BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 355 



appeared, was entirely owing to his promptitiule ; for other 

 and very pressing applications were almost immediately made 

 ior the collection, but the upright Dr Acrel having given Mr 

 Smith the refusal, declined to entertain any other proposals 

 while this negotiation was pending. The purchase was 

 finally made for 900 guineas, excluding the separate herba- 

 rium of the younger Linnaeus, collected before his father's 

 death, and said to contain nothing that did not also exist in 

 the original herbarium; this was assigned to Baron Alstrce- 

 mer, in satisfaction of a small debt. The ship which con- 



"^Honoured Sir, — You may have heard that the young Linnaeus is 

 lately dead ; his father's collections and library, and his own, are now to 

 be sold I the whole consists of an immense hortus siccus, with duplicates, 

 insects, shells, corals, materia niedica, fossils, a very fine library, all the 

 unpublished manuscripts ; in short, every tiling they were possessed of 

 relating to natural history and physic : the whole has just been offered to 

 Sir Joseph Banks for 1000 guineas, and he has declined buying it. The 

 offer was made to him by my friend Dr Engelhart, at the desire of a Dr 

 Acrel of Upsal, who has charge of the collection. Now, I am so ambitious 

 as to wish to possess this treasure, with a view to settle as a physician in 

 London, and read lectures on natural history. Sir Joseph Banks, and ail 

 my friends to whom I have intrusted ray intention, approve of it highly. 

 I have written to Dr Acrel, to whom Dr Engelhart has recommended me, 

 for particulars and the refusal, telling him if it was what I expected, I 

 would give him a very good price for it. I hope, my dear sir, you and 

 my good mother will look on this scheme in as favourable a light as my 

 friends here do. There is no time to be lost, for the affair is now talked 

 of in all companies, and a number of people wish to be purchasers. The 

 Empress of Russia is said to have thoughts of it. The manuscripts, letters, 

 &c., must be invaluable, and there is, no doubt, a complete collection of 

 all the inaugural dissertations which have been published at Upsal, a small 

 part of which has been republished under the title of Am<enitates Acade- 

 miccB ; a very celebrated and scarce work. All these dissertations were 

 written by Linnaeus, and must be of prodigious value. In short, the more 

 I think of this affair, the more sanguine I am, and earnestly hope for your 

 concurrence. I wish I could have one half-hour's conversation with you, 

 but that is impossible." — Correspondence of Sir James Edward Smith, 

 edited by Lady Smith, Vol. i. p. 93. 



The appeal to his father was not in vain ; and, did our limits allow, we 

 should be glad to copy, from the work above cited, the entire correspon- 

 dence upon this subject. 



