Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/369

Rh ance to the Swedish nation. The greatest of all is (1707-78), who already in his twenty-fourth year established the celebrated sexual system, whereby the chaos of the botanical world was reduced to order, and a fruitful scientific study of it was made possible. The results of his investigations, which made his name famous throughout Europe and gave him the title of "the king of botanists," were chiefly recorded in Latin. But a number of short dissertations, among which are several addresses delivered before the Academy of Sciences, of which he was one of the founders in 1739 and its first president, are all written in Swedish and show that he was a thorough master of his native tongue, though his style is rather natural and spontaneous than acquired by study. His works show a versatility and an interest in all that is worth knowing, a clearness and splendor of style, which make the perusal of them a great enjoyment. One of the most excellent of his dissertations is "Om märkvärdigheter uti insekterna" (on peculiarities of insects). The zoölogist (died 1778) acquired a great reputation by a work written in French on insects. The physicist (1735-84) distinguished himself by his "Fysisk beskrifning öfver jordklotet" (physical description of the globe), which was translated into several languages. (1742-86) was a very eminent chemist.

Among the historians,  (1707-87) is distinguished for thoroughness and research, though he is not equal to Dalin in point of style. His great work, "Svea Rikes Historia," though carried down only to the year 1457, is still a valuable work of reference, and his survey of Swedish history down to 1772 was translated into French, and was