VI 
INTRODUCTION 
University records from which he gathered much; he 
likewise gleaned from Swedish and other sources 
eyery allusion to his great countryman's career. He 
visited London several times, as in 1871, 1896 and 
1904 when he devoted his time to the examination of 
the Linnean MSS. and letters, preserved in the 
Linnean Society’s collections. Further, he was able 
to make use of the life-work of Dr. J. E. E. Ahrling, 
and between the two men, hardly anything escaped 
notice. In due course these researches were incor¬ 
porated in his magnum opus. After 1903 he was still 
busily engaged in gathering fresh material; he trans¬ 
lated and printed unpublished MSS. and by 1907 
when the bicentenary celebration of the birth of Carl 
von Linne was celebrated in Sweden with great 
enthusiasm, he was undertaking the editorship of the 
“ Bref och skrifvelser ” (Letters and communications 
of and to Linne) of which he lived to complete six 
volumes with illuminative notes of the contemporaries 
of Linne, which work is still in progress. 
Shortly after the issue of the “ Life ” an offer was 
made, I do not know by whom, to an eminent London 
publisher to bring out an English translation, and I 
was asked by Mr. George Murray, at that time 
Keeper of Botany at the British Museum, to inter¬ 
view one of the partners of the firm in question. This 
I did, though I could learn nothing of the firm’s 
intentions, but could only impress upon them my 
readiness to further the project to the utmost of my 
power. I heard nothing more of the proposition and 
presumed it was declined on account of the extent ot 
the work. Since then I have been repeatedly urged 
to draw up an adaptation of Professor Fries’s work 
for English readers, but pressure of official work has 
hitherto hindered my compliance. Now, however, 
the time seems opportune to lay before the scientific 
and reading public an adequate account of the great 
naturalist. I have found myself obliged to adapt the 
work, for a complete translation would not only be 
