MEMOIR OF LINNJEUS. 81 



accomplished by the authority of the chief magis- 

 trate; for I have not been able to learn any 

 sufficient reason for their adherence to their old 

 way of building. If people thirty or forty years of 

 age are thus afflicted, what must become of them 

 by the time they are seventy?" 



Leaving his travels in Lapland, we shall next 

 accompany Linnaeus to England, of which journey 

 he has himself given some interesting particulars in 

 his correspondence. As he was too poor to bear 

 the expenses, his friend Clifford, as has been al- 

 ready noticed, advanced the necessary funds. The 

 principal attractions that drew him to this country 

 was the reputation of Sir Hans Sloane, and the 

 splendid museum which he possessed*. He was 

 also desirous of becoming acquainted with Dillenius 

 at Oxford, for whom he professed a high esteem, 

 and to consult the Pinax of Sherard. The lively 

 pleasure he felt in seeing the rich landscape scenery 

 of Great Britain, and especially various plants 



* The letter of introduction which Boerhaave gave his 

 young friend to Sir Hans, was as complimentary to the 

 English as to the Swedish Naturalist. " Linnaeus, who will 

 present you with this letter, is as deserving of your notice as 

 you are of his. Whoever shall have the fortune to meet you 

 both, will see two men whose equals can scarcely be found 

 in the world." A description of Sloane's magnificent collec- 

 tion has been given in the Memoir prefixed to the History of 

 the Pacfydermus, in a preceding volume of the Naturalist's 

 Library. 



