father to allow his son to study medicine, offering to take the young man into his own house for a year, an offer which was gladly accepted. He next studied at the University of Lund, and made so much progress that he occasionally assisted Dr. Stobœus, a physician with whom he lived, in the labours of his profession, and soon became a great favourite.

4. When he was spending a summer vacation at home, he met his old patron, Dr. Rothman, and was advised by him to study at Upsal, as he would there derive superior advantages both in medicine and botany. Here the vigour of his mind first clearly showed itself. But he had to struggle against many difficulties. All his father could. allow him was eight pounds a year, so he was often in want of books, and clothes, and even bread. He was reduced to mending his own boots with the bark of trees and folded paper. Happily for Linnæus his industry and love of knowledge came under the favourable notice of Dr. Olaus Celsius, the professor of divinity, who was very fond of the study of plants; and finding that he was much in want of assistance, Dr. Celsius generously invited him into his own house.

He

5. During his stay in the house of Dr. Celsius, Linnæus wrote his first essay on the classification of plants on a new system of his own. This led to his being appointed an assistant lecturer in the botanic garden in 1730. had previously solicited the humble appointment of gardener to the university, but was refused on the ground of his being fit for a better situation. Now, finding himself authorized to take the direction of the garden, he reformed and greatly enriched it. He entered the house of Professor Rudbeck, the senior lecturer on botany, as tutor to his children, and by this means obtained the use of a very fine collection of books and drawings. His

mornings were devoted to the duties of his situation, and his evenings to his botanical studies.

6. A new object soon engaged the attention of our young naturalist. Hearing Professor Rudbeck speak of the curiosities he had seen in Lapland, Linnæus felt a

great desire to visit that country, and as the Academy of Sciences at Upsal wished to send a traveller into those remote and desolate regions, Linnæus received an appointment to travel through Lapland, under the royal authority and at the expense of the academy. In May, 1732, he set off on his long journey, travelling sometimes on horseback, sometimes on foot, carrying all his luggage on his back. He met with great hardships in traversing the barren provinces of Lapland; bogs and forests con

tinually intercepted his way; he frequently was forced to cross rivers, and was often at a loss to find a roof to shelter himself, or even to obtain the coarsest kind of food. Nothing, however, escaped his notice; and poor and barren as was much of the country through which he travelled, he brought from it more than a hundred plants previously unknown in Sweden, and was able, on his return, to describe the face of the country, the animals, the manners and customs of the inhabitants, and much that was curious and interesting.

7. During this journey he had an opportunity of benefiting the Laplanders by his knowledge of plants. At Tornea, a city on the north of the Gulf of Bothnia, he was told that very many of the cattle, which had been turned out to grass, had died of a violent disease. Linnæus examined the marsh in which the cattle had fed, and found that it contained abundance of waterhemlock, which is one of the most poisonous of plants. He returned to Upsal the following October, having, in five months, performed a journey of nearly four thousand miles. The academy could only allow him his expenses -amounting to ten pounds; such was the poverty of Sweden at this time. His services, however, were recognized by his being elected a member of the academy.

botanical, relating to plants. epoch, a date made remarkable by some event.

mathematics, the science of number and quantity.

university, a place of learning having the privilege of conferring degrees.

classification, putting into classes or sorting.

Describe the birthplace of Linnæus. How was his interest first excited in plants? Who gave him most useful advice as to his studies? Describe his difficulties at the university. What was the subject of his first essay? Describe the first public appointment he received. From whom did Linnæus receive an appointment to travel through Lapland? Name some of the hardships he had to undergo in fulfilling it. What benefit was he enabled to confer on the people of Tornea?

LINNÆUS, THE SWEDISH BOTANIST.

PART II.

1. The next noteworthy event in the life of this great man is his attempt to become a lecturer in the university. Knowing something of the art of assaying metals he began to lecture on mineralogy. The jealousy of a Dr. Rosen was excited, and he declared that there was a law to prevent anyone who had not taken his degree from lecturing. By his influence with the authorities the lectures of Linnæus were stopped, and he was thus deprived of his only means of subsistence. He was very angry with Dr. Rosen, and for a time nourished very revengeful feelings against him, but in after years they became firm friends, and very useful to each other. Linnæus, with some pupils, departed on a scientific excursion into the province of Dalecarlia. At Fahlun, the capital, he gave a course of lectures. He was now advised to take his doctor's degree, in order to pursue the practice of physic. He set out to find a cheap university, having only fifteen pounds in his pockets. In his travels he arrived at Hamburg, and there exposed a deception which was being practised in the exhibition of a made-up animal as a real creature; but the indignation excited against him for his honesty in exposing the imposture was so great, that he had to leave the city secretly. He went to Harderwyk, in Holland, and there was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Medicine.

2. Linnæus eventually settled at Amsterdam, being engaged by Mr. Cliffort, a rich magistrate, to live with him as his physician and botanist. Holland, though a flat and uninteresting country, has for ages been famous for the beauty of the flowers cultivated in its gardens

Mr. Cliffort had beautiful pleasure-grounds, and Linnæus greatly enjoyed them. He visited England, Mr. Cliffort paying his expenses, that he might see the nurseries near London, into which North American plants had lately been introduced. It is said he was so much delighted with the golden bloom of the furze growing on Putney Heath, that he fell on his knees in rapture at the sight. He always admired it, and tried in vain to preserve it through a Swedish winter in his greenhouse.

3. In the year 1741 Linnæus became a professor of the University of Upsal, the place which he had formerly entered in such poverty. He found that the botanic garden, once so celebrated, had fallen into sad neglect, and he used all possible exertion to re-establish and improve it. A house was built for him close to the garden, which was now enriched with presents from every collection in Europe, and Linnæus was delighted to procure all the plants of Sweden and Norway. "Formerly," said he, writing to a friend, "I had plants and no money, and now I should not enjoy my money if I had not plants." He was now much employed as a teacher, lecturing in all departments of natural history and on medicine. Students flocked to hear him from all parts of Europe, and sometimes even from America.

4. In the summer he sometimes made country excursions at the head of two hundred pupils; many foreigners and other persons of distinction often joined him. They set out in small parties to explore the country, and whenever any rare plant or natural curiosity was discovered, a horn was blown and the whole party assembled round their chief to hear his explanation and remarks. There was a rule in Sweden at that time that all young clergymen should learn something of botany and medicine, in order that they might be of service in cases of sickness among