see 3 a 
jotices of European Herbaria, : 3 
ae * 2 
alstreemer, in satisfaction of a small debt. ‘The ship which con- 
veyed these treasures to London had scarcely sailed, when the 
king of Sweden, who had been absent in France, returned home 
and despatched, it is said, an armed vessel in pursuit. aes story, 
_ though mentioned in the Memoir and Correspondence of Sir J. 
E. Smith, and generally received, has, we believe, been recently 
controverted. However this may be, no doubt the king and the 
men of science in Sweden were greatly offended, as indeed 
thevfihad reason to be, at the conduct of the executors, in allow- 
ing these collections to leave the country ; but the disgrace should 
perhaps more justly fall upon the Swedish government itself and 
the University of Upsal, which derived its reputation almost en- 
_ tirely from the name of Linnzeus. 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 that they haye fallen to the lot of the “toto 
disjunctos orbe Britannos ;” yet a journey even from Landshut 
e fo London may perhaps be more readily performed than to Upsal. 
After the death of Sir James Edward Smith the herbarium and 
and other collections, and library of Linnaeus, as well as his own, 
were purchased by the Linnean Society. The herbarium still 
_ -- ©eeupies the ¢ases which contained it at Upsal, and is serupulous- 
Y preserved in its original state, except that, for more effectual 
rotection from the black and penetrating dust of London, it is 
rats = into parcels of convenient size; which are closely wrap- 
_ ped'in covers of strong paper lined with muslin. The genera 
‘ 
a 
* 
good price for it. I hope, my dear sir, you and my good mother will look on this 
_ Scheme in as favorable a light as my friends here do. There is no time to be lost, 
the affair is now talked of in all companies, and a number of people wish to 
- purchasers, Th Empress of Russias said to have thoughts of it. The man- 
Sscripts; letters, &c. must be invaluable, and there is, no doubt, a complete collec: 
» hon of all the inaugural dissertations which have been published at Upsal, a small 
-Part of which has been republished under the title of Amenitates Academica; a 
‘ 
; di te 
© 38, and must be of prodigious value. In short, the more I think of this affair the 
: . yore sanguine I am, a earnestly hope for your concurrence. I wish I could 
: have one half hour's conversation with you; but that is impossible.’’—Corr 
. ince Of Sir James Edward Smith, edited by Lady Smith, Vol. 1, p. 98 
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