356 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 



veyed these treasures to London had scarcely sailed, when 

 the king of Sweden, who had been absent in France, re- 

 turned home, and despatched, it is said, an armed vessel in 

 pursuit. This story, though mentioned in the Memoir and 

 Correspondence of Sir J. E. Smith, and generally received, 

 has, we believe, been recently controverted. However this 

 may be, no doubt the king and the men of science in Sweden 

 were greatly offended, as indeed they had reason to be, at 

 the conduct of the executors, in allowing these collections to 

 leave the country; but the disgrace should perhaps more 

 justly fall upon the Swedish government itself, and the Uni- 

 versity of Upsal, which derived its reputation almost entirely 

 from the name of Linn i us. It was, however, fortunate for 

 science that they were transferred from such a remote situa- 

 tion to the commercial metropolis of the world, where they 

 are certainly more generally accessible. The late Professor 

 Schultes, in a very amusing journal of a botanical visit to 

 England in the year 1S24, laments indeed that they have 

 fallen to the lot of the "toto disjuncios orbe Britannos ;'^ yet 

 a journey even from Landshut to London, may perhaps be 

 more readily performed than to Upsal. 



After the death of Sir James Edward Smith, the herbarium 

 and other collections, and library of Linnseus, as well as his 

 own, were purchased by the Linnsean Society. The herba- 

 rium still occupies the cases which contained it at Upsal, and 

 is scrupulously preserved in its original state, except that, 

 for more effectual protection from the black and penetrating 

 dust of London, it is divided into parcels of convenient size, 

 which are closely wrapped in covers of stron"- paper lined 

 with muslin. The genera and covers are numbered to cor- 

 respond with a complete manuscript catalogue, and the col- 

 lection, which is by no means large, in comparison with 

 modern herbaria, may be consulted with great facility. 



In the negotiation with Smith, Dr Acrel stated the num- 

 ber of species at 8000, which probably is not too low an 

 estimate. The specimens, which are mostly small, but in 

 excellent preservation, are attached to half-sheets of very 



