Page:Carroll Lane Fenton - A History of Evolution (1922).djvu/32

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One of the outstanding figures of zoology, and for that matter, of all natural science is Carl von Linne, more commonly known as Carolus Linnaeus. For many years naturalists had been struggling to establish a satisfactory system of naming and arranging the various forms of animals, plants and fossils, but without very definite or satisfactory results. Linnaeus devised a very simple method of naming organisms—one that is followed almost without modification even today. He chose Latin and ancient Greek as the languages in which the names should be cast, primarily because both of them were more or less familiar to all students of his day, and neither was an important language of modern times. The name itself was in two parts, one denoting the particular species, the other the group to which that species belonged. Thus the common chipping sparrow is Spizella socialis, just as a man is William Jones, or James Thompson. The only difference is that in Linnaeus' system of naming, the family name comes first; if the same plan were used in human names William Jones would become Jones William. This may sound awkward, but as a matter