Linnæus and His Pupils

Nils Ingemarsson was a peasant lad from Sunnerbo, in the province of Småland in Sweden, who was destined for the priesthood. When at school, not having previously had any family name, as was the case with the country people in general in Sweden, he adopted the name of Linnæus, after a mighty linden-tree growing near his home, which was regarded by the country folk as a sort of sacred tree. After a long period of study at Lund University — frequently interrupted, owing to his poverty — he was ordained priest in 1704 at the age of thirty, and two years later he was appointed curate at Råshult. At the same time he married Christina Brodersonia, daughter of the Vicar of Stenbrohult. Some years later he succeeded his father-in-law as vicar of that place. While following his vocation he also devoted himself with keen enthusiasm to horticulture and the study of herbs; in his large garden grew many a herb that was not to be found in his neighbours' gardens and with the peculiar properties of which he was well acquainted. The eldest of his large family was a son, Carl, born on the 23rd May 1707. Even in his earliest childhood Carl displayed the same keen interest in botany that his father had done; his greatest joy was to work in the small garden he had had laid out and there to cultivate as many remarkable plants as possible. At his school, at Växiö, however, he was, as he himself relates, far from happy; "crude schoolmasters in a crude manner gave the children a mind for sciences enough to make their hair stand on end." In humanistics, which at that time were the most important, he likewise made but little progress, but he was all the more successful in the physical-mathematical subjects. His teacher in physics, Rothman, quickly recognizing his great gift for natural science, gave him Boerhaave's and Tournefort's works to read and urged Carl's family to accept his plan to devote himself to medicine instead of studying for the priesthood. In 1727 he became an undergraduate at Lund, where he found a paternal friend in Stobæus, professor of medicine. On the advice of Rothman, however, he removed for the next academical year to Upsala, where the medical teaching was considered to be of a higher standard according to the requirements of the age, which, however, is not saying very much. Linnæus had for the most part to carry on his studies by himself. During his first term at Upsala he lived in dire want, but he soon 204succeeded in procuring patrons there: the dean, Celsius, who was likewise interested in botany, took him into his family and undertook to procure him further advancement. Even as a young student Linnæus had always shown that capacity which never left him throughout his life, of exciting the admiration and sympathy of those he met who possessed interests similar to his own — a quality based on the keenness with which he himself embraced the work he had made his own. When once he had acquired friends at the University he gained one success after another. Though not yet a graduate, he obtained permission to lecture on botany and he used to attract large audiences. He received a number of grants, and with the aid of public funds he made journeys of exploration to the Lapp district and Dalecarlia, in the course of which he collected material for research consisting not only of natural objects, but also of human customs and habits. During the latter expedition he made the acquaintance of his future wife, daughter of the wealthy town-physician of Falun, Moræus, In order to secure further advancement in the career he had chosen, Linnaeus had to obtain the degree of doctor of medicine, but there was no such degree in Sweden at that time. He accordingly made a journey, with the financial support of his future father-in-law, to Holland, where at the small university of Harderwijk, which never attained to a very high standard of scholarship, he took his doctor's degree in a couple of weeks. By that time, however, the money he had brought with him had become exhausted and Linnæus had no other resource than to chance his luck elsewhere. He accordingly went, in company with a fellow-countryman, to Amsterdam and thence to Leyden. There he became acquainted with several scientists and people interested in science, chief of whom was Boerhaave, who treated him with paternal kindness. With the assistance of one or two patrons Linnaeus was able to print his most epoch-making work, the Systema naturæ , which he had already begun in Sweden and which brought him immediate fame. He then spent three years visiting the principal centres of learning in Holland, publishing one work after another with marvellous rapidity, supported by patrons and often almost persuaded to settle in Holland for good. He longed to return home, however, and after paying visits to both England and France, he returned to Sweden with a European reputation, but without any very brilliant prospects for the future. He succeeded, though with some difficulty at first, in making a living as a physician in Stockholm, until in 1741 he won the position for which he had striven so long — the professorship of botany at Upsala. During his Stockholm period he had taken part in the founding of the Academy of Science and had been its first principal; at Upsala, from the day of his arrival, he became the foremost member of the University. His time and capacity for work sufficed for everything — for his teaching, which went on summer and winter, before ever-increasing audiences, both of Swedes and 205foreigners; for the reorganization of the botanical garden (which existed in Rudbeck's time, but which had now fallen into decay), making it one of the finest in Europe; for the production of extraordinarily fine scientific works and an extensive correspondence. As a founder of schools and an organizer of work he has had few equals in the history of biology. Every year he sent out pupils on research expeditions, whose collections and observations were afterwards worked up under the master's own guidance. He himself was acknowledged throughout the whole civilized world as an authority on natural-scientific questions, his advice being sought by governments as well as private individuals. His native country also learnt to appreciate him; he received several high honours; among other things he was ennobled and took the name of von Linné.