Author: LINNAEUS, C. [P.J.BERGIUS] (Def.)
Title: Semina Muscorum detecta, suffragio nobiliss. medicorum ord. in reg. acad. Upsal. Praeside... Carola Linnaeo...publicae disputat... Alumnus Regius Petrus Jonas Bergius, Smolandus.
Description: Upsaliae, 1750. 4to. W. small engr. ill. on the printed title., meas. ... x .... cm. Unbound. [n3, A-B4, C1]. (VI, (1), 2 - 18 pp.). (There is no, nor is it called for, an engraved front. mentioned by Soulsby 1596 and Stafleu 4758). (Lower blank margin p. 5 to end a vague watersp.). 1750 original thesis edition. Sven-Erik Sandermann Olsen, Bibliographia Discipili Linnaei, (Copenhagen, 1997) pp. 43 - 49, item S 1596: 'Bergius, Peter Jonas (1730 - 1790). Physician/botanist. ...Defended an academic dissertation pro exercitio under Linnaeus (1750) ...Was author of 32 botanical works or papers, and more in medicine; a member of many learned societies in Sweden and abroad.'': Stafleu - Cowan, vol. III Taxonomic Literature, item 4758 and see p. 87 for a note on the reprints of Linnaean dissertations in 'Amoenitas' [1749 - 1769, 7 vols.] in which they make an important point: 'For purposes of plant taxonomy and nomenclature [ as for any any medical or ornithological subject] it will be necessary to consult the original dissertations... for a discussion of the authorship of the Linnaean dissertations see Stearn 1957 (pp. 51 - 64) ... Krok ... gives a list of the L. dissertations which were certainly or probably written by the respondents themselves. Rickett (1955) and Stearn (1957) come to the following important conclusion: "ascription of a name to an authority, is, after all, a convention, its object being to clarify the application of the name."; and for convenience, as well as for historical reasons, the names first published in the Linnaean dissertations, in the original theses no less than in the amended Amoenitas academicae versions, SHOULD BE ATTRIBUTED TO LINNAEUS AND TO HIM ALONE [my cap.]." In our [Stafleu and Cowan] treatment we follow Krok's attributions because in most cases he bases them on the appearance of the designation "auctor" on the t.p. or elsewhere in the publication, clearly pointing to the defendens. The great majority of the Linnaean dissertations must, as Stearn and Rickett state, be attributed to Linnaeus himself.': Sandbergs Boghandel cat. 12 (1978), section VI, Theses and Orations.: 'The academic theses which have Linnaeus' name as Praeses contain nothing but the results of his own researches and investigations. At that time professors at Upsala dictated most of the theses to their students and only rarely did a defendant write his thesis himself. ... the defendant should pay for the printing of the theses. In this way a professor, at least an industrious one like Linnaeus, saved a lot of money. The original editions of these theses were always printed in small editions and are very rare. Even the collection of Linnaeus dissertations in the British Museum lacks eight of them or possesses some of them only in photostat copies.': Lidén, Cat. Disputationum (publ. 1778), Section U, 311.398, item 028: Krok, Bibl. Botanica Suecica (1925), item 44 & pp. 75 - 77: Soulsby, Cat. of the works of Linnaeus (1933),specifically section XII [items 1332 - 2460a, the original separate editions) item 1596 [calling for an engraved front. 'on t.p.' of the 'semina muscorum', which is obviously a mistake]: Strandell Coll., 5213: Hunt Botanical institute website: 'On the fructification (spore production) of mosses.' Hunt mentions an engraved ill. ['a title page figure'] on the printed title, not an engr. front. preceding it.

Keywords: linnaeana botany MD gradu Z23