96 HEROES OF SCIENCE. 



protected him through the dangers of such a 

 voyage. If I were not bound fast here, by sixty- 

 four years of age and a worn-out body, I would 

 this very day set out for London, to see this great 

 hero in botany. Moses was not permitted to enter 

 Palestine, but only to view it from a distance ; so 

 I conceive an idea in my mind of the acquisitions 

 and treasures of those who have visited every part 

 of the globe." 



In the spring cf 1774, while lecturing in the 

 Botanic Garden, he suffered an attack of apoplexy, 

 the debilitating effects of which obliged him to re- 

 linquish all active professional duties, and to close 

 his literary occupations. In 1776 a second seizure 

 supervened, which rendered him paralytic on the 

 right side, and impaired his mental powers so much 

 that he became a distressing spectacle. Yet, even 

 then, with the natural flow of cheerfulness so pecu- 

 liar to him, he thus described his own situation : — 

 " Linnaeus limps, can hardly walk, speaks unin- 

 telligibly, and is scarce able to write." Nature 

 remained, to the last, his sole comfort and relief. 

 He used to be carried to his museum, where he 

 gazed on the treasures he had collected with so 

 much care and labour, and as long as possible he 

 continued to manifest peculiar delight in examin- 

 ing the rarities and new productions which had 

 been latterly added to them by some of his pupils. 



It is scarcely possible to find a more striking 

 illustration of the " ruling passion strong in death," 

 than is afforded in the instance of Linnaeus. Lin- 



