256 LINN^US. 



Thus perished, in the midst of their career, five 

 of the most promising pupils of Linnaeus ; but, not 

 deterred by their fate, others pressed forward with 

 the desire of distinguishing themselves. 



The professor, knowing that a species of mulberry- 

 tree grew in Canada, proposed to the Royal Society of 

 Stockholm a voyage to that country, for the pur- 

 pose of learning whether the plant in question 

 could be naturalized in Sweden. The proposal be- 

 ing acceded to, he made choice of Peter Kalm, 

 one of the most promising of his students. In 1747^ 

 he departed for America, where he remained three 

 years. In 1751, he returned to Abo, in Finland, 

 where his patron had obtained a professorship for 

 him, and published an account of his voyage. The 

 Canadian mulberry-tree {Moms rubrd) was in fact 

 introduced by him into Sweden, and seems in some 

 degree to have answered the purpose intended; 

 but, although the government offered a premium 

 for its cultivation, the silk-manufacture of that coun- 

 try has never succeeded. Kalm, after travelling in 

 various parts of Russia, died at his own residence in 

 1790. His travels in America were translated into 

 English by John Reinhold Forster, who accompanied 

 Captain Cook on his second voyage. 



Rolander embarked for Surinam in 1755; To- 

 ren, in 1 750, for the coast of Malabar and Surat ; 

 and Osbeck for China in 1751. The journal of the 

 latter was also translated by Forster. But the most 

 distinguished among the more fortunate travelling- 

 pupils of Linnaeus were Sparrmann and Thunberg, 

 the latter of whom became his successor in the uni- 

 versity. 



Andrew Sparrmann studied medicine at Upsal, 



