Vir Excellens ac Consuetissime,
Fautor et amice in primis
aestimande!
Quo diutius avidiusque tuas, Vir celeberrime, literas exspectaveram, eo iucundiores gratioresque illae exstiterunt.[1] Nunciant scilicet felicem tuum in Batavia adventum nec minus prosperum rerum tuarum in hac nova provincia statum.[2] Nuncium quoque nobis omnibus gratissimum apportavit habita cum applausu disputatione ad Doctoris te adscendisse gradum. De quo honore summo iure in te collato ut ex animo Tibi, doctissime vir, gratulor, ita maiora in dies et fortunae et dignitatis incrementa tibi apprecor. Fabricius noster reliquique, qui te amant et aestimant, inprimis Jenichius, plurima te salute impertiunt nihilque magis optant quam ut ex animi sententia quaeque tibi fluant. Postremus in ordine sed non in amicitia postremus responsionem, quam cupidissime exspectat, simulque disputationem inauguralem,[3] quam, si commode fieri possit, quantocyus cum novis quibusdam literariis, ut ad nos transferri cures, impense rogo gratias simul decentes agens, quod et amicitiae nostrae mihi o carae et promissi tui memor tam benevolis nihilque nisi amorem ac sinceritatem spirantibus variaque nova literaria continentibus literis me compellare coeperis. Perge ita, celeberrime vir, sicque tibi persuade in tam multis, qui identidem ad me advolant, nunciis chartaceis nullum mihi tam acceptum fore quam qui Linnaei nostri nomen musis omnibus carissimum praefert. Systema tuum naturae[4] prelo iam commissum esse non sine summa voluptate audio, nec dubito, quin hae elaboratissimorum tuorum scriptorum primitiae Batavis ita se sint probaturae itaque illis arrisurae, ut plura limatissimi ingenii specimina videre gestiant. Quod ad statum rei literariae in his terris praesertim physicum attinet Lesseri, nostri parochi Nordhusani,[a] doctissimi inque physicis experientissimi scriptum de lapidibus physice et theologice consideratis typis[5] prodiit eiusdemque nuperrime epistola ad Clariss[imum] Sebam de structura insectorum, quae prodromus quasi est prolixioris cuiusdam[b] in hac materia.[6] Derhamum, physicum illum in Anglia maxima fama inclutum in senio tandem obiisse fama est. De cuius morte, si accuratius tibi constat, fac me, quaeso, de ea re certiorem. Dignus enim omnium laudibus ac elogiis vir est cuiusque memoria in seros posteros propagetur. Dudum in eo fuit, ut hydrotheologiam quandam emitteret, sed frustra hactenus expectatum. Utrum post mortem aliquando exitura sit, videbimus.[7] De hydra illa, quam nosti, miraculosa post abitum tuum nihil plane mihi innotuit.[8] Qualis haec ipsa Sebae videatur, scire pervelim. Nec enim dubito, quin tam cautus rerum naturalium indagator idem, quod tu, Physice sagacissime, subolfecerit.[c]
Denique, ne in hac prima confabulatione (nec enim aliud sunt literae amicorum, quae non verba, sed ea, quae verbis continentur, curant) plane {img-L0042-a.gif+greek}[9]a te recedam, en accipe hic, doctissime Vir, schedulas illas, quibus et tui ipsius tuorumque ingenii foetuum et itineris Darlekarlici,[d][10] non ita quidem, ut res postulabat tuque ipse ac merita tua exigebant, honestam tamen, mentionem intuli. Servet Te Deus in suae majestatis honorem reique literariae incrementum per longam annorum seriem incolumem. Tu vero, Vir celeberrime, nos, ut facis, amare perge quodque tibi temporis vacuum est amico tuo, si vis, impende.
Carissimi nominis Tui, deditissimo cultori
Kohlio
Hamburgi 8 Sept[embris] 1735.
[e]P.S. Scribe, quaeso, ad quem numerum novellae nostrae Hamb[urgenses][11] Tibi praesto sint, ut reliquas data occasione transmittam.[e]
Vale et fave!
TEXTUAL NOTES
a. MS1 Nordhusani
b. MS1 [sc.] operis
c. MS1 <[illegible]> subolfecerit
d. MS1 [read] Dalecarlici
e. MS1 [added in the left margin]
EXPLANATORY NOTES
1. Johann Peter Kohl constantly published information on Linnaeus’s works in Hamburgische Berichte. According to Kohl, Christian von Nettelbla supplied him with some of the material. See Ekenvall, “Ett obeaktat zoologiskt bidrag av Linné i en tysk tidskrift 1743”, 90. In May 1735, Linnaeus and Claes Sohlberg visited Kohl in Hamburg on their way to Holland. See Linnaeus, Iter ad exteros susceptum 1734 (with a German translation in Linnaeus, Auslandsreise) and Ekenvall, “Ett obeaktat zoologiskt bidrag av Linné i en tysk tidskrift 1743”.
2. Linnaeus’s letter from Harderwijk to Kohl, 1 August 1735 n.s., is mentioned in Hamburgische Berichte, 75 (1735), 617-620, where a detailed account of Linnaeus’s doctoral thesis is given (see n. 3 below). However, no letters from Linnaeus to Kohl have come down to us.
3. In De febrium intermittentium causa Linnaeus asserted that malaria was caused by the presence of clay in drinking water. See the Swedish translation, introduction and notes by G. Drake, SLÅ 16 (1933), 41-62. There is an English translation in Garnham, “Linnaeus’ thesis on malaria in Sweden”. See also Boerman, “Linnaeus becomes candidatus medicinae at Harderwijk”.
4. Linnaeus, Systema naturae.
5. Lesser, Lithotheologie.
6. Lesser, Insecto-theologia. See Kohl, Hamburgische Berichte, 43 (1736), 386.
7. No such work was published.
8. In Hamburg Linnaeus and Sohlberg saw the seven-headed hydra (depicted in Seba, Locupletissimi rerum naturalium thesauri accurata descriptio). This monster was said to have had its place on an altar in a church in Prague. In 1648 it was taken as booty by field marshal Hans Kristofer von Königsmarck. After varying fortunes it came to Hamburg, where it was studied by Linnaeus and Kohl (Hamburgische Berichte, 46 (1735), 389-390). However, according to Linnaeus this monster was a fake made by monks to depict the dragon in the Apocalypse. See Linnaeus, Ungdomsresor, 205 (with a German translation in Linnaeus, Auslandsreise).
9. Greek for “without any contribution”.
10. Linnaeus’s journey to Dalecarlia took place in 1734. See Iter Dalekarlicum (with a Swedish translation in Linnés Dalaresa). See also Kohl, Hamburgische Berichte, 71 (1735), 587-590.
11. The periodical started by Kohl was Hamburgische Berichte von den neuesten Gelehrten Sachen (1732-1759).