2co THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNAEUS 



Johnson says, ' It is well where a man possesses any 

 strong positive excellence.' Rosen, his old rival, whose 

 position as adjunctus to the chair of Anatomy and 

 Physics l gave him great weight in the university, owing 

 to Professor Roberg's advanced age and weakness, had 

 his envy roused by Linnaeus's rising fame; he was 

 not above taking mean measures to rob the brilliant 

 young lecturer of his reputation, and even threatened 

 to stop his lectures as illegal. All this made Linnasus 

 very bitter. ' There is no precedent for this, as I am 

 the first person who has ever lectured in this way,' said 

 Linnaeus when one day he called on Rosen, hoping to 

 settle the matter in talk. Rosen, sitting grumpy as a 

 polar bear, eyed him with suspicion and distrust, c and 

 would not come forth into open parley at all.' 



f There is a rule against such lectures,' said Rosen. 

 4 An obsolete regulation,' retorted Linnaeus. The con- 

 stant opposition his natural bent met with on all hands 

 had doubtless its result in deepening in Linnaeus a 

 certain irascibility of temper that often underlies the 

 sweetness of the Swedes. The old Goth peeps out, the 

 Berserk spirit of the Saga heroes. 



That he in the fulness of his strength should not be 

 let to use it were unreasonable and unnatural. Work 

 had to be done, ideas to be enlarged : was he not to be 

 permitted to do these things and to maintain himself? 

 It was a manifest injustice, under which he could not 

 but smart. His clever tongue had a sting in it too, as 

 1 Physiology and physics were formerly considered as synonymous. 



