198 LINNJEUS. 



cine and botany, whose notice he soon attracted by 

 his diligence and attention, and who, learning his 

 indigent condition, received him into his family. 

 Here he found a small collection of natural objects, 

 which he studied with great delight. At the same 

 time he began to form an herbarium for himself; to 

 add to which he made excursions into the neigh- 

 bouring districts. 



On one of these expeditions he was, or imagined 

 himself to have been, stung by a venomous worm, 

 said to be not uncommon in some parts of Sweden. 

 However this may be, he was seized with a violent 

 disorder, w^hich threatened the extinction of life, 

 more especially as he had removed far into the coun- 

 try, where medical assistance could not be readily 

 procured. This accident, instead of diminishing 

 his zeal, tended to increase his desire of becoming 

 more acquainted with the lower orders of animals. 

 In a work which he subsequently published, this 

 singular worm, the existence of which, however, 

 is still doubtful, is thus described by him :— " It 

 occurs in the extensive turfy marshes of Bothnia, 

 in the northern parts of Sweden. Falling from 

 the atmosphere, frequently upon the bodies of men 

 and animals, it instantly penetrates them with the 

 most intense pain, so as to produce death from agony 

 within a quarter of an hour. I myself was smitten 

 by it at Lund, in 1728. I have not seen the ani- 

 mal unless in a dried state. It seems in its proper- 

 ties to be allied to the chaotic animals. By what 

 means it rises into the air, whence it falls during 

 the interval between the summer and winter sol- 

 stice, no one has explained." 



Stobaeus's library was well stored with works on 



