. Carrying out these reforms in systematics, Linnaeus put in order all the factual material on botany and zoology that had accumulated before him and was in a chaotic state, and thereby greatly contributed to further growth scientific knowledge. The hardworking scientist collected an invaluable collection of many plants, insects, minerals, corals and shells. Without the efforts and efforts of Carl Linnaeus, modern biology would not have advanced so far.

References

Stankov S. S. “Carl Linnaeus”

Bruberg "Linnaeus the Traveler", "Young Doctor and Botanist"

Motuzny V.O. "Biology"

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http://cyclowiki.org

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Merits and discoveries of Linnaeus

He built botany from its foundations on a site that had previously been in ruins, so we can assume that since his time this science has taken on a completely different appearance and begun a new era.

He indicated in exact terms first of all, the leaves of plants, thanks to which all descriptions of plants received a new look and lighting.
He was the first to possess Plant Divination (Prolepsin Plantarum), a rare discovery in nature, in which traces of the Creator himself appear.

He looked at the transformations (changes) of plants in a new way and thereby proved the basis of reproduction.
He presented in a clear light the sex of plants, which had been subject to doubt, and showed the effect of pollen on the moisture of the stigma.
He constructed the Reproductive System as a result of countless observations of stamens and pistils in all plants, which had been neglected until that time.
He first introduced into botany many Parts of reproduction under their proper names, such as Calyx, Perianth, Involucre, Scale, Wing, etc. Corolla and Nectaries, Anthers, Ovary, Style, Stigma, Pod and Bob, Drupe and Receptacle, in addition to many words, also Stipule and Bract, Arrow, Pedicel and Petiole.
He described anew, in accordance with the number, appearance, position and proportionality of all parts of fruiting, the Genera, which were thought to be impossible to determine accurately enough - and they became recognized; he opened it twice more births, than they were found by all authors before him.
He was the first to distinguish plant species by fundamental differences and also identified most Indian ones.
He introduced for the first time in all natural science simple names, for its clarity and brevity.
He reduced the varieties that swamped botany to their species.
He added the habitat of plants (Loca plantarum) to the species as a basis for plant culture.
He explored plant habitats (Stationes plantarum) as a basis for agriculture.
He first developed the Flora Calendar as a guide for all activities in agriculture and from the Blossoming of the Trees he showed the time of sowing.
He first saw and described the Flora Clock.
He first discovered the Dream of Plants.
He dared to talk about plant hybrids and gave posterity indications of the Cause of species (Specierum causam).
He set Pan suecicus and Pandora suecica as works that should be continued by all strata of the people, since previously they did not know how to properly manage the economy. (These names refer to Linnaeus’ extensive work on the study of Swedish food plants.)
He understood better than anyone else before him the generation of minerals and showed that crystals arise from salts and that hard stones come from soft (rocks), confirmed the decrease of water and proved 4 uplifts of land, not to mention the fact that he first established the true method in the mineral kingdom.
He alone discovered more animals than all before him, and he was the very first to give their generic and specific characteristics using a natural method. He should be credited with knowledge of insects and their characteristics, not to mention the fact that he was the first to find artificial method to recognize fish by their fins, mollusks by their shells, and snakes by their scutes. He classified whales as mammals, naked reptiles as amphibians, and separated worms from insects.
He showed in physiology the living nature of the medullary (core) substance, endless in reproduction and multiplication; that it can never be reproduced in offspring except as belonging to the maternal organism; that what is reproduced according to the appearance of the body belongs to the father, and according to the medullary system belongs to the mother; as complex animals (Animalia composita) should be understood; and the brain is derived from electrical influences perceived through the lungs.
In pathology he gave the most distinct Symptoms of disease, based on the principles of Sauvage, but greatly improved; he awakened the idea of glandular infarction as a cause of painful deaths; he was the first to clearly see that Fever comes from an internal disease, spread by cold and contracted by heat, and he proved the contagiousness of living peelings of the skin. He was the first to correctly recognize tapeworms.
He first introduced Dulcamara, Herb into practice among Swedish doctors. Brittanica, Senega, Spigelia, Cynomorium, Conyza, Linnaea.
He was the first to show the properties of plants, substantiate with this the active principles of medicinal agents that had previously been mysterious, showed their mode of action and refuted the idea of toxicity among practitioners.
He presented the diet according to his own method, based on observations and experience, and gave it the form of experimental physics.
He never neglected the economic use of plants, but collected [information about this] from the greatest attention with species that had previously only rarely been taken into account by naturalists.
He discovered the Organization of Nature (Politia Naturae) or Divine Economy, and thereby opened the way for descendants into an immeasurable new region.
He put Fauna in first place for science and was the first to explore the naturalities of the northern regions of Scandinavia down to the smallest; not to mention the fact that here in the country he established the first and largest Botanical Garden, which before him was not even worthy of mention, and that here he founded the first animal museum in wine spirit.

On throughout the XVI and XVII centuries. scientific botany and zoology consisted most of all in a simple acquaintance with living organisms and describing them, listing them in one order or another. Towards a factual knowledge of the plants and animals that inhabited European countries, over time more and more were added and larger number overseas This increasing variety of living organisms covered by the science of that time contributed greatly to the accumulation of factual knowledge of them and made their survey more and more difficult as time went on.

IN early XVII V. Swiss botanist Caspar Baugin published a compendium (Pinax theatri botanici, 1623) of all then known plants, total number which numbered about six thousand. This work was very popular in its time scientific significance, since it summed up everything that had previously been done in getting acquainted with plants. It should be noted, however, that in our time this book is little understood by us, despite the fact that actual knowledge of plants has increased immeasurably over these centuries. Its low accessibility for readers of our time is explained by the fact that the descriptions of plants here are very often so inaccurate and confusing that it is often impossible to imagine from them the plant about which we're talking about. At the same time, the verbosity of the descriptions does not at all make it easier for the reader to form a clearer idea of the plant being described. Verbose plant names that cannot be remembered can also only in rare cases be understood.

This book and similar works of that time were very difficult for their contemporaries to use, precisely because of the inaccuracy of the description of plant organs, the vagueness of descriptive terms, the lack of generally understood plant names, etc. One can imagine the difficulties of 17th-century botanists who would like to compare plants, taken from nature, with descriptions of them in these works.

The plant, not recognized from such a code, was again described by other authors and, of course, also inexpressive and received a new cumbersome name. Thus, subsequent readers were put in an even more difficult position due to terminological vagueness and heteroglossia of the authors. The number of such descriptions increased over time and the accumulation of descriptive materials became increasingly chaotic.

The difficulties confronting naturalists in this connection were further increased by the fact that this multitude of vaguely characterized forms was very poorly classified. There was really a need for classification at that time. an absolute necessity, since without it there was no possibility of viewing the descriptive material. It must be said that the need to classify organisms at the level of science of that time was a purely logical necessity for the formal ordering of the studied forms. Only in this way could the latter be placed within a certain framework that would allow them to be viewed.

There is no need to recall here the classifications of plants that have replaced one another over time. They, of course, gradually improved, but were very far from perfect, primarily due to the lack of clarity of their very basis and the fact that they could only be applied to high categories. Fructicists, Calicists or Corollists were equally mistaken and fell into equal difficulties, primarily because they did not have a sufficiently clear idea of the characteristics of the plant organs on which their classifications were based, i.e., respectively, on the fruits, calyxes or corollas of flowers.

At the very end of the 17th century. and in the first years of the 18th century. Some advances were made in the practical delineation of plant genera (Tournefort) and in attempts to identify species (John Ray). Both were determined by the same logical necessity.

In this regard, the general situation in science improved, but only slightly, since the accumulation of descriptive material completely suppressed science and the material itself often did not fit into the classification framework. The situation in natural science became completely critical, and it already seemed that there was absolutely no way out.

Some reflection of this situation may be the definition of botany we mentioned, given by the famous Leiden professor Burgaw. He said: “Botany is a part of natural science through which plants are successfully and with the least difficulty learned and retained in memory.”

From this definition, the tasks facing botany of that time and the catastrophic state of terminology and nomenclature in it are completely clear. In essence, zoology was in the same position.

Linnaeus, perhaps more deeply than Burgaw, realized all this during his student years in Uppsala and set out to reform natural science.

We have already said that Linnaeus proceeded from the fact that “the basis of botany is the division and naming of plants,” that “Ariadne’s thread of botany is classification, without which there is chaos,” and “natural science itself is the division and naming of natural bodies.”

But before proceeding with the classification itself, it was necessary to complete a very large preparatory work, which he was said to have handled brilliantly. This work is terminological reform and the creation of a universal classification scheme.

In the “Principles of Botany” a precise, very expressive and simple terminology was developed, and in the “System of Nature” and in the “Classes of Plants” a comprehensive sexual classification system was amazing in its elegance and simplicity. The completion of these works brought extremely rapid success. Strictly thought out terminology and simple circuit classifications made it possible, with previously unknown expressiveness, to outline about a thousand genera (“Genera plantarum”) and give unprecedented clarity in the characteristics of many hundreds of species (“Hortus Cliffortianus”, “Flora Lapponica”). In these works, as was previously said, the binomial nomenclature of polynomials was brought to perfection, precisely due to the fact that the category “genus” was defined.

The works of this period (1735-1738) were completed most the reformative works of Linnaeus, however, with regard to nomenclature, only the first stage was achieved.

As a result further work, by 1753, Linnaeus was able to “extend Ariadnine’s thread of taxonomy” to species, delineated this classification category with certainty, and in “Species plantarum” proposed in this regard a new nomenclatural technique - simple names, which became the basis of modern binomial nomenclature. We have already spoken about all this in sufficient detail. Here it is only appropriate to recall that methodological basis This work contained the principles of Aristotelian logic concerning concepts, their classification, division, etc.

Linnaeus quite rightly credits himself with the creation of botany in the place of the chaos that preceded him.

We have seen that he developed terminology and a precise diagnostic language, he proposed a strict nomenclature, he developed a comprehensive and practically very convenient classification. Based on all this, he revised huge amount factual material previously accumulated by science. Having selected everything that was reliable and discarded the erroneous and doubtful, he systematized the previously obtained information, that is, he made it scientific.

It is appropriate to say here that some researchers, when assessing the work of Linnaeus, often say that he only “summarized the past, and did not outline the future,” or, what is the same, “wrote an epilogue, not a prologue.”

Before objecting to this, it should be pointed out that it is necessary to take into account that reform activities Linnea contributed exceptionally to the progress of research work and the accumulation of factual knowledge of organisms. Suffice it to say that in the half century that elapsed from the publication of Linnaeus’s most important works on botany (1753) and zoology (1758), the number of reliably known organisms more than doubled.

When they say that Linnaeus did not outline the future, but only summed up the past, they usually mean that he developed only an artificial plant system and did very little for the natural system. Linnaeus understood, as was said earlier, the need for a natural method and for his time did a lot in this regard. It must be said, however, that under natural method in our time they mean a natural, or phylogenetic, system, completely forgetting at the same time that the natural method in the 18th century. is nothing more than establishing similarities between organisms and classifying them according to this principle. Then what was meant was similarity, and not kinship in the sense of common origin. The fact is that the idea of development was not yet known at that time. Having flashed in Kant’s “Theory of Heaven” (1755), it was only half a century later that it became the basis of cosmogony (the Kant-Laplace hypothesis). It took another half a century before it could manifest itself in all its greatness when applied to living nature in evolutionary teaching Darwin.

Natural method of Linnaeus and natural classifications later authors late XVIII and the beginning of the 19th century. essentially did not differ. Their task is to establish similarities between organisms in order to comprehend the creative plan of the “creator”, expressed in the natural order of nature.

The desire to find the beginning of the evolutionary idea in the writings of Linnaeus is also unfounded, as are the reproaches against him for not being an evolutionist.

We should, of course, pay very close attention to § 16 of the list of his discoveries, from which we learn about Linnaeus’ deep interest in the question of the origin of species and his understanding of the extreme importance of this issue. A little later, in the thirteenth edition of Systema Naturae (1774), Linnaeus wrote the following: “... almighty God in the beginning, in moving from simple to complex and from small to many, at the beginning of plant life, created as many different plants as there are natural orders. That he himself then mixed these plants of the orders so much with each other by crossing that as many plants appeared as there were various distinct genera. That then Nature mixed these generic plants, through changeable generations, but without changing the floral structures, and multiplied them into existing species; all possible hybrids should be excluded from this number of generations - after all, they are sterile.”

We see that the creative role of the “creator” is now limited. It turns out that he created only representatives of orders (of which there were 116), which formed genera by hybrid mixing, and the latter, through hybridization, without the participation of a “creator,” were propagated by nature itself into existing species. It is appropriate to recall that forty years earlier Linnaeus wrote: “We count as many species as there are different forms that were first created.”

It is also known, based on the work of Linnaeus’s student, Giesecke, who outlined his teacher’s views on the issue of signs of natural orders, that Linnaeus dealt with these issues until his old age. He told Giesecke: “I have worked for a long time on the natural method, I have done what I could achieve, there is still more to be done, I will continue this as long as I live.”

The doctrine of sex in plants, strict organography, clear terminology, development of the reproductive system, reform of nomenclature, description of about one thousand two hundred genera of plants and the establishment of more than eight thousand species constitute the most important part of Linnaeus’s botanical work, but not the only one, as can be seen from his list.

He was widely involved in plant biology (“Flora’s Calendar”, “Flora’s Clock”, “Plant Dream”) and many practical issues, of which he particularly emphasized the study of Swedish forage plants. How wide were his scientific interests, can be seen from the ten-volume collection of dissertations of his students (“Amoenitates Academicae”). Of the ninety botanical dissertations, almost half are represented by floristic-systematic topics; about a quarter is devoted to medicinal, food and economically useful plants; about a dozen relate to topics in plant morphology; several dissertations address various issues in plant biology; individual topics devoted to plant habitats, botanical bibliography, terminology, scientific gardening, and one dissertation on a topic that has recently been extremely topical for us - the degeneration of cereals.

The significance of Linnaeus's work as a zoologist is almost as great as his botanical work, although he was most of all a botanist. His fundamental zoological works date back to the same Dutch period of activity and are especially associated with the work “Systema Naturae”. Although the classification of animals developed by him was in significant parts more natural than the botanical one, it was less successful and existed for a shorter period of time. We have already said earlier that the particular success of botanical classification was brought about by the fact that it was at the same time an extremely simple determinant. Linnaeus divided the animal kingdom into six classes: mammals, birds, reptiles (now reptiles and amphibians), fish, insects (now arthropods) and worms (many invertebrates, including worms).

A great classification achievement for that time was the precise definition of the class of mammals and the inclusion of whales in it, which even the father of ichthyology, Artedi, classified as fish.

What seems surprising in our time is that already in the first edition of Systema Naturae (1735), Linnaeus placed man among the anthropoids.

The very first edition of “System of Nature” gave impetus to the development of systematic zoology, since the classification scheme outlined here and the terminology and nomenclature developed facilitated descriptive work.

Increasing from edition to edition, this section of “Systems of Nature” reached 823 pages in the tenth edition, published in 1758 and remarkable in that it consistently carried out the binomial nomenclature of organisms, and therefore this edition is the starting point in modern zoological nomenclature.

Linnaeus worked especially hard on the classification of insects, and he described most genera and about two thousand species (twelfth edition 1766-1768). He also developed the foundations of organography, and in a special essay “Foundation of Entomology” (1767) he outlined the body structure of this class of animals. In parallel with “Flora of Sweden,” Linnaeus wrote “Fauna of Sweden,” the significance of which for faunistics was the same as the publication of his “Flora” had for floristic works. Subsequent works on fauna were written on the model of how it was done by Linnaeus in The Fauna of Sweden.

Being engaged in the art of assay, as applied mineralogy, the search for minerals, the study of mineral springs, caves, mines, the study of crystals and the classification of stones - lithology, Linnaeus was not only completely at the level of his time in matters related to this, but significantly advanced the development of some of them forward . Geologists believe that if he had not written anything other than those related to paleontology and geology, his name would have been glorified anyway.

In the “Museum Tessinianum”, among other things, trilobites were described, which marked the beginning of the study of this group of fossil crustaceans, and in a special work “On Baltic Corals” he described and depicted the corals of the Baltic Sea.

In connection with the study of both, he correctly understood the significance of fossils for establishing the distant past of the land, just as he correctly assessed the significance of the last marine terraces for a more recent time. From his descriptions of the outcrops, with their alternating strata, it can be seen that he was deeply interested in the origin of sedimentary rocks (System of Nature, 1768). In addition to the classification of minerals, he also gave a classification of crystals; the collection of the latter in his museum amounted to one and a half hundred natural specimens.

A doctor by training and at the beginning of his career practical activities, Linnaeus enjoyed extreme popularity in Stockholm as a practicing physician in the years 1739-1741, while at the same time being the head of the Admiralty Hospital. With the move to Uppsala he almost left medical practice. As a professor who taught three medical courses, he was extremely popular. These courses are “Materia medica” (“Teaching about medicinal substances"), "Semiotica" ("Semiologia" - "The study of the signs of diseases") and "Diaeta naturalis" ("The study of nutrition").

In connection with the reading of these courses, Linnaeus wrote detailed study guides. “Materia medica” was previously discussed in detail, and here it is only sufficient to recall that this work of Linnaeus (1749) became a classic guide to pharmacology.

The work “Genera Morborum” (“Generations of Diseases,” 1759) is a classification of diseases according to their symptoms. The basis of the classification was borrowed by Linnaeus from the work of the French physician and naturalist Sauvage, slightly revised and expanded. In total, eleven classes of diseases have been identified here. The purpose of this book is to provide guidance for recognizing diseases by their external manifestations.

The book “Clavis Medicinae duplex” (“Double Key to Medicine”, 1766), which Linnaeus highly valued, outlines his lecture notes and data on general pathology and therapy.

Linnaeus's lectures on dietetics were particularly successful, and this course itself was perhaps his most favorite. Begun by him back in 1734, in the form of rough notes, it was supplemented and expanded more and more over the course of decades. These lectures were not published during Linnaeus's lifetime. The success of the course among students may have increased due to the fact that, in addition to setting out the rules of therapeutic nutrition and everything related to this, the professor provided a lot of sanitary and hygienic information, advice and purely practical instructions related to everyday life, etc.

Linnaeus's personal merits practical medicine there was the introduction into medical practice of some herbal remedies, partly preserved in the modern pharmacopoeia, as well as the development of a method for combating tapeworms.

Speaking about the significance of Linnaeus’s work as a physician, one cannot help but point out what is usually associated with his name - the beginning of the study of animal diseases. Linnaeus paid some attention to this during his Lapland trip, being interested in damage to the skin of deer. One of his students later became the first veterinarian in Sweden.

In conclusion, it should be said that Linnaeus, with his reforms and organizing influence, determined the development of the main directions in botany and zoology for decades.

Carl Linnaeus - Swedish naturalist, naturalist, botanist, doctor, founder of modern biological taxonomy, creator of the system of flora and fauna, first president of the Swedish Academy of Sciences (since 1739), foreign honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1754).

Linnaeus was the first to consistently apply binary nomenclature and built the most successful artificial classification of plants and animals, described about 1,500 plant species. Karl advocated the constancy of species and creationism. Author of “System of Nature” (1735), “Philosophy of Botany” (1751), etc.

Carl Linnaeus was born on May 23, 1707 in Rossult. The boy was the first-born in the family of a rural pastor and flower grower Nils Linneus. His father replaced his surname Ingemarson with the Latinized surname “Linneus” after the giant linden tree (in Swedish Lind) that grew near the family home. Having moved from Rosshult to neighboring Stenbrohult (province of Småland in Southern Sweden), Nils planted a beautiful garden, about which Linnaeus said: “this garden inflamed my mind with an unquenchable love for plants.”

Karl's passion for plants distracted him from his homework. The parents hoped that studying in the neighboring town of Växjo would cool the ardent passion of the future scientist. However, in elementary school (from 1716), and then in the gymnasium (from 1724), the boy studied poorly. He neglected theology and was considered worst student in ancient languages.

Only the need to read Pliny's Natural History and the works of modern botanists forced him to study Latin - universal language science of that time. Dr. Rothman introduced Karl to these works. Encouraging the gifted young man's interest in botany, he prepared him for university.

In August 1727, twenty-year-old Carl Linnaeus became a student at Lund University. Acquaintance with the herbarium collections of the natural cabinet of Professor Stobeus prompted Linnaeus to conduct a detailed study of the flora of the surrounding area of Lund, and by December 1728 he compiled a catalog of rare plants “Catalogus Plantarum Rariorum Scaniae et Smolandiae”.

In the same year, C. Linnaeus continued his study of medicine at Uppsala University, where friendly communication with student Peter Artedi (later a famous ichthyologist) brightened up the dryness of the course of lectures on natural history. Joint excursions with the theologian professor O. Celsius, who helped the financially poor Linnaeus, and studies in his library expanded Linnaeus’s botanical horizons, and he was indebted to the benevolent professor O. Rudbeck Jr. not only for the beginning of his teaching career, but also for the idea of traveling to Lapland (May -September 1732).

The purpose of this expedition was to study all three kingdoms of nature - minerals, plants and animals - the vast and little-studied region of Fennoscandia, as well as the life and customs of the Laplanders (Sami). The results of the four-month journey were first summarized by Linnaeus in a small work in 1732; the complete Flora lapponica, one of Linnaeus's most famous works, was published in 1737.

In 1734, C. Linnaeus traveled to the Swedish province of Dalecarlia at the expense of the governor of this province, and later, having settled in Falun, he was engaged in mineralogy and assay business. Here he first began practicing medicine, and also found himself a bride. Linnaeus's engagement to the daughter of the doctor Moreus took place on the eve of the groom's departure to Holland, where Linnaeus went as a candidate for a doctorate in medicine in order to be able to support his family (a requirement of his future father-in-law).

Having successfully defended his dissertation on intermittent fever (fever) at the university in Gardewijk on June 24, 1735, K. Linnaeus plunged into the study of the richest natural science rooms in Amsterdam. Then he went to Leiden, where he published one of his most important works - “Systema naturae” (“System of Nature”, 1735). It was a summary of the kingdoms of minerals, plants and animals, presented in tables on only 14 pages, albeit in a sheet format. Linnaeus classified plants into 24 classes, basing the classification on the number, size and location of stamens and pistils.

The new system turned out to be practical and allowed even amateurs to identify plants, especially since Linnaeus streamlined the terms of descriptive morphology and introduced a binary (binomial) nomenclature to designate species, which simplified the search and identification of both plants and animals.

Later, Karl supplemented his work, and the last lifetime (12th) edition consisted of 4 books and 2335 pages. Linnaeus himself recognized himself as the chosen one, called upon to interpret the Creator's plan, but only the recognition of the famous Dutch physician and naturalist Herman Boerhaave opened the path to fame for him.

After Leiden, Carl Linnaeus lived in Amsterdam with the director of the Botanical Garden, studying plants and creating scientific works. Soon, on the recommendation of Boerhaave, he received a position as a house doctor and head of the botanical garden under the director East India Company and the burgomaster of Amsterdam G. Clifford. During two years (1736-1737) spent in Hartekamp (near Haarlem), where the rich man and plant lover Clifford created an extensive collection of plants from all over the world, Linnaeus published a number of works that brought him European fame and unquestioned authority among botanists.

In a small book “Fundamente Botanicc” (“Fundamentals of Botany”), composed of 365 aphorisms (according to the number of days in the year), Linnaeus outlined the principles and ideas that guided him in his work as a systematic botanist.

In the famous aphorism “we count as many species as there are different forms that were first created,” he expressed his belief in the constancy of the number and immutability of species since their creation (later he allowed the emergence of new species as a result of crossings between already existing species). Here is an interesting classification of botanists themselves.

The works “Genera plantarun” (“Genera of Plants”) and “Critica Botanica” are devoted to the establishment and description of genera (994) and problems of botanical nomenclature, and “Bibliotheca Botanica” is devoted to botanical bibliography. Carl Linnaeus's systematic description of the Clifford botanical garden - "Hortus Cliffortianus" (1737) - became a model for such works for a long time. In addition, Linnaeus published his untimely "Ichthyology" dead friend Artedi, preserving for science the work of one of the founders of ichthyology.

Returning to his homeland in the spring of 1738, Linnaeus married and settled in Stockholm, practicing medicine, teaching and science. In 1739 he became one of the founders of the Royal Academy of Sciences and its first president, receiving the title of “Royal Botanist”.

In May 1741, Carl Linnaeus traveled to Gotland and the island of Oland, and in October of the same year, his professorship at Uppsala University began with a lecture “On the Necessity of Traveling in the Fatherland.” Many people sought to study botany and medicine in Uppsala. The number of university students tripled, and in the summer increased many times thanks to the famous excursions, which ended with a solemn procession and a loud cry of “Vivat Linnaeus!” by all its participants.

Since 1742, the teacher restored the university Botanical Garden, which was almost destroyed by fire, housing a particularly vibrant collection of Siberian plants. Rarities sent from all continents by his traveling students were also grown here.

In 1751, Philosophia Botanica (Philosophy of Botany) was published, and in 1753, probably the most significant and important work for botany by Carl Linnaeus, Species plantarum (Species of Plants).

Surrounded by admiration, showered with honors, elected an honorary member of many learned societies and Academies, including St. Petersburg (1754), elevated to the nobility in 1757, Linnaeus, in his declining years acquired the small estate of Hammarby, where he spent time peacefully tending to his own garden and collections . The scientist died in Uppsala in the seventy-first year.

In 1783, after the death of Linnaeus's son, Karl, his widow sold the herbarium, collections, manuscripts and library of the scientist for 1000 guineas to England. In 1788, the Linnean Society was established in London, and its first president, J. Smith, became the main custodian of the collections. Designed to become a center for the study of Linnaeus's scientific heritage, it continues to fulfill this role today.

Thanks to Carl Linnaeus, plant science became one of the most popular in the second half of the 18th century. He himself was recognized as the “chief of botanists,” although many contemporaries condemned the artificiality of the Linnean system. His merit consisted in streamlining the almost chaotic diversity of forms of living organisms into a clear and observable system. He described more than 10,000 species of plants and 4,400 species of animals (including Homo sapiens). Linnaeus' binomial nomenclature remains the basis of modern taxonomy.

The Linnian names of plants in Species plantarum (Species of Plants, 1753) and animals in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae (1758) are legal, and both dates are officially recognized as the beginning of modern botanical and zoological nomenclature. The Linnaean principle ensured the universality and continuity of the scientific names of plants and animals and ensured the flowering of taxonomy. The scientist's passion for taxonomy and classification was not limited to plants - he also classified minerals, soils, diseases, and human races. He wrote a number of medical works. Unlike scientific works written in Latin, Carl Linnaeus wrote his travel notes in his native language. They are considered an example of this genre in Swedish prose.

Carl Linnaeus was born on May 23, 1707 in the village of Roshult in Sweden in the family of a priest. Two years later he and his family moved to Stenbrohult. Interest in plants in the biography of Carl Linnaeus appeared already in childhood. He received his primary education at a school in the city of Växjö, and after graduating from school he entered a gymnasium. Linnaeus's parents wanted the boy to continue the family business and become a pastor. But Karl was of little interest in theology. He devoted a lot of time to studying plants.

A year later, Linnaeus had already begun teaching and lecturing at the botanical garden of Uppsald University.

He received his doctorate in medicine in June 1735 from the University of Harderwijk. Linnaeus's next work, The System of Nature, marked a new stage in Linnaeus's career and life in general. Thanks to new connections and friends, he received the position of caretaker of one of the largest botanical gardens in Holland, which collected plants from all over the world. So Karl continued to classify plants. And after the death of his friend Peter, Artedi published his work and later used his ideas for classifying fish. While living in Holland, Linnaeus's works were published: “Fundamenta Botanica”, “Musa Cliffordiana”, “Hortus Clifortianus”, “Critica botanica”, “Genera plantarum” and others.

Then Carly Linnaeus, in his biography, went on an expedition to the islands of the Baltic Sea and visited western and southern Sweden. And in 1750 he became rector of the university where he had previously taught. In 1761 he received the status of a nobleman. And on January 10, 1778, Linnaeus died.

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Carl Linnaeus

(1707-1778)

Carl Linnaeus, the famous Swedish naturalist, was born in Sweden on May 13, 1707. He was of humble origin, his ancestors were simple peasants; father was a poor rural priest. On next year After the birth of his son, he received a more profitable parish in Stenbrogult, and the entire childhood of Carl Linnaeus passed until he was ten years old.

My father was a great lover of flowers and gardening; in picturesque Stenbrogult he planted a garden, which soon became the first in the entire province. This garden and his father’s activities played, of course, a significant role in the spiritual development of the future founder of scientific botany. The boy was given a special corner in the garden, several beds, where he was considered the complete master; they were called that way - “Karl’s kindergarten”

When the boy was 10 years old, he was sent to elementary school in the city of Vexier. The gifted child’s schoolwork was going poorly; He continued to study botany with enthusiasm, and preparing lessons was tiresome for him. The father was going to take the young man from the gymnasium, but chance confronted him with the local doctor Rothman. Rothman’s classes at the “underperforming” gymnasium went better. The doctor began to gradually introduce him to medicine and even - contrary to the teachers' comments - made him fall in love with Latin.

After graduating from high school, Karl entered Lund University, but soon transferred from there to one of the most prestigious universities in Sweden - Uppsala. Linnaeus was only 23 years old when botany professor Oluas Celzky took him as his assistant, after which Karl himself, while still a student, began teaching at the university. A trip to Lapland became very significant for the young scientist. Linnaeus walked almost 700 kilometers, collected significant collections and as a result published his first book, “Flora of Lapland.”

In the spring of 1735, Linnaeus arrived in Holland, in Amsterdam. In the small university town of Hardwick, he passed the exam and on June 24 defended his dissertation on a medical topic - about fever. The immediate goal of his journey was achieved, but Karl remained. He stayed, fortunately for himself and for science: rich and highly cultured Holland served as the cradle for his hot creative activity and his loud fame.

One of his new friends, Doctor Gronov, suggested that he publish some work; then Linnaeus compiled and published the first draft of his famous work, which laid the foundation for systematic zoology and botany in the modern sense. This was the first edition of his “Systema naturae”, which so far contained only 14 pages of a huge format, on which brief descriptions of minerals, plants and animals were grouped in the form of tables. This edition begins a series of quick scientific success Linnea.

His new works, published in 1736-1737, already contained in a more or less complete form his main and most fruitful ideas: a system of generic and species names, improved terminology, artificial system plant kingdom.

At this time he received a brilliant offer to become personal doctor Georg Clifford with a salary of 1000 guilders and full maintenance.

Despite the successes that surrounded Linnaeus in Holland, little by little he began to be drawn home. In 1738 he returns to his homeland and faces unexpected problems. He, who had been accustomed for three years of life abroad to universal respect, friendship and attentions of the most prominent and famous people, at home, in his homeland, there was just a doctor without a place, without practice and without money, and no one cared about his scholarship. So Linnaeus the botanist gave way to Linnaeus the doctor, and his favorite activities were stopped for a while.

However, already in 1739, the Swedish Diet allocated him one hundred lukat annual allowance with the obligation to teach botany and mineralogy.

Finally, he found an opportunity to get married, and on June 26, 1739, the five-year-delayed wedding took place. Alas, as often happens, his wife was the complete opposite of her husband. An ill-mannered, rude and grumpy woman, without intellectual interests, who was only interested in the financial aspects of her husband. Linnaeus had one son and several daughters; the mother loved her daughters, and they grew up under her influence as uneducated and petty girls of a bourgeois family. The mother had a strange antipathy towards her son, a gifted boy, persecuted him in every possible way and tried to turn his father against him. But Linnaeus loved his son and passionately developed in him those inclinations for which he himself suffered so much in childhood.

In 1742, Linnaeus's dream came true, and he became a professor of botany at his home university. The rest of his life was spent in this city almost without a break. He occupied the department for more than thirty years and left it only shortly before his death.

Now Linnaeus stopped practicing medicine and was engaged only in scientific research. He described all the medicinal plants known at that time and studied the effects of medicines made from them.

At this time, he invented a thermometer using the Celsius temperature scale.

But Linnaeus still considered the systematization of plants to be the main work of his life. Home work The System of Plants took 25 years, and it was not until 1753 that he published his main work.

The scientist decided to systematize the entire plant world of the Earth. At the time when Lineus began his work, zoology was in a period of exceptional dominance of taxonomy. The task that she then set for herself was to simply familiarize herself with all the breeds of animals that live on globe, without relation to them internal structure and to the connection of individual forms with each other; The subject of zoological writings of that time was a simple listing and description of all known animals.

Thus, zoology and botany of that time were mainly concerned with the study and description of species, but there was boundless confusion in their recognition. The descriptions that the author gave of new animals or plants were confusing and inaccurate. The second main drawback of the science of that time was the lack of more or less basic and accurate classification.

These main shortcomings of systematic zoology and botany were corrected by the genius of Linnaeus. Remaining on the same ground of study of nature on which his predecessors and contemporaries stood, he became a powerful reformer of science. His merit is purely methodological. He did not discover new areas of knowledge and hitherto unknown laws of nature, but he created a new method, clear and logical. And with his help, he brought light and order where chaos and confusion reigned before him, which gave a huge impetus to science, powerfully paving the way for further research. This was a necessary step in science, without which further progress would have been impossible.

The scientist proposed a binary nomenclature - a system of scientific names for plants and animals. Based on structural features, he divided all plants into 24 classes, also highlighting individual genera and species. Each name, in his opinion, should have consisted of two words - generic and species designations.

Despite the fact that the principle he applied was quite artificial, it turned out to be very convenient and became generally acceptable in scientific classification, retaining its significance in our time. But in order for the new nomenclature to be fruitful, it was necessary for the new nomenclature to be fruitful, it was necessary that the species given the conventional name should at the same time be so accurately and thoroughly described that they could not be confused with other species of the same kind. Linnaeus did just that: he was the first to introduce into science a strictly defined, precise language and a precise definition of characteristics.

His work “Fundamental Botany,” published in Amsterdam during his life with Clifford and the result of seven years of work, sets out the foundations of the botanical terminology that he used when describing plants.

Linnaeus's zoological system did not play such a major role in science as the botanical one, although in some respects it stood above it as less artificial, but it did not represent its main advantages - convenience in definition. Linnaeus had little knowledge of anatomy.

Linnaeus's work gave a huge impetus to systematic botany and zoology. The developed terminology and convenient nomenclature made it easier to cope with enormous material, which was previously so difficult to understand. Soon all classes of the plant and animal kingdom were subjected to careful systematic study, and the number of described species increased from hour to hour.

Linnaeus later applied his principle to the classification of all nature, in particular minerals and rocks. He also became the first scientist to classify humans and monkeys into the same group of animals - primates. As a result of his observations, the natural scientist compiled another book - “The System of Nature”. He worked on it all his life, republishing his work from time to time. In total, the scientist prepared 12 editions of this work, which gradually turned from a small book into a voluminous multi-volume publication.

Recent years Linnaeus's life was overshadowed by senile decrepitude and illness. He died on January 10, 1778, in the seventy-first year of his age.

After his death, the chair of botany at Uppsala University was given to his son, who zealously set about continuing his father’s work. But in 1783 he suddenly fell ill and died in his forty-second year. The son was not married, and with his death the lineage of Linnaeus in the male generation ceased.

What did Linnaeus do for biology? History and methodology of biology

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