Title:
Albrecht von Haller to Carl Linnaeus
Type:
Image
Licence:
Contact [email protected]
Repository:
The Linnean Society of London
Collection:
Linnaean Correspondence
Reference number:
LC/6/77
Archival level:
Item
Date:
13 October 1737
Placement:
Volume 6: 159-160
Extent:
159-160
Language:
la
Description:
Albrecht von Haller hopes to see Linnaeus in Göttingen. Linnaeus’s Diapensia appears different from the Androsaces of Haller. What Haller sent was an Androsace with sweet smell, frequent on the Alps and on Mount Jura. Haller is comparing Benedikt Stähelin’s illustrations of the Fungi, Lichenes and mosses with his own and those of Linnaeus. He would like to have Lapland plants. In Primitiae florae Petropolitanae Johann Georg Siegesbeck calls Linnaea by the name of Obularia and Andromeda by that of Ledoides. Haller has not seen Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix’s Histoire et description generale du Japon. Haller has studied the Fungi closely and can determine some by characters, such as the Lichen-agaricus and Fungoidastrum. When Linnaeus arrives he will get De Pedicularibus and De Veronicis. Linnaeus will then see how the history of plants, synonyms, etc. are treated. Next year he will also publish a systematic “synopsis” of his larger work. He wants a natural order. Artificial methods are useful to learners but less suitable for local floras, in which plants that are akin illustrate and define each other, as is the case with grasses, bulbous plants, etc. Haller’s Swiss plants will number almost 3,000. If varieties had not been excluded, there would have been even more. Paul Heinrich Gerhard Moehring has not seen Linnaeus’s works, which are terribly expensive in Germany. The Germans do not like the change of (botanical) names. The colour of the corolla is very important to them. Among the Pediculares this character distinguishes many species. Haller is very busy teaching anatomy, having to lecture for three hours every day. In his spare time he works on Siliquosae tetrapetalae or Tetradynamiae, in which there is a great confusion of genera and species. From here he will proceed to the Papilionaceae. All the species of Lotus, Coronilla and Hedysara unifolia, trifolia or multifolia are very close to each other. He would like Linnaeus to help determine the species of Orchides, Salices and Carices. Haller hopes to find a natural method to replace the artificial one.
Sender:
Haller, Albrecht von
Recipient:
Linnaeus, Carl
Sent to location:
[Amsterdam, Netherlands]
Transcription:
Viro Celeberrimo, D[omino] D[octori] Carolo Linnaeo, Botanico Primario, S[alutem] p[lurimam] d[icit] Alb[ertus] Haller. Amicitiam nostram cave existimes laesam ullo modo inprovidis voculis, quae aut Tibi aut mihi exciderunt. Amo Te ut natum augendae Rei herbariae. Amo Te ut in me beneficum, ut mei amantem. Deleta sit omnis diversarum sententiarum memoria. Fac, Te brevi incolumem Gottingae videam, et hospitio meo, qualecumque est, utere liberrime. Stirpes meas simul explorare et de multis convenire poterimus, quae non nisi praesentium Plantarum examine confici possunt. Diapensia Tua a meis Androsacis diversa videtur. Quae autem misi vera est Androsace in Alpibus et Jura M[onte] frequens, suavis odoris, &c. Caesalpino noli mea causa carere, nisi certissimus sis aliunde Te id detrimentum posse resarcire. Possidet eum Staehelinus meus et facilis erit in ejus concedendo usu. Ejus nunc fungorum icones Lichenesque & Muscos hic habeo et cum meis his diebus cumque Tuis contuli. Gratus ero pro omnibus, quae mihi misisti. Stirpes Tibi, non Cliffortiano, destinaveram. Praesens, quae ad manus erunt, Tua fac. Idem de mineris & lapidibus dictum volo, quas paucas sed pulchras satis habeo, quae & Tibi & Cliffortio paratae sunt. Plantae Laponicae & nunc et olim erunt gratissimae. Quae Siegesbeckii & Gerberi scripta vocas non vidi, sed Siegesbeckii Primitias, opus equidem valde Neologicum. Linnaeam Tuam Obolariam vocat, Andromedam Ledoides, &c. Bona nova sunt, quae de Gronovio, Bartschio, Burmanno, Royeno narras. Audio P[atris] Charlevoix historiam Japoniae plantas continere, sed nondum vidi. Caeterum novi mihi nihil subpetit. Hortum nunc profundis sulcis exarari curo, quem vere proximo conseram. Ad id fac, precor, semina quaedam a Royenio, Burmanno, Cliffortio conficias. Erunt longe gratissima. Plurimus fui in fungis neque infelix. Spero me quasdam eo spectantes Familias per Characteres determinaturum ut Lichen-Agaricum, Fungoidastrum, cujus plurimas species habeo, &c. Eas dissertationum specie edere constitui, uti Pediculares nunc edidi. Quas uti neque Veronicas meas Tibi mittere nolui et malui praesenti servare. Videbis in iis meam rationem tradendi historias stirpium, synonymias evolvendi, &c. Ex eo majori opere, quod fere paratum est, excerpam synopsis methodicam eamque anno proximo edam. Peroptarem vero, ut ordinem aliquem Naturali adfinem sive per adfinitates invenire possem saltem pro his paucis familiis. Methodi artificiales discentibus forte utiliores, sed in floris minus conveniunt, in quibus Adfines juxta se positae se mutuo illustrant & definiunt, uti de gramineis, bulbosis, &c. verum est. Adparet vero eas stirpes haud multum infra 3 000 fore. Excessuras eum numerum, si varietates non expungerem, exque fungis omnes, quos non repetito visos certissime sejunctos esse novi. Moehringius neque nunc Tua vidit, ut ex nuperis ejus literis intellexi. Germani Tua a Bibliopolis enormi pretio (flora 2 R[eichs]th[aler] 8, 99 C[reutzer]) estimata vix adeo emunt in vulgus, neque se patiuntur abduci a receptis nominibus. In iis pace Tua color corollae merito saepe locum habet. In pedicularibus sine eo multa essent obscuriora. Potest autem cura adhiberi, ut aut constans tantum color nomen subeat aut addantur Varietates. Sum nunc totus in Anatomicis, quae tribus de die horis praelego. Interruptis tamen horulis elaboro meas Siliquosas tetrap[etalas] (Tetradynamias), in quibus multa est & in generibus & in speciebus confusio. Quasdam ego vulgatissimas ut sinapi rapi folio, &c. vix agnosco, cum inprimis culinares nondum collegerim. Inde ad Papilionaceas transeo, unde foliorum considerationem expungam. Om[nes] enim Lotus & Coronilla, deinde hedysara unifolia, trifolia, multifolia, sunt vicinissima. Sed Trifolii enorme enascitur mihi genus, inprimis si trifoliastra non expungam. Est certe in synonymia & in determinandis speciebus enormis labor; in vulgatis aeque imo major quam in rarioribus, ut in Orchid[i]b[us], Salicibus (in quibus multa a Te spero), caricibus, &c. Is hucusque me detinuit, ut in concinnandis generibus minus ausus fuerim, licet & defectus horti instructi meos conatus subpresserit. Sed absoluta historia Indigenarum & parato horto Tua retractabo adcuratissima certe & quae dissentientibus etiam de summa methodo utilitates praestare possint maximas. Fateor a[utem] me hucusque de Lapide eo Philosophorum, methodo naturali, non adeo desperare, ut aliquam artificialem sequi velim. Sed Tu cito adeas ad nos & interim Vale & fave! Gottingiae die 13 oct[obris] 1737. [address] A Monsieur / Monsieur Linnaeus Docteur en / Medecine et Botaniste trez fameux / recommandé a Monsieur George / Cliffort, / Docteur en Droit, / A Amsterdam
Previous reference number:
L0214
Condition note:
seal tear
