Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/515

LINN LINNAEUS 509 LIM, John Blair, an American poet, born at Shippensburg, Pa., March 14, 1777, died in Philadelphia, Aug. 30, 1804. He graduated at Columbia college in 1795, and began to study law in the office of Alexander Hamilton. With- in a year his drama of "Bourville Castle, or the Gallic Maidens," was brought out at the John street theatre, but was not successful. He turned his attention to theology, was or- dained in 1798, and in 1799 became assistant pastor of the first Presbyterian church in Phil- adelphia. He engaged in a pamphlet contro- versy with Dr. Priestley, which gained him much reputation, and was the author of two poems, " The Powers of Genius " (1801), and " Valerian." The latter was published after his death, with a memoir by his friend and brother-in-law Charles Brockden Brown. LIMJ2A, a plant of the honeysuckle family, popularly known as the twin- flower. The custom of naming the genera of plants in honor of botanists obtained before the time of Linnaeus, and has been continued by later systematists to such an extent that there is scarcely a botanist of any note, or person who has aided in any marked manner to develop botanical science, but has a genus named in his honor. Where there are so many genera with personal names, it is particularly fortunate that the genus which bears that of the great master should be distinct and peculiar, and that it should be identified with his early labors. Linnaeus collected the plant while on his journey to Lapland, according to his journal, on May 29, 1732. The well known picture of Linnaeus at the age of 18 represents him with Linnsea Borealis. this flower in Ms hand. Later it was named by Gronovius, with the assent of Linnaeus, Linncea lorealis. The plant is a beautiful little prostrate evergreen, the slender branches of which trail along the ground and bear small roundish leaves in pairs, which cover the surface with a dense carpet of its tiny foli- age ; the stem sends up at intervals short erect branches, each of which bears at the summit two graceful, drooping, bell-shaped flowers white or light pink, and very fragrant. But one species is known, and this has a wide dis- tribution, it being found throughout northern Europe, Asia, and North America; in this country it occurs as far south as Maryland, and is very common northward, especially in pine woods. Although a little impatient of removal, when once established it will grow luxuriantly upon an ordinary rockwork. LIMBOS (Swed. LiNid:), Carl von, a Swedish naturalist, born near Stenbrohult, in the prov- ince of Sm aland, May 24, 1707, died in Upsal, Jan. 10, 1778. His father, the Protestant min- ister of the parish of Stenbrohult, was a lover of flowers, and in the well stocked garden of the rectory young Linnaeus passed his leisure hours, familiarizing himself almost as soon as he could articulate distinctly with the names of the plants to be found there, as well as those indigenous to the neighborhood. Notwith- standing this manifest predilection for botany, his father, whose circumstances were far from easy, designed him for the ministry, and at 10 years of age Carl was sent to the academy at Wexio. Here he read with eagerness what- ever works on physical science, and particular- ly on natural history, came within his reach, but made such limited progress in the studies applicable to his intended profession, that the teachers, conceiving a contempt for his intel- lectual abilities, advised his father to make a carpenter or tailor of him. Fortunately, Dr. Rothmann, a physician of Wexio, who had no- ticed his enthusiasm for botany, prevailed on the father to allow .him to study medicine and natural history ; he received the boy into his own house, and instructed him in physiology, and in botany according to the system of Tournefort. In 1727 he went to the univer- sity of Lund, where for a year he was an in- mate of the family of Dr. Stobaeus, professor of physic and botany, with whose approbation he finally surrendered his whole time to the study of botany. Following the advice of Rothmann, he went in 1728 to the university of Upsal in the hope of finding some kind of employment there. In this he was disappoint- ed, and he was obliged to return to the study of medicine. His situation now became piti- able in the extreme ; for months he was fre- quently in want of food and clothing, and the lectures of Rudbeck, the professor of botany, tormented him with the desire to resume his favorite study. One day during this season of destitution he was observed by Dr. Olaf Cel- sius, professor of divinity, intently examining a plant in the university garden, and upon be- ing questioned answered with so much readi- ness and intelligence that he received a propo- sal from Celsius to assist him in a work on the plants mentioned in Scripture. At the same time he became an inmate of the professor's