PERSONAL APPEARANCE 
301 
pupils, J. G. Acrel, who, during the later years of life, 
often met him. “ Linne was short and squarely built, 
not fat but muscular, the back of his head unusually 
big. In a not unpleasing countenance he had quick 
and fiery brown eyes, somewhat short-sighted and 
blinking, more from habit and work on delicate 
objects than naturally; in the course of years he 
developed deep wrinkles round the eyes, through 
muscular contraction. Went somewhat bent as to 
body, but otherwise when young had an easy gait, 
which gradually disappeared, so that at fifty he began 
to shuffle his feet forward in place of lifting them.” 
As to his clothes, the same authority states that 
he was neat, but never magnificent; sometimes he was 
fine, but always wore shoes; in his house he was mostly 
dressed in a short dressing-gown and velvet skull-cap. 
He was moderate in food, extremely abstemious in 
drink, but he drank coffee and used tobacco with 
avidity, almost to excess. In winter time he slept 
from nine to seven, but in summer from ten to three, 
when he began work, in the garden or in the fields; 
not infrequently he even in winter rose, lit his pipe, 
and sat down to work, till he was tired. His books 
did not produce so much money as reputation, though 
they certainly contributed to his moderate income. 
From the time when he removed to Uppsala as pro¬ 
fessor, he never practised medicine, except the giving 
of some simple advice to a poor person or dependent. 
There is little to add except one or two things 
from his letters. As to diet, he wrote to Back in 1772. 
“ I never taste brandy, except when I am away, and 
then only a sup with plenty of water, often not a drop 
for a whole month. I have truly not drunk a tankard 
altogether in six months, for fear of acidity. I take 
three cups of tea each morning and two cups of coffee 
each afternoon.” He was equally abstemious as to 
wine. “ My motto is : I never drink wine at another 
person's house, for I will never treat others to wine.” 
An exception was at Back's, where he enjoyed ex- 
