2 ARKIV FÖR BOTANIK. BAND 7. N:0 3. 



this precious scientific collection was lost to Sweden, and 

 that those who brought about the sale have been subject to 

 reproach. But at the same time we have reason to rejoice 

 that Linnaeus's herbarium, that »Palladium of science» 1 fell 

 to the magnanimous and generous English nation and came 

 into the hands of enlightened and noble men, who have 

 always treated this collection with unparalleled marks of 

 honour and the most scrupulous care, first Dr. J. E. Smith 

 and after his death the Linnaean Society. 



When we know the widely diffused interest in natural 

 history which existed in Sweden in Linnaeus's days and the 

 extensive correspondence Linnaeus carried on with the collec- 

 tors and scientists of his time, we should be led to expect 

 that a number of plants had been bestowed by Linnaeus on 

 his friends and disciples and thus remained in Sweden, 

 when his own herbarium was sold to England. We have 

 indeed heard from time to time that some small number of 

 plants from Linnaeus's herbarium was to be found in the 

 possession of now this, now that still surviving person or 

 institution, to whom they had descended from older times. 

 Thus e. g. the herbarium belonging to Linnaeus's eminent 

 disciple Dr. J. G. Wahlbom (1724 — 1807) was recovered in 

 Kalmar in the j^ear 1870, and amongst it was found a small 

 collection of plants from Linnaeus's herbarium, which is now 

 the property of the Botanical Museum of Uppsala University. - 

 In the Bergian herbarium of Bergielund near Stockholm pre- 

 sented to the K. Svenska Vetenskapsakademien by Linnaeus's 

 disciple, Prof. P. J. Bergius (1730 — 1790), about 30 plants 

 are to be found classified 3 in Linnaeus's handwriting. 



That Linnaeus was by no means stingy with his plants 

 is clearly seen from passages in his letters. Thus e. g. he 

 writes to the archiater Abr. Bäck of Stockholm (1773): 

 »I have kept two plants which are not to be found in my 

 collection; in return I have enclosed 20, all capenses, and a 

 Zamia from Florida»; and in the year 1769 he writes: »Gree- 

 tings to the magister Retzius and beg him leave me his 



1 J. A. Schultes, Grundriss einer Geschichte und Literatur der Bo- 

 tanik, 1817, p. 234. 



'' Th. M. Fries, Linné, II. p. 77 (note 1). 



3 V. B. WiTTROCK, Bergianska stiftelsens historia, Acta Horti Bergi- 

 ani, I, p. 13 (note 4). 



