MEMOIR OF LINNJRUS. Vl 



spread domains of nature ? Who could observe every 

 thing with sufficient accuracy? Correct me in a 

 friendly manner, and you shall have my best thanks. 

 I have done all I could do. A great tree cannot bear 

 a lofty top, when only it first begins to shoot off." 



We have now seen Linnaeus independent in Jiis 

 circumstances, and happy in his family, but there was 

 still another step at which his ambition grasped : an 

 ambition in this case laudable. It was the botanic 

 chair of Upsala, He was eager to teach his favourite 

 science in the halls where he had been himself taught, 

 and had often entered with a boyish awe. It was still 

 occupied by Rudbeck, now in the decline of life, and 

 nearly unfit for the exertion of instructing a class. 

 This celebrated man died in the ensuing year, and 

 Linnaeus offered himself as a candidate. Notwith- 

 standing his fame, he was disappointed in this object. 

 The University statutes opposed his success, and ac- 

 cording to the regulations it was given to Dr Rosen, 

 who had studied longer, and had greater claims upon 

 Upsala. The summit of his wishes was, however, 

 gained in the following year. He was appointed to 

 the chair of medicine, vacant in the same University, 

 and by a private arrangement with Dr Rosen effected 

 an exchange, receiving the superintendence of the bo- 

 tanic garden, and charge of the whole department of 

 Natural History. 



Before his final removal to the professorship of 

 Upsala, the Diet of the kingdom had resolved that ex- 

 peditions should be undertaken into the least known 



