The other professor above alluded to was Olof 

 Rudbeck, the Younger, a very gifted and learned man, 

 indeed, but one who had been drawn away from his 

 researches and teaching in natural history by his great 

 interest in language study ; thus, for the first three years 

 of Artedi's undergraduateship Rudbeck was, as a matter 

 of fact, entirely inactive in his prescribed department, 

 on account of his being engaged in scientific inquiries 

 in the domain of philology. On resuming his profess- 

 orial duties in 1727, at the age of 67, he gave a two- 

 year course of lectures on the Birds of Sweden, and 

 Artedi was then among his auditors. 



From the above-related facts it will be abundantly 

 clear that the natural science student in Artedi's day 

 must have been very largely dependent upon his own 

 private studies for the knowledge he wanted to acquire; 

 the university staff was not in a position to afford him 

 more than the most meagre assistance. LiNNiEUS com- 

 ments upon this total want of facilities for natural science 

 study as follows: — "Rudbeck gave a course, certainly, 

 about his Birds of Sweden, which by the way are clev : 

 erly drawn, and Roberg lectured privately on the Prob- 

 lemata of Aristoteles in the light of the principles of 

 Descartes, but no one heard or saw any Anatomy, nor 

 anyone any Chemistry; I myself never had the oppor- 

 tunity of attending a single lecture on Botany, either 

 private or public". In spite of these untoward circum- 

 stances Artedi applied himself with great assiduity to 

 his science, and thanks to his good parts he was soon 

 accounted one of the most promising of the students in 

 the Medical Faculty, as is, moreover, proved by the 

 incident related below. 



Linnaeus, on arriving in Upsala in the year 1728 

 for the purpose of taking up natural science study there, 

 made inquiries as to what men were already engaged 

 in the same kind of work, that he might perchance 

 make their acquaintance and so obtain some guidance 

 that would facilitate his own progress in learning. On 

 all hands he was informed that Petrus Arct;Edius was 



