144 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



standpoint of knowledge, but it is to be feared that the actual facts 

 have been enlarged not from knowledge but from guesswork, a 

 distorted image being the result. 



That the above criticism is not too severe, some extracts are 

 subjoined, and the actual facts added for comparison. 



(1) Sir William Bailey speaks of "Baron von Linnaeus" 

 (p. 70); Linnaeus was ennobled in 1761 and took for name Carl 

 von Linne m consequence, but he never attained the rank of 

 baron. 



11 In the account of Linnaeus taking several men to Lapland, 

 there is a description of the method in which this man of genius 

 divided the labour. . . . Another had to study the manners and 

 customs of the Laplanders. . . . The only one in the company 

 who had no watch was the leader, for Linnaeus could tell the time 

 of day or night by the opening or closing of the flowers. He 

 suggested a botanical clock" (pp. 73-74). 



This account is confused with the journey to Dalecarlia 

 (Dalarna), which was done in company, each member having 

 his own duties specially assigned to him. The Lapland journey 

 was a solitary expedition save for the occasional local guide. 



Sir J. E. Smith did not present the Linnean collections as 

 stated to the Linnean Society ; they were bought by subscription 

 after his decease. 



(2) Of the fifteen worthies whose lives are given in the second 

 volume cited above, Linnaeus is the sole botanist, and consequently 

 the only one to be mentioned here. The author tells us in his 

 preface that " the biographical, historical, and scientific details 

 have been compiled from the best available sources." The 

 biography of Linnaeus must therefore be the exception to the 

 rule, for statements are made regarding him which do not agree 

 with the " best available sources." Many, if not most, appear to 

 have been taken without sufficient care from Trapp's translation 

 of Stover's life, and the portrait has been taken from that work, 

 but reversed in reproduction. In order to show that these are no 

 random assertions, some passages are cited below, followed by a 

 narration of the actual facts. 



1. "In the same year that England and Scotland were united 

 into one kingdom, and two days after the Act of Union came into 

 operation (3rd May, 1707) there was born at Eoeshult, Sweden, 

 Carl Linnaeus, the father of modern botany " (p. 62). 



The Act of Union took effect on the 1st May, 1707, O.S. = 

 12th May N.S. ; Linnaeus was born at Kashult on the 13th May, 

 Swedish Old Style, corresponding to the 23rd May, New Style 

 elsewhere. 



2. " He was so enraptured with botany that he was compelled 

 to confess to his father that he had no inclination whatever for the 

 ministry. This was such a severe blow to the father that, without 

 further delay, Carl was apprenticed to a bootmaker " (p. 63). 



The account as given by Prof. Fries is as follows : — The 

 master of whom he [*. e. Nils Linnaeus] enquired, declared 

 decidedly and simply that his son, as regards the subjects 



