b o o k Haller. But although his acknowledged merit, and uncomreputation,
foon fecured to himthe patronage o f feveral
illuftrious perfonages, yet he paid the ufual tax o f genius, by
experiencing a confiderable degree of envy and oppoiition ;
and though by thefe means he was at firft involved in fome
difficulties, only a ihort period elapied before he acquired an
extenfive practice. His moil: confiderable and zealous patron
was count Teffin, the firft minifter, whofe collection he afterwards
defcribed in his Mufeum I ’ejfinianum.
By the intereft o f that nobleman he obtained, in the beginning
o f 173 9, the office of phyfician to the fleet; and a
ftipend from the ftates for reading leftures in mineralogy
upon the colleftion o f foffils belonging to the board of mines ».
Count Teffin alfo recommended him in fuch ftrong terms
-to their Swediih majefties, that they honoured him with their
patronage. Under his direction the king formed a col left ion
o f quadrupeds, birds, fifties, and ferpents, at Ulriofal; and
•the queen o f infefts and ihells at Drottningffiolm;
both of which have been accurately defcribed by Linnaeus
himfelf.
During his refidence at Stockholm, he aflifted, as I have
before obferved, in founding a literary fociety, which was afterwards
called the Royal Academy of Sciences, and o f which
he was appointed the firft prefident.
In 174 1 he at length obtained the otjedt o f his warmeft
ambition, the profefforihip of botany in the uni'verfity of Up-
fala. Upon the death of Roberg, profeflor o f practical medicine
and anatomy, Linnaeus was appointed to fill his chair;
which he changed, in 174 2, with profeflor Rofen, for that
■of botany : he was at the fame time appointed to fuperintend
ih e phyfick-garden; and undertook to read leftures in bo-
JBaeck,
tany,
tany, natural hiftory, diateticks, on the knowledge o f difor- C^ P-
ders, and the materia medica. 'í <— i— .
From this period he pafled the remaining part o f his life
almoft uniformly at Upfala.
He turned the firftobjefts o f his attention and careto the'
regulation and improvement o f the botanical garden; which,
at the time o f his- appointment to the profeflbrlhip, fcarcely
contained 40 exoticks ; but produced in 1748, notwithftand-
ing the obftrudtions arifing from the feverity o f the climate,
n 00 fpecies, exclufive of indigenous plants and varieties.
His own colledlion o f natural hiftory was rich only in plants;-
a.circumftance chiefly owing to the. number o f quadrupeds,.
ihells, and infefts, which he prefented to their majefties for
their cabinets at Ulricfal- and Drottniugftiolm.- His herbarium
was highly valuable, from the number and arrange-,
ment o f the fpecimens..
By his incomparable ledtureshe railed the univerfity lo-
the higheft repute, and induced many foreigners to refort to
Upfala, He was- always attended by a numerous audience ;
and his-great art was not only in fatisfying the curiofity, but
in gaining the. affedtion and efteem of the Undents. His-
lectures were diftinguifhed by the coneifenefs and precifion *
fo confpicuous in his works ;. and yet were delivered with a •
fpirit and animation which irrefiltibly caught the- attentions
of his hearers ; for he fpoke with a perfuafion which was-
infpired by his deep infight, his jnft conceptions, and his-
zealous ardour- for the knowledge o f nature *.
Hé
* Baeck and F ab r ic iu s . - N o th in g can . N ° 2 25.. b ein g found in 1 a recent ita te .
hiark th e pb ilo fop b er’s paifion- fo r n atu ra l f rom -M r . Pen n an t, who obferved one ad -
hiftory more than thefe expreffions iiv a l e t - h e r in g to a fea-plant drawn out o f th e N o r - -
ter to M r . Pennant on the followin g occa* weg ian feas, he w ro te to him, “ Pro g an d ió •
fion. H a v in g received th e firft n o tice of- “ exultan s quod detexeras concham ftnoroi-.-
the A n om ia retufa SyfU N a t . 1151. “ am a n u l lo mo rta liüm antea v ifa ra , qua- -
I •