Summary

Buffon is joined by Michel Adanson, a dedicated young follower and scientist. Adanson independently funded travels abroad by working aboard mercantile ships. Adanson lived and worked in Senegal for a long time, developing fiercely anti-slavery and anti-racism views. Upon return to the Jardin, Adanson begins to devise his own approach to taxonomy, revising Bffon's complexist approach. The new method of classification prioritized the oldest known name of a plant, often going back to its indigenous name. Linnaeus rejected Adanson's treatise, Familles des Plantes, but Buffon was an enthusiastic supporter.

In Sweden, many of Linnaeus' young followers continue to travel abroad in hopes of collecting new specimens and identifying species, only to die along the way.

In 1758, Linnaeus publishes the 10th edition of the Systema Naturae. In the new edition, Linnaeus changes many of the classifications, to accommodate new and expanding research. This change...