SIR CHARLES LINN2ETJS. 31 



which of them should first have the honour of electing 

 Linnaeus one of their members. The lloyal Society 

 of London elected him a corresponding member in 

 1763, following as they did the example set by Paris, 

 Florence, and other cities. Frederick the Great, King 

 of Prussia, spoke in the highest terms of encomium 

 of the work and private life of Linnaeus. 



About this time he received the honour of knight- 

 hood. His public activity continued up to 1776, when 

 he had reached his sixty-eighth year. Then the feeble 

 and infirm state of his health suffered a fresh shock ; 

 his senses appeared to be losing their power, and his 

 tongue, palsied as it were, almost denied its office. 

 His biographer states that " even in this melancholy 

 and painful state nature still remained his only comfort 

 and relief. He used to be carried to his museum, 

 where he viewed the treasures which he had collected 

 with so much labour, and manifested a particular 

 delight in examining the rarities and new specimens 

 which were constantly being sent to him from all parts 

 of the world." 



Apoplexy again seized him, and after much physical 

 suffering he expired in a gentle slumber on January 10, 

 1778. 



He received a public funeral, and the king ordered 

 a gold medal to be struck in honour of the late 

 botanist. 



Probably the highest monuments which have been 

 erected to his memory are the Linna3an societies which 

 have been established at various times in the leading 

 cities of the world. That in London was founded 



