MARCH 67 



volumes are an absolute revelation. At the same time 

 his genius will always appeal more to the artistic than to 

 the scientific mind, although in the biographical notices 

 of him that I have seen he is only mentioned as a doctor 

 and a botanist. At the Natural History Museum is a 

 large and much-valued collection of his letters and original 

 drawings. 



1794. ' Thirty-eight Plates with explanations, intended 

 to illustrate Linnaeus' system of vegetables, and par- 

 ticularly adapted to the letters on the elements of Botany. 

 By Thomas Martin, Kegius Professor of Botany in the 

 University of Cambridge.' These plates are beautifully 

 drawn, and exemplify very well the careful draughtsman- 

 ship of a botanist of the day. They are most faithfully 

 hand coloured, and are only inferior to the best from a 

 little want of gradation. 



1794. I have the ' Life of Sir Charles Linnaeus, by 

 D. H. Stoever, translated from the original German by 

 Joseph Trapp.' It is, I believe, the only biography of him 

 ever written. To this is added a copious list of his works 

 and a biographical sketch of his son, whose life is an in- 

 teresting example of talents shared by a father and son. 

 The son, who died unmarried at the early age of forty-one, 

 seems to have been a brilliant and much-loved individual. 

 Trapp dedicates his translation to the Linnaean Society 

 of London. It contains a portrait of the elder Linnaeus, 

 a cheerful, bright, up-looking profile, with the curly wig 

 of the day, and a large branch stuck in his buttonhole, as 

 was not uncommon in the portraits of botanists. He was 

 born in 1707, was the son of a Swedish minister, and the 

 grandson of a peasant. His industry and energy must 

 have been exceptional, and he chose truth as his guide. 

 His first book was the ' Flora of Lapland,' which was 

 perhaps the reason why that little Northern flower, Linnea 

 borealis, is the plant that has received his great name. 



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