Full video: https://youtube.com/shorts/IhzgwBdCBgw?feature=share

Script

Linnaeus is controversial for his descriptions of the “varieties” of humans,

Wild Men – H. Feri “Wild boys found, in 1719, in the Pyrenees”

American – H. Americani “Remarkably erect”

Europeans – H. Europaei “Governed by fixed laws”

Asiatic – H. Asiatici “Governed by opinions”

African – H. Afri “Careless dispositions”

Monsters – H. Monstrosi “By peculiarity of climate”

which can be interpreted as his attempt to classify human subspecies [2] [Linnaeus’ classification of man was certainly viewed by contemporaries in a hierarchical manner, and carried on being used in such a way through the following decades. Thus Linnaeus’ hierarchy, with black people at the very bottom, associated with negative moral and physical attributes, stuck.] & [“Authors after Linnaeus presented his classification of humans as a series of trinomials (three scientific names – genus, species, and subspecies), entrenching the view that Linnaeus’ varieties were really sub-species. This was the case in the English translation of Linnaeus in 1792, which probably gave rise to the idea that Linnaeus believed that human races actually constituted subspecies.”].

But you know what? The thing that caught me off guard was his descriptions of the animal kingdom! Insects go “buzz”, amphibians go “hiss” – what? Mammalia is “covered with hair”, “walk on the earth”, and “speaking”. Pffff, what is he talking about? And fishes are “covered with scales”, “swim in the water”, and are “smacking”? What? What the heck is “smacking”?

We all know fishes go “blop blop” – what’s with this guy? It’s as if he’s describing animals in the 18th century. 

Discussion

Jokes aside, there’s a lot of interesting things in Linnaeus’ work (and even a longer list of descriptors for each animal class). While outdated, they laid the groundwork for the complicated contemporary perspectives of our world. Reading through these works sometimes help add a sense of “humanity” to what I typically take for granted, such as the names of animals and their described “functions”.

Even studying English language and literature in university, my professor brought up Linnaeus as an important figure to discuss in regards to the development of literature (and even Charles Darwin). We read “Sketches of the History of Man”, where Lord Henry Home Kames provided his thoughts on Linnaeus’ category of the human.

But… I just wanted to make a funny short about something “odd” I read that wasn’t so content heavy as what you’d expect from this topic! There’s a lot to talk about, so maybe a long video will be on the list of videos for me to make? Hmmm…

Citations

[1] https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/119041#page/49/mode/1up

[2] https://www.linnean.org/learning/who-was-linnaeus/linnaeus-and-race