Linnæus almost despaired of gaining the friendship of this learned man, and obtaining from him the plants he wanted. At length, on the third day of his visit to Oxford, he went to take leave of Dillenius, and, in parting, said, “I have but one request to make of you; will you tell me why you called me, the other day, the person who confounds all botany?” Unable to evade so direct a question, Dillenius took him to his library, and showed him the sheet of his genera which he had obtained. It was marked in sundry places with notes of query. “What signify these marks?” said Linnæus. “They signify all the false genera of plants in your book,” answered the other. This challenge led to an explanation, in which Linnæus proved his accuracy in every instance. The result was an entire change on the part of Dillenius, who afterwards detained Linnæus with him a month, and found so much satisfaction in his company that he kept him always in close converse, scarce leaving him an hour to himself. At last he parted from him with tears in his eyes, after making him the offer to stay and share his salary, which would have sufficed for them both. Linnæus never learned any language, not even Dutch, although he lived three years in Holland. “Nevertheless,” he says, “I found my way everywhere well and happily.” Despite this great obstacle, Linnæus appears to have counted among his friends and correspondents some of the fair sex, in several countries. Lady Ann Monson in London, and Mrs. Blackburne at Oxford, were among this number; and he had a most enthusiastic admirer in Miss Jane Colden, of America, who was introduced to his notice by one of his correspondents, as the only lady known to be scientifically acquainted with the Linnæan system. She had drawn and described four hundred plants, according to his method, using English terms. Pleased with the favour and interest thus manifested, Linnæus acknowledged his sense of them, by preserving the names of these ladies in the vegetable kingdom, and, among others, he named two genera of beautiful plants, Monsonia and Coldenia. The study of botany was so greatly promoted and facilitated by the easy and pleasant method introduced by Linnæus, that it is no wonder the ladies acknowledged, with gratitude, their obligation to the naturalist who first originated a method by which this delightful study could be brought within the attainment of all who loved it.