CARL LINN^US. 55 



the face. He says, " he was obliged to trust to 

 chance for a meal, and in the article of dress, was 

 reduced to such shifts that he was obliged, when 

 his shoes required mending, to patch them with 

 folded paper, instead of sending them to the cob- 

 bler." Often hungry and half clothed, there 

 seemed nothing before the poor Swedish lad but 

 obscurity and early death. 



One day in autumn, as he was examining some 

 plants iri the Academical Garden, a venerable 

 clergyman, Dr. Olaf Celsius, saw him, and asked 

 him where he came from, how long he had been at 

 the college, and what he knew about plants. He, 

 too, was interested in botany, and was preparing a 

 work on the plants mentioned in the Bible. Per- 

 haps something in Carl's face or manner touched 

 the minister's heart, for he asked him to go home 

 with him, and soon offered him board in his own 

 house, and gave him access to his valuable library. 



The tide of adversity was beginning to turn. 

 Some pupils were obtained, and a little money 

 flowed into the empty pockets. At twenty-two, by 

 a close examination of the stamens and pistils of 

 flowers, he decided upon a new method of arrange- 

 ment by the sexes of plants, which, in after years, 

 became the basis of his great fame. This procured 

 him the appointment of Assistant Lecturer to Dr. 

 Rudbeck in the Botanical Garden, where, but a 

 year before, he had asked to be the gardener ! 



He still had little money, but, what was equally 

 useful, some leisure time. He began his great 



