152 
LINNiEUS 
and not being well acquainted with the neighbourhood, 
he fell into the “ gracht ” (canal) at one a.m. and was 
drowned. 
Not till three days later did Linnaeus learn through 
Sohlberg of his friend’s sad fate, when he hastened to 
Amsterdam to be at the funeral. Seba, whom he 
visited, paid 50 florins [£4. 3s. 4d.] towards the 
expenses. “ When I saw,” he relates, “ the lifeless, 
stiffened body, and the froth upon the pale blue lips; 
when I recalled my oldest and best friend’s unhappy 
fate; when I remembered how many sleepless nights, 
wearisome hours, journeys and expenses, the departed 
had undergone, before he attained such a measure of 
knowledge as to be able to compete with any, I 
burst into tears, when I foresaw that all this learning, 
which should have secured for him and his country 
immortal honour, threatened with annihilation; I felt 
that the love I cherished for my friend compelled me 
to fulfil my promise that we once mutually exchanged, 
namely, that the survivor should publish the other’s 
observations.” 
But here arose difficulties. Artedi’s relatives in 
Norrland, to whom Linnaeus applied, gave him full 
right to take over the manuscripts left, but the 
landlord in whose house Artedi lodged, definitely 
refused to give them up, until his preferential claim 
was fully paid. An attempt to induce Seba to 
liquidate the debt, did not succeed, and a public 
auction was arranged, threatening the dispersal of the 
collections. In his vexation Linnaeus applied to 
Clifford, who willingly paid the requisite sum. Thus 
it became possible for Linnaeus, though with much 
trouble, to give to the world the fruit of his friend’s 
many years’ work, and at the same time by publishing 
Artedi’s “ Ichthyologia sive opera omnia de piscibus ” 
to ascribe to him the honour of being the actual 
founder of a scientific system of fishes on a large 
scale. In later years he founded the genus Artedia 
in his friend’s memory, upon an umbelliferous plant, 
