28 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 



As with grand old Martin Luther so it was with 

 Linnaeus — he belonged to the world, for his researches 

 benefited not alone Sweden but the whole of Europe. 

 His lecture-room became the nursery of eminent men. 

 His enthusiasm, his thirst for science, became their 

 own, and he gave them opportunities to exert 

 those qualities. From Upsala the pupils of Linnaeus 

 travelled to all quarters of the globe to sti;dy 

 nature. 



Linnaeus at this period says : — " If I look back 

 upon the fate of naturalists, must I call madness or 

 reason that desire which allures us to seek and examine 

 plants ? The irresistible attractions of nature can 

 alone induce us to face so many dangers and troubles. 

 No science ever had so many martyrs as natural 

 history. Pliny, the prince of nature among the 

 Eomans, plunged into the fiery abyss of Mount Etna. 

 Simon Pauli, from his love of plants, broke his leg ; 

 Clausius, an enthusiast, equally unfortunate, was thrown 

 into irons and robbed of all his treasures in Barbary ; 

 Lippi was murdered in the wilds of Ethiopia ; Steller 

 fell a victim to his exertions in Siberia ; Grmelin was 

 thrown into a dungeon by the Tartars ; Bannister was 

 hurled headlong down a rock in Virginia ; Barelli, and 

 others, without number, fell a sacrifice to their scientific 

 exertions in natural history." 



Many of the pupils of Linnaeus fell victims to 

 science. One died in India in search of specimens. 

 Another, a brave youth, died after he had travelled 

 through Palestine and some parts of Arabia, having 

 made a very valuable collection of plants and other 



