Unicorn or Narwhal? Linnaeus makes the rules
Lorraine Daston, 22 February 2024
Linnaeus accepted the evidence of the astonishing specimens sent to him from far and wide as well as what the microscope revealed of the life teeming in a drop of water. The same Linnaeus who made short work of hydras and unicorns embroidered his own field notes with fanciful mythological references.