362 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNAEUS 



He felt, as the greatest men must do, that others must 



arise 



And fill out full their unfulfilled careers, 

 Unravelling the knots their baffled skill 

 Pronounced inextricable, true ! but left 

 Far less confused. A fresh eye, a fresh hand, 

 Might do much at their vigour's waning point ; 

 Succeeding with new-breathed, new-hearted force, 

 As at old games the runner snatched the torch 

 From runner still : this way success might be. 1 



Paracelsus. 



Linnaeus is an example of what Kingsley calls 

 4 over-mentation.' At this comparatively early age, as 

 reckoned by the ages of our great statesmen and others 

 who have not perhaps had to invent and work out a 

 science for themselves, he found he ' must never think 

 of trying to return to the old passionate speed of work.' 



Linnaeus could never bear a slow man ; this explains 

 why, notwithstanding his attachment to his son, he em- 

 ployed him less in his writings than he did several of his 

 pupils. He still continued to give demonstrations in the 

 botanical garden at Upsala, and worked at his botanical 

 arrangements. Gustavus III. carried a present of seeds 

 from Louis XV. to Linne with his own hand on one of 

 his frequent visits to Upsala. 2 



In 1774 Lieut-Colonel Dahlberg 3 brought a collection 



1 ' When he has turned down the hill at last younger spirits will 

 rise up after him and catch the lamp of Truth, as in the old lamp- 

 bearing race of Greece, out of his hand before it expires, and carry 

 it to the goal with swifter and more even feet.' KINGSLEY. 



2 The medals of Gustavus show him to have had his mother's 

 alert, animated look. 



3 The same who went to Surinam, &c., with Rolander ? 



