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mount in his mind, the house of Sir Joseph Banks 
was at all times the place of resort most attractive 
to him; and here he first heard that the museum 
and library of the celebrated Swede were upon sale. 
Upon the demise of young Linnzus, Dr. Acrel, 
Professor of Medicine at Upsal, had written to D . 
Engelhart, who was then in London, offering the 
whole collection of books, manuscripts, and natural 
history, to Sir Joseph Banks, for the sum of 1000 
guineas. “It happened,” adds Sir James, “that I 
breakfasted with Sir Joseph upon the day the letter 
arrived, which was the 23rd of December, 1783 ; 
and he told me of the offer he had, saying he should 
decline it; and, handing me the letter to read, ad- 
vised me strongly to make the purchase, as a thing 
suitable to my taste, and which would do me ho- 
nour.” Being thus encouraged by Sir Joseph, he 
went immediately to Dr. Engelhart, with whom he 
had been intimately acquainted at Edinburgh, and 
made his desire known to him; and they both 
wrote the same day to Professor Acrel, Dr. Engel- 
hart to recommend his friend, and the other desiring 
a catalogue of the whole collection, and telling him 
if it answered his expectations he would be the 
purchaser at the price fixed. 
On the following day the young student of physic 
made these occurrences known to his father, and 
thus entreated his assistance :— 
Honoured Sir, Dec. 24, 1783. 
You may have heard that the young Linneus is 
lately dead: his father’s collections and library and 
