X 



sidered to be of the greatest value for the study of the plants of 

 northern Europe. This collection of typical plants is quoted by Fries 

 throughout the first part of his " Summa Vegetabilium Scandinavian" 



Fries has also written treatises on Agriculture and on Practical 

 Botany, on the Nomenclature of Plants, and on the History of 

 Botany. In the " Botanical Excursions," 1852 — 1864, he has very 

 successfully popularised his science, and the book has been read with 

 lively interest beyond his own country. 



Important, however, as were many of Fries' labours on Phaenogamic 

 plants and Lichens, his future fame must rest upon his reformation of 

 Fungology. The brilliant discoveries of later observers seem at first 

 sight to eclipse altogether what was done so many years before, but 

 they are quite in a different line, and doubtless have been assisted by 

 the labours of Fries. His arrangement of the genus Agaricus alone 

 has been described as a great effort of genius, and every division of 

 his mycological system is full of matter for reflection. To appreciate 

 his system, full allowance must be made for the state in which he 

 found mycology and the comparative imperfection of microscopes. 



Fries was eminent as a systematic botanist, and the Friesian system 

 is still followed by some Swedish writers. The system was first pub- 

 lished in the " Flora Scanica," 1835), and an outline of it will be found 

 in Lindley's " Vegetable Kingdom." 



With regard to the relationship of species, his point of view appears 

 to have been the same as that taken by Linnaeus, " A species is each 

 form brought forth by the Creator in the beginning."" 



Fries had remarkable fluency and power of expression both in 

 writing and lecturing, and this faculty no doubt contributed much to 

 his influence in gathering round him a large number of disciples. 

 Foreign scientific men seldom visited Upsala during the last forty 

 years of his life without making the acquaintance of the celebrated 

 botanist, whose amiable and engaging manners and kind disposition 

 made him beloved by all who knew him. 



Fries continued his scientific labours into the last years of his life. 

 In his eightieth year he published a new and improved edition of his 

 extensive work " Hymenomycetes Europaei," and about a week before 

 his death he completed an essay for a foreign periodical. He died on 

 the evening of the 8th of February, 1878, to the last actively useful. 



In 1851, Fries had been appointed Director of the Botanical 

 Museum and garden attached to the University of Upsala, and in 1858 

 became Rector of the University. He was a member of many learned 

 societies, Swedish and foreign. In 1835 he was elected a Foreign 

 Member of the Linnaean Society, and in 1875, a Foreign Member of 

 the Royal Society. 



