THE LAST 365 



of plants to the King of Sweden, the flowers beauti- 

 fully preserved in spirits of wine. They still bore the 

 fresh appearance of nature to such a degree that the 

 most minute part of their flowers could be accurately 

 examined. The king presented the collection to Linne. 

 The joy of the sight operated with magical power on his 

 reduced health. He composed a catalogue which con- 

 tained thirteen new genera and over forty new species. 

 To a lofty, beautiful American tree in the collection he 

 gave the name of Gkistavia augusta. 



In May 1774, while lecturing in the botanical garden, 

 he had an apoplectic stroke, and fell into a swoon, from 

 which he did not recover for a long time. A letter 

 which Linnaeus had written thirty-four years before 

 this catastrophe is said to have either occasioned or 

 accelerated this fatal disease. In 1773 appeared the 

 first volume of letters, written in Latin by men of 

 literary eminence, to Baron Haller. Linne received 

 this volume, and found that his letters, and those par- 

 ticulars of his youth which he had formerly entrusted 

 to sacred friendship and confidence, were all inserted. 

 Amongst others, he read, with indignant surprise, a letter 

 in which he had formerly described the history of his 

 love, 1 and added many other private transactions. He 

 had no sooner read this letter than he felt an extreme 

 agitation ; the apoplexy succeeded. His son was again 

 away at this time, travelling in Germany and elsewhere 



1 Extracts from these letters are in Chapters IX., XIII., XIV., 

 and XV. of the present work. 



