84 MEMOIR OF LINN/EUS. 



" On the third day, finding that Dillenius did 

 not relax in his coldness towards me, and that my 

 money was near an end, I begged him, as I was 

 ignorant of the English language, to send his ser- 

 vant to take a passage for me next day in one 

 of the public vehicles for London. He did so; 

 and then I thought I might ask him another 

 favour, viz. to explain to me the remark which he 

 had made to Sherard at our first interview. This 

 he refused ; and upon my insisting, he requested 

 me to walk into the library, where he showed me a 

 copy of my Genera Plantarum, of which Grono- 

 vius had sent him about the half, without my 

 knowledge ; almost every page of which was marked 

 with a nota bene. ' What am I to understand by 

 this (said I) ?' ' Every one of these marks in 

 your volume (replied he), indicates a false genus/ 

 I maintained the contrary ; ' but if I have been 

 unwittingly mistaken (added I), allow me at least 

 to prove my error ; and, if wrong, I shall have no 

 hesitation in altering these genera' ' Come, then 

 (said he), let us analyse the first plants we meet 

 with in the garden;' and pulling up a specimen of 

 the llitum, which he, as well as other botanists, 

 had described as having three stamina, he handed 

 it to me. I opened the flower, and proved to him 

 that it had but one. ' Ha ! (said he), that no 

 doubt is an anomaly/ I opened several others, all 

 of which were alike. We then tried several other 

 genera, and found them all to correspond with my 



