60 MEMOIR OF DE GEER. 



mander of the Order of Vasa, was born in the yeal 

 1 720. When about four years of age, he left Sweden, 

 his native country, and accompanied his parents to 

 Holland, where he continued to reside till his eigh- 

 teenth year. His family originally belonged to that 

 country, but had left it and established themselves in 

 Sweden in the time of Gustavus Adolphus. The head 

 of the family at that period was Louis de Geer, who 

 acquired great wealth and reputation by the improve* 

 ments he effected in manufactures and the mechani- 

 cal arts. He introduced new methods of casting iron 

 and brass, established founderies for canon, and 

 manufactories of fire-arms, bringing workmen from 

 Leige and other places to conduct them on the most 

 approved principles, and' to instruct the native ar- 

 tists. These foreign artizans were so numerous as 

 to form a colony in the canton of Dannemora, where 

 their descendants long continued to reside. That 

 the wealth and influence of this ancestor of our na- 

 turalist were extensive, may be judged of from the 

 fact, that, in the reign of Christinus, when the country 

 was threatened by a foreign enemy, he equipped a 

 considerable fleet for protecting the commerce of the 

 coasts, exclusively from his own resources. His 

 patriotism and philanthropy were rewarded by his 

 name being enrolled among the nobles of the country. 

 When in Holland young De Geer is said to have 

 acquired a taste for Natural History by observing 

 the proceedings of some silk-worms, which had been 

 given him to rear as an amusement. This predilec- 

 tion was confirmed by his conversations with the 



