MEMOIR OF LINNiEUS. 11 



employed in their domestic manufactures. Linnaeus was selected 

 to perform the first journey ; and, having accepted the appoint- 

 ment, he set out for the Islands of Oeland and Gothland, to en- 

 deavor to discover an earth fitted to make porcelain ; — this was 

 the foundation of his Iter Oelandicum. He was accompanied by 

 six naturalists, but was unsuccessful in the object of the excursion. 

 The tour was nevertheless of great utility : he atter led to me- 

 chanics, the arts, antiquities, manners of the people, fisheries, and 

 general natural history. He discovered above one hundred plants 

 which were not previously known to be indigenous, and first 

 pointed out to the natives of those shores the use of Arundo are- 

 naria to arrest the sand, and bind the soil upon the sea-beach. 



At the age of thirty-four, we find Linnaeus enjoying the fruits 

 of all his labors and perseverance, teaching his favorite science, 

 as its head in Sweden. He enjoyed himself to the utmost : he 

 calls the garden " his Elysium ;" and the enthusiasm with which 

 he set about improving it, knew no bounds. At his appointment, 

 every thing was in a state of confusion : the dreadful fire which 

 had converted the best part of Upsala to a heap of ruins in 1702, 

 had extended its ravages also here ; and at this period the garden 

 did not contain more than fifty plants that were exotic. Linnaeus 

 applied to the Chancellor of the University, Count Charles Gyl- 

 lenborg, who fortunately was a man of considerable scientific ac- 

 quirements, and a lover of botany ; and he also thought that the 

 fame of her University was of the utmost consequence to Upsala. 

 Through the means of this gentleman, permission \vas obtained 

 that the whole should be laid out anew. Plans were obtained 

 from the King's architect; and stoves, a greenhouse, and a man- 

 sion for the professor, were soon finished. A gai'dener, whom 

 Linnaeus had formerly known with Mr. Clifford, was also engaged, 

 and by the assistance of the friends whom he had ac(juired during 

 his short \asits to London and Paris, the collection of plants was 

 soon increased to above eleven hundred species, independent of 



