LINNJEU5. 



mow before us. His literary i*pirrat!on ho^i'ever made fo 

 little progrefs, that, when his father paid a vifit to Wcxio, 

 in 1726, his tutors, hke the fapient inflrutlors of Newton 

 at Cambridge, gave him up as a hopelefs dunce. They ad- 

 vifed that he fhould be put apprentice to a fhoemaker, tai- 

 lor, or fome other handicraft trade, rather than be forced to 

 purfue an objett, for which he was evidently unlit. Fortu- 

 nately, the dilappointed parent met with a l^etter counfellor 

 in Dr. Rothmann, the letlurer on natural pbilofuphy, who 

 encouraged him to hope much from the inclination of his 

 fon to natural knowledge and praAical obfervation, and re- 

 comme::ded that he Should be directed to the ih'.dy of me- 

 dicine. This good advice was fupported with the gratuitous 

 offer of taking the young man into his own houfe, for the 

 vear during w hich he was ftill to remain at the Gymnafum, 

 which was gladly accepted. The worthy preceptor gave 

 his pupil a private courfe of inftrutlion in phyfiotogy on the 

 Boerhaavian principles, and was rewarded by the luccefs of 

 his endeavours. He tirft fuggefted to Linnaeus the true 

 principles upon which botany ought to be iludied, founded 

 on the parts of fructification, and put the fyftem of 

 Tournefort into his hands, in the knowledge of which he 

 made a rapid progrt's. Its very impcrfecElions proved ufe- 

 ful, in prompting him to attempt fomething mere complete 

 hereafter. 



In 1727 Linnaeus was matriculated at the univerfity of 

 Lund, having, on the 19th of Augull, undergone with cre- 

 dit the examination of tiie Dean, and even of the Profeflbr 

 of Eloquence, Papke. He devoted himfelf to the (ludy of 

 medicine, lodging at the houfe of a phyfician. Dr. StobKus, 

 ■whofe library and mufeum of natural hillory, afforded the 

 greatell delight and afliftance to his ardent mind, and the 

 itudy of which often robbed him of feveral hours of his 

 natural repofc. In the fame houfe was a German fludent 

 named Koulas, eager hke himfelf for inftruflion, and their 

 friendfhip was mutually beneficial. Dr, Stoboeus being in- 

 firm in health and fpirits, Linnzus was allowed to relieve 

 him occafior.ally from the labours of his profefhon, and foon 

 became a groat favourite. While botanizing in the country, 

 in the fpring of 1728, our young naturaliil met with that 

 accident, whatever it was, which he always attributed to 

 the iting or bite of his fuppofed Furia infimalis, an animal 

 whofe exiitence has been doubted by many perfons, and by 

 fome pofitively denied. We need not here repeat what is 

 faid under the article FuitlA. His pupil Solander has 

 recorded feveral cafes of this accident or difeafe, and 

 delcribes the animal as if he had feen it, in the Nova ASa 

 UpfdUtnJia, v. I. 55. In the enfuing fummcr Linnaeus 

 paifed the vacation under his paternal roof. Here he met 

 with his former patron Rothmann, by whofe advice he was 

 induced to quit Lund for Upfal. as a fuperior fchool of 

 raedicme and botany. But the llender fupport which his 

 father could afford him, a capital of about 8/. Iferling-, beinir 

 totally madequate, he was, in this new Iituation, reduced to 

 the greatell neceflity. Private pupils were not to be pro- 

 cured by a poor unknown Undent. He was obliged to 

 trull for chance to a meal ; and when he relates that he had 

 nu Way ot mendmg his fhoes but by folded paper, -feems to 

 hiive felt th;; want even of the cobler's education which had 

 been recommended to him. He had offeiided his old friend 

 Stobxus by quitting Lund, and thousrh he had brought 

 %vith him a fplendid Latin teftimonial, from the Redor of 

 that univerfity, in which he was called PoTiiiJfmus onuilijjl- 

 mufque dominus, and was declared " to have cundncled hun- 

 fell with no leis diligence than correctnefs, fo as to gain the 

 affection of all v.ho knew him," he feems to have obtained 

 Bothmg more than a royal ftholarfhip, which was conferred 



upon him on the i6th of Dsc?mber, but of the value of 

 which we arc not informed. It appears however by the 

 above account to have been totally infufiicienr for his main- 

 tenance. He ncverthelefs did not relax in liis ftudies ; but 

 attended the lettures of the younger Rudbeck, then Pro- 

 feffor at Upfal, as well as the medical ones ef Profeffor 

 Roberg : and made critical manufcript remarks upou all 

 that he faw and heard. 



In the .(utumn of 1729 his botanical tafle and applicatio* 

 raifed ur) for him a new and v.-ry eflimable patron, in the 

 learned Dr. Olaus Celfius, Prcfeflor of Divinity, who met 

 with him by chance in that academical garden, the fame of 

 which he was defined hereafter to immortalize. This gen- 

 tleman had then been inten*, for above 30 years, upon the 

 illuftration of the plants mentioned in the Holy Scriptures, 

 on which he publiflied a very celebrated work in 1745, 

 having travelled to the Eaft on purpole to rei.der it more 

 perfect. He foon difcovered the merit of Linnaeus, took 

 him under his proteftion, and allowed him the full ufe of his 

 own rich library. The fricndlhip of fuch a man foon pro- 

 cured him further advantages. The fon ot Pvofeffor Rud- 

 beck, and other young men, became his private pupils, by 

 which his finances were improved. Nothing howevi-r feem» 

 to have been recollected with fo much fatisfattion to himfelf, 

 in relating the events of this part of his life, as his intimate 

 fcientific friendfliip with Peter Ardedius, who af'erwards 

 called himfelf Artedi, and became lo famous in the know- 

 ledge of fifhes and of umbelliferous plants. They paffed. 

 fome time together fubfeqiiertly in Hoi aiid, when Li: mu» 

 witnelfed the melancholy fate of his friend, who was acci- 

 dentally drowned at Amfterdam ; of which he has prefixed 

 fo pathetic an account to the Ichthyologia of Artedi, pub- 

 lilbed by his means. 



During his fludies, under the roof of Celfius, Linnxus 

 met with a review of Vaillant's trealife on the Sexes of 

 Plants, which firft led him to confider the importance, and 

 great varieties of form, of the llamens and piilils, and ther.ce 

 to form a new fcheme of arrangement founded on thofe 

 effential organs. He drew up an effay in oppofition to the 

 librarian of the univerfity, who had publilhed a work de 

 Nuptiis PLintarum, and iliewed it to Celfius, who communi- 

 cated it to Rudbeck. and the performai.ee was honoured 

 with the high approbation of both. This led the way to 

 his being appointed to ledure in the botanic garden, as an 

 alliftant or deputy to the latter, whofe advanced age ren- 

 dered fome relaxation neceffary. The lectures ot Linnxus 

 began in the fpring of 1730. He had previoufly folicited 

 from the Profeffor the humble appointment ot gardener t.o 

 the univerfity, which was refufed, only on the ground t f 

 his being fit for a better fituation Now fir.ding himic.f 

 authorized to take the direftion of the garden, he itforuieJ 

 and greatly enriched it. He was taken into the houfe cf 

 Rudbeck, as tutor to his younger children, and by this 

 means had the ufe of a vry fine collection of books and 

 drawings. His mornings being devoted to the duties of hit 

 llation, his evenings were fpent in preparing fome botanicil 

 works. It was now that he began to write his Biblfotbuct 

 Botanica. Claffcs Plantarum, Critica Boiailca and Gemra 

 Plantarum, though thele books were not given to the world 

 till about fcven years afterwards, v.hcn he printed them in 

 Holland, during his flay there. 



A new object now engaged all the attention of our emu- 

 lous young naiuralift The convcrfations of Rudbeck, con- 

 cerning the natural hillorv of Lapland, and the curicfities 

 he had feen there, excited an irrefitlible defire in Linntus 

 to viiit the fame country. To this he was perhaps the more 

 immediately prompted, by fome little circumitauces, which 



P 2 made 



