1 68 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNAEUS 



CHAPTER VII. 



1 LACHESIS LAPPONICA ' : JOURNEY THROUGH LAPLAND, 1731, 

 MAY TO NOVEMBER. 



Men there are whose patient minds, 



In one object centred, 

 Wait, till through their darkened blinds 



Truth has burst and entered. 

 Then, that ray so barely caught 



Joyfully absorbing, 

 They behold the realms of Thought 



Into Science orbing. 



Men there are whose ambient souls, 



In rapt Intuition, 

 Seize Creation as it rolls, 



Whole, without partition. J. C. MAXWELL. 



1 WE here behold, not the awful preceptor of the 

 learned world in his professorial chair, but a youthful 

 inexperienced student full of ardour and curiosity, such 

 as we ourselves have been.' * This Lapland journey was 

 the first and most difficult of the six travels of Lin- 

 naeus : a sort of labours of Hercules. Even now the 

 young inquirer asks concerning Lapland : f Haven't you 

 got to eat bears' grease there always ? ' To know the 

 country better is to find that there is very little bears' 

 1 Sir J. E. Smith. 



