44 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNAEUS 



Would Linnaeus ever have sung at his cobbling 

 shopboard like Hans Sachs ? No, for Linnaeus was no 

 poet, no psalmist, no student of men. He would have 

 reared himself a bower of greenstuff and followed with 

 melancholy musings the movement of the flies in his 

 window. He might have been himself lost. Who can 

 tell ? Would so strong a bias have created for itself an 

 opening to the light if imprisoned in an uncongenial 

 forced labour ? 



One person only appreciated the form of industry of 

 the boy, of whom none spoke in any blame except that 

 he had no taste for the grammar school routine a thing 

 not uncommon among idle boys. Yet Carl was not 

 idle : there lay the problem. The rest never thought of 

 solving it, only of smashing it open. This person was 

 Dr. Rothman, the physician and medical professor in 

 Wexio College. 



The old clergyman, having for some weeks laboured 

 under a complaint which perhaps had now been increased 

 by his anxiety, was obliged to consult Dr. Kothman 

 professionally, and, grieving at the seemingly wayward 

 and careless disposition of his son, he opened his mind 

 to the doctor, who kindly prescribed for both his 

 mental and bodily sufferings. 1 ' Rothman intimated 

 that he found himself equal to the cure of both com- 

 plaints.' 2 The boy might arrive at eminence in medi- 

 cine, as being more intimately connected with that 

 branch of his own choosing. He counselled his not 

 1 Sir W. Jardine. 2 Diary. 



