264 GREENE 



APPOINTED PROFESSOR AT UPSALA. 



Court influence now procured him the comfortable position of 

 Physician to the Admiralt}^ After that, the death of Dr. 

 Roberg, professor of medicine at Upsala, opened the way to 

 Linnaeus's promotion to a professorship at that university. It 

 was that of medicine, and that of botany was, at the time, held 

 by Linnaeus's former antagonist Rosen. The two professors, 

 now equal in official rank, became reconciled and, with the full 

 consent of the authorities, exchanged professorships. Linnreus 

 was now again a botanist. He was still a young man, only 

 some 34 years of age, and had lived out not quite half his days. 

 The after years, those of his fruition, did not produce as much 

 of importance to botany as the earlier period had yielded. 

 There came out in 175 1 the Philosophia Botanica, partly of the 

 nature of a recension and enlargement of two of his early books, 

 the Fundamenta Botanica and the Critica Botanica. It is one of 

 his most important and imperishable books. In 1753 appeared 

 the largest and most comprehensive of his works, the Species 

 Plantarum. During the remaining years of his life Linnceus 

 was largely occupied with the preparation of new editions of 

 almost all his works, the public demand for which was very 

 great. 



INFLUENCE OF LINN^US UPON BOTANY. 



It is not possible to convey an idea of what Linnaeus accom- 

 plished for the advancement of botany without presenting, in 

 brief outline, a view of what had been done before him. That 

 there was not much botany before Linnaeus, is a fable that 

 gained popular credence in rural districts a half century ago. 

 One of the earliest books which our Linnaeus published was the 

 Bibliotheca Botanica. It contains the titles of t,ooo volumes, 

 by almost as many different botanists, most of which books he 

 thought an indispensable part of a working botanist's equipment ; 

 and his own works, on almost every page, abound in citations 

 of those of his predecessors. The first foundations of scientific 

 botany had been laid by Csesalpino, an Italian physician, and 

 university professor of botany, 124 3'ears before Linnaeus was 

 born. He selected his granite blocks of principle so well, and 

 laid them so securely, that the superstructure of modern sys- 



