838 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



physician Boerhaave, after some delay, gave him a cordial recep- 

 tion, and recommended him to Burman, at Amsterdam, with 

 whom he stayed a year. Here he accepted an invitation from the 

 wealthy banker Cliffort, who had a great garden and fine library 

 at Hartekamp, and stayed with him three years, living at ease, 

 working in the library and garden and at his studies and his books, 

 and sparing no pains, through the " Hortus Cliff ortianus," and his 

 description of the banana, Musa Cliffortiana, to make the fame 

 of his patron lasting. 



In 1736 Linnaeus visited England, bearing a letter of introduc- 

 tion from Boerhaave. He was received by the botanists there with 

 a reserve which soon thawed and gave place to warm apprecia- 

 tion. Returning to Holland, he completed the printing of his 

 " Genera Plantarum," finished arranging and describing Cliff ort's 

 collection of plants, spent a year with Van Royen at Leyden, re- 

 arranging the garden, and in 1738 started for Sweden by way of 

 Belgium, Paris (where he formed a lasting friendship with Ber- 

 nard de Jussieu), and Rouen. Hence he sailed direct for Sweden, 

 intending to establish himself in the practice of medicine at Stock- 

 holm. Patients were slow in coming to him, and in his discour- 

 agement he said that " if he had not been in love he certainly 

 would have left his native country." His fame, however, which 

 had become conspicuous abroad, had at last reached Sweden, and 

 he gradually obtained a practice, was appointed naval physician, 

 Professor in the School of Mines, etc., and was able to marry the 

 daughter of Dr. Moreeus, who had waited for him for several years. 

 He enjoyed the support of influential friends — Marshal the Baron 

 Charles de Geer and Count Tessin — and by their aid succeeded, in 

 1741, in reaching the summit of his ambition — a professorship in 

 the University of Upsala, which he occupied for thirty-seven 

 years. His fame grew rapidly. " He was long a center to which 

 all important researches in natural history were reported. Nu- 

 merous disciples attended his lectures and propagated his doctrines 

 verbally, while his own works, scattered abroad, made his system 

 and his reforms popular. His correspondence was extensive, and 

 .his letters, many of which have been preserved, exhibit his char- 

 acter in the most favorable light. On his recommendation, the 

 Swedish Government intrusted several young men with distant 

 scientific missions. Among the most distinguished of these trav- 

 elers were Ternstroem, who traversed the East Indies and died at 

 Poulo Condor, in the China Sea, in 1743 ; Kalm (whence the name 

 of our mountain laurel, Kalmia latifolia), who explored North 

 America from 1747 to 1751 ; Hasselquist, who visited Smyrna, 

 Egypt, and Palestine, and died in Smyrna in 1752 ; Osbeck, who 

 explored China from 1750 to 1752 ; and Loeffling, who traveled in 

 Spain in 1751 and South America, where he died in 1756." 



