ROSEN VICTOR 201 



we can tell from a letter of Haller's. 'The man is 

 active, I cannot deny, and a zealous lover of nature, for 

 which I love him ; but his character has for me a some- 

 thing I know not what to call it of asperity, fickle- 

 ness, and unevenness.' The fact was, his vanity clashed 

 against their vanity. Unless very first-class men them- 

 selves, they were afraid to measure tongues with him ; 

 they were fearful, too, lest he should spy out and expose 

 the poverty of their land. 



Linnaeus shall now state his own case in an extract 

 from his diary. 



1 In the year 1733 Linnaeus began a course of 

 lectures in the art of assaying, which had never been 

 before taught in this university. He delivered them 

 for 2 pl, tar ' [about 7s.] ' each person, on which account 

 he gained a great number of pupils. Rosen, observing 

 that Linnaeus came forward more and more, and fearing 

 lest he should at last become a dangerous competitor, re- 

 quested Linnaeus to lend him his MS. lectures on botany, 

 which he had himself composed, and which he valued 

 more than anything that belonged to him ; and when 

 Rosen found he could not attain them by fair means he 

 held out threats to Linnaeus, who then gave up to him 

 a part of them ; but as soon as he was informed that 

 Rosen copied the MS. no intimidation could induce 

 him to deliver into Rosen's hands the remainder. In 

 the meantime Rosen had taken by the hand a young 

 Master of Arts, named Gottskalk Wallerius, who had 

 studied medicine under him almost a year. The office 



