300 THE LIFE OF THE YOUNGER LINN^US. 



But it wanted a real adept to remove the difficulties which obstru6led 

 the progress of the Linnmau system in England. The Britons^ who 

 felt so little relish at that time for foreign literature, became afterwards 

 the most zealous admirers and votaries of LinnjEus ; and Dr. Solan- 

 D£R contributed a great deal to this favourable change in the general 

 disposition of the British literati. 



When Dr. Solander left Sweden to go to England, LinnjEus 

 gave him a letter to Ellis, in which he recommended him as strongly 

 as if he had been his own son. The incidental qualification of being 

 a pupil of Linn A us, soon endeared him to almost every lover of na- 

 tural history at London. His own prepossessing and amiable qualities 

 served still farther to foster this favourable disposition on their part. 

 He was so generally beloved, that every body owned that Solander 

 had not a single enemy. When he was appointed inspe£lor of the 

 British Museum, there was only an incomplete and useless catalogue of 

 its treasures; he was therefore charged with making anew one. He wrote 

 seven large quarto volumes, and laboured from an early hour in the morn- 

 ing till two or three o'clock in the afternoon. At that time he adjourned 

 his exertions a<;cording to the London custom till next day. When he 

 made the voyage round the world with Captain Cook, and in company 

 with Sir Joseph Banks, his annual salary, as inspeftor of the British 

 Museum, was doubled. In 1771, the father of Linnaeus complained 

 that he had not heard of Solander for several years, yet he had done 

 as much for him as for any one of his pupils. He rejoiced, however, 

 at seeing the new edition of Ellis's Essay on CorallineSi published 

 under the auspices of Solander, who sent him some of the proof- 

 plates. Solander was the oracle of natural history in England, and 



consulted 



