EUROPEAN HERBARIA. 3 



His success, as soon appeared, was entirely owing to his 

 promptitude, for other and very pressing applications were 

 almost immediately made for the collection, but the upright 

 Dr. Acrel, having given Mr. Smith the refusal, declined to en- 

 tertain any other proposals while this negotiation was pending. 

 The purchase was finally made for 900 guineas, excluding the 

 separate herbarium of the younger Linnaeus, collected before 

 his father's death, and said to contain nothing that did not 

 exist in the original herbarium ; this was assigned to Baron 

 Alstroemer, in satisfaction of a small debt. The ship which 

 conveyed these treasures to London had scarcely sailed, when 

 the king of Sweden, who had been absent in France, returned 

 home and dispatched, it is said, an armed vessel in pursuit. 

 This story, though mentioned in the " Memoir and Corre- 

 spondence of Sir J. E. Smith," and generally received, has, we 

 believe, been recently controverted. However, the king and 

 the men of science in Sweden were greatly offended, as indeed 

 they had reason to be, at the conduct of the executors, in 

 allowing these collections to leave the country ; but the dis- 

 grace should perhaps fall more justly upon the Swedish gov- 

 ernment itself and the University of Upsal, which derived its 

 reputation almost entirely from the name of Linnseus. It 

 was, however, fortunate for science that they were transferred 

 from such a remote situation to the commercial metropolis of 

 the world, where they are certainly more generally accessible. 

 The late Professor Schultes, in a very amusing journal of a 

 botanical visit to England in the year 1824, laments indeed 



of Russia is said to have thoughts of it. The manuscripts, letters, etc., 

 must be invaluable, and there is, no doubt, a complete collection of all the 

 inaugural dissertations which have been published at Upsal, a small part 

 of which has been published under the title of "Ama^nitates Academicae," 

 a very celebrated and scarce work. All these dissertations were written 

 by Linna3us, and must be of prodigious value. In short, the more I think 

 of this affair the more sanguine I am, and earnestly hope for your concur- 

 rence. I wish I could have one half hour's conversation with you ; but 

 that is impossible." (Correspondence of Sir James Edward Smith, edited 

 by Lady Smith, vol. i. p. 93.) 



The appeal to his father was not in vain ; and, did our limits allow, we 

 should be glad to copy, from the work cited above, the entire correspond- 

 ence upon this subject. 



