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Subject:
Re: Linnaeus
From:
Gary Rosenberg <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Conchologists of America List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 8 May 1998 12:12:58 -0400
Content-Type:
text/plain
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text/plain (23 lines) 
At 08:13 AM 5/8/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Linnaeus' diagnosis of Homo sapiens was unique: in English translation,
>"Know thyself." Therefore, anyone who read his Systema Naturae for the next
>200 years must be in the type lot, including (now that you've read this)
>everyone on Conch-L. Gives you a warm feeling, doesn't it?
 
Actually, "nosce Te ipsum" (Know thyself) is Linnaeus's diagnosis of the
genus Homo, not of the species Homo sapiens. The diagnosis of Homo sapiens
reads "H[omo] diurnus; varians cultura, loco."  Linnaeus included in the
same genus with humans, Homo troglodytes (the chimpanzee, now Pan
troglodytes), described as "H[omo] nocturnus".
 
The type series of Homo sapiens is restricted to people that Linnaeus knew,
or knew of, before 1758.
 
Gary
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Rosenberg, Ph.D.                     [log in to unmask]
Malacology & Invertebrate Paleontology    gopher://erato.acnatsci.org
Academy of Natural Sciences               http://www.acnatsci.org
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway            Phone 215-299-1033
Philadelphia, PA 19103-1195 USA           Fax   215-299-1170

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