THE AMERICANS CAN BIN AVIAN REVIEW 
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young student his owi* library containing the works of prominent 
writers on medicine and botany. He made good use of this oppor¬ 
tunity for independent study, but under such circumstances it was 
natural that the fame of Uppsala University should attract him, and 
after a visit to his home, where he obtained the consent of his parents 
to the change, he went in the autumn of 1728 to Uppsala. 
Conditions at the University were not what Linnaeus had hoped, 
however. The famous Professor Rudbeck was very old, and his philo¬ 
logical interests had more and more usurped the place of his botanical 
pursuits. “The professors of medicine,” says Linnaeus, “lectured 
little or not at all. Boberg’s friendship ceased when Carl’s money was 
at an end.” Unfortunately, the slender purse which Carl’s parents 
had given him when he left was soon empty, and as he had no other 
sources of income, he was soon in actual want. Then, by one of those 
happy accidents that so often played into the life of Linnaeus, he met 
a man much interested in natural sciences, Dean of the Cathedral Olof 
Celsius, who on a visit to the Botanical Garden came upon Linnaeus 
and was amazed by his fund of knowledge and his intelligence. When 
he saw what a hard struggle the impecunious student had, he took him 
into his household and treated him almost like a son. Linnaeus now 
‘ had the best opportunities to perfect himself”; he tutored privately, 
and the following year was appointed substitute for Professor Budbeck 
as public lecturer in the Botanical Garden. At these lectures the 
young student’s unusual ability and fascinating method of presentation 
attracted great crowds. He was also honored by being chosen as 
tutor to Rudbeck’s sons. 
During his stay at the Rudbeck home, he often heard of a journey 
which Professor Rudbeck once had made to the Lapp country at 
Torne, and “about the marvellous phenomena and strange plants which 
he had found there, so that Linnaeus was fired with a desire to see these 
regions.” Prom the Scientific Society in Uppsala he received a small 
scholarship as an aid to his trip, and then went down to his home in 
Smaland. As a journey to Lappland was in those days considered 
a dangerous adventure, it was necessary for him first to obtain the 
consent of his parents, a consent which was not granted without 
many misgivings, especially on the part of his mother. 
His equipment was as light as possible, “without impedimenta 
and just as he stood.” But he was a true son of Charles XII’s Sweden, 
and with the joyous courage of a conqueror he set out, May 22, on 
horseback to begin his journey of discovery to the unknown mountain 
region. It would be impossible within the limits of an article to 
recount his adventures on this trip through swamps and moors and 
over inaccessible alps. He was repeatedly in danger of his life, but 
he never under any circumstances forgot to note his observations 
regarding plants and animals, or the life of the Lapps. One thing 
