Read Ebook: Heroes of science by Duncan P Martin Peter Martin

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 416 lines and 89888 words, and 9 pages

At this time Ray began to prepare for the press his "Collection of Proverbs," a curious book in its way, by which he is perhaps better known to the generality of his countrymen, than by any other of his literary labours.

The first edition was published in 1672, but the work was subsequently much enlarged, and the author may almost be said to have exhausted his subject. From its very nature, delicacy and refinement had often to be dispensed with, but this is evidently not the fault or the aim of the writer. His learning and critical acuteness diffuse light over the whole, and make us overlook the coarse vehicle of our instruction. The first edition of the "Catalogue of English Plants," already mentioned, came out in 1670, and the second in 1677. Their great author gave his work to the world with that diffidence for which he alone, perhaps, could perceive any just foundation. It was a wonderful book, considering that there was no recognized authority to help the author, who, seeing that there must be some real method in nature, strove to arrange or classify plants by the similarity or dissimilarity of those structures which were of the greatest importance. About this period the health of Mr. Ray seems to have been considerably impaired. He refused a tempting offer to travel again on the Continent, as tutor to three young noblemen; nor could the powerful attractions of Alpine botany, which was then to be studied, overcome that reluctance to leaving home, which arose from a feeble state of body. Indeed, this very reluctance or listlessness is accounted for by the turn which his disorder took, as it terminated in the jaundice. After this depressing complaint had left him, Ray resumed his botanical travels at home with fresh alacrity, visiting the rich stores of the north of England, with a companion named Thomas Willisel, whose name and discoveries he subsequently gratefully commemorated on many occasions. Nothing forms a more striking feature in Ray's character than the unreserved and abundant commendation which he always gave to his friends and fellow-labourers. Then unfortunately an event occurred which called forth his affectionate feelings. On the 3rd of July, 1672, Mr. Willughby was unexpectedly carried off by an acute disorder, in the thirty-seventh year of his age. The care of his two infant sons was confided by himself to Mr. Ray, who was also appointed one of his five executors, and to whom he left an annuity of sixty pounds for life. The eldest of these youths was created a baronet at the age of ten years, but died before he was twenty. Their sister, Cassandra, afterwards married the Duke of Chandos. Thomas, the younger son, was one of the ten peers created, all on the same day, by Queen Anne, and received the title of Lord Middleton. The care of his pupils, and of the literary concerns of their deceased parent, now interrupted Mr. Ray's botanizing excursions, and caused him also to decline the offer of Dr. Lister, then a physician at York, to settle under his roof. Bishop Wilkins did not long survive Mr. Willughby, and his death made another chasm in the scientific and social circle of our great natural philosopher, who felt these losses as deeply and tenderly as any man. He sought consolation in a domestic attachment, fixing his choice on a young woman of good parentage, whose name was Margaret Oakley, and who resided in the family at Middleton Hall. He was married at the parish church, June 5th, 1673, being then in the forty-fifth year of his age, and his bride about twenty. This lady took a share in the early education of his pupils, as far as concerned their reading English. She is said to have been recommended by her character, as well as by her person, to the regard of her husband. She bore him three daughters who, with their mother, survived him.

The first fruit of our author's leisure and retirement was a book on a new classification of plants, published in 1682. His principles of arrangement are chiefly derived from the fruit. The regularity and irregularity of flowers, which took the lead in the system of contemporary botanists, made no part of that of Ray. It is remarkable that he adopts the ancient primary division of plants into trees, shrubs, and herbs, and that he blamed Rivinus, one of his fellow-labourers, for abolishing it, though his own prefatory remarks tend to overset that principle, as a vulgar and casual one, unworthy of a philosopher. That his system was not merely a commodious artificial aid to practical botany, but a philosophical clue to a correct natural classification, he probably, like his fellow-labourers for many years in this department, believed, yet he was too modest and too learned to think he had brought the new and arduous design to perfection. For whatever he has incidentally or deliberately thrown out respecting the value of his labours, is often marked with more diffidence on the subject of classification than any other. The great service that Ray did to botany was the foreshadowing the so-called natural system of classification, which was to supersede the artificial system of Linnaeus, which will be described in a future page. He first applied his system to practical use in a general "History of Plants," of which the first volume, a thick folio, was published in 1686, and the second in 1687. The third volume of the same work, which is supplementary, came out in 1704. This vast and critical compilation is still in use as a book of reference, being particularly valuable as an epitome of the contents of various rare and expensive works, which ordinary libraries cannot possess. The description of species is faithful and instructive, the remarks original, bounded only by the whole circuit of the botanical learning of that day; nor are generic characters neglected, however vaguely they are assumed. Specific differences do not enter regularly into the author's plan, nor has he followed any uniform rules of nomenclature. So ample a transcript of the practical knowledge of such a botanist cannot but be a treasure; yet it is now much neglected, few persons being learned enough to use it with facility for want of figures and a popular nomenclature; and those who are, seldom requiring its assistance.

But if the fame or the utility of Ray's botanical work has neither of them been commensurate with the expectations that might have been formed, a little octavo volume which he gave to the world in 1690, amply supplied all such defects, and proved the great corner-stone of his reputation in this department of science. This was "A Methodical Synopsis of British Wild Plants." The two editions of his alphabetical catalogue of English plants being sold off, and some pettifogging reasons of his booksellers standing in the way of a third, with any improvements, he remodelled the work, throwing it into a systematic form, revising the whole, supplying generic characters, with numerous additions of species and various emendations and remarks. The uses and medicinal qualities of the plants are removed to the alphabetical index at the end. A second edition of this "Synopsis" was published in 1693, but its author never prepared another. The third, now most in use, was edited twenty-eight years afterward by Dillenius. Of all the systematical and practical floras of any country the second edition of Ray's "Synopsis" was the most perfect of his time, and for many a long year afterwards. "He examined every plant recorded in his work, and even gathered most of them himself. He investigated their different names with consummate accuracy; and if the clearness and precision of other authors had equalled his, he would scarcely have committed an error. It is difficult to find him in a mistake or misconception respecting nature herself, though he sometimes misapprehends the bad figures or lame descriptions he was obliged to consult." Above a hundred species are added in this second edition, and the cryptogamic plants in particular are more amply elucidated. The work led to much disputing, but Ray took no delight in controversy; its inevitable asperities were foreign to his nature. One of the biographers of Ray writes: "We must not omit to notice that in the preface to both editions of his 'Synopsis' the learned author, venerable for his character, his talents, and his profession, as well as by his noble adherence to principle in the most corrupt times, has taken occasion to congratulate his country, and to pour out his grateful effusions to Divine Providence in a style worthy of Milton for the establishment of religion, law, and liberty by the revolution which placed King William on the throne. An honest Englishman, however retired in his habits and pursuits, could not have withheld this tribute at such a time, nor was any loyalty ever more personally disinterested than that of Ray." The year 1690 was the date of the first publication of his noble work on "The Wisdom of God in Creation," of which we have already spoken, and whose sale through many editions was very extensive. In 1700 he printed a book more exclusively within the sphere of his sacred profession, called "A Persuasive to a Holy Life," a rare performance of the kind at that day, being devoid of enthusiasm, mysticism, or cant, as well as of religious bigotry or party spirit, "and employing the plain and solid arguments of reason for the best of purposes." His three "Physico-Theological Discourses concerning the Chaos, Deluge, and Dissolution of the World," of which the original materials had been collected and prepared formerly at Cambridge, came out in 1692, and were reprinted the following year. A third edition, superintended by Derham, was published in 1713. This able editor took up the same subject himself, in a similar performance, the materials of which, like Ray's, were first delivered in sermons at Bow church, he having been appointed reader of Mr. Boyle's lectures.

Ray studied animals as carefully as he did plants, and his influence on zoology will be noticed further on in this book, and he revised a translation of Rauwolff's travels, and gave a catalogue of Grecian, Syrian, Egyptian, and Cretan plants. Ever wishing for the truth, he was led during a correspondence with Rivinus, a foreign botanist, to revise his system of the classification of plants, and to include that of his friend in it. Ray was impressed with the greater importance of the seeds and fruits of plants in classification than of the leaves and floral envelopes; Rivinus and others believed in the superior importance of the flower as a means of distinguishing and grouping plants. After due consideration, Ray included part of the plan of his friend, but it is certain that plants cannot be safely grouped, in every instance, by the similarity of their flowers.

All this correspondence and alteration of systems was extremely useful, for it led to the foundation of what is called the natural system of classification, in opposition to the artificial style, which was founded by the great man whose life will be noticed in the next chapter.

Ray lived a long, happy, and useful life, and died at Black Notley, in a house of his own building, in 1705, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. A friend wrote of him: "In his dealings, no man more strictly just; in his conversation, no man more humble, courteous, and affable; towards God no man more devout; and towards the poor and distressed no man more compassionate and charitable according to his abilities." He was buried, according to his own wish, at Black Notley; but he would not have his body buried in the chancel of the church, choosing rather to repose with his ancestors in the churchyard. Ray died rich in honours, but not rich in money, as he had to give up his living in the Church for conscience' sake and conform as a layman. He was singularly charitable in his opinions to others; and as his work has lasted until the present day, and has influenced the progress of natural history, England may well be proud of the blacksmith's son.

Joseph Pitton de Tournefort was born at Aix, in France, in 1656. He was of a noble family, and was educated with care, and had all the comforts of life. Living, however, far away from the gay scenes of Paris and in a country town, Tournefort soon began to wander over the fields by himself, and, like most boys, he loved to gather flowers. More than this, he began to study them. But such pleasures were not to be his at once, for his parents destined him to be a priest, and he was obliged to enter the Catholic seminary at Aix. There he began to learn Latin, and in course of time became a great proficient, speaking and writing that language well, which at that time was fairly known by every educated person. His theological studies were rather neglected by him, and whenever he had the opportunity, he got books on natural philosophy, chemistry, medicine, and, above all, on botany. He studied them with great assiduity, and until he was twenty-one years of age. Tournefort's father died in 1677, and the young man then being independent, threw off his cap and gown, said good-bye to the seminary and its priests, and devoted himself forthwith and as long as life lasted to the science of natural history, and especially to botany.

All this classification relates to accurate observation and description, and then to comparison, and the greater the knowledge of the botanist of species and genera the more useful it is. There is a difficulty in selecting those parts of a plant which should be those on which the classification should depend, and this was the stumbling-block with these early botanists. Ray saw the value of the seed and of the reproductive organs in classification, and Tournefort, although he erred in classifying his "classes" by the coloured part of the flower or corolla, followed nature accurately in his description, and reasoned upon the facts he had discovered.

This botanist, who lived in the days of great luxury, and when war was almost constant, pursued his useful and simple career, and by his collections alone, assisted in laying the foundations of botany as a science. His travels in the East read like romances, for the habits of Eastern nations were then but little known; and, moreover, the diligent student was a scholar, and paid great attention to the splendid antiquities which he constantly saw. Tournefort studied the zoology of the countries he passed through, and was an adept in mineralogy. On his return from his long journey in the East he was made Professor of Medicine to the College de France. For the future his life was destined to be quiet, happy it appears always to have been. Year after year he laboured in arranging, cultivating, and describing the treasure of plants he had brought from the East and elsewhere. Moreover, he taught as professor. His end was sudden, for he met with an accident in the street, and was killed by a passing waggon.

Tournefort's important work was the forming a great amount of good knowledge about the species of plants, and the arranging them in a systematic order. But, as has been mentioned, he was a founder of the science of the distribution of plants. He appears to have laboured independently of Ray, his English fellow-botanist, whose method was the best of the two. There are twenty-two classes in Tournefort's method, chiefly arranged, as has been stated, by the form of the corolla, comparatively an unimportant structure. He distinguishes herbs and under-shrubs on the one hand, from trees and shrubs on the other. His system of classification was much used on the Continent, until it was found to be less easy of application than that of Linnaeus.

The life of Ray, by Dr. Derham and Sir J. E. Smith, is to be found in the "Memorials of John Ray," in the publications of the Ray Society, 1846.

THE LIFE OF LINNAEUS.

The science of plants begins to mature, to be reformed, and to be made more exact.

Carl Linnaeus was born in the month of May, 1707, at Rashult, in the parish of Stenbrohult, in Smaland, a province in the South of Sweden. His father, Nils Linnaeus, was assistant minister of the parish, and became, in process of time, its pastor or rector, having married the daughter of his predecessor.

Our Carl was the firstborn child of this marriage. The family of Linnaeus had been peasants, and a remarkably lofty linden tree, growing near their native place, is reputed to have given origin to the names of Lindelius, or Tiliander . This origin of surnames taken from natural objects is not uncommon in Sweden.

In a letter to Baron Haller, written at the time of his father's death, Linnaeus says: "He was an uncommon lover of plants, and had a select garden of numerous rare species." The favourite taste of the father was quickly imbibed by the child, who was his constant companion while he cultivated the choice parterre, and eagerly tried to yield such slight aid as his childish powers permitted. He has recorded the first occasion when this innate passion was decidedly displayed, or rather, perhaps, when it sprung into consciousness. He was hardly four years old when he chanced to accompany his father to a rural f?te at M?klen, and in the evening, it being a pleasant season of the year, the guests seated themselves on the flowery turf and listened to the good pastor, who entertained them with remarks on the names and properties of the plants which grew around them, showing them the roots of succisa, tormentilla, orchides, etc. The little Carl attended with the utmost eagerness to all he saw and heard, and "from that time never ceased harassing his father with questions about the name, qualities, and nature of every plant he met with." An unlooked-for result of the evening lecture, and which seems to have cost the worthy man no small trouble, for the child very often asked more than his father was able to answer; in addition to which he "used immediately to forget all he had learned, and especially the names of plants." To cure him of this mischievous habit of inattention his father refused to answer his questions unless he would promise to remember what was told him, which judicious management wrought a speedy and effectual cure, insomuch that he tells us he ever afterwards retained with ease, whatever he heard. Besides this retentiveness of memory he possessed an "astonishing quickness of sight," an almost necessary qualification for the study of his favourite science.

When the boy was eight years old a separate plot of ground was assigned him by his father, which was called "Carl's garden," and which he soon stored with collections of plants and wild flowers, gathered from the woods and fields around his dwelling. At the same time he introduced a variety of weeds, a treasure which it afterwards cost his father no small pains to eradicate from his flower-beds. The enterprising youngster even tried the experiment of establishing a swarm of wild bees and wasps in the garden, the result of which was a devastating warfare waged against the domestic hives.

At length it was thought desirable that these flowery pursuits should give way to more serious occupations, and he was committed to the charge of a private tutor, whom he calls "a passionate and morose man, better calculated for extinguishing a youth's talents than for improving them." Nor did he fare any better in his next remove, which was to the grammar school at Wexi?, where the masters "pursued the same methods, preferring stripes and punishments to encouragements and admonitions." Probably the boy evinced his distaste for such coercive measures, since we find him soon removed from school to the care of another private teacher, of whose mild and gentle disposition he speaks in terms of approval. Nevertheless, he too failed to inspire in his pupil a love for the studies which were considered necessary as preparatory to admission into holy orders; for Nils Linnaeus, desirous that his eldest son should become his assistant and eventually his successor, designed him for the Church. The boy had to work for three years before he was promoted to a higher "form" in the school, called the "circle;" and the principal use he seems to have made of the greater liberty allowed him in this new rank, was to shun the usual exercises and give himself up to the study of his favourite pursuit--the knowledge of flowers. He acknowledges that his time was chiefly spent in wandering about the outskirts of the town, and making himself acquainted with all the plants he could find. According to the system then pursued in Sweden, it was necessary that youths should pass from the schools or private tutors to a superior seminary, called the Gymnasium, where the higher branches of literature were taught; and accordingly, at the age of seventeen, the young Linnaeus was removed thither. But the original predilections of his mind were then still more strikingly evinced and matured. He showed the strongest distaste for theological studies. In the metaphysics, ethics, Greek and Hebrew, and theology his companions far outstripped him; but in mathematics, and particularly physics, he as much excelled them. His favourite science, botany, which at that time was wholly neglected, still continued to be his most engrossing pursuit, and he soon contrived to form a small library of books in that branch. Among others he mentions the "Chloris Gothica" of Bromelius, and Rudbeck's "Hortus Upsaliensis," which he confesses his inability then to comprehend clearly. Nevertheless he says he "continued to read them day and night, and committed them to memory." His own copies of these books, "used with the utmost care and neatness," were preserved among his library, and after his death were sold with his collection. The zeal and eagerness he evinced in these studies procured him, both among masters and scholars, the name of "the Little Botanist."

At the end of two years his father went to Wexi?, "hoping to hear from the preceptors the most flattering account of his beloved son's progress in his studies and morals." But he was sorely disappointed at learning that, unexceptionable as the general behaviour of the youth had been, he was evidently quite unfit for a divine; and, indeed, in the opinion of the authorities, it was a pity to incur any further expense towards giving him a learned education, some manual employment being far more suitable for him. The youth, they thought, would be well placed as apprentice to some tailor or shoemaker!

Grieved at having thus lost his labour, and supported his son at school for twelve years to no purpose, the venerable clergyman went his way, pondering what course to pursue. It chanced that he was suffering from a complaint which required medical advice, and he betook himself to the house of Dr. Rothmann, the provincial physician, also a lecturer in physics, to whom, in the course of conversation, he mentioned his perplexity with reference to his son Carl. Rothmann suggested that, though the opinions of his colleagues might be correct as to the boy's inaptitude for theological studies, there was good reason to believe he might distinguish himself in the profession of medicine, and possibly that he might accomplish great things in the pursuit of natural history. At the same time he liberally offered, in case the father's circumstances did not permit him to maintain his son in a course of studies, to take him into his own house, and provide for him during the year he must remain at the gymnasium.

This generous proposal was gratefully accepted, and the result was most satisfactory. Linnaeus received from his benefactor a course of private instructions in physiology with so much success, that the youth was able to give a most accurate report of all he had been taught. At the same time, this worthy teacher put him into the right method of studying botany, showing the necessity of proceeding in a scientific manner, and directing his attention to the system of Tournefort. The very imperfections he found in this work stimulated his desire for something more perfect, and were, in this way, of use to the future naturalist.

The year following Linnaeus proceeded to the University at Lund, furnished, as he has himself recorded, with a "not very creditable certificate." This curiosity, after its kind, was to the effect that youth at school may be compared to plants, which sometimes baffle all the skill of the gardener, but, being transplanted to a different soil, occasionally turn out well. With this view, and no other, the bearer was sent to the University, which, possibly, might prove propitious to his progress!

Happily, the young man had a friend at the University, in his former preceptor--he of the mild and gentle disposition--who kept back the doubtful recommendation, and procured his matriculation as one of his private pupils.

Two nights after, at midnight, the lad was surprised by a visit from his host, who found him, to his astonishment, diligently poring over his books. Being asked why he did not go to bed, and whence he had procured the books, he was compelled to confess everything. Stobaeus ordered him immediately to go to bed; and the next morning, calling for him, gave him permission to make what use he pleased of his library. From that time this excellent man admitted the youth to the utmost familiarity, received him at his own table, and treated him even as a son.

While botanizing in the country, in the following spring, Linnaeus was bitten in the right arm by a venomous reptile, and so serious were the consequences that his life was endangered. As soon as he was partially recovered, he returned to his father's house, in order to recruit his health during the summer vacation, and while staying in Smaland he was persuaded by his kind friend and benefactor, Dr. Rothmann, to quit Lund for Upsala, as a superior school of medicine, and affording besides, many other advantages of which he could easily avail himself.

In this University--the first and most ancient seat of Swedish learning, and the scene, in after-years, of his greatness--our young student underwent a severe process of training. Poor and unknown, he had no means of adding to the scanty pittance his parents were able to allow him. Scarcely could they afford to give the small sum of 200 silver ducats towards the expenses of his education there. In a short time he found his pockets quite empty; and having no chance of obtaining private pupils, he vainly looked for any other source of maintenance. In a few words, he thus touchingly records the tale of his suffering, and the first beam of hope that shone across his path. As Petronius says, poverty is the attendant of a good mind; and Linnaeus was not without it in this university, ... he was obliged to trust to chance for a meal, and in the article of dress was reduced to such shifts that he was obliged, when his shoes required mending, to patch them with folded paper instead of sending them to the cobbler.

Years afterwards, the most distinguished zoologist France ever produced, M. de Lamarck, stated to a friend, "I was poor, indeed, but I had not, like Linnaeus, to gather up my fellow-students' old shoes to wear."

He repented of his journey to Upsala, and of his departure from the roof of Stobaeus; but to return to Lund was a tiresome and expensive undertaking. Stobaeus, too, had taken it very ill, that a pupil whom he loved so sincerely had left that University without consulting him.

At this time Linnaeus, in spite of his great industry and simple manner of living, naturally had considerable anxieties about his success in life.

It chanced one day, in the autumn of the year 1728, whilst Linnaeus was very intently examining some plants in the academical garden, there entered a venerable old clergyman, who asked him what he was about, whether he was acquainted with plants, whence he came, and how long he had been prosecuting his studies? To all these questions he returned satisfactory answers, and was then invited to accompany his interrogator to his house, which proved to be that of Dr. Olaus Celsius.

This estimable and learned man, to whom Scandinavia owes so much in regard to natural history, had just returned from Stockholm, where he had been engaged in preparing his celebrated work upon the plants mentioned in the Holy Scriptures, which he published in 1745, having travelled to the East on purpose to make it more complete. Little did Celsius imagine that the youth, whom he first met, by chance, in the academical garden at Upsala, was destined, in after years, by his genius, to immortalize its fame. He, however, soon discerned the merits of Linnaeus, took him under his protection, offering him board and lodging in his own house, and allowing him the full use of his library, which was very rich in botanical books. Among all his patrons, Linnaeus appears to have dearly cherished the memory of this venerable man, never referring to him but in terms of reverence and gratitude. The friendship and patronage of one so distinguished, did not fail to procure for the youth the advantages he so much needed. Before long, the son of Professor Rudbeck, and other young men, became his private pupils, and by this means his pecuniary wants were supplied.

Nothing, however, seems to have given Linnaeus so much satisfaction in reviewing the events of this period of his early history, as the intimate friendship he now contracted with a fellow-student, named Artedi, who afterwards distinguished himself by his knowledge of fishes and umbelliferous plants. To the picture he has drawn of his friend, Linnaeus has added a slight sketch of himself. There was a great difference in the personal appearance, as well as in the temperament and disposition of the two youths. Artedi was of a tall and handsome figure, more serious, and of a deliberate judgment; whereas his friend was short in stature and stout, hasty in temper, and of a sanguine turn. The two companions pursued their favourite studies with an honourable spirit of emulation. They divided the kingdoms and provinces of nature between them, and while Linnaeus yielded the palm to Artedi in ichthyology , the latter acknowledged Linnaeus to be his superior in entomology, or that of insects. Each kept his discoveries to himself, though for no great length of time, since not a day passed without one surprising the other by narrating some new fact, so that emulation produced mutual industry of research, and stimulated each to new exertions.

Linnaeus was now in his twenty-second year, about which time he met with a review of Le Vaillant's treatise, "Sur la Structure des Fleurs" , by which his curiosity was excited to a close examination of the stamens and pistils , and, perceiving the essential importance of these parts of the plant, he formed the design of a new method of arrangement, founded upon these organs. This was the first dawning idea of that great system upon which his subsequent fame was based.

A flower of a complete kind consists of the parts of the plant which reproduce or form the seed, enclosed within two particular envelopes. The envelopes of the flower are the beautifully coloured parts called petals, which form the corolla, or inner envelope, and the duller-coloured or green sepals outside the corolla, and which form the calyx.

Protected by these coverings, are the central parts or organs. Quite in the middle of the flower is the ovary, made up of one or several portions--the pistils, which contain the future seeds or ovules. The top of the whole, which projects in the middle of the flower, is the stigma, and the prolonged part beneath it is the style, and this surmounts the seed-case or ovary. Outside this central part, and between it and the corolla, are the stamens, each of which--for their number varies--may consist of a stalk or filament, bearing an anther, which is coloured, and contains the pollen, or dust, which fertilizes the ovule, by falling on to the stigma.

The next part of the classification refers to orders which are subdivisions of classes. The orders of the first thirteen classes, mentioned above, are founded on the number of styles , and the names given, relate to the number and the term gynia, or female.

Thus the order monogynia includes plants of all the thirteen classes that have only one style to each flower, such as the primrose; and so on, until polygynia, or "many female"--plants of such an order, having more than twelve styles, like the rose and clematis.

One class has a very important division into two orders, one of which has naked and the other covered seeds; another has orders from the shape of the fruit or pod. Linnaeus divided the cryptogamia into six orders--the ferns, mosses, liverworts, lichens, fungi, and seaweeds. There is no doubt that this classification enables the name of a plant to be discovered, if it has been properly described and named, very easily, and it added to the facilities of classificatory botany. But it did not bring plants having many other and very important characters together, and it separated many which are closely allied by similar structures. It was and is called the artificial system. It was not a natural classification like that foreshadowed by Ray. The careful distinction of the sexes of plants was, of course, the foundation of the system, and to that Linnaeus paid great attention. Writing a little treatise on the subject, he showed it to Celsius, who communicated it to Dr. Rudbeck. This man, free from the usual jealousy of the age, took Linnaeus as his assistant, and asked him to lecture in the botanical garden. Thus the young man became a teacher in the very place where he had applied the year before for the humble situation of gardener. Dr. Rudbeck, moreover, took him into his house as tutor to his children, and thus he had access to a fine collection of books and drawings on natural history subjects. His mornings were then occupied in giving instruction to the students, and his evenings in composing the new system and meditating a general reformation in botanical science. He had no time to waste at Upsala. It will have been noticed how kindly Linnaeus was treated by a few true lovers of science, and it was greatly to the honour of the good simple people of science-loving Scandinavia.

People imagine that the progress and prosperity of scientific men depend upon themselves alone; but many a promising career has been arrested by petty jealousy and the expression of ill will on the part of those who are second-rate men of science. On the other hand, truly distinguished scientific men are mostly only too glad to assist earnest, hard-working, and meritorious students. Linnaeus found that he was no exception to the rule that appears to determine that a prosperous poor man shall have enemies. He was opposed by a Dr. Rosen on his return from foreign travel, but Linnaeus stood his ground. But when his father suggested a voyage into Lapland to collect plants, Linnaeus gladly seized the opportunity, and after arrangements had been made, he went to stay awhile at home.

Early in 1732 Linnaeus left his father's house, to set out on his arduous undertaking. On his way to Upsala he paid a visit to his former friend and preceptor, Stobaeus, at Lund, and studied his collection of minerals, the only branch of natural history with which he was unacquainted. He shortly after proceeded to Upsala, from which place he set out on his journey alone, May 12th, 1732, "being at that time within half a day of twenty-five years of age."

During this journey Linnaeus travelled over the greater part of Lapland, skirting the boundaries of Norway, and returned to Upsala by the eastern side of the Bothnian Gulf, having performed a journey of near four thousand English miles, mostly on foot, in five months. He necessarily endured many hardships and vast fatigue, and his life was several times imperilled. Bogs and forests intercepted his way, and food, even of the coarsest description, was occasionally not easily procured; yet, amid all difficulties, his spirit was unflagging, and obstacles only seemed to quicken his zeal. The natural curiosities of the country, the manners of the people, and the general features of the various regions he traversed, all were observed and written down for future use. He collected above a hundred plants, entirely undescribed and unknown before, and upon his return arranged all the flora of Lapland according to his own favourite system, and delivered an account of his journey publicly.

The result of his botanical observations was not published for several years afterwards, during his residence in Holland. This expedition was the first and most difficult of all the six journeys of Linnaeus. He spoke of it afterwards in one of his academical addresses in these words: "My journey through Lapland was particularly toilsome, and I own that I was obliged to sustain more hardships and dangers in that sole peregrination through the frontier of our northern world, than in all the other travels I undertook in other parts. But having once sustained the toils of travelling, I buried in the oblivion of Lethe all the dangers and difficulties I endured, the invaluable fruits I reaped having compensated for every toil." Writing to a friend on the same subject, he says: "All my food in these fatiguing excursions consisted, for the most part, of fish and reindeer's milk. Bread, salt, and what is found everywhere else, did but seldom recreate my palate. One of the greatest nuisances which I met with in Lapland was the immense number of flies. I used to keep them off, by drawing a crape over my face." The youthful traveller started on his adventurous journey "without encumbrances of any kind, and carried all his baggage on his back," by which means alone he was enabled to prosecute the objects he had in view. Leaving Upsala by the northern gate, he travelled for a considerable distance through fertile corn-fields, bounded by hills, and the view terminated by extensive forests. With respect to situation and variety of prospects, the young Swede was of opinion that scarcely any city could stand a comparison with this. At a short distance from the gates he left, on the right, Old Upsala, the place renowned for the worship of the primeval gods of Sweden, and for the inauguration and residence of her earliest king. Here, in days of high antiquity, human sacrifices were offered at the shrines of the pagan deities, and here our traveller noticed the three large sepulchral mounds which tradition has assigned to the bodies of Odin, Frigga, and Thor.

"Cheered with the song of the charming lark," which attended his steps through the lowland, his approach to the forest was welcomed by the redwing, "whose amorous warblings from the tops of the spruce firs" appeared to him to rival the nightingale itself. As the summer was advancing, he thought it not desirable to lose time by the way, nor to stray far from the high road in the early part of the tour; but attentively observing what presented itself to him as he passed along, he noted the various plants, animals, and insects, together with the general features of the country.

In five or six days, Linnaeus reached Hernosand, the principal town of Angermania, on the Bothnian Gulf, and visited a tremendously steep and lofty mountain called Skula, where was a cavern, which he desired to explore. Here he was within a hair's breadth of a fatal accident, for one of the peasants who accompanied him, in climbing up, loosened a large stone, which was hurled down the track Linnaeus had just left, and fell exactly on the spot he had occupied. "If I had not providentially changed my route, nobody would ever have heard of me more; I was surrounded by fire and smoke, and should certainly, but for the protecting hand of Providence, have been crushed to pieces." From this point of the journey a change came over the face of nature. The country was covered over with snow, in some places inches deep; the pretty spring flowers disappeared, and in their place nothing but wintry plants were seen peeping through the snow. At length, on the 23rd of May, he reached Umoea, in West Bothnia, where he turned out of the main road to the left, designing to visit Lycksele, Lapmark; by which means he lost the advantage of the regular post horses, and found the ways so narrow and intricate, that at every step he stumbled. "In this dreary wilderness I began to feel very solitary, and to long earnestly for a companion ; the few inhabitants I met had a foreign accent, and always concluded their sentences with an adjective."

As the night shut in, the way-worn traveller began also to long for a good meal, and has thus recorded the result of his application, on arriving at a village where he passed the night:--"On my inquiring what I could have for supper, they set before me the breast of a cock of the woods, which had been shot and dressed some time the preceding year. Its aspect was not very inviting; but the taste proved delicious, and I found, with pleasure, that these poor Laplanders know better than some of their more opulent neighbours, how to employ the good things which God has bestowed upon them."

The bird is prepared by a process of salting and drying, and will keep even for three years, if necessary. Linnaeus next proceeded up the river of Umoea as far as Lycksele, where he was hospitably received by the worthy pastor of the place; and the next day, being Whit-Sunday, he stayed there, and would fain have remained longer; but, for fear of the floods impeding his journey, he hastened his departure on the morrow, and on the 1st of June entered the territories of the native Laplanders, passing through wild forests, with no traces of roads. A more desolate picture of wretchedness than this region presented, could hardly be imagined. It was flooded by the rivers, and the bogs were utterly impassable. At every step the water was above the knees, and the feet felt the ice at the bottom. "We pursued our journey with considerable labour and difficulty all night long, if that might be called night which was as light as the day, the sun disappearing for half an hour only, and the temperature of the air being rather cold." The poor inhabitants had themselves, at this season, nothing to eat but a scanty supply of fish; for they had not begun to kill their reindeer, nor to milk them. In addition to these evils, the villainous bites of the gnats and other insects tortured the unhappy travellers, till at length he exclaims--"I had now my fill of travelling!"

Gladly would he have returned by the way he came, but he could find no road back; and even the hardy Laplanders themselves, "born to labour, as the birds to fly," could not help complaining, and declared they had never been in such extremity before. It is evident that even the robust frame of Linnaeus was beginning to yield to the combined effects of fatigue, exhaustion, and hunger. He at length obtained some food which he was able to eat, and after incredible exertions succeeded in retracing his steps to the river, on which he again embarked, and returned to Umoea; having, as he ingenuously acknowledged, "with the thoughtlessness of youth, undertaken more than he was able to perform."

From Umoea, Linnaeus proceeded to Pithoea, which he reached after two days' journey, "the night being as pleasant for travelling as the day." He notices the beauty of the fresh shoots of the spruce fir, which constitute one of the greatest ornaments of the forests which adorn this part of Sweden.

Being anxious to proceed with all haste, in order if possible to reach the Alps of Lulean Lapland, "in time to see the sun above the horizon at midnight, which is beheld then to the best advantage," the traveller made no longer stay at Lulea than was needful for the purposes of exploring the neighbouring coast and islands. He has noted the various entomological and other specimens he observed, and, after admiring the beauty of some of them, exclaims, in a sort of rapture--"The observer of nature sees with admiration that the whole world is full of the glory of God."

During this voyage, Swanberg, who has taken great delight in Linnaeus's conversation, offered to instruct him in the art of assaying within a very short time, if he would agree to visit Calix, on his way homeward. At Quickjock, the wife of the curate provided our traveller with stores sufficient for eight days, and procured him a Laplander, whose assistance as interpreter and servant was highly necessary.

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet