226 
LINNAEUS 
He was Linne’s pupil from the 20th April, 1773, till 
the 26th September, 1776, much enjoying the tuition, 
though he lamented that he had not come before, 
when the late Archiater himself took excursions in the 
fields of that fine country. “ My teacher had already 
aged, and expected the end and dissolution. If I 
questioned him about cryptogams, he answered 
frankly, that he had for thirty years studied such 
plants, but must now give their investigation and 
determination over to others. I often went with 
doubts to Hammarby and turned back to Uppsala 
with my questions unsolved.” 
Few pupils perhaps have been so diligent as he. 
Every day he spent his free hours in excursions to the 
surrounding districts, but Sundays he usually passed 
in the botanic garden; especially during the holidays 
he went, often accompanied by other pupils, from 
early morning till late at night into the meadows, 
forests, marshes and bogs, seeking plants. His dis¬ 
coveries he imparted to Linne, who showed him 
special favour, and he did not scruple to remark upon 
certain points in his teacher’s works. Linne was at 
first astonished, but after a day or two’s thought cried 
out, “You are right.” “And when in his house at 
Hammarby, I took leave of him and lamented that it 
would be the last time I should see him, he pressed 
my hand once more and said, ‘ Write to me; I trust 
you entirely.’ ” 
Returned to Germany, Ehrhart first settled in 
Hannover, then in Herrenhausen, and was appointed 
botanist to the English King, and Prince Braun¬ 
schweig Luneberg; he published many botanical 
works, so that he must be reckoned as one of Linne’s 
most distinguished pupils. The remembrance of his 
residence at Uppsala remained as a brilliant episode. 
When in 1790 he brought out a list of wild plants round 
Uppsala, he penned a warm-hearted passage of the 
innocent delight and quiet enjoyment he experienced 
there, with Linne, “ the divine Linne.” 
