82 HEROES OF SCIENCE. 



Bishop of Abo asked Linnaeus to give him some 

 instruction in botany and mineralogy, and became 

 much attached to the young man. The bishop 

 advised Linnaeus to go abroad and get his doctor's 

 degree, and also to marry. The last was as difficult 

 as the first, but being more to his taste at the 

 time, he wooed the daughter of Dr. John Moroea, 

 a man of considerable property. The young 

 student made his proposals with considerable trepi- 

 dation, and had he not been satisfied that the lady 

 was willing, he would have let the matter alone. 

 The worthy doctor thought well of Linnaeus, but 

 not of his prospects in life, but he decided that 

 after a lapse of three years he would give his reply. 

 Thus, at the age of twenty-nine, Linnaeus found him- 

 self with a betrothed, no occupation, and a great 

 deal of knowledge and perseverance. He had to live, 

 and so he determined to stick to physic, and to get 

 a doctor's degree. He contrived to scrape together 

 £1$, and went on his way to the University of 

 Harderwyk. First, like a good son, he went to see 

 his father, and to console him on the loss of the 

 mother — a loss greatly felt by the young man at 

 this critical period of his life. Then Linnaeus 

 journeyed to the south, and arrived at Hamburg, 

 where his whole time was employed in viewing the 

 fine garden, and everything else worthy of atten- 

 tion. The public library he examined, and also 

 the principal cabinets of natural history, and he 

 read there for the first time the botanical works 

 of Ray, whom he esteemed as one of the most 



