338 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNAEUS 



purpose. The assistant to the professor is paid by the 

 university.' 



Linnaeus went to Blenheim with Dillenius, who was 

 now eager for his conversation ; also to Ditch! ey and Stow. 

 They agreed to differ on some points the merits of 

 Ray, for instance, which Dillenius rightly held to be 

 surpassing ; while Linnaeus speaks thus jealously of 

 the great English botanist : c I am at a loss to divine 

 why nobody takes notice of the discoveries of Caes- 

 alpinus, and wishes to ascribe everything to Ray.' This 

 quotation has been badly put into English. Linnaaus 

 wrote it in Latin. Yet Linnaeus, as he frequently told 

 his pupils in later years, never ceased to esteem Ray, as 

 one of the most penetrating observers of the natural 

 affinity of plants. And this is, after all, the foundation 

 of the natural system the only lasting one, being 

 based upon nature. 



Linnasus, though he cared little for the pictures at 

 Blenheim, having no feeling for works of art, enjoyed 

 the magnificent gardens, and showed himself abundantly 

 interested in nature. He was even then making notes 

 and studies for his ' Flora Anglica,' written in 1754 

 (eighteen years later), in which he concisely describes 

 the climate of England and its different soils and 

 elevations as favouring the growth of particular plants, 

 He says that Sweden abounds more in alpine, upland, 

 and forest plants than England, which excels in marine 

 plants and such as affect a chalky soil. This English 

 Flora contains nearly a thousand plants, but the mosses 



