897 



LINN^US, CARL. 



LINNJ3US, CARL. 



833 



drier and severer studies, it is certain that hia preceptors found great 

 cause to complain of him, and the schoolmaster at Wexio pronounced 

 him, at the age of nineteen, if not a positive blockhead, at all events 

 unfit for the church, for which he was intended : they in fact recom- 

 mended him to be apprenticed to some handicraft trade. Bishop 

 Agardh admits that when, at the age of twenty, Linnaeus arrived at 

 the University of Lund, for the purpose of studying medicine, the 

 profession finally determined upon for him, he was less known for 

 hia acquaintance with natural history than for his ignorance of 

 everything else. 



Matriculated at Lund, Linnaeua was ao fortunate as to be received 

 into the house of Dr. Stobaeug, a physician possessing a fine library 

 and a conaiderable knowledge of natural history. This amiable man 

 waa not slow to discover the signs of future greatness in hia lodger; 

 he gave him unrestrained aece-s to his books, his collections, his table, 

 and above all to hia society, and would at last have adopted him for 

 hia aon and heir. It waa at this time that Linnaeus first began to 

 acquire a knowledge of what had been already written upon natural 

 history, to gain an insight into the value of collections, to extend his 

 ideas by the study of the comparatively rich Flora of his alina mater, 

 and, above all things, to enjoy the inestimable advantage of having an 

 experienced friend upon whose judgment he could rely. The year 

 1727-2S, and the house of Stoboeua, were beyond all doubt the time 

 and place when Linnaeus first formed that fixed determination of 

 devoting himself to the study of natural history which neither poverty 

 nor misery waa afterwards able to shake. In 1728 he passed the 

 vacation at home, and there formed the resolution of prosecuting his 

 future studies at Upsal a measure which for the time lo.st him the 

 goodwill of his patron Stobaeua. Far the purpose of meeting the 

 expenses of his academical education, hia father was unable to allow 

 him a larger annual sum than 8/. sterling ; and with this miserable 

 stipend he had the courage to plunge into the world. Nothing less 

 than the most biting poverty could be the immediate result of auch a 

 measure; and we accordingly find Linnaeus, for some time after this, 

 in a state of miserable destitution, mending his shoes with folds of 

 paper, trusting to chance for a meal, and in vain endeavouring to 

 increase hU income by procuring private pupils. No succour could be 

 obtained from home, and it is difficult to conceive how ho could 

 have struggled with hia penury without the slender aid afforded by a 

 royal scholarship awarded him on the 16th of December, 1728. Never- 

 theless he diligently persevered in attendance upon the courses of 

 lecture* connected with hia future profession the more diligently 

 perhaps because of hia poverty ; and by the end of 1729 the clouds of 

 adversity began to disperse. By this time he had become known to 

 Dr. Glaus Celsius, the professor of diviuity at Upsal, who was glad to 

 avail himself of the assistance of Linnaeus in preparing a work illus- 

 trating the plants mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. His new friend 

 procured him private pupils, and introduced him to the acquaintance 

 of Uudbeck, the professor of botany, then growing old, who appointed 

 him hia "deputy lecturer, took him into his house as tutor to his 

 younger children, and gave him free access to a very fine library and 

 collection of drawings. 



Here the published writings of Linnaeus were commenced. It was 

 in the midst of the library of liudbeck that he began to sketch those 

 worka which were afterwards published under the titles of ' Biblio- 

 thcca Botauica," ' Classes 1'lantaruui,' ' Critica Botanica,' and ' Genera 

 Plantai urn ; ' and to perceive the importance of reducing into brevity 

 and order the unmethodical, barbarous, confused, and prolix writings 

 with which he waa surrounded. If, in the prosecution of a task of 

 luch imminent necessity, he fell into the opposite errors of attempting 

 to make the language of natural history more precise than is possible 

 from the nature of things, of reducing the technical characters of 

 spcciea and genera to a brevity which often proved a nullity, and of 

 reforming the terminology till it became pedantic, there is no candid 

 person who will not be ready to acknowledge that such errors were of 

 very little importance when compared with the great good which the 

 writings of Linnaeus upon the whole effected. 



In 1731 Linmeus quitted the house of Hudbeck, and on the 12th of 

 May 1732 proceeded, under royal authority and at the expense of the 

 University of Upsal, upon his celebrated journey into Lapland. On 

 horseback and on foot he accomplished his object by the 10th of 

 October following, when he returned to Upsa!, after travelling, alone 

 mnd slenderly provided, over nearly 4000 miles. The result of this 

 expedition has been given in hia excellent ' Flora Lappouica ' and iu 

 the Swedish account of hia tour, of which an English translation has 

 been published. For some time after hia return we find him occupied 

 in teaching mineralogy, particularly the art of assaying ; persecuted 

 by the miserable jealousy of a certain Dr. Kosen, on whom he is said 

 to have drawn hia sword ; and travelling in Dalecarlia at the expense 

 of the governor. In the beginning of 1735 he had scraped together 

 15t, with which ha set out upon his travels in search of souio uni- 

 versity where he could obtain the degree of Doctor in Medicine the 

 cheapest, in order that he im>?ht bo able to practise physic for a liveli- 

 hood. At Harderwijk, in Holland, he accomplished his purpose on 

 the 23rd of June 1735, on which occasion he defended the hypothesis 

 that " intermittent (evert are owing to fine particles of clay taken iu 

 with the food, and lodged in the terminations of the arterial system." 



In Holland, Linuioua formed a friendship with Dr, John Bui-maun, 



BIOO. DIV, V01. Ht 



professor of Botany at Amsterdam, and it was during his stay of somo 

 months with that botanist that he printed his ' Fundamenta 

 Botauica,' a small octavo of 36 pages, which is one of the most 

 philosophical of his writings. At that time lie was introduced to Mr. 

 George Cliffort, a wealthy Dutch banker, possessing a fine garden and 

 library at a place called Hartecamp. This gentleman embraced the 

 opportunity of putting it under the charge of Linnaeus, who continued 

 to hold the appointment till the end of 1737, during which time he 

 is said to have been treated with princely munificence by his new 

 patron. His scientific occupations consisted in putting iu order tho 

 objects of natural history contained in Mr. Clifforts museum, iu 

 examining and arranging the plants in his garden and herbarium ; in 

 passing through the press the ' Flora Lapponica,' ' Genera Plantarum." 

 ' Critica Botanica,' and some other works ; and iu the publication of 

 the ' Hortua Cliffortianus,' a fine book iu folio, full of the learning of 

 the day, ornamented with platss, and executed at the cost of Mr. 

 Cliffort, who gave it away to his friends. Some idea may be formed 

 of the energy and industry of Linnaeus, and of his very intimate 

 acquaintance with botany at this period of his life, by the fact that 

 the book just mentioned, consisting to a great extent of synonyms, 

 all the references to which had to be verified, was prepared at the rate 

 of four sheets a week, a prodigious effort, considering the nature of 

 the work, which Linnaeus might well call " res ponderosa." He how- 

 ever seems to have possessed powers of application quite beyond 

 those of ordinary men, and to have worked day and night at his 

 favourite pursuits. In May 1737 he speaks of his occupations ^s con- 

 sisting of keeping two works going at Amsterdam, one of which was 

 the ' Hortus Cliffortianus/ already mentioned ; another at Lyden, 

 a fourth in preparation ; the daily engagement of arranging the 

 garden, describing plants, and superintending the artists employed in 

 making drawings, which alona he calls " labor imuiensus et inex- 

 haustus." (Van Hall, p. 12.) Linnaeus however seems to have been 

 weary of the life he led at Hartecamp, and towards the end of 1737 

 he quitted Mr. Cliffort under the plea of ill health, aud an unwilling- 

 ness to expose himself again to the autumnal air of Holland. Theso 

 however seem to have been only excuses, for he did not really quit 

 the country before the spring of 17^8, and in fact he was evidently 

 tired of hU drudgery. Good Mr. Cliffort would scarcely allow him 

 to leave the house, where Linnaeus complains of being " incarceratus 

 monachi instar cum duabua nunnis." It was during his engagement at 

 Hartecamp that he viaited England, where he seems to have been dis- 

 appoiuted both at his reception and tho collections of natural history 

 which he found here. He was ill received by Dillenius, at that time 

 professor of botany at Oxford, who was offended at the liberties 

 Uniiiciis had taken with some of his genera; and although the 

 quarrel was made up before his return to Holland, it seems to have 

 discomposed the Swedish naturalist not a little. He describes tho 

 celebrated collection of plants formed by Sherard at Eltham as being 

 unrivalled iu European species, but of little moment in exotics. Ho 

 found the Oxford garden in a like condition, but with the greenhouses 

 and stoves empty; and the great collection of Sir Hans Sioane in a 

 state of deplorable confusion and neglect. Dr. Shaw, the traveller 

 in the Levant, seems to have pleased him most; and he, together 

 with Philip Miller, the celebrated gardener to the Society of Apothe- 

 caries, Mr. Peter Collinson, and Professor Martyu the elder, were 

 apparently the only acquaintances Linnaeus succeeded iu forming. By 

 this means he acquired a considerable addition to his collections of 

 plants and books. While iu Holland he also induced Professor Bur- 

 mann, in conj unction with five printers, to undertake the publication 

 of Rumphius'a important ' Herbarium Amboineuse,' at an estimated 

 cost of 30,000 florins. 



Upon his return to Sweden, Linnaeus commenced practice iu Stock- 

 holm as a physician, and with the aid of a pension of 200 ducats 

 from the government, ou condition of lecturing publicly in botany 

 and mineralogy, hia proapects for the future became so satisfactory as 

 to enable him to marry at Midsummer 173!). By this time his botani- 

 cal fame had spread over all Europe; the importance of the critical 

 improvements he had introduced into this aud other departments of 

 natural history had become generally acknowledged, and hia naw 

 method of arranging plants by the differences in their stamens aud 

 pistils had been adopted in many countries, but not in Sweden. 

 Impatient at receiving less honour iu his own country than elsewhere, 

 he wrote a book called ' Hortus Agerumcnsis,' arranged according to 

 his system, which he passed off upon Kudbeck, at that time professor 

 of botany at Upsal, aa the production of his friend Rothuiaun, who 

 however had no further haud in it than that of writing tho preface, 

 which was an eulogium of Liumcus and his new system of botany. 

 The book was eventually published under the name of Ferber, and 

 accomplished the object of the contrivers, for afterwards no other 

 botanical arrangement was received in Sweden. 



From this time forward the life of Linuanis was one of increasing 

 fame and prosperity. Every branch of natural history was revised 

 or remodelled by him ; books and collections were sent to him from 

 all parts of the world ; his pupils Hasselquist, Osbeck, Sparmanu, 

 Thunberg, Kalin, Lofliug, and others, communicated to him the 

 result of their travels in Kuropo, Asia, Africa, aud America. Ho was 

 named Professor of Medicine at Upsal in 1740, and afterwards of 

 Botany ; in 1746 he received tho rank aud title of Archiater; iu 1757 



