Chapter XXI: Section VI: Travelling Pupils of Linnaeus

Enthusiasm excited by the Lectures of Linnaeus--Ternstroem
dies on his Voyage to China--Hasselquist, after travelling
in Egypt, Arabia, and Palestine, dies at Smyrna--Forskal
perishes in Arabia; Loefling in South America; Falk in
Tartary--Kalm sent to Canada; Rolander to Surinam; Toren to
Malabar; Osbeck to China--Sparrmann travels in the Cape, and
accompanies Cook on his second Voyage--Thunberg visits
Japan, Ceylon, and other Countries--Various parts of Europe
visited by Pupils of Linnaeus--Remarks on the Accumulation of
Facts produced by their Exertions.

The enthusiasm excited by the lectures and demonstrations of Linnaeus, seems to have exceeded that produced by the efforts of any other professor. The fervour of the teacher, his ardent love of nature, his eloquence, and the kindliness of his disposition, made an indelible impression upon his pupils, many of whom were anxious to devote their lives to the extension of their favourite science. Upsal became the centre of botanical, if not of zoological knowledge; and while students flocked to it from all parts of Europe, there were proceeding from it those whom we may call the devoted heroes of science, and who were resolved to enlarge its boundaries, by exploring regions previously unknown to the natural historian. An account of these men belongs in some measure to the life of their master, in which it will form an interesting episode.

The first of his pupils that embraced the opportunity presented by the Swedish East India Company, was a young man named TERNSTROEM, who in 1745 embarked for China. He died, however, at Pulicandor, before reaching the place of which he had intended to describe the productions, and thereby to secure for himself a scientific immortality.

In the summer of 1749, FREDERICK HASSELQUIST, another of his students, was induced by his representations to undertake a voyage to Smyrna, for the purpose of examining the natural treasures of Palestine. Private contributions were made to defray the expense of his journey, and a free passage was given in an East Indiaman. Next year he continued his course to Egypt, where he remained nine months, surveying the pyramids and other remarkable objects, and collecting all the information that he could obtain respecting minerals, plants, and animals. He communicated the result of his labours to his friends at home, and was admitted a member of the Royal Society of Upsal, and of the Stockholm Academy of Sciences. In March 1751, he left Cairo, and taking the route of Jaffa, travelled with a caravan of pilgrims to Jerusalem, where he remained some time. He then visited the river Jordan, Mount Tabor, Jericho, Bethlehem, Tyre, and Sidon, and embarked for Smyrna, where he arrived with a great variety of specimens illustrative of natural history, as also with a valuable selection of Arabic manuscripts, coins, and mummies. He was preparing to return to his native country, to enjoy the fruit of his toils, when he was seized with a violent affection of the lungs, the predisposition to which existed before he left Sweden, and of which the symptoms had been aggravated by the fatigues and privations he endured in crossing the sandy deserts. The disease quickly assumed an alarming character, and he finally sunk under it on the 9th February 1752, in the thirtieth year of his age.

Hasselquist having contracted debts at Smyrna, his creditors seized his collections, and would have exposed them to sale, had they not been prevented by the Swedish consul, who sent home an account of the circumstances under which the youth had died. The queen, Louisa Ulrica, gave orders to redeem his property, which was accordingly transmitted to her, and deposited in the palace of Drottningholm, where she usually resided. Duplicates of the various articles were given to Linnaeus, together with all the manuscripts, which were published in the Swedish language under the title of Iter Palaestinum. This work was afterwards translated into German, English, and French. It consists of two parts, the first of which contains the journal of the traveller and his correspondence; while the second is devoted to observations on mineralogy, botany, and zoology, as well as to many interesting subjects relating to the diseases, commerce, and arts, of the countries which had been visited. A Flora of Palestine, made up from the papers and specimens of Hasselquist, was afterwards published in the fourth volume of the Amaenitates Academicae.

Professor Michaelis of Gottingen, so well known for his proficiency in the languages of the East, having strongly enforced the propriety of obtaining a more extensive knowledge of those countries in which most of the events recorded in the Scriptures took place, a society was instituted for that purpose; and through the influence of the Danish ministers, Counts Bernstorff and Moltke, an expedition was fitted out for Arabia. In 1761, five persons were chosen for conducting this enterprise, viz. Counsellor Niebuhr, Professor Forskal, a native of Sweden, Von Haven, Cramer, and Baurnfeind the painter. In June 1763, FORSKAL wrote to Count Bernstorff, communicating some information respecting the balsam of Mecca; but in about a month afterwards he fell a sacrifice to science, and died at Jerim. His companions suffered a similar fate, with the exception of Niebuhr, who on returning published an account of the journey. The observations of the naturalist were arranged by the same author, and appeared in 1775, accompanied with illustrative engravings. In a letter to Ellis, several years earlier, Linnaeus mentions him thus:--"Mr Forskal, an excellent pupil of mine, just appointed professor at Copenhagen, is to be sent next year, at the expense of the King of Denmark, to the Cape of Good Hope and Arabia Felix. If God preserve him to us, we may expect a multitude of interesting discoveries. He excels more particularly in the knowledge of insects, although very well versed in the other branches of natural history." Niebuhr, who sent to him a copy of the posthumous work as soon as it was printed, was elected a member of the Stockholm Academy of Sciences, out of gratitude for the pains which he had taken to preserve the name of his unfortunate friend.

Application having been made to Linnaeus, from Madrid, for an able botanist, he chose PETER LOEFLING, one of the most distinguished of his pupils, who proceeded to Spain in 1751. During two years he continued to collect and describe the plants of that country. At the end of this period, he was sent by the government to travel through the different Spanish settlements in South America. He had explored the districts of Cumana, New Barcelona, and St Thomas of Guyana, and was preparing to extend his journey, when he was attacked by fever, and died in the twenty-seventh year of his age. The professor, who was much affected by the death of this zealous and enterprising youth, published an account of his travels, under the name of Petri Loeflingii Iter Hispanicum.

The next victim to the eager pursuit of knowledge was FALK, a native of West Gothland, who, coming to Upsal in 1751 to study natural history, was received by Linnaeus into his house, and appointed to take charge of the education of his son. In 1759, he made a journey to Gothland, and afterwards went to Copenhagen, in the hope of being sent to Arabia along with Niebuhr and Forskal; but not finding his wishes gratified returned to college. In 1763, through the recommendation of his master, he was engaged by M. Kruse, first physician to the Emperor of Russia, to take charge of his cabinet of natural curiosities, and was proceeding to Petersburg when he suffered shipwreck at Narva. In 1765, he was appointed keeper of the botanic garden and professor of the medical college; but the assiduity with which he pursued his studies rendered him subject to a disease of the bowels, causing accessions of melancholy. In one of these fits of hypochondriasis he shot himself, at Casan in Tartary, on the night of the 20th March 1774.

Thus perished, in the midst of their career, five of the most promising pupils of Linnaeus; but, not deterred by their fate, others pressed forward with the desire of distinguishing themselves.

The professor, knowing that a species of mulberry-tree grew in Canada, proposed to the Royal Society of Stockholm a voyage to that country, for the purpose of learning whether the plant in question could be naturalized in Sweden. The proposal being acceded to, he made choice of PETER KALM, one of the most promising of his students. In 1747, he departed for America, where he remained three years. In 1751, he returned to Abo, in Finland, where his patron had obtained a professorship for him, and published an account of his voyage. The Canadian mulberry-tree (_Morus rubra_) was in fact introduced by him into Sweden, and seems in some degree to have answered the purpose intended; but, although the government offered a premium for its cultivation, the silk-manufacture of that country has never succeeded. Kalm, after travelling in various parts of Russia, died at his own residence in 1790. His travels in America were translated into English by John Reinhold Forster, who accompanied Captain Cook on his second voyage.

Rolander embarked for Surinam in 1755; Toren, in 1750, for the coast of Malabar and Surat; and Osbeck for China in 1751. The journal of the latter was also translated by Forster. But the most distinguished among the more fortunate travelling-pupils of Linnaeus were Sparrmann and Thunberg, the latter of whom became his successor in the university.

ANDREW SPARRMANN studied medicine at Upsal, where, by his attention to natural history, he attracted the notice of the celebrated professor of that science. In 1765, he made a voyage to China with his cousin, Captain Ekeberg, who commanded a ship belonging to the East India Company, and who was also fond of similar studies. On his return, he described, in an academic thesis, the plants and animals which he had collected on this voyage. Having now formed a strong attachment to botany and zoology, he again became desirous of travelling; but his poverty would have prevented him had not his friend Ekeberg procured for him the office of tutor to the children of a person residing at the Cape of Good Hope, where he arrived in 1772. Soon after, he had the pleasure of meeting his countryman Thunberg, from whom, however, he was soon forced to separate; and in October made a journey to Paarl, on his return from which he occupied himself with a description of the plants indigenous to the district in which he resided. Captain Cook, on his second voyage, having arrived at the Cape, the two Forsters, who accompanied him as naturalists, went to see Sparrmann, and persuaded him to go along with them. This he was not loath to do, and, accordingly, had the pleasure of circumnavigating the globe. On revisiting the Cape, in July 1775, he subsisted by practising medicine, and in a short time acquired sufficient funds to enable him to undertake an excursion into the interior. He penetrated 350 leagues in a north-easterly direction, and returned with a large stock of plants and animals. The same year he revisited his native country, where he found that in his absence he had been promoted to the degree of Doctor in Medicine. He was now elected a member of the Royal Society of Stockholm, and, after the death of Baron de Geer, was appointed conservator of his collection of natural history, which had been bequeathed to that body. Some time after, he was made president of the same learned institution,--an office which he resigned in three months. In 1787, he accompanied his friend Wadstroem on an expedition into the interior of Western Africa; but the project failed, and in the following year he returned to the Swedish capital, where he continued till his death in July 1820. The principal works which he published are, 1. A Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, to the South Polar Circle, and round the Globe, with a Journey into the Country of the Hottentots and Caffres. This book has been translated into English. 2. The Musaeum Carlsonianum, containing Descriptions of the rarer Animals in the Collection of Baron Carlson. 3. A Discourse on the Advantages of Expeditions to the Pacific Ocean, with Descriptions of Animals and Plants.

CHARLES PETER THUNBERG was born in Sweden in 1743, and died at Upsal in 1828. In 1770, after finishing his education, he went to France, and from thence to Holland, where, on being recommended by Burmann, he was engaged by the Dutch East India Company to go to Japan in a medical capacity. After remaining some time at the Cape, he proceeded to his destination, and afterwards to Java and Ceylon, whence he returned first to England, and subsequently to Germany. His travels occupied nine years. Fourteen months after the death of Linnaeus, he was appointed director of the botanic garden of Upsal during the absence of the son of that renowned professor. He acquired the honours usually bestowed on fortunate cultivators of science, and finally succeeded the younger Linnaeus.

Besides these celebrated individuals, who explored the most remote regions of the globe, many of the students trained in the garden and lecture-rooms of Upsal traversed various parts of Europe. Koehler visited Italy; Alstroemer the same country, as well as France and Spain; Von Troil made a voyage to Iceland; Fabricius travelled in Norway, England, and France; and Solander examined the Lapland Alps. In short, an astonishing impulse was given to the study of natural history in general, and of botany in particular. Facts and observations were accumulated to such a degree, that had Linnaeus lived ten years longer he would have been utterly unable to continue the legislator of the science in all its departments.

To him, however, remains the glory of having been the only individual who described all the minerals, plants, and animals, known in his time. Before him no one had attempted the task.