JOURNEY TO WEST GOTHLAND 205 
take up his duties as professor, and the numerous 
duties which then devolved upon him obliged him to 
postpone the other journeys. It was not until the 
close of 1745 that he found time to print his account 
of his travels in 1741. The West Gothland journey, 
in 1746, was entered upon with only one companion, 
E. G. Liidbeck, who acted as secretary throughout. 
Two other friends went with them during the first 
fortnight, for their health’s sake only. 
At Vesteras he noted with pleasure the methods 
employed by Bishop Kalsenius to interest the school 
children in astronomy and natural history. At Orebro 
he visited Governor Reuterholm. Kinnekulla was 
reached on the 19th June, and investigated during 
four days; Lidkoping, Skara, and Hojentorp, where 
the establishment of Jonas Alstrom and his sheep 
farm were inspected. The rainy and boisterous 
weather, however, hindering observation, they jour¬ 
neyed on to Falkoping, where they rested on Sunday, 
29th June. Three days later they visited a peasant 
named Syen, reputed as being famous for healing 
diseases, but found that he had no knowledge of 
medical practice, only using certain drugs, which 
amazed Linnaeus. At Allestad there was an English¬ 
man, Dr. Blackwell, who had come to Sweden on a 
visit at an opportune moment when national economy 
was the rage and to teach it. (In 1747 he was executed 
in Stockholm for plotting high treason, but the charge 
was based on unsatisfactory grounds. His wife is 
known for her illustrated work on plants, “ A curious 
Herbal,” London, 1737-39, 2 vols., folio.) They 
visited Boras, rebuilt after a disastrous fire in 1727, 
which was found to be full of industries, then 
Alingsas, in the West Gothland fells, well known for 
its wool manufacture, energetically pursued by Jonas 
Alstrom, thence to Goteborg [Gothenburg] which 
Linnaeus described at length, mentioning many 
inhabitants whom he visited. A week later the 
journey was directed to Bohuslan, with Marstrand 
