240 LINNAEUS. 



procure the American plants they were endeavoring to cultivate in Lon- 

 don. Linnaeus was "delighted with the proposition, and left Amsterdam 

 with letters to many distinguished individuals. He was cordially wel- 

 comed, and received much attention especially from Drs. Dillenius and 

 Martyn. Boerhaave had introduced him to Sir Hans Sloane in the fol- 

 lowing complimentary epistle : '" The bearer of this letter is alone wor- 

 thy of seeing you — alone worthy of being seen by you. He who shall 

 see you both together, will see two men whose like will scarcely ever 

 be found in the world." Linnaeus returned to Hartecamp and remained 

 Avith Cliffort during a part of the next year. Here he sent to the press 

 six original works which had been prepared before, and thus spread his 

 botanical reform over Europe. 



At the close of 1737, Linnaeus desired to return to his native coun- 

 try and his betrothed bride. He declined several liberal offers from the 

 Dutch, proposing situations both at home and abroad. After a severe 

 attack of fever, the result of his anxiety to return home and close appli- 

 cation, he went to Paris and visited the herbabia of Tournefort, Vaillant 

 and Surian. Thence to Rouen whence he set sail for his native land. 

 At Stockholm he commenced the practice of medicine, but with very in- 

 different success, until a prescription for a pulmonary affection which re- 

 sulted favorably brought him into notice. The Queen being afflicted 

 with a cough and having heard of the cure resulting from the prescrip- 

 tion of Linnaeus, sent for him and was speedily cured by him. His for- 

 tune was now made. The tide had at length turned in his favor. In 

 adverting to this period in a letter to Baron Haller he says — "No patient 

 could be cured without me; from four in the morning till late at night 

 T visited the sick, spent nights with them and earned money. Alas ! 

 said I, iEsculapius affords all that is good, but Flora yields only Sieges- 

 becks."* On the establishment of the Roj-al Academy of Sciences, Lin- 

 naeus was appointed President. In 1741, he was appointed joint Pro- 

 fessor of Physic at Upsal, and physician to the king with Rosen, his old 

 enemy. Rare plants were sent to him from all parts of the world. Of 

 these he published a catalogue a few years after, from which it appeared 

 that he had introduced eleven hundred new species exclusive of his 

 Swedish plants and their varieties. The University as a school of physic 

 rapidly grew in credit, and numbers of German students resorted to it. 

 His honors increased annually and with them his emoluments. He was 

 invited to Madrid by the king of Spain upon a liberal pension and with 

 letters of nobility. The monarchs of France, Russia, Prussia, Den- 

 mark and Sardinia, sent him handsome presents, besides the highest 

 * Siegesbeck was a violent opposer of his new system. 



