2 THE DARWINIAN THEORY 



no idea that there had been such a history. Scattered 

 facts imperfectly ascertained were mixed with much 

 superstition, and associated rather with witchcraft 

 than with science. 



Linnaeus, 1707-1778, was the founder of modern 



scientific natural history. He was a self-made man, 



and had a long-continued struggle with poverty 



during the early part of his career. A botanist from 



his birth, he was never tired of learning facts about 



plants. Linnaeus was originally intended for the 



Church, but got on so badly at the schools that in 



1727 his father proposed to apprentice him to a 



shoemaker ; however, a friend interested in the 



icyoung botanist persuaded the father, a poor pastor, 



bto let him learn medicine. With this object in view 



i> Linnaeus went to Lund, and in 1728 to Upsala. In 



H11732 he was sent by the Literary and Scientific 



;ISociety of Upsala to Lapland. In 1735 he went to 



auHolland, and was introduced to Boerhaave, the 



grcelebrated physician of Leyden, and by him was 



viintroduced to a rich banker, who became his patron 



-jahd in 1736 sent him to England. He afterwards 



3rwent to Paris and eventually to Stockholm, where 



oibe gained his living by practising as a physician. 



rbhi 1 741 he was appointed Professor of Medicine at 



£ Upsala, and at the end of the year exchanged the 



b.cchair of Medicine for that of Botany and Natural 



History. His poverty was now over and his fame 



.riwfcll established. 



on 2 Linnaeus was a man of extraordinary industry, 

 n/<and sent out his pupils in all directions, thereby 

 b^ebllecting information and specimens from every part 



