12 
LINNAEUS 
regard to which the studies were directed, was the 
same, being regulated by an ordinance of King 
Carl XI. Theology was foremost, and the Greek and 
mathematical teachers usually ended their days as 
pastors, with the exception of those professors of 
Logic and Physics, whose subjects were regarded as 
leading to a provincial doctor’s career. Everything 
pointed to theology dominating studies, so as to pre¬ 
pare the pupils for priestly functions; therefore it 
was hardly an exaggeration in Linnaeus’s words, 
“ that no other science was practicable, than that 
which made priests.” 
It was the cherished wish and expectation of his 
parents, especially his mother, that their first born 
should become a priest, to which he was destined from 
the cradle. Though deep and warm religious feeling 
was by no means wanting, this did not agree with his 
inclination, for he had no call to become a priest, 
and when the then gymnasiast enjoyed a further 
extension of liberty, he employed it by an increased 
application to his botanical studies. Within the town 
of Vaxjo itself he sought what there was to be found, 
not neglecting to herborise the many flowers and 
mosses on the roofs. Excursions were made to the 
Solberg and other places in the neighbourhood, and 
the journeys to and from home served also to widen 
his knowledge, as he always turned his eyes to the 
roadsides to discover flowers, being able to locate 
any plant in those five miles (nearly thirty English 
miles). It is remarkable that he neither in youth nor 
in mature age attained more than an inconsiderable 
acquaintance with the flora of his native province. 
He said, afterwards, that “ I was a lynx abroad, but 
a mole at home, and knew more about Virginia in 
North America, the Cape, Ceylon and the East 
Indies, than of my own province, which I left before I 
was properly awake or able to chase sleep from my 
eyes. I had hardly seen more than Stenbrohult, my 
birthplace, and Vaxjo, my first school, leaving both 
