18 INVISIBLE FLOWERS. 



made, and gradually perfecting his theories and 

 systems. " He led a very active and bustling life," 

 says one who visited him at Upsala. " I never 

 saw him at leisure ; even his walks had for their 

 object discoveries in natural history." On one 

 occasion he had received the seed of a rare plant 

 which he was anxious to rear. He suceeded in his 

 object ; the plant bore two flowers. Delighted with 

 them, he desired the gardener to take especial care 

 of them ; and two days after, returning home late 

 in the evening, he eagerly went to the garden to 

 see how they were thriving ; but they were not to 

 be found. The next night the same thing oc- 

 curred. In the morning the flowers reappeared, 

 fresh and beautiful as ever. The gardener sup- 

 posed them to be new ones, as he had not been 

 able to find them the two previous evenings. The 

 attention of Linnaeus was immediately caught, and 

 he visited for the third time at nightfall his fugi- 

 tive flowers. They were once more invisible ; but 

 he found them at last, deeply wrapped up in and 

 entirely covered by the leaves. This discovery 

 stimulated his curiosity, and he visited his gardens 

 and hothouses in the night-time, lantern in hand, 

 desirous of observing minutely the condition of 

 the plants under the influence of darkness. He 

 found the greater part of the flowers contracted 

 and concealed, and the vegetable kingdom almost 



