Of what use are the great number of petrifactions, of different species, shape and form which are dug up by naturalists? Perhaps the collection of such specimens is sheer vanity and inquisitiveness. I do not presume to say; but we find in our mountains the rarest animals, shells, mussels, and corals embalmed in stone, as it were, living specimens of which are now being sought in vain throughout Europe. These stones alone whisper in the midst of general silence.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the significance of fossils and their role in understanding biodiversity, questioning whether their collection serves a deeper purpose or simply human curiosity.
In this quote, Carl Linnaeus raises a philosophical inquiry about the value of fossil specimens discovered by naturalists. He ponders whether these findings are merely a result of human vanity and curiosity or if they serve a greater purpose in revealing the history of life on Earth. By highlighting the fossilized remains of rare animals and shells, Linnaeus suggests that these stones speak volumes about the past, offering insights into species that once thrived but are now lost to time, thus invoking a sense of wonder and contemplation about nature's history.
In practice
A professor discussing the importance of paleontology in a lecture.
There are as many species as the infinite being created diverse forms in the beginning, which, following the laws of generation, produced many others, but always similar to them: therefore there are as many species as we have different structures before us today.
I demand of you, and of the whole world, that you show me a generic character... by which to distinguish between Man and Ape. I myself most assuredly know of none.
Blessed be the Lord for the beauty of summer and spring, for the air, the water, the verdure, and the song of birds.
A professor can never better distinguish himself in his work than by encouraging a clever pupil, for the true discovers are among them, as comets amongst the stars.
What really matters for me is ... the more active role of the observer in quantum physics ... According to quantum physics the observer has indeed a new relation to the physical events around him in comparison with the classical observer, who is merely a spectator.
The human race has a yearning to explore. That's part of our biological and psychological makeup.
It is not a simple matter to differentiate unsuccessful from successful experiments. . . .[Most] work that is finally successful is the result of a series of unsuccessful tests in which difficulties are gradually eliminated.
Most scientists know what needs to be done to save our Earth. But the politicians don't listen to them. They will listen to popular pressure; the people got to supply that.
The kitchen's a laboratory, and everything that happens there has to do with science. It's biology, chemistry, physics. Yes, there's history. Yes, there's artistry. Yes, to all of that. But what happened there, what actually happens to the food is all science.
The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform... But it is likely to exert an indirect and reciprocal influence on science itself.
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