i68 



ZOOLOGY 



Journey to 

 Holland 

 and other 

 countries 



winter rye quarter of an ell tall, and the grain had 

 newly shown a blade. The birch began now to burst 

 forth, and all leafy trees to show their leaves, except 

 the elm and aspen. . . . The lark sang to us the 

 whole way, quivering in the air. . . . The sky was 

 clear and warm, the west wind cooled with a pleasant 

 breeze, and a dark hue from the west began to cover the 

 sky. . . . The woods began to increase more and 

 more, the sweet lark which ere now had delighted our 

 ears, deserted us, but yet another one meets us in the 

 woods -with as great a compliment, namely the thrush, 

 Turdus minor, who, when she on the highest fir-top 

 plays to her dearest, also lets us joy therein. Yes, she 

 tunes in so high with her varied notes that she often over- 

 masters the nightingale, the master of song." 



In the autumn he returned, after a journey of about 

 2500 miles, mostly on foot and alone. The Flora 

 Lapponica, published later, gave an account of the 

 plants he found. One of these was the delicate and 

 beautiful twinflower, which afterwards came to bear 

 his name and was called Linncea borealis. It was the 

 wish of Linnaeus that he should be commemorated by 

 some lowly and humble plant of his own northern coun- 

 try, rather than by a gorgeous product of the tropics. 



6. Linnaeus now turned to teaching, and later to 

 medicine, as a means of earning his living. After a 

 time he made a journey to the principal countries of 

 Europe to England and France, Germany, and Hol- 

 land, in order to visit the botanical establishments 

 and meet the botanists. Many stories are told of what 

 he saw and did on this eventful journey. At Leyden in 

 Holland there lived a famous old aristocrat named Boer- 

 haave, equally celebrated in medicine and botany. 

 Linnaeus, provided with a suitable letter of introduction, 



