Chapter XVI · SOME WELL-KNOWN SWEDES

Carl Linnæus was the son of a poor clergyman, and was born at Råshult, in the province of Småland, in 1707. His father wished him to become a clergyman, but from infancy he showed a great love for flowers, and made up his mind to study medicine. He was a student at Upsala, where he underwent great privations, as his father allowed him only eight pounds per year. He so persevered that he attracted the attention of the professors, and was commissioned to study the plant-life of Swedish Lapland.

Poverty drove him to Holland for his degree as doctor of medicine. He found a friend there in a Dutch banker, Clifford, who enabled him to publish many works, in one of which he made known his classification of plants. At this time he visited London, and when walking on a common near the City saw furze for the first time. He was so attracted by the golden bloom of the flower that he fell down on his knees and admired it. He tried in vain to cultivate it in Sweden. On his return to Stockholm, he gained a reputation as a physician, but gave up his profession to be professor of botany in the University where he had studied. He attracted students from all parts, and gained a world-wide reputation, his class increasing from five to hundreds. He was made a noble, and when he died, aged seventy-one years, the King spoke from the throne of his death as being a national calamity.

Another man of whom Sweden is justly proud is Baron Johan Jakob Berzelius, one of the greatest of modern chemists. He is said to rank next to Linnæus in science in Sweden. He introduced a set of symbols on which those in use at the present day are based. The science of chemistry owes a great deal to the accuracy and extent of his researches. It is the wonder of many how he could accomplish so much as he did. He had, like Linnæus, the gift of perseverance.

Another well-known Swede is Alfred Nobel, who was born in Stockholm in 1833, and died in 1896. When young, he went with his father to Russia to help him in the manufacture of submarine mines and torpedoes. He took out patents for a gasometer and for an apparatus for measuring liquid. He will, however, always be remembered as the inventor of dynamite. Many precious lives were lost in the process. It was finally produced as dynamite gum in 1876. When one thinks of dynamite, immediately there are brought to the mind war, with all its horrors, and anarchism, with its bombs and nefarious practices; but it has been one of the greatest aids to man in his engineering triumphs. By its aid mountains have been tunnelled and rocks under the water more easily removed.

To show how extensively it is being used, in 1870 the total world’s output did not exceed eleven tons. At the present day it annual tonnage is to be reckoned by the hundred thousand. Works for its manufacture are all over the world.

Alfred Nobel left a large fortune, and so arranged that a large sum should be set aside for five annual prizes of £8,000 each for men who had distinguished themselves in science, literature, and the promotion of peace. Men from all parts of the world can compete, and the awards are made by a committee of Scandinavians.

Mention must be made of Baron Adolf Nordenskiold (1832-1907), who reached the highest latitude in the Arctic region till then attained by any ship, and in the Vega spent two years accomplishing the North-East Passage. Otto Nordenskiold, a nephew of Baron Adolf, also sailed in the northern seas, and after two years’ exploration discovered King Oscar Land; and Sven Hedin, who traversed the countries of Central Asia, and brought to light the secrets of past ages.

Sweden stands high in music and song. She has produced many gifted musicians, but none greater than Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale. She was born in Stockholm of very humble parentage. One day she, as a child, was heard singing to her cat. The listener was so entranced that she was the means of Jenny Lind being brought to the director of the Royal Opera House, who saw the quality of her voice, and arranged that she should be educated at Government expense. At the age of eighteen she made her first appearance. Wherever she went she captivated the people. She became the favourite of Stockholm, London, Berlin, and New York. Only eleven years did she remain in opera, and from religious convictions she resolved to confine herself to the concert-room. She is known as a singer, but her generosity and unselfishness will never be forgotten. In one tour in America her share of the profits was £35,000. More than half of that she spent in charity in her native land. In one year she raised £10,000 in England to help deserving institutions.

Many touching anecdotes of her life are told, to show the character of the woman. A young man was very ill in Copenhagen when Jenny Lind was filling the city with excitement. His young wife was full of regrets that her husband should not hear her. Jenny heard of the desire, and went on a Sunday afternoon and charmed the two young people with her voice.

As she was sitting one day on the sands, with her Bible on her knee, and looking at the setting sun, a friend said to her: “Oh, how is it that you ever came to abandon the stage at the very height of your success?” “When every day,” was the quiet answer, “it made me think less of this” (laying a finger on the Bible), “and nothing at all of that” (pointing out to the sunset), “what else could I do?” The spiritual was the supreme in her. She died a naturalized British subject in her country-home in the Malvern Hills in 1887.

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