WASTGOTA RESA ROUND LAKE VENERN 209 



he was made a member of the Academy of Sciences at 

 Berlin. 



But amidst all the honours showered upon Linnaeus, 

 nothing gave him so much delight as the accidental 

 discovery of the herbarium made by Hermann in Ceylon. 

 Augustus Giinther of Copenhagen, apothecary to the 

 king of Denmark, had become possessed of this herbarium 

 without knowing its value, and, being anxious to obtain 

 information, took it to Linnaeus in 1747; l an inscription 

 in the fly-leaf of the book itself says he sent it in 1745 

 to Linnaeus, who soon discovered to whom it originally 

 belonged, and rejoiced at the finding of a treasure sup- 

 posed to be irrecoverably lost. l Linnseus devoted him- 

 self day and night to examining the flowers, which, from 

 the great length of time they had been dried, rendered 

 his task almost herculean.' 2 



The herbarium consists of four thick parchment- 

 bound folio volumes of dried specimens and one volume 

 of drawings of plants made by Hermann. There are 

 186 pages of careful drawings, done on both sides of the 

 paper ; some are in outline only, but they are for the 

 most part tinted in black and white. The plants are all 

 named by Linnaeus. The portrait of Paulus Hermannus, 

 professor of Botany at Leyden, in ruff and skullcap, 

 marked * Ob : 1641, Mi, : 82,' with its keenly intelligent 

 expression, gives a pleasing idea of the indefatigable old 

 botanist. This print is inserted as a frontispiece to the 

 volume of the drawings. 



1 Stoever. 2 Diary. 



VOL. II. P 



