Notices of European Herbaria. 3 



Alstroemer, 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. This 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 

 they had 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 Linnaeus. 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 have fallen to the lot of the ^'■toto 

 disjunctos orhe Britannos ;" yet a journey even from Landshut 

 to 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 Linnaean Society. The herbarium still 

 occupies the cases which contained it at Upsal, and is scrupulous- 

 ly preserved in its original state, except that, for more effectual 

 protection from the black and penetrating dust of London, it is 

 divided into parcels of convenient size, which are closely wrap- 

 ped in covers of strong paper lined with muslin. The genera 



good price for it. I hope, my deal" 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, 

 for the affair is now talked of in all companies, and a number of people wish to 

 be purchasers. The Empress of Russia is said to have thoughts of it. The man- 

 uscripts, letters, &c. must be invaluable, and there is, no doubt, a complete collec- 

 tion of all the inaugural dissertations which have been published at Upsal, a small 

 part of which has been republished under the title of Amanitates Academiccc ; a 

 very celebrated and scarce work. All these dissertations were written by Linnse- 

 us, 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 concurrence. I wish I could 

 have one half hour's conversation with you ; but that is impossible." — Correspond- 

 ence of Sir James Edioard Smith, edited hy 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 above cited, the entire correspondence upon this 

 subject. 



