Table Of Content334 植物研究雑誌第69巻第5号 平成6年10月
Thunberg，Li nnaeus and the Linnaean Tradition
Bengt JONSELL
Bergius Foundation，Ro yal Swedish Academy of Sciences
P.O. Box 50017，S- 104 05 Stockholm，S WEDEN
The concept Linnaean tradition is often used，bu t competence he demonstrated.
what is its real meaning? 1t may stand for av ariety of 百lereis ab iographical essay over Thunberg read
subjects. It may express the strict scientific method to his memory in the Swedish Academy of Sciences
which Linnaeus used. It may reflect the inspiration the year after his death by Carl Adolph Agardh，th e
and zeal to explore Na ture，as ;f訂 asthat is considered founder of algology，an d subsequently ab ishop in the
as emanating from Linnaeus. 1t may characterize a Church of Sweden，an d 1q uote ap tofhiscompi-
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literary and stilistic tradition based in Linnaeus' n son between Linnaeus and Thunberg (Agardh 1829).
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ratives or personal documents. One of the most self- Linnaeus everywhere looked for laws and unity;
evident ways to use the concept is in connection with Thunberg saw specialization and diversity. Linnaeus
Linnaeus' disciples，in p訂ticul訂 thetravelling apos- went far ahead into times to come; Thunberg re-
tles who may be said to incamate Linnaean tradition. mained within the needs and spirits of his own.
These travellers were，ho wever，pe rsonalities in their Linnaeus hardly discovered one plant; Thunberg dis-
own rights，m ostly original，in af ew cases，fr ont- covered at housand. One -Linnaeus -arranged the
breaking scientists. Chaos he saw at his feet according to permanent laws;
Nobodyappesmore of aL innaean than Thunberg Theo ther -Thunberg -gave those laws aw ider
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-strictly working along his master's methods，tr avel- application and so got them legislated.
ler and narrator，f ounder of ab otanic garden，a nd Thunberg of course，th en as well as in our days，
active on Linnaeus' chair at Uppsala University for appears as the Linnaean epigone，bu t at the same time，
44ye s. and that is of significant importance，as one of the first
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Thunberg's diligence is unsurpassed with about and foremost to apply in practice Linnaeus' method
2000 species described from his hand，de scriptions and system upon al arge new material，th us demon-
which he to the very greatest extentfounded upon his strating its usability within ar apidly expanding field
，
own collections. His method of description is strictly of knowledge.
Linnaean. His capacity for leaming and memorizing It seems not possible to leamhow Thunberg adopted
was apparently very high，no t only as to the methods his erudition -how his relations to Linnaeus were
but about the plants and animals themselves. His during his study years in Uppsala (cf. Svedelius
success in Holland among Linnaeus' old friends as the 1944). As concems some other pupils we efairly
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Burmanns，fa ther and son，wh ich led to the offer of the well informed，a mong those L凸flingand Solander
great voyage to South Africa and finally Japan，wo uld since they both had ac ertain affiliation to Linneaus'
firstly be due to his solid knowledge ofhis science，th e home and family. 1n the 1760-ies when Thunberg
October 1994 Joumal of Japanese Botany Vol. 69 No. 5 335
studied for Linnaeus in Uppsala the latter seems not to also happened to me".
have discovered his capacity，as isρbvious from some But his relation to the great teacher was not without
lines in al etter from Linnaeus to the Cape of Good its complications. Thunberg sent material to and dis-
Hope: cussed problems with other Swedish scientists，am ong
“Never had 1m ore pleasure and reward from any those Peter Jonas Bergius in Stockholm and Lars
botanist. 1c an frankly confess that 1n ever thought Montin in Halmstad，pr obably without imagining that
you，m yd e Doctor，about so much of obligeance， it would hurt Linnaeus. Thunberg is constantly re-
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but rather considered you to be rather reserved，bu t ported about as an open，c andid nature free from
now 1h ave got another experience". intrigues，so no deliberate side-stepping of Linnaeus
Allletters between Linnaeus and Thunberg were may be suspected. All the same the issue seemed to
exchanged within the first half of the 1770s -the last arise jealousy with Linnaeus，w ho probably felt his
one was sent on 20th No vember 1774-when官mnberg isolation accentuated. Al etter from Linnaeus filius to
was abroad first in Holland and France，an d then in the Thunberg in 1776 tries to repair what is said to have
Cape Province. During these years Linnaeus' health been am isunderstanding. Thunberg of course got
was seriously declining and he found himself more information from various Swedish sources down to
and more isolated from the leamed world，bo th factu- the Cape and was comparatively well informed about
ally and mentally，a nd he suffered from it. what was on in Sweden.
Wej ust heard that Linnaeus came to appreciate In the same letter Linnaeus filius tells that his
Thunberg fully only after he in the Cape had shown father now has got another stroke -“he can hardly
himself capable of making important discoveries in walk，ta lks only ali ttle，wr ites nothing". Less than two
nature and setting up impeccable descriptions accord- years later Linnaeus was dead.
ing to the Linnaean method -much of the new It is interesting to observe that the teacher Linnaeus
material was indeed described in the Cape，de scrip- continued to give his pupillessons in the letters he sent
tions sent home and published in his absence. So he to the Cape. One is about the principle of naming
even wont he degree ofDoctorofMedicine at Uppsala genera after scientists:“Don ot name after others than
University in absentia. those who haved istinction in science. Otherwise will
Thunberg' sa mbition to fulfill the expectations science suffer，as well as your own authority and
Linnaeus might have had upon him are expressed in a esteem，m y dear Doctor". Sparrmanniα，R etzia，
letter from Amsterdam on the eve of his departure to Montiniαand othernames were in due course given by
South Africa，14 th December 1771: Thunberg to South African plants.
“Not ime during the whole of myj oumey could be It is true that the faithful Linnaean Thunberg
more pleasant than when 1fi nd something meriting to without any equal of his time，in creased the knowl-
appear before your eyes，w hich have so accurately edge ofthe plants of the world，bu t it is generally said
beheld so infinitely much ofthe works ofthe Creator， that he never questioned the systematic principles，all
and by which were arisen everyone' sr espect and those problems wrestling Linnaeus as long as he was
admiration. The sun does not keep its rays to herself at good health. This is not absolutely true. Indeed，he
but lends thereof to the other pl ets.Yo u have not proposed aw ell founded reduction of the number of
佃
only been shining over the whole world，bu t your classes in the sexual system but gained no response. It
pupils have because of their great teacher obtained was not either possible to move any step towards a
reputation before others. This happened to others; it ‘natural system' by revisions of the sexual one -what
336 植物研究雑誌第69巻第5号 平成6年 10月
Linnaeus had realized already in the 1730s as evident or pro gradu in his discripline theses of that kind were
from the ‘Classes Plantarum' (Linnaeus 1737). defended. The concept‘Linnaeru ，'f previously used
But in one of his letters to Thunberg in the Cape of someone observant and curious in Nature herself，
Linnaeus does suggest that those two together with was beginning to stand for an adherer of the sexual
Abraham Back，An ders Spa町man，Lars Montin and a system (Eriksson 1962). The image ofLinnaeus in the
few more should work further on such as ystem. What herbarium cupboards was overriding the memory of
Linnaeus here has in his thoughts is probably the the sharp-sighted observer in living nature. There
system of‘ordines naturales' which we know he were，ho wever，th ose botanists even more faithful to
taught on Hammarby in the 1760s. Thunberg must Linnaeus' every word and letter than Thunberg. The
have been present，bu t seems never to have taken an period ofLinnaean epigony can roughly be said to last
interest in this field. from the 1780-ies to about 1810-nearly two decades
Seen from ag eneral point of view Thunberg's before Thunberg' sd eath，at at ime when new great
greatest achievement was that this great Flora works， names appeared，in fluenced not only by Linnaeus but
those over the Cape and Jap an in first hand (Thunberg by the stream of romanticism in science，fi rst Carl
1784，1 807-1820)，d emonstrated that the Linnaean Adolph Agardh (1785-1859)，t he algologist，a nd
system was up to standard as at ool for handling， Goran Wahlenberg (1780--1851) as ap lant geogra-
ordering，a nd determination of al arge material，in - pher，t hough as as ystematist he was the most con-
cluding lots of vegetative and floral forms completely servative of all (Krook 1971)，s omewhat later Elias
beyond what Linnaeus had had before him when Fries (1794-1878)，th e mycologist. Important con-
elaborating his system for practical usage. One may tempor訂iesof Thunberg as Erik Acharius (1757-
say that Thunberg demonstrated ad egree of predict- 1819) dOlof Swartz (1760-1818) contributed es-
如
ability，f rom ap ractical point of view，in the sexual sentially to the systematics of lichens，f ems and
system. He also brought to mastership he Linnaean orchids，fo r example，an d were much more of forerun-
method of description，pe rformed with utmost care ners to the new era than Thunberg himself.
and clarity. His only equal，an d maybe even superior 1wi ll briefly comment on one more ofThunberg's
in that field may have been Daniel Solander，w hose activities in the Linnaean spirit，hi s action to found a
beautifully written descriptions for the floras of a new botanical garden in Uppsala. When Thunberg in
number of Pacific islands however remained unpub- 1784 was appointed as professor on Linnaeus' chair
lished，ma nyt o the presentday. Thunberg like Linnaeus he also became responsible for the university botani-
was am an to press his works to finality，til l they were cal garden，th e one which Linnaeus had restored and
printed and published -and was of course in this augmented to world fame in the 1740s from its more
matter helped by al ong life. modest st訂talreadyin the 1760s in OlofRudbeck's
Ont he other hand it must be confessed that his long days.
service as professor conserved botany in Sweden，an d In spite of that Linnaeus was never quite happy
particularly in Uppsala，co nfined it to deal with me- with that garden，si tuated in am oist place susceptible
chanical or routine sides of Linnaean botany -and to frosts and floods. Thunberg immediately made
endless series of describing. Except for the great efforts to obtain an ew one. He was appentlyclever
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narrative from his joumey (Thunberg 1788-1793) at laying his words in the right way and could as well
Thunberg hardly wrote any other kind of papers in his draw upon his fame as traveller to Africa and Japan.
long life，a nd of course all disputations pro exercitio When the Swedish king Gustavus 111 spent as 吋oum
October 1994 Joumal of Japanese Botany Vol. 69 No. 5 337
at Uppsala University and often visited the famous Heh ad still 21 years to live and act as professor-
professor in his garden，th e latter in ac orrect but frank retirement was rare in those days. Although abi t joked
way asked His Majesty whether he might not donate about because of some eccentric habits he was much
to the university the large garden attached to the Royal more respected，an d his brave and fruitful travelling
Castle of Uppsala，h ardly ever used by the royal was not forgotten. Hew as for decades the only profes-
family. That was approved，an d not only the establish- sor of intemational reputation at his university，wh ich
ment of ab otanical garden，b ut also the erection of of course tells ab it ofthe state of affairs in Uppsala in
botanical institution，ab uilding for which the King let the early 19th century -so distant from the brilliant
some ofhis architects make the drawings (Juel1929). days of Swedish science in the mid of the 18th
Thunberg's first great day at his own university century. Wi出 Thunberg'sd eath just hundred ye訂S
came in August 1787，wh en the king was present to lie after the young Linnaeus first entered the Uppsala
the comer-stone. His second great day occurred 20 garden an era had passed from dawn to sunset.
years later，w hen the building was solemnly inaugu-
rated. They had deliberately postponed the ceremony References
Agardh C. A. 1829. Biographie ofver Carl Petter Thunberg. K.
several years to let it coincide with Linnaeus' hun-
Vet. Akad. Handl. 1828.
dredth birthday in May 1807. On that occasion Eriksson G. 1962. Elias Fries och den romantiska biologin.
Lychnos-bibliotek 2. 487 pp.
Thunberg in his address reminded of Linnaeus'
Juel H. O. 1929. Nagra drag ur Uppsala botaniska institutions
overshading importance，bu t characteristically enough historia. Svenska Linne-Sallsk Arsskr. 13: 67-87.
Krook H. 1971. Angar oss Linne? Halmstad.
with restriction to those fields of Linnaeus' work in
Linnaeus C. 1737. Classes Plantarum. Lugduni Batavorum.
which he had himself been active -method，te rminol- Svedelius N. 1944. Carl Peter Thunberg 1743-1828. Ett
ogy，n aming，s ystem. It gives the impression that tvahundraarsminne. Svenska Linne-Sallsk. Arsskr. 27: 29-
64.
Linnaean tradition in the restricted sense was not only Thunberg C. P. 1784. Flora japonica. Lipsiae.
alive，bu t the sole approach. This is in 1807，an d at that 一一一一一1788-1793.Resa uti Europa，Af rica，As ia，fo rrattad
aren 1770-1779，I- IV. Uppsala.
time the new movements 1m entioned above begun to 一一一一一1807-1820.Flora capensis 1-11. Upsaliae & Hafniae.
get influence，bu t Thunberg，n ow 64，w as by-passed.
