to require to be touched on here. But I forgot to mention, when
speaking of the cathedral, that he lies buried in the west end o f that
building. A plain flat marble stone lies over him, with no other inscription
than his name and the date of his death. But on the north
side o f the cathedral there is an elegant porphyry monument erected to
his memory by his pupils. Besides a medallion representing the face
of Linnaeus, this monument bears the following inscription :
eAROLO A LINNAiE.
BOTANICORUM PRINCIPI.
AMICI E T DISCIPULI.
I t is well known that Linnaeus was succeeded in the botanical- chair
by his son, who was-but short lived, and that aftenhia death Dr. Smith-,
President of the Linnaean Society of London,, who- was at thatt time: at;
Upsala, purchased the whole collection, books and manuscripts; o f
Linnaeus, for a thousand pounds sterling, and carried them to England.
Gustavus III. who had been previously offered the collection, but had
declined becoming the purchaser, was indignant when he heard of this
sale to a foreigner, which he considered as disgraceful to Sweden. He
is said to have given orders to intercept the collection, and'to prevent'
it from being carried out of Sweden. Fortunately for. botany,. Dr.
Smith contrived to elude his search, and arrived safely in England with
bis prize. He has made a much better use of it than could well have
been made in Sweden. Indeed the northerly situation o f Sweden,- its
small power compared with the great Europaean States, its little trade,
and comparatively small connection with Asia and America, make it
but indifferently qualified for taking the lead in botany. The greatest
maritime , nation is best qualified for promoting its cultivation. This
was done by the Dutch for many, years, with the most splendid effect.
Britain having now become the greatest maritime nation in Europe,
and having driven almost all other European nations both from the
East and West Indies, has it now in her power to take the lead in the
cultivation o f botany. This accordingly has been for sometime the
case. Many living British writers might be mentioned , who have
acquired very great celebrity by their botanical labours; but it will
be sufficient to notice the Transactions of the Linnaean Society, which
constitute beyond dispute the most valuable collection of treatises on
Natural History any where to be found.
Mineralogy was no less indebted to Sweden and to Upsala for the
first steps which it made than botany. I do not notice the mineralogy
of Linnaeus, nor o f Wallerius ; though both possessed considerable
merit. But the mineralogy o f Cronstedt must be admitted to have
laid the true foundation o f the science,- by constituting the chemical
composition of minerals, the foundation of the species into which they
are divided. The chemical analyses o f Brandt and Cronstedt, and
above all of Scheele and Bergman, served to make us acquainted with
the constituents o f many minerals, and thus to class them into accurate
species. It does not appear that the S wedes'have maintained
the pre-eminence in mineralogy, which they had thus honourably
acquired. Owing chiefly to the state o f mining in Germany, and to
the genius of Haiiy, the Germans and French have taken the lead
in that valuable branch of science, though both the system adopted
by the one nation and the other may be originally traced to Sweden.
In chemistry Sweden has long; born a conspicuous- part, nor has
She fallen off in that department o f science. Scheele and Bergman
(not to go farther back) contributed prodigiously to the great revolution
which chemistry underwent ; invented many new methods1 o f analysis,
and left admirable models of research to their successors. At present
Ekeberg is remarkable for the precision o f his analyses, a precision
which has been" rewarded by several notable discoveries. Murray and
Hisinger have likewise distinguished themselves by their chemical researches.
But by far the most eminent Swedish chemist is Berzelius,
who has published a vast deal, is remarkable for the ingenuity o f his
views, and- the precision o f his1 experiments. Ahd seems like Scheele to
have devoted the whole o f his thoughts, and turned the whole bent
of his mind to chemistry alone.