Anyone who thinks that a sure degree of scientific adept imparts dignity might need to take a look at this incident in the life of Carl Linnaeus . He was a polymath , the father of modern biology , and also a hydra examiner for hire .
Carl Linnaeus has an entire classification system named after him . That ’s fair , because he named it , laying the foundation for taxonomy , and providing a organizational system that has guided scientists to this day . He was n’t just a darling of the scientific residential area . Literary lights like Rousseau and Goethe write him buff chain armour . He was adored , and celebrate . There was , however , one little adventure in his life that he probably want to blank out .
Once he ’d startle make a name for himself as a systematist , people try his advice on matter of rare and marvellous brute . He was n’t always correct ( he consider the pelican a cryptid for a while ) , but he was conscientious and concerned . So when he went to Hamburg around the prison term a local businessman had get a dead hydra , it looked like a great chance . Killing the Snake was one of the labors of Hercules , and he had his work cut out for him . A hydra had the body like a plesiosaurus with hook , and many snakelike heads . How many heads ? depend on what kind of action the hydra had seen . trim back off one header and three arise in its station .
This hydra was relatively small , and had reportedly been toss off hundreds of years before Linnaeus dress eyes on it . The man who had bribe it showed Linnaeus in between entertaining bidding , one of which came from the King of Denmark . This hydra was covered with scale and had Snake River heads , but a closer expression showed Linnaeus that the claw come from weasels , and the body was an amalgam of mammal theatrical role with snakeskin sewed over it . The current owner had n’t been directly conned , as the creature seemed to be very old . Linnaeus guessed that it was first made in a monastery or church building , to scare locals and keep them pious .
Linnaeus ’s display of scientific prowess was impressive to biology nerds , but not to the guy cable who had just bought a weasel in a snake waistcoat . It did n’t please the local clergy either . Linnaeus had to get out of town quick , and ensure his reputation for debunkery did n’t antecede him , as it make citizenry reluctant to show him their specimens . as luck would have it , he seemed to have done well enough in scientific discipline that he did n’t have to pay heed all his hopes on a bastard hydra .
[ ViaOn Monsters : An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears ]
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