Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnæus: with Introductory remarks on the Study of Natural History — Aristotle — John Shaqi
Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnæus: with Introductory remarks on the Study of Natural History
Aristotle · en
He was still able to go out, however, although the coachman had orders
not to take him beyond the limits of the town. In December, he got upon
a sledge, and forced his servant to drive him to Safja, about a league
distant. The family, finding that he did not return as usual, became
extremely uneasy, and sent in search of him. He was found stretched on
the covering of his vehicle, and quietly smoking his pipe by the
farmer's fire; nor was it without difficulty that he was induced to go
home. This is the last remarkable act of his life that has been
recorded; and we have nothing more to add, but that his sufferings
daily increased, until, worn out with disease, he expired on the 10th
January 1778, in the 71st year of his age. According to the report of
his son, in a letter to Mutis, he died of a gouty suppression of urine,
terminating in gangrene.
The honours paid to the memory of this great naturalist were
correspondent to the high estimation in which he was held. His death was
regarded as an irreparable loss to science; and he is said to have
"carried to the grave, with the grief of his fellow-citizens, the
admiration of the learned of all countries. Upsal was in deep sorrow on
the day of his funeral." His body was conveyed to the cathedral, where
it was committed to the tomb. Eighteen doctors, who had been of the
number of his pupils, supported the pall, and all the professors,
officers, and students of the university, followed in procession.
The king, Gustavus III., ordered a medal to be struck in commemoration
of him who had contributed so essentially to elevate the Swedish
character in the scientific world; and in 1778, at a convention of the
Diet, expressed himself in the following terms:--"The University of
Upsal has also attracted my attention. I shall always remember with
pleasure that the chancellorship of that university was intrusted to me
before I ascended the throne. I have instituted in it a new
professorship; but, alas! I have lost a man whose renown filled the
world, and whom his country will ever be proud to reckon among her
children. Long will Upsal remember the celebrity which it acquired by
the name of Linnaeus." The Academy of Belles Lettres, History, and
Antiquities of Stockholm, offered a prize for the best panegyric in
Latin, French, or Italian. One written in French was received in 1786,
but the Academy judging it unsuitable, offered a second prize, which in
1792 was conferred on Mr Gunnar Baekmann, a Swede. The late Dr Hope of
Edinburgh erected to his memory, in the botanic garden there, a monument
bearing the simple inscription, "Linnaeo posuit, J. Hope;" and the Duc
d'Ayen-Noailles placed in his garden a cenotaph, with the bust of the
naturalist in a medallion, surrounded by the _Linnaea_ and _Ayenia_,--the
latter plant having been dedicated to himself. Three eloges or
panegyrics were pronounced; the first by his friend Dean Baek, at a
meeting of the Royal Society of Stockholm; the second by M. Condorcet,