![LINNAEUS, Carolus (1707-1778). Autograph letter signed ('Carol: Linnaeus') to his friend, the doctor and botanist François Boissier de Sauvages de Lacroix, Uppsala, 11 November 1748, in Latin, illustrated with AN AUTOGRAPH DRAWING showing the difference between the two species of Taenia, 3 pages, 4to, on a bifolium, integral address panel, remnant of seal (some wear at folds, seal tear affecting three lines of text, with loss of a few words); [with] an autograph letter signed by Sauvages to Linnaeus, 12 April 1749, in Latin, four pages, 4to.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2007/CKS/2007_CKS_07411_0523_000(022251).jpg?w=1)
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LINNAEUS, Carolus (1707-1778). Autograph letter signed ('Carol: Linnaeus') to his friend, the doctor and botanist François Boissier de Sauvages de Lacroix, Uppsala, 11 November 1748, in Latin, illustrated with AN AUTOGRAPH DRAWING showing the difference between the two species of Taenia, 3 pages, 4to, on a bifolium, integral address panel, remnant of seal (some wear at folds, seal tear affecting three lines of text, with loss of a few words); [with] an autograph letter signed by Sauvages to Linnaeus, 12 April 1749, in Latin, four pages, 4to.
ON CLASSIFICATION AND THE STRUCTURE OF SHELLS. The letter opens with congratulations to Sauvages on his marriage (to Jeanne Yolande), and a heartfelt eulogy on the benefits of marriage, 'Vita nostra absque conjuge tristis, atra, dubia' [our life without a wife is sad, black and uncertain]; he contratulates him too on a prize awarded by the Academy of Toulouse for a treatise on rabies, and expresses his amusement at the rejection of Sauvages's system of classification by doctors: 'I laughed when D. Missa (your friend) told me that all doctors rejected your classifications. Either two and two do not make four, or your method is the only medical system of classification so far discovered'. Linneaus expresses his excitement at a promised gift of a herbarium from Dr Magnol, 'the greatest of my worldly desires, so that I can see the flowers, reveal the synonyms and differences, and insert them amongst my species of plants', but proposes to send it back in pristine condition, rather than keep it. The letter concludes with favourable news of Linnaeus's efforts to have his friend elected a member of the Academy of Stockholm, and with a précis of his recently-published article on the Taenia, in which he illustrates the two different species with the different positions and purposes of their orifices. Sauvages's letter of April 1749 sends news of the dispatch of a box containing Magnol's promised specimens.
The extensive correspondence and close friendship between Linnaeus and Sauvages de Lacroix (1706-1767) began in 1737, and Sauvages was to send Linnaeus numerous botanical specimens from the region of Montpellier, where he held the chair of botany. Linnaeus in response named the genus Sauvagesia of the family of Ochnaceae in his friend's honour. Sauvages de Lacroix is the founder of nosology (the classification of illnesses). (2)
ON CLASSIFICATION AND THE STRUCTURE OF SHELLS. The letter opens with congratulations to Sauvages on his marriage (to Jeanne Yolande), and a heartfelt eulogy on the benefits of marriage, 'Vita nostra absque conjuge tristis, atra, dubia' [our life without a wife is sad, black and uncertain]; he contratulates him too on a prize awarded by the Academy of Toulouse for a treatise on rabies, and expresses his amusement at the rejection of Sauvages's system of classification by doctors: 'I laughed when D. Missa (your friend) told me that all doctors rejected your classifications. Either two and two do not make four, or your method is the only medical system of classification so far discovered'. Linneaus expresses his excitement at a promised gift of a herbarium from Dr Magnol, 'the greatest of my worldly desires, so that I can see the flowers, reveal the synonyms and differences, and insert them amongst my species of plants', but proposes to send it back in pristine condition, rather than keep it. The letter concludes with favourable news of Linnaeus's efforts to have his friend elected a member of the Academy of Stockholm, and with a précis of his recently-published article on the Taenia, in which he illustrates the two different species with the different positions and purposes of their orifices. Sauvages's letter of April 1749 sends news of the dispatch of a box containing Magnol's promised specimens.
The extensive correspondence and close friendship between Linnaeus and Sauvages de Lacroix (1706-1767) began in 1737, and Sauvages was to send Linnaeus numerous botanical specimens from the region of Montpellier, where he held the chair of botany. Linnaeus in response named the genus Sauvagesia of the family of Ochnaceae in his friend's honour. Sauvages de Lacroix is the founder of nosology (the classification of illnesses). (2)
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