Critical Review of the Mycological System

For thirty years, I have attempted to cultivate and bring under the command of science that vast province of the Vegetable kingdom, which is set forth here, once extremely crude and, as Linnaeus lamented, "a chaotic mess to the shame of botanists." Long ago, by writing the Systema Mycologicum Mycological System twenty years ago, I ventured a trial of the subject; if it now appears in a more polished form and shaped by a more stable regimen due to continuous care, this is owed solely to YOU. By preparing and granting me the office, which I have always looked upon as the goal of my life, you raised me up as I lay prostrate, and recalled me from despairing over my affairs to new hope and diligence. Always mindful of this grace, I wish to place an enduring monument to my most grateful and devoted spirit.