52 



CHEMISTS AND CHEMISTRY. 



the death of Smith, the herbarium 

 was purchased by the Linnsean 

 Society of London, of which he was 

 the founder. 



The herbarium of Linnceus con- 

 tains only 10,000 species, which, 

 along with duplicate specimens, are 

 fixed upon 14,000 sheets of paper. 

 At Kew, Sir William Hooker kindly 

 showed us his herbarium, contain- 

 ing about 140,000 species of flower- 

 ing plants alone, being the largest 

 and completest collection in the 

 world. The difference between the 

 two collections shows the progress 

 which has been made jn descriptive 

 botany since the days of Linnaeus. 

 The Swedish herbarium is contained 

 in three plain wooden cases or 

 presses, the doors of which still retain 

 impressions of a series of illustra- 

 tions of the forms of leaves, which 

 were cut in tin, and fastened upon 

 the wood, and employed by Linnaeus 

 in lecturing to his class. A royal 

 Swedish physician, M. Pontin, has 

 described the country residence and 

 lecture-room of Linnceus, at Harn- 

 marby, near Upsal, which he visited 

 in 1834 : "The building containing 

 Linnseus's dwelling-house consists 

 of two houses, and is situated at the 

 foot of a stony height, surrounded by 

 large rocks, as if an earthquake had 

 thrown the granite rocks around it. 

 It was only here and there that a 

 tree could find space enough to 

 spring up among these rocky ruins ; 

 and yet the lecture-room of Lin- 

 naeus, so well known to the world, 



is found at the summit of a majestic 

 uptowering pyramid, formed of 

 them." It was here where he 

 established his collections in every 

 department of natural history, and, 

 during the academical vacations, 

 lectured eight hours a-day, com- 

 municating his discoveries " to a 

 select audience, who lodged with 

 the neighbouring peasantry, so as 

 to be always present at these lec- 

 tures, which were venerated as the 

 sayings of an oracle." The pious 

 and grateful spirit of the illustrious 

 naturalist was shown in the inscrip- 

 tion over the entrance to his par- 

 lour " Dum taveat Ccelum," 

 " While it pleases Heaven." 



We took advantage of the oblig- 

 ing offer of the Curator to show us 

 some of the more remarkable plants 

 in the herbarium, and the simple 

 style in which they were fastened 

 upon very unpretendingpaper, with 

 the names written on the back of 

 the sheet. Of all the collection, 

 which plant could we select for ex- 

 amination so appropriate as the 

 modest and beautiful Linncea bo~ 

 realis! Sir James Smith, in the 

 English Botany, observes that " Lin- 

 naeus has traced a pretty fanciful 

 analogy between his own early fate, 

 and this ' little northern plant, long 

 overlooked, depressed,abject, flower- 

 ing early,' aud we may now add, 

 more honoured in its name than any 

 other." It was the favourite plant 

 of Linnaeus, who had it painted on 

 his China vases and tea service. 



CHEMISTS AND CHEMISTEY. 



CAVENDISH HIS ODDITIES. 



The following anecdotes of this 

 eccentric chemist, betwixt whom 

 and Watt lies the merit of the dis- 

 covery of the nature of water, are 

 from the Life of the Hon. Henry 

 {Javendish, by Dr. George Wilson : 



"At this period (1785) Caven- 

 dish's reputation was widespread, 

 in spite of his solicitous endeavours 

 to prevent himself becoming fa- 

 mous. It may be well, therefore, to 

 refer here to his position in London 

 between the years 1783 and 1785, 

 when his most remarkable chemi- 



