At Upsala he was relieved from his extreme poverty by obtaining an assistant's position, and so great was his knowledge of plants that he was delegated to read the lectures of the aged professor of botany, Rudbeck. In 1732 he was chosen by the Royal Society of Upsala to visit Lapland as a collector and observer, and left the university without his degree. On returning to Upsala, his lack of funds made itself again painfully felt, and he undertook to support himself by giving public lectures on botany, chemistry, and mineralogy. He secured hearers, but the continuance of his lectures was prevented by one of his rivals on the ground that Linnæus had no degree, and was therefore legally disqualified from taking pay for instruction. Presently he became tutor and traveling companion of a wealthy baron, the governor of the province of Dalecarlia, but this employment was temporary. Helped by His Fiancée.--His friends advised him to secure his medical degree and settle as a practitioner. Although he lacked the necessary funds, one circumstance contributed to bring about this end: he had formed an attachment for the daughter of a wealthy physician, named Moré or Moræus, and on applying for her hand in marriage, her father made it a condition of his consent that Linnæus should take his medical degree and establish himself in the practice of medicine. The young lady, who was thrifty as well as handsome, offered her savings, amounting to one hundred dollars (Swedish), to her lover. He succeeded in adding to this sum by his own exertions, and with thirty-six Swedish ducats set off for Holland to qualify for his degree. He had practically met the requirements for the medical degree by his previous studies, and after a month's residence at the University of Hardewyk, his thesis was accepted and he was granted the degree in June, 1735, in the twenty-eighth year of his age. Instead of returning at once to Sweden, he went to Leyden, and made the acquaintance of several well-known scientific men. He continued his botanical studies with great energy, and now began to reap the benefits of his earlier devotion to natural history. His heart-breaking and harassing struggles were now over.