. 

 40 MEMOIR OF LINN^US. 



He returned again to Holland, withstanding most 

 pressing invitations to remain longer in Great Britain 

 deeply impressed with the importance of England a3 

 a country to forward the interests of natural science. 

 London he calls ' e punctum saliens in vitello orbis ; " 

 and certainly, in this respect, its reputation has not 

 decreased ; it perhaps now possesses advantages supe- 

 rior to any city in the world for pursuing this study 

 in all its branches. 



During this excursion, Linnaeus had greatly enriched 

 the garden and herbarium* of his kind patron, with 

 novelties from the English nurseries, and particularly 

 with American plants, which Mr Clifford had long 

 desired to possess. He now completed the arrange- 

 ment of this fine collection, and undertook the super- 

 intendence of the Hortus Cliffortianus, a work bear- 

 ing ample testimony to the liberality of Mr Clifford, 

 and brought out in a style much superior in every 

 respect to the productions of that period. The whole 

 was arranged, written, and corrected, in nine months ; 

 and during that period, Linnaeus even found time 

 or, as he termed it, recreation, to forward his Critica 

 Botanica, Genera Plantarum, &c. This constant 

 exertion and study appears, however, to have affected 

 his health, and he became weak and reduced. Not- 

 withstanding these symptoms, he was ultimately 

 prevailed to remain for a few months longer in Hol- 

 land, and arranged the botanic garden at Leyden foi 



* The Cliffortian Hortus Siccus is new Jn the Banksian 

 library, and was purchased by Sir Joseph Banks for L.25. 



