20 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNAEUS 



work had been employed on the " Pinax," I dare say 

 the latter would have been finished.' All was otherwise 

 arranged. Linnaeus writes to Haller from Amsterdam, 

 October 8, 1737, c To-morrow I leave this place. I must 

 be in Sweden before the end of two months, but Mr. 

 Clifford has kept me till now. I wish I may be able to get 

 away from Leyden, where my friends wish me to make 

 some stay.' He hopes to wait on Haller at Gottingen. 

 ' My publications,' he adds, ' are all of a small size, such 

 as suit an exile or a traveller, who must carry all his 

 property about him. Bartsch has lost his life at 

 Surinam.' 1 



Boerhaave made another attempt to induce Linnaeus 

 to visit some exotic region, and, early in 1738, says the 

 diary though erroneously, according to the date of the 

 above letter offered him the appointment of physician 

 in ordinary to the Dutch establishment at Surinam, 

 which was vacant and had to be filled up by Boerhaave. 2 

 He wished Linnaeus to go, representing to him that the 

 person who had been there before earned within five 

 years some tons of gold, for there was no other physician 

 in the place, and that excellent plants might be met 

 with in so fine a climate. Linnaeus recommended 

 young Dr. Bartsch of Konigsberg, his most intimate 

 friend, who did not survive the appointment more than 

 six months. Bartsch fell a victim to the climate, and to 



1 The autobiographical diary, written from memory, is not always 

 trustworthy as to dates. This is a case in point. A distinct fact 

 like Bartsch 's death at Surinam could not be prophesied in a letter. 



2 Diary 



