BIRTH AND EARLY EDUCATION 15 
both aspects; and he was not unhelped. Specially 
regarding Carl, Rothman declared that “ the pro¬ 
fessor was right in this, that he could never become 
a priest, but on the other hand he was assured that 
Carl would become a famous Doctor , by which he 
could gain a living equal to that of any priest.” He 
went so far as to assure the father sacredly that 
amongst all the studying deacons in Vaxjo, there was 
not one who gave such hope for his future as his 
Carl; and he offered to take him into his house, and 
give him private lectures in physiology, etc., while 
he would love him as his own child. By this inter¬ 
view the father was not a little comforted, and gave 
his willing consent to the arrangement. The mother, 
however, received the news passionately, and in her 
distress blamed the garden and its flowers, wherefore 
she forbade her younger son, Samuel, on any account 
to dare to concern himself with this calamitous syren. 
The quick result of this occurrence was, as 
related, that the young Gymnasium student received 
the advantage of Rothman’s personal instruction. 
Gradually there arose between them the most 
intimate relations, resembling those of father and 
son, which continued unclouded until death severed 
the bond. The youth’s previous desire to devote his 
future to the practice of medicine, of which botany 
at that time was looked upon as an important and 
essential part, was strengthened by the teacher more 
and more. He chose particularly the “ Lectures on 
Boerhaave’s c Institutiones Medicse ’ ” (employed in 
the early part of the eighteenth century as a textbook 
in almost the whole of Europe), explaining with the 
greatest learning to his pupil, who after each lecture 
was examined and found to answer readily on every 
point that had been set out. He also became Carl’s 
first teacher in scientific botany, and showed him that 
the knowledge of plants he had till then acquired, did 
not correspond to the time’s demands as to scientific 
research. “ To know a fluent Latin word or name 
