THE LIFE OF THE YOUNGER LINN^US. 297 



Long before lie succeeded his father in his office, it had been his 

 chief wish to travel. But as long as he laboured under so many con= 

 straints in his father's house, he found it impossible to realize that wish. 

 No sooner had he become his own master, than he burnt with a de- 

 sire of accomplishing it. He intended to publish a new edition of 

 the principal work of his father — the System of Nature^ — and for this 

 reason wished the more anxiously to see foreign herbals, especially the 

 natural produftions collefted in the countries lately discovered in the 

 South Seas. 



Money, which is always required in travelling, had long been the 

 principal obstacle to his departure. A patriotic friend at last offered 

 Linn us the sum requisite for defraying his travelling expences. 

 This was Baron Nicholas Alstroemer, Commander of the Order 

 of Vasa, at Gothenburgh *. This temporay suspension from his acade- 

 mical office created no kind of inconvenience. Thunberc had been 

 appointed demonstrator of botany after his return to Sweden. Go- 

 vernment, therefore, gave Linnaeus leave to travel. The celebrity of 

 father's name promised him a good reception abroad, and he found it 

 accordingly. 



The first country, which, from his thirst after knowledge he longed 

 to see, was England. In the spring of 1781 he embarked, and reached 

 London in the course of May. The most interesting person with whom 

 he wished to get acquainted there, was Sir Joseph Banks, President of 



nitat. Acad. Edit Schreberi, Erlang, 1790, vol. x.— Cui accedunt Dissertationes Botani- 

 es, C. A LiNNE, Filii. See also ASa M^dlcorum, Suedeorum, seu Syllogc obscrvationum ct 

 casuum rariorum, praesertim in Historia Naturali, Praxi Medica, &c. torn, i. Ups. 1783. 8vo. 



* LiNN^us designed him for the heir of tlie Herbarium which he had collected during his 

 father's life. Alstroemer received it accordingly, but not the duplicates of plants, wWch 

 LiNN^us had collefted on his travels. 



Q q the 



