120 BIOLOGY AND ITS MAKERS 



in 1726, he prepared to a])prcntice Carl to a shoemaker, but 

 was prevented from doing so through the encouragement 

 of a doctor who, being able to appreciate the quality of mind 

 possessed by the young Linnaeus, advised allowing him to 

 study medicine instead of preparing for theology. 



Accordingly, with a sum amounting to about $40, all his 

 father could spare, he set off for the University of Lund, to 

 pursue the study of medicine. He soon transferred to the 

 University of Upsala, v/here the advantages were greater. Plis 

 poverty placed him under the greatest straits for the necessities 

 of life, and he enjoyed no luxuries. While in the university 

 he mended his shoes, and the shoes which were given to him 

 by some of his companions, with paper and birch -bark, to 

 keep his feet from the damp earth. But his means did not 

 permit of his taking his degree at Upsala, and it was not until 

 eight years later, in 1735, that he recei^'ed his degree in Holland. 



At Upsala he was relieved from his extreme poverty by 

 obtaining an assistant's position, and so great was his knowl- 

 edge of plants that he was delegated to read the lectures of 

 the aged professor of botany, Rudbeck. 



In 1732 he was chosen by the Royal Society of Upsala to 

 visit Lapland as a collector and observer, and left the univer- 

 sity without his degree. On returning to Upsala, his lack 

 of funds made itself again painfully felt, and he undertook 

 to support himself by giving public lectures on botany, chem- 

 istry, and mineralogy. He secured hearers, but the con- 

 tinuance of his lectures was prevented by one of his rivals on 

 the ground that Linnseus had no degree, and was therefore 

 legally disqualified from taking pay for instruction. Pres- 

 ently he became tutor and traveling companion of a wealthy 

 baron, the governor of the province of Dalecarlia, but this 

 employment was temporary. 



Helped by His Fiancee. — His friends advised him to 

 secure his medical degree and settle as a practitioner. Al- 



