BOTANICAL R E F O R xM. 



98 



conceived foi- Linnaeus, though it M'as not preserved quite uncon- 

 taminated by envy.* 



To this interesting acquaintance may be added several other con- 

 nections SLt Oxford SLXxd London, which were useful to Cliffort, and 

 in process of time equally advantageous to Linn /e us. A friendly in- 

 tercourse was cultivated and improved between the latter and professors 

 Collin SON, Martyn, Rand, Eh ret, and other persons who make 

 a conspicuous figure in the annals of literature. Enriched with know- 

 ledge and a coUeftion of natural treasures, he returned to Holland, 

 towards the end of September, and was most joyfully received by 

 Cliffort. 



Impelled by his celebrity, by the contradifiions he had experienced, 

 and animated with the flattering idea of becoming the creator of a 

 new system, and the legislator of botany, Linn.«:us now began to pur- 

 sue with all possible exertion the career which conduced him to great- 

 ness. Newton had conceived the original thought of splitting the 

 rays of light. To prove its possibility, and to render valid a new truth, 

 he spared no expence in having the finest instruments made, and be- 

 stowed days and nights on the objeft of his invention. Such is the 



* The following passage of a letter, which Dillenius wrote to Baron Haller, on 

 the 13th of Odlober, will sufficiently evince the acrimony of his temper, Linnai Floram 

 Svecicam nonditm 'vidi. Non est unhis hominis conscribere Floram uniuersi regni. Canls fes- ■ 

 tinans, &c. Vldisti procul dubio Orchides in a£lis Suecicis, partum egregium, quern facile 

 pessumdabls, Vereor tamen, ne nihil agas ; est enim homo, - - - . — ne quid gravius dicam. 

 Scrtbit ad me quotannis fere semel, nil nisi semina effiagitans, licet ipse nulla mittit. Misi 

 plurima ; sed an fecerim opera pretium, haereo. Inhiat lantum generihus ficvis et multa 

 petit, qua nunquam apud nos semina, immo nec flores ferunt ; ignarus rei hortensis. Spe- 

 sierum ipsi parca cognitio ; nonii tamen bene merita et a tnorem in plantas ob que ipsi bene 

 cupio. Epistol. ad Haller. Vol. II. p. 299. To understand this answer, we find it incum- 

 bent on us to say, that LinNjEUS had criticised Haller in the Flora Suecica in a strong 

 and pointed manner. 



activity 



