The TOUHCt HAT^EAilST: 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 106. NOVEMBER IOth, 18.S1. .Vol. 3. 



LINNiEUS. 



Part II. 



NOW that Linnseus was happily 

 married, and in comfortable cir- 

 cumstances, his reputation begun to 

 excite envy and jealousy, and many 

 were the attacks made upon him. He 

 wisely resolved to abstain from contro- 

 versy, but published a brief sketch of 

 his life, a list of his works, and the 

 various testimonials given to his talents 

 by the most eminent men of the day," 

 with the idea that it was unnecessary 

 to reply to small men when so many 

 great men approved of what he had 

 done. Yet he was not above criticism, 

 and in a private letter says "Who could 

 observe everything with sufficient accu- 

 racy ? Correct me in a friendly manner 

 and you shall have my best thanks. I 

 have done all I could do. A great tree 

 cannot bear a lofty top when only it first 

 begins to shoot off." 



He now aspired to the botanic chai^. 

 at the university of Upsala and offered 

 himself as a candidate on the death of 

 Eudbeck. He was not successful in his 

 desire, it being given to Dr. Rosen, who 

 had studied longer and had greater 

 claims on TJpsala ; but the following 

 year he was appointed to the chair of 



medicine in the same university, and by 

 an arrangement with Dr. Rosen they 

 exchanged posts. Before removing to 

 his professorship he made an excursion 

 to the islands of Oeland and Gothland 

 to endeavour to find an earth from which 

 porcelain could be made. In this mat- 

 ter he was not successful, but he dis- 

 covered above one hundred plants not 

 previously known to be indigenous. 

 During this journey he first pointed out 

 how Ai-iindo arenarius could be made 

 serviceable in binding the loose sand of 

 the sea shore. 



He was now at the head of the bota- 

 nists of Sweden, though only thirty-four 

 years of age, and he commenced work 

 in earnest. The gardens at Upsala did 

 not contain fifty exotic plants when he 

 took charge of them, but he soon in- 

 creased the number to above 1100 

 species, and in a few years the gardens 

 were equal or superior to any in Europe. 

 The usual number of students was 

 about 500, it was soon doubled, and in 

 1759, when he was rector, there were 

 1500. He used to make exploring 

 expeditions to various parts of the 

 country, and sometimes as many as two 

 hundred students would accompany 

 him. When anything remarkable was 



