28 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINN ^ US 



the evenings might not pass uselessly, Linnaeus worked 

 at his ' Classes Plantarum,' which he published here, his 

 ' Corollarium Generum,' and his l Methodus Sexualis,' 

 and also his late friend Pehr Artedi's ' Ichthyologia ' in 

 five parts. Linnaeus writes to Haller, ' I am now em- 

 ployed in printing the posthumous works of my friend 

 Peter Artedi, in which, if I mistake not, you will see 

 more perfection than can be expected in botany for a 

 hundred years to come.' Besides what concerned his 

 work Linnaeus was the recipient of mich written abuse in 

 the shape of letters, chiefly from German antagonists of 

 his theories. He remembered Boerhaave's useful advice, 

 and kept his temper. He writes to Haller, Leyden, 

 June 23, 1738: ' Siegesbeck shall never provoke an 

 angry word from me, though he has poured thousands 

 on my devoted head.' Haller had invited him cordially 

 to go to Gottingen, and Carl now promised when he left 

 Leyden to go directly to Gottingen, giving up Paris. 

 His incessant toil, in addition to his homesickness, 

 was too much for his health ; but he pressed on his work 

 in feverish haste, that he might the sooner be in a 

 position to claim his promised bride. Boerhaave again 

 remonstrated with him on his bad management of his 

 health, but he replied that it was imperative on him 

 to make a fortune. Absence, which first quickens love 

 into consciousness, strengthens it as a power of unseen 

 bonds altogether supernatural. Carl longed to pour 

 out the fulness of his heart, to use his own language 

 instead of always speaking in learned tongues. He 



