Linn(a)ean quote of the day

From 1788:

"I demand of you, and of the whole world, that you show me a generic character, by which to distinguish between Man and Ape. I myself most assuredly know of none. I wish somebody would indicate one to me. But if I had called man an ape, or vice versa, I should have fallen under the ban of all the ecclesiastics. It may be that as a naturalist I ought to have done so."

And still the Institute for Creation Research sees Linnaeus as a fellow traveller.

(And as an aside, Edmund Hovey's The Bicentenary of the Birth of Carolous Linnaeus [1908] is freely available online in multiple formats.)

More like this

As promised, I will gather here (and update a couple of times during the day) some of the most interesting posts from around the blogosphere about the celebrations of the 300th birthday of Carl von Linne aka Carolus Linnaeus, the guy you cussed at when, back in high school, you had to memorize th
Since Linnaeus' birthday is tomorrow, my time, and I stuffed up the last post, here's another little treat for you: Carl Linnaeus (1707–1770, from 1761 Carl von Linné, or Carolus Linnaeus)
Historian Mary P. Winsor published recently (2006b, in the December 2006 edition, but it just came out) a paper discussing how the Essentialism Story was constructed by Arthur Cain, Ernst Mayr, and David Hull.

Damned if I know. I'm Oirish :)

Linnaeus and Linnaean usually, though it's the Linnean Society of London.

By John Lynch (not verified) on 23 May 2007 #permalink

Linnaeus is the usual latinized form of the swedish Linné. (The "ae" is pronounced "ee", as in "orthopaedic".) Depending on if you use the latinized or swedish form as the root, either Linnean or Linnaean is OK. What is certainly incorrect is "Linneaus".

On the other hand, spelling wasn't as strictly formalized back in the 18th century, and I'm certain that the vain Carl (or Carolus, if you prefer) would have been so happy that you were still writing about him three centuries later that he wouldn't quibble about spelling...

the vain Carl

And don't forget that the truly vain Carl was ennobled. Swedes are colloquially referring to him under the name Carl von Linné or Linné, while biologists may prefer (Carolus) Linnaeus. ( http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_von_Linn%C3%A9 )

By Torbjörn Lars… (not verified) on 25 May 2007 #permalink

biologists may prefer (Carolus) Linnaeus

For all I know, that is.

By Torbjörn Lars… (not verified) on 25 May 2007 #permalink