Amicissime Linnaee.
Praecedenti hebdomade tradidit mihi Wishovius fasciculum immensae ac stupendae doctrinae libris refertum, pro quibus quanta debeam vix verbis exprimere valeo.
Browallij, viri clarissimi, Examen legi et perlegi; est sane summo judicio conscriptum, in eo sane rem acu tangit; laudandus vero summopere est vir Doctissimus quod tam modeste cum Siegesbeckio agat.[1]
Novam editionem tuae Systematis summa cum voluptate evolvi, nec minus haesi cum Haakio de nova ejus editione sermones habere, qui in praesenti omni modo meditatur de distribuendis exemplaribus quae Ei restant. Quod spero brevi fore, quum lubentissime novam Ejus editionem sit suscepturus.[2] Verum liceat mihi quaedam consulere, ad quae in proximis respondeas, humillime precor.
pag. 5 ad num. 16 scribis Vitriolum figura rhomboidea Dodecaedra metallo praegnans. In emendandis pro rhomboidea vis rhombea sed et in Exemplari deles dodecaedra. Vellem scire an debeat deleri.[3]
pag. 6 an num. 17, 18, 19, 20 duo puncta post substantivum fumi quod correxisti pro fumo, debeant deleri.[4]
pag.16. In monandria monog[ynia] est
Floribus nudis
{div-table}
X Hippuris Limnopeuce.V. X Salicornia.T.
| Quid vis hoc signo ante duo haec verba?
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pag. 35 n. 5 in Urso. Legitur Mammae II inguinales sed in emend[andis] legis mammae IV pectorales 2, ventrales 2. verum in Exemplari scribis Mammae IV Pectorales 2, ventrales II[a], inguinales 2.[5]
pag. 49 n. 73 in Sturno. An incurvatum debet deleri & pro eo legi nares nudae.[6]
pag. 59 n. 148. An in Cantharide debet legi Abdominis incisurae lateribus mammilares.[7]
Hinc et inde adscripsisti nomina Suecica Germanico charactere conscripta. Quaeso scribas ea charactere Latino, non ut ita imprimantur, sed ut, quum imprimitur, certus esse possum quod typographus recte legerit. Sic pag. 7 ad ferrum petra vitrescente divite corrigis nomen Suecicum, et addis nomen quoddam ad speciem ultimam & ad ferrum striis convergentibus inquinantibus. Item ad Zinci tertam speciem. et ad 4 Stanni speciem. Item ad cuprum cinereum. Item p. 9 ad argillam apyram mutas Suecicum nomen, quod legere nequeo. Sic et ad Ochrae tertiam speciem. Item ad phytolithum Herbae. Item pag. 57, n. 130 ad nomen Barbatulae.
Sane in hoc opere plurima egregia praestitisti, praecipue in quadrupedibus et insectis. Utinam ad Vermes et aves talia nomina haberemus, in avibus tamen magnam partem conquirendam observavi. Hoc tamen doleo quod nescierim te ordinem in Regno Lapideo mutasse, quum nunc catalogum meum Lapideum impresserim exacte secundum ordinem prioris editionis.[8] Misi quinquaginta exemplaria Amstelodamum, ut prima nave ad Te mitterentur. Hoc vero gaudeo quod nulli his in oris exemplar obtulerim. Sed valeant hae Lacrymae et ad jucundiora transeamus, scilicet ad Fundamenta tua Botanica quae cum plus simplici vice perlegissem, contuli cum Amstelodamensi editione, qua occasione summa cum voluptate percepi ea quae >quae< tam docte hic & illic inseruisti ac mutasti. Utinam & haec reprimi hic loci possent, verum difficiles ad hoc invenio omnes Bibliopolas, jus suum, ut vocant, violare nolentes. Sic Genus istud hominum doctos exercet et fatigat.[9]
Collinsonius te salutat, significavitque mihi in Literis se ad Te dedisse Literas, in quibus respondit ad quaesita tua de Cedro Libani in Horto Chelsejano, quas literas in manus V[iri] D[octi] [?] Ministri Suecici tradidit, una cum fasciculo & seminibus.
Nunc avide expecto literas in quibus de reliquis plantis sententiam tuam desidero. Florent jam in Horto quinque vel sex plantae Americanae nunquam antea visae, quarum ut et aliarum specimina Tibi exsiccabo. Haec heri scripsi. Hodie me conveniunt D[ominus] van Royen et Wishovius. Evolvimus characteres transmissos, quos omnes paratos ad Typos invenimus.[10] Characteres et alia quae monuisti in duabus proximis, suo loco inseram, et reliqua monita sancte observabo. Ultimae vestrae Literae erant absque die inscriptionis, sed continebant 12 paginas in octavo; utinam me beares proximis. Wishovius est humanissimus; concedit optimos typos et egregiam chartam, nec dubito quin in proximis percipies Characteres tuos sub praelo sudare, curaturus omnia ac si essem praesens.
Vale mi Linnaee, et cura Te Ipsum, horamque singula die impende Philosophiae botanicae, quam avide expectamus.[11] Haec scripsit ad rogum Tuus
Gronovius.
Lugd[uni] Bat[avorum], 1740 ult[ima] Augusti.
Fratris Aelianus de Animalibus Londini imprimetur.[12]
{div-address}[address] To / the Learned Doctor / Carolus Linnaeus / at Stockholm
TEXTUAL NOTES
a. [Pectorales 2, ventrales II additur supra lineam]
EXPLANATORY NOTES
1. A reference to Browallius, Examen epicriseos in systema plantarum sexuale Cl. Linnaei, a work which was directed against Johannes Georgius Siegesbeck’s Epicrisis in Clar. Linnaei nuperrime evulgatum systema plantarum sexuale [...] which appeared in Saint Petersburg in 1737 bound together with his Botanosophiae verioris brevis sciagraphia.
2. A reference to the second edition of Systema naturae. As early as 13 May 1740{L0384}, Gronovius tried to persuade the Leiden bookseller Theodoor Haak into publishing a new edition of Systema naturae. However, he failed to realize his plans. However, it would not be published by the Leiden bookseller Theodoor Haak but rather by the Stockholm bookseller Gottfried Kiesewetter. It appeared in the course of 1740. See Soulsby, Catalogue of the works of Linnaeus in the British Museum, no. 46. As is mentioned by Gronovius in his letter, the new edition contained Swedish names in the mineralogical and zoological portions of the work.
3. See Systema naturae, 2nd ed. (Stockholm 1740), p. 5, no. 16. In the fourth edition of Systema naturae (Paris 1744), the description runs as follows: “Vitriolum figura rhombea dodecaëdra, metallo praegnans” (p. 9, no. 16).
4. In the fourth edition of Systema naturae (Paris 1744), the double point after fumo is preserved: “Electrum fumo: odore suavi, colore fusco” (p. 6, no. 17).
5. The fourth edition of Systema naturae reads as follows: “Ursus. Mammae IV. ventrales 2, Pectorales 2” (p. 65, no. 13).
6. See Systema naturae, 2nd ed. (Stockholm 1740), p. 49, no. 73: “Sturnus. Lingua emarginata, acuta, membranacea. Rostrum subteres, subulatum, incurvatum”. The text was completely preserved in the fourth edition (p. 77, no. 70).
7. See Systema naturae, 2nd ed. (Stockholm 1740), p. 59, no. 148: “Cantharis. Clypeus planus, marginatus. Elytra flexilia. Abdominis latera plicata”. The fourth edition of 1744 reads as follows: “Cantharis. Antennae setaceae. Elytra flexilia. Thorax planiusculus, marginatus, suborbiculatus. Abdominis latera plicato-papillosa” (p. 92, no. 147).
8. A reference to Gronovius’s catalogue of minerals which was published at Leiden in 1740 under the title Index. From Gronovius’s letter to Linnaeus of 14 October 1740{L0407} it can be inferred that the work was off the press by mid-October.
9. Fundamenta botanica was first published by Salomon Schouten at Amsterdam in 1736. A third, completely revised and augmented edition would be published by the same bookseller in 1741. See Soulsby, Catalogue of the works of Linnaeus in the British Museum, no. 261.
10. The new augmented and revised edition of Genera plantarum would be published by Conrad and Georg Jacob Wishoff at Leiden in 1742. See Soulsby, Catalogue of the works of Linnaeus in the British Museum, no. 297.
11. The Philosophia botanica would not appear until 1751. It was to be published by the Stockholm bookseller Gottfried Kiesewetter. See Soulsby, Catalogue of the works of Linnaeus in the British Museum, no. 437.
12. Abraham Gronovius’s edition of Aelianus, De natura would be published at London in 1744. It was re-issued at Leiden in 1759 and 1760.