26 CAROLUS LINNAEUS 



between the years 1694 and 1730. It is 

 important that these things be taken note of 

 here. On the day when Linnaeus was born, 

 two hundred years ago, Tournefort's dazzling 

 star was high on the botanical horizon. It 

 was at its meridian when, at eighteen years 

 of age, Linnaeus fell under the benign influence 

 of Dr. Rothman at Wexio. This man made 

 no pretensions to botany, beyond what any 

 first-class practising physician of that period 

 had to know ; but he had full knowledge of the 

 great fame of the Parisian, Tournefort, and 

 had in his library the German Professor 

 Valentini's 1 abridgement of Tournefort's Ele- 

 ments. Dr. Rothman had evidently studied 

 Tournefort and been fascinated with his 

 system. Linnaeus the youth, away in the 

 distant north, the pupil of none but theolo- 

 gians, had not so much as heard of Tournefort. 

 Rothman told him frankly that all his recrea- 

 tions with plants were little better than wasted 

 time unless he should begin to recognize them 

 as interrelated by characters of their flowers, 

 as Tournefort had taught. 



From the day when Dr. Rothman placed 



'VALENTINI (Michael Bernhard), professor of Giessen. 

 Tournefortius Contractus, Frankfurt am Main. 1715, folio, 

 48 p., 4 tab. 



