samouelle's 



Tilia europcsa, growing near the place of their resi- 

 dence, is reported to have given origin to the name 

 of Linnaeus. Of the taste which laid the foundation 

 of his happiness as well as his celebrity, his worthy 

 father was the primary cause. Residing in a delight- 

 ful spot, on the banks of a fine lake, surrounded by 

 hills and valleys, woods and cultivated ground, his 

 garden and his fields yielded him both amusement 

 and profit, and his infant son imbibed, under his 

 auspices, that pure and ardent love of nature for its 

 own sake, with that habitual exercise of the mind in 

 observation and activity which, ever after, marked 

 his character, and which were enhanced by a recti- 

 tude of principle, an elevation of devotional taste, a 

 warmth of feeling, and an amiableness of manners, 

 rarely united in those who so transcendently excel in 

 any branch of philosophy or science. 



We must pass briefly his more juvenile days, by 

 stating that, in 1717, he was removed to the grammar 

 school of Wexio, where his progress was slow. In 

 1722, he proved competent, nevertheless, to be ad- 

 mitted to a form. In 1724, being 17 years of age, he 

 was removed to the superior seminary, and was des- 

 tined to the church. His literary reputation however 

 made so little progress, that, when his father paid a 

 visit to Wexio, in 1726, his tutors, like the sapient 

 instructors of Newton at Cambridge, gave him up as 

 a hopeless dunce. Fortunately, the disappointed 

 parent met with a better counsellor in Dr. Rothmann, 

 who encouraged him to hope much from the inclina- 

 ti on of his son to natural knowledge and practical 

 observation, and recommended that he should be 

 directed to the study of medicine. 



