Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/516

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510 LINNAEUS house, where a library rich in botanical works was open to him, and was introduced by his protector to Rudbeck. The latter being pre- vented by the infirmities of age from discharg- ing fully the duties of his office, Linnaeus was occasionally deputed to lecture in his place, and acquitted himself with so much credit in this capacity, that in 1731 he was commissioned by the royal academy of sciences in Upsal to make a botanical tour of Lapland. Departing in May, 1732, he performed, mostly on foot, a journey of nearly 4,000 miles within five months, in the course of which he thoroughly explored the desolate region assigned to him. The result of his journey was his Flora Lapo- nica, published five years afterward. He was poorly requited for his labors by admission to the academy of sciences and a grant of about $50 in money ; and to provide for his necessi- ties he commenced a course of lectures in the university on the assaying of metals. A Dr. Rosen, professor in the university, jealous of the rising fame of Linnaaus, successfully inter- fered to prevent him from lecturing ; and the young naturalist, finding all hope of advance- ment in Upsal cut off, established himself in Dalecarlia, where he instructed the copper mi- ners in the processes incidental to their occu- pation. At Fahlun he formed an attachment for a daughter of Dr. Moraaus, a physician of the place, aided by whom he went in 1735 to Holland and took the degree of M. D. at the university of Harderwyk. In the same year he published the first sketch of his Systema Na- turce, in the form of tables, in 14 pages folio. In Holland he was warmly received, and soon numbered among his friends Boerhaave, Bur- mann, and Gronovius, by whom he was urged to settle there. At Amsterdam he made the acquaintance of a banker named Oliffort, who possessed a magnificent country seat and a gar- den stored with rare plants at Hartekamp, near Haarlem. At the invitation of Cliffort Lin- naeus took up his residence at Hartekamp, and in the course of the next two years devoted much time to the arrangement of its collec- tions of natural history, and of the plants in the gardens and herbarium. In the interval he visited England at the expense of his patron, and was well received by some of the chief naturalists, including Dillenius and Martyn, professors of botany at Oxford and Cambridge. The period of his residence in Holland was one of extraordinary application ; and, aided by the extensive library at Hartekamp, he comple- ted several important botanical works, which his previously unsettled life had not permitted him to pursue uninterruptedly. Among these the Systema Naturae (Leyden, 1735), of which 13 editions appeared in the author's lifetime, and which was translated into most European languages, and the Genera Plantarum (1737), hold the first place, the latter being memorable for unfolding with particularity the celebrated artificial system called after the author, and founded on the sexual parts of plants. The idea of classifying plants after this method had however been broached by him as early as 1731 in his Hortus Uplandicus. The Genera Plantarum is a monument of industry and application, the author having in preparing it examined the characters of 8,000 flowers. Among his other important works of this pe- riod were the Fundamenta Botanica (Amster- dam, 1736 ; 8th ed., Paris, 1774) ; Bibliotheca Botanica (Amsterdam, 1736) ; Flora Laponica (1737) ; Critica Botanica (Leyden, 1737) ; Hor- tus Cliffortianus (Amsterdam, 1737), a mag- nificent work, prepared in honor of his bene- factor, whose collections it describes ; and the Classes Plantarum (Leyden, 1738). Wearying finally of the drudgery of his life at Harte- kamp, Linnaeus returned in the summer of 1738 to Sweden, having first paid a short visit to Paris, where he met a cordial reception from the Jussieus, and was elected a member of the academy of sciences. He was soon after married to the lady to whom five years previous he had been betrothed, and established himself in Stockholm as a physician. Notwithstanding the fame he had acquired abroad as a natural- ist, his countrymen failed at first to recognize his merits, and his early efforts to obtain prac- tice met with little encouragement ; but within a year he was appointed physician to the fleet and president of the newly established royal academy of Stockholm. The botanical chair at Upsal had always been the chief object of his ambition, and in 1741 he was enabled by his appointment as medical professor at the university to perform the functions of the former office, his old opponent, Rosen, who had succeeded Rudbeck, consenting to an exchange of duties with him. Before entering upon his professorship he made a scientific survey of the islands of Oland and Gottland in the Baltic, the reflections and observations resulting from which were embodied in a Latin oration " On the Necessity of Travelling in one's own Country," which he pronounced before the university upon being inaugurated into office. He soon made the botanical chair of Upsal the most famous in that department of science in Europe, and students flocked from all parts of the continent, from the Brit- ish isles, and even from America, to receive his instructions. Many of these, including Loeffling, Osbeck, Solander (naturalist in Capt. Cook's first voyage), Kalm, Hasselquist, and others, were worthy disciples of their master, and by their explorations in both hemispheres, undertaken at his suggestion, greatly advanced the cause of science. Strangers were even at- tracted to Upsal solely to see and converse with Linnseus; and so great was the enthusiasm for the study of natural history, that the king and queen of Sweden had their separate col- lection of rarities, which were arranged and described by him. The academical garden, which had been for many years neglected, be- came one of the first objects of his attention, and within six years he increased the number