248 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNAEUS 



had long meditated on the subject of this publication, 

 which embraces the whole range of botanical science, 

 and indeed all the principles of natural knowledge, he 

 had made but a few notes, not being able to digost or 

 select his ideas sufficiently to his own satisfaction to 

 communicate them to others. This illness, however, 

 prompted him to rescue from the grave, to which he 

 supposed himself hastening, whatever might be of ser- 

 vice to those he left behind, and his pupil Loefling was 

 employed, sitting by his bedside, to write down what- 

 ever the intervals of his sufferings allowed him to com- 

 municate. The manuscript afterwards received his own 

 corrections, and the book came out in 1751. 



Rousseau calls this the most philosophical book he 

 had ever seen ; it was produced in a truly philosophical 

 manner. 



