120 BIOLOGY AND ITS MAKERS 
in 1726, he prepared to apprentice Carl to a shoemaker, but 
was prevented from doing so through the encouragement. 
of a doctor who, being able to appreciate the quality of mind 
possessed by the young Linneus, advised allowing him to. 
study medicine instead of preparing for theology. 
Accordingly, with a sum amounting to about $y4o, all his 
father could spare, he set off for the University of Lund, to 
pursue the study of medicine. He soon transferred to the 
University of Upsala, where the advantages were greater. His 
poverty placed him under the greatest straits for the necessities. 
of life, and he enjoyed no luxuries. While in the university 
he mended his shoes, and the shoes which were given to him 
by some of his companions, with paper and birch-bark, to. 
keep his feet from the damp earth. But his means did not 
permit of his taking his degree at Upsala, and it was not until 
eight years later, in1735, that he received his degree in Holland. 
At Upsala he was relieved from his extreme poverty by 
obtaining an assistant’s position, and so great was his knowl- 
edge of plants that he was delegated to read the lectures of 
the aged professor of botany, Rudbeck. 
In 1732 he was chosen by the Royal Society of Upsala to- 
visit Lapland as a collector and observer, and left the univer- 
sity without his degree. On returning to Upsala, his lack 
of funds made itself again painfully felt, and he undertook 
to support himself by giving public lectures on botany, chem- 
istry, and mineralogy. He secured hearers, but the con- 
tinuance of his lectures was prevented by one of his rivals on 
the ground that Linneus had no degree, and was therefore 
legally disqualifed from taking pay for instruction. Pres- 
ently he became tutor and traveling companion of a wealthy 
baron, the governor of the province of Dalecarlia, but this. 
employment was temporary. 
Helped by His Fiancée.—His friends advised him to. 
secure his medical degree and settle as a practitioner. Al- 
