CHAPTER XVI 
LINN£’s LAST YEARS AND DEATH-HIS SCIENTIFIC 
REMAINS-HIS SCIENTIFIC IMPORTANCE 
The colossal activity which Linne exerted in various 
directions, seems, after the event, to have been due 
to an iron constitution, which endowed him with 
bodily strength and mental buoyancy. It is un¬ 
questionable that though on some days he could not 
work because of slight ailments from errors in diet, 
colds or mental shocks, often causing megrim (which 
he called “ my old comrade ”), yet up to his sixtieth 
year he could rejoice at having, as a whole, enjoyed 
good health. Even during that period, he had to 
suffer several severe attacks of illness, as shown by 
his letters to Back, whose skill as a physician often 
stood him in good stead. Thus in 1746 and 1750 he 
was laid aside by angina, which nearly suffocated 
him, in the latter year being followed by gout. For 
this ailment he found that wild strawberries were 
curative, and every year afterwards he ate as many 
as his stomach would bear, to his entire relief from 
that excruciating disorder. In June, 1751, when in 
bed, and refusing relief by the then prevalent bleed¬ 
ing, he was restored to health by the return of Kalm 
from America, bringing with him ample collections. 
He rose from his bed, and forgot his troubles. On 
another occasion, the prescribed remedies not avail¬ 
ing, he cured himself with Cinchona bark. In 1752, 
he had a chest complaint, and in 1753 in consequence 
of constant writing—his “ Species plantarum ” 
appearing that year—he suffered from pain in the 
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