Case
1
Carl
Linnaeus, Nemesis Divina (Dordrecht:
Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996), ed. M.
J. Petry.
In the mid-18th century, the Swedish botanist
and physician Linnaeus (1707-1778) described
nature as a Divinely-inspired harmonious system
in which every organism fulfills a specific
role to maintain the general balance. Linnaeus
combined the age-old concept of the Great
Chain of Being with the then prevalent idea
of the Divine Economy of Nature:
"Everything
the Almighty Creator has instituted on our
globe occurs in such a wonderful order, that
no thing subsists without the support of something
else: The Globe itself, with all its Stones,
Ore, and Gravel, is nourished and sustained
by the Elements: Plants, Trees, Herbs, Grasses,
and Mosses grow out of the Globe, and Animals
eventually grow out of the plants. All of
these are finally transformed back into their
primary substances, the Earth feeding the
Plant, the Plant the Worm, the Worm the Bird,
and often the Bird the Beast of Prey; Then
finally the Beast of Prey is consumed the
Bird of Prey, the Bird of Prey by the Worm,
the Worm by the Herb, the Herb by the Earth:
Man indeed, who turns everything to his needs,
is often consumed by the Beast, the Bird,
or the Fish which preys on him, by the Worm
or the Earth. It is thus that everything circulates."
In
his Nemesis Divina (1758-1765), Linnaeus applied
his natural theology to write an extensive
moral lesson for his son.