ANDERS DAHL 139 



heirs of Linne to retain the " small herbarium " which the 

 younger Linne had promised him, or else — which the heirs con- 

 sidered far more desirable — to purchase the collections in their 

 entirety. The latter proposal Alstromer declined ; " on account 

 of his indifferent health he would be unable to make such good 

 use of them as they deserved." Acrel also stated that this was 

 confirmed by Alstromer's representative Dahl, unless the heirs 

 would be contented with 2220 riksdalers, that is to say, less than 

 half what Smith had declared himself ready to give ; also that upon 

 no condition would he forego the small herbarium. 



Another attempt was then made by Acrel to induce Count 

 Creutz, the Chancellor of the University, to acquire the collec- 

 tions for the University, but the final answer was that they were 

 too costly (at Smith's price), and were not indispensable. 



About this time Dahl himself intervened with an offer on 

 money lent by the Gothenburg merchant, J. Mauhle, to buy the 

 collections on his own account, and he was especially anxious that 

 the Alstromers should know nothing of it until the sale was 

 accomplished. There appears to be some doubt about this offer, 

 but the fact remains that, next to Acrel, Dahl was seemingly the 

 only Swede to take any active steps to preserve these treasures for 

 his country. He even applied to the King, begging him to inter- 

 vene and to stop their exportation, even if they were already on 

 board ship. As a reason for this he alleged not only that he con- 

 sidered he had the heirs' promise before Smith's offer came, but 

 that foreigners would reproach them with their inability to retain 

 such valuable collections, and, further, the purchaser would be able 

 to act as Dictator in Natural History, so that its lovers would have 

 to impart their discoveries, that they might be compared with the 

 Linnean collections and manuscripts ; he ended by stating that he 

 had had the good fortune during several years of being an inmate 

 of Linne's house until his death. Dahl, indeed, was the last 

 amanuensis employed by Linne, always excepting his own son, 

 and the use the acquisitive Dahl made of his opportunities may 

 be seen in Prof. Lindman's article, " A Linnean Herbarium in the 

 Natural History Museum in Stockholm " (Ark. f. bot. vii. 1908, 

 No. 3). Dahl was the possessor of a thick shock of hair, and thus 

 obtained the name of "Mop-headed Dahl"; Thunberg probably 

 alludes to this fact in his Dahlia crinita ( = Trichocladus crinitus 

 Pers.). Later he became assistant to Baron Clas Alstromer and 

 superintendent of his museum ; of his industry in getting plants 

 from the Linnes, father and son, Prof. Lindman has given a very 

 interesting account in the paper just cited, pages 6-8, and 

 throughout the remainder of the article on the Linnean plants 

 now in the keeping of the Natural History Museum in 

 Stockholm. 



The result of Dahl's appeal to the King was to extract a 

 statement from the Outwards Customs Department, dated 8th 

 October, 1784, that the vessel with the collections on board had 

 passed Dalaro, at the entrance of the sea-channel from Stock- 

 holm, on the 29th September, outward bound, and that therefore 



