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THE LIFE OF "THE YOUNGER LINNAEUS. 
Long before he 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 productions colle&ed 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/eus the sum requisite for defraying his travelling expences. 
This was Baron Nicholas Alstroemer, Commander of the Order 
of Vasa, at Gotheniurgh *. This temporay suspension from his acade- 
mical office created no kind of inconvenience. Thun berg had been 
appointed demonstrator of botany after his return to Sweden. Go- 
vernment, therefore, gave Lin n ^eus leave to travel. Ihe 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 Jos . h Banks, Presidentof 
nitat. Acad. Edit Schrederi, Erlang , 1190, vol. x. — Cui accedunt Dissertationes Botani- 
es; C. A LlNNE, Filii. See also Ada Medicorum, Suecicorum, seu Sylloge observationum et 
casuum rariorura, pnesertim in Historia Natural!, Praxi Medica, &c. tom. i. Ups. 1783. Svo. 
* Linn^us designed him for the heir of the Herbarium which he had collected during his 
father’s life. Alstroemer. received it accordingly, but not the duplicates of plants, which 
Linnjeus had colle£ted on his travels. 
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