149 
LINNAEUS AT STOCKHOLM. 
bles in- inse&s*. This speech contained excellent observations and 
the most beautiful sketch of the (Economy and wisdom of nature. 
il The author of this speech,” says the Chevalier Back, 44 was an ani- 
i{ mated and sprightly painter, who captivated his readers, and excited 
« in them a kind of ecstatic rapture.” 
This society, however small in the beginning, soon rose to the most 
honourable public greatness. The number of its members kept pace 
with its fame; and through the patriotic exertions of Count Tessin, 
it was raised to the honourable title of Royal Academy of Sciences at 
Stockholm on the 31st of March 1741. This example set by Sweden 
soon excited the emulation of Denmark. The royal Danish academy 
was consequently instituted in 1742 at Copenhagen , under the diieftion of 
the beneficent Count of Holstein, then minister of state. The learned 
society of Stockholm was not gifted with any particular funds on the 
part of the crown, nor did its members receive annual salaries. The 
only stipends allowed were those assigned to the professor of natural 
philosophy, and to the two secretaries. These, besides the prizes and 
prize-medals, were drawn from the fund arising from presents 01 lega- 
cies. The members had already published their transactions, which at 
the expiration 1779 amounted to forty volumes, and have been trans- 
lated into German, French, and other languages, and are continued 
down to the present time. These transactions contain the richest store 
of useful knowledge and discoveries. This advancement of the 
sciences in that country is originally due to Linn aus. 
Having enjoyed the utmost popularity in the capital of Sweden , and 
being blest with the resources of a plentiful income, Lin nau's was not 
* Oratio.de Memorabilibus in Inseftis. Vide Amoenitates Academic*, vol. ii. 
quite 
