SWEDISH OPINION 
351 
as the above shows, he asserted that he had had the 
good fortune for many years, until the summons of 
death, to live in the house of the late Archiater, the 
great von Linne, assisting him in his scientific work. 
What the King was able to do after this hint, 
appears from a certificate issued by the Stockholm 
Export Sea Customs Chamber. This paper, dated 
the 8th October, explains that the vessel with the 
collections passed Dalaro, the last customs post, on 
the 29th September, sailing seawards, so it was quite 
too late for anyone to do anything in the matter. 
Now the people of Sweden at last awakened to the 
full meaning of the shame and damage which had 
befallen their country through the loss of the “ State 
Jewel,” and an investigation began endeavouring, by 
some means or other, to fasten the blame on someone. 
People turned against Linne’s friends, Back and 
Mennander, because they did not, or at least, did not 
sufficiently realize the importance of the loss to the 
country while the negotiations for the sale were going 
on; against the Academic Consistory and the medical 
faculty in Uppsala, to whom the question was never 
referred, but who were supposed to have seen with 
pleasure an end put to the dominating influence on 
studious youths, which natural history had exercised 
during Linne’s time. These charges, however cleverly 
constructed, have no evident grounds for support, but 
are only guesses on the part of the accusers. 
With yet greater force have the charges of 
unpatriotic dealing been directed against two persons, 
Acrel and Thunberg. As regards the former, people 
did not hesitate to accuse him of having been bribed 
with the sum of £ 100, a ridiculous accusation to bring 
against a man who was defined by Smith as a true 
gentleman, and defended also by Linne’s widow, who 
strongly and indignantly protested against the accus¬ 
ation ; at the present day no one could entertain such 
a belief. It has even been thought by some that 
by causing the Linnean collections to be sent out of 
