2i6 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINN&US 



the Sparta of science had vanquished the Athens of art, 

 the might of Rome's magnificence. 



At that time all the young students of divinity were 

 obliged to learn the elements of botany and don:estic 

 medicine, that they might administer to the bodily 

 afflictions of their flocks where regular medical assist- 

 ance might not be attainable in sudden emergency. 

 The number of Linnaeus's pupils and admirers was thus 

 greatly increased . The seats of the formerly ill-attended 

 botanical lectures were now full of grave and attentive 

 youths, swarming enthusiastically round him, crowding 

 together, exciting one another which Coleridge gives 

 as the meaning of ' Schwarmerey.' 



His words were their wine, his eloquence their theatre. 



The year Linnaeus was rector (for the first time) 

 they had tripled their usual numbers. The ordinary 

 number of students in the university was 500 ; they 

 were now 1,500. Among the aspiring and rising 

 youth he drew many of the future great men of the 

 century to Upsala. These were his intellectual sons ; he 

 brought them up from the very beginning. l The first 

 step in science is to know one thing from another.' l 

 He had to teach them to use their own eyes in lieu 

 of walking blindfold led by the hands of the ancients. 



The laconism of Linnaeus's Latin works makes them 

 difficult to read ; they must be studied. His Swedish 

 writing is easy and pleasant in its diction. His f terse 



1 Linnaeus. 



