6 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 



bouring districts for the purpose of enriching his 

 collection. During one of these excursions he nearly 

 became a victim to his own curiosity. While cutting 

 a plant he was stung by a venomous worm. He was 

 some distance from home, and his hand and arm began 

 to swell visibly before his eyes. He at length reached 

 the house of Stobceus, and there he kept his bed for 

 some time, all hopes of his recovery having been given 

 up. The skill of Stobceus, and the good nursing which 

 he received in the professor's household, eventually 

 saved him. This adventure, rather than deterring 

 him from further collecting, only served to deepen 

 his curiosity to become acquainted with some of the 

 inferior classes of nature. 



To the great regret of Stobceus, he decided to leave 

 Lund for the University of Upsala, which was con- 

 sidered the better college of the two. His father could 

 allow him only £8 a year towards his expenses. Under 

 this small allowance, and with a young and increasing 

 familv, it was the most that could be done. No wonder 

 that the pangs of hunger should be no uncommon occur- 

 rence to this studious youth. His shoes — and he was 

 very hard on shoe-leather — were constantly in holes, 

 and these he endeavoured, as well as he could, to stop 

 up with paper. The cast-off clothes of the other 

 students were the best covering which he could obtain. 

 Sheer poverty stared him in the face, and a less 

 determined youth would have given up his favourite 

 studies in despair. This was one of the most dis- 

 tressing periods of his life, but he struggled manfully 

 through it. Celsius, the professor of divinity at Upsala, 



