344 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINN A US 



entirely completed the fourth part.' c Had Sir Hans 

 Sloane been warmer Linnaeus might have obtained an 

 establishment in England, which it has been thought 

 was his wish.' l As it was, he did not care to stay there 

 helping Dilleiiius out of his impossibilities. 



Homesickness had come on always a real malady 

 with the Swedes and Swiss and he could no longer 

 combat the thought of his Elizabeth waiting for him 

 in far-off Falun ; so notwithstanding a warmth of 

 friendship on the part of the professors which no one 

 would have expected from the coolness of his welcome, 

 Linnaeus left Oxford, and soon afterwards returned to 

 Holland. 



Linnaeus dedicated his ' Critica Botanica ' to Dille- 

 nius, of whom, in writing to Haller, he said, ' Dillenius 

 was the only person then in England who cared about 

 or understood the genera of plants.' 



Linnaeus returned down the quiet silvery Thames 

 to London. Even then the west end of the river pre- 

 sented a remarkable contrast to the ' immensity of 

 London at the pool ; ' but the full impression of mighty 

 London's vastness never fully struck Linnaeus till he 

 was leaving it by the Thames. 



1 London is the heart of the world, wonderful only 

 from the mass of human beings. No one has any 

 knowledge of London in which he lives. It is a huge 

 aggregate of little systems, each of which is again a 



1 Turton. 



