The biographers of Linnaeus have often mentioned the Journal of his
Lapland Tour, to which he himself has frequently adverted, in various
parts of his voluminous works, under the title of _Lachesis Lapponica_.
The publication of this Journal has been anxiously desired; and so
valuable was the manuscript considered, that on his whole collection and
library being sold, after the death of his son, it was remarked that
these papers at least ought to have been retained in Sweden, as a
national property; the journey which they record having been undertaken
at the public expense, and the objects illustrated thereby being,
necessarily, more important to the author's countrymen than to any other
people. This remark, however, was not made till long after the
manuscript, with all the treasures which accompanied it, had escaped, by
land and by sea, the pursuit instituted by the Swedish monarch to
recover them, and had reached England in safety. It became a duty for
their fortunate possessor to render them useful. To place the authority
of this collection, as far as possible, out of the reach of accident, he
has made it his chief object to extend any information to be derived
from it, not only to his own countrymen, but to his fellow-labourers in
every quarter of the globe. The Banksian herbarium was, in the course of
seven months, compared with that of Linnaeus throughout, to their mutual
advantage, by a copious interchange, not only of information, but of
specimens. Plants or insects were for many years continually sent from
France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Germany, and even Sweden, as well as
from America, for comparison with the authentic originals named by the
hand of Linnaeus. The time and labour devoted to this task have been
richly compensated, by the acquisition of various novelties, and of much
instruction, as well as by the pleasure of so extensive an intercourse
with persons occupied in the same favourite and delightful pursuit, and
by the acknowledgements with which most of them have overpaid the
trouble.
The manuscripts of Linnaeus were no less freely consulted; but great was
our disappointment to find the _Lachesis Lapponica_ written in Swedish.
For a long time therefore it remained unexplored. At length Mr. Charles
Troilius, a young gentleman in the mercantile line, resident in London,
undertook the task of translating it. The manuscript proved to be the
identical journal written on the spot during the tour, which certainly
rendered it the more interesting; but the difficulty of decyphering it
proved from that very circumstance unexpectedly great. The bulk of the
composition is Swedish, but so intermixed with Latin, even in half
sentences, that the translator, not being much acquainted with this
language, found it necessary to leave frequent blanks, giving a literal
version only of what he was able to read. The whole abounds also with
frequent cyphers and abbreviations, sometimes referring to the
publications or opinions of the day, and intended as memorandums for
subsequent consideration. It is, in short, such a journal as a man would
write for his own use, without the slightest thought of its ever being
seen by any other person. The composition is entirely artless and
unaffected, giving a most amiable idea of the writer's mind and temper;
and it cannot but be considered as highly curious, to contemplate in
these pages the development of such a mind as that of Linnaeus. As not a
word throughout the whole was written for the use of any person but the
author, the reader may perhaps be disappointed at not meeting with any
thing like a professed description of Lapland, or even a regular detail
of the route of the traveller. What was familiar to Linnaeus, either in
books or in his own mind, is omitted. By the brilliant sketches he has
left us in his _Flora Lapponica_, published a few years after his
return, we see what he might have written had he here undertaken to
communicate his own knowledge or remarks to others; and the same may be
said of such of his dissertations, in the _Am[oe]nitates Academicae_, as
professedly treat of subjects belonging to Lapland. The curious and
learned reader will, however, here and there, meet with the first
traces of ideas, opinions or discoveries, which scarcely acquired a
shape, even in the mind of the writer, till some time afterwards. If on
the one hand the Journal may seem defective in communicating
information, the occasional quotations, references and allusions, the
familiar and sufficiently correct use of the Latin language, and the
general accuracy of the whole, give a very high idea of the author's
accomplishments. The extemporaneous journals of the most illustrious
travellers, made without a single book to refer to, or a companion to
consult, would few of them perhaps stand the test of criticism so well.
To render the translation fit for the public view, the editor found
himself under the necessity of writing the whole over; but in doing
this, though often obliged to supply the forms of whole sentences, of
which only hints or cyphers exist in the manuscript, he has been careful
to give as literal a translation of the rest as the materials would
allow. This principle ever kept in view, and the difficulty of the
undertaking, which, small as the book is, has taken up much of his time
for seven years past, must apologize for any inelegancies of
composition. Yet in many parts the original displays a natural and
striking eloquence, of which the translation may possibly fall short.
Such passages, when they occurred, repaid the labour and perplexity of
studying for hours to decypher some obscure mark, or some ill-written
Swedish or Latin word, which the original translator had given up in
despair.
The sketches with a pen, that occur plentifully in the manuscript, are
not the least curious part of the whole. They are often necessary to
explain descriptive passages in the work, and about sixty of them have
been selected to illustrate the book. These have been cut in wood, with
such admirable precision, that every stroke of the pen, even the most
casual, is retained, and it is but justice to the artist, Mr. R. T.
Austin, to record his name. Several plants, but rudely sketched in this
manuscript, being more completely represented in the _Flora Lapponica_,
it was thought unnecessary to publish such figures, except a few, for
the sake of curiosity, or of particular illustration.
The notes are entirely supplied by the editor. Every name or remark that
he has added to the text, is scrupulously inserted between crotchets;
nor is there, throughout the whole, any one passage or word of the
original author's so inclosed.
The "Brief Narrative," subjoined to the Journal, having been drawn up by
Linnaeus himself, to lay before the Academy of Sciences at Upsal, could
not with propriety be omitted. Part of it throws great light on the body
of the work; and though there are some repetitions, there is little that
can be thought superfluous.
* * * * *
_Norwich_, April, 1811.