Title:
Adriaan van Royen to Carl Linnaeus
Type:
Image
Licence:
Contact [email protected]
Repository:
The Linnean Society of London
Collection:
Linnaean Correspondence
Reference number:
LC/12/133
Archival level:
Item
Date:
10 November 1739
Placement:
Volume 12: 273-274
Extent:
273-274
Description:
Adriaan van Royen salutes Linnaeus by congratulating him or his well-deserved popularity, and on his appointment as a physician to the Admiralty in Stockholm. Van Royen thanks Linnaeus for the answers to his questions. He assures that he will go on consulting Linnaeus, annoying to him though it may be, as soon as a botanical problem arises, but he feels confident that Linnaeus will put up with this remembering his friend’s affection and busy situation. Van Royen has acquired a few but rare books from Herman Boerhaave’s library. Now he offers Linnaeus a copy of his own Florae Leydensis Prodromus as a token of friendship. Two other new works are mentioned: Johannes Burman’s Decades plantarum Africanarum, and Johan Frederik Gronovius’s Flora Virginica. Linnaeus will get these works from the authors themselves, so van Royen will not send them, unless Linnaeus so wishes. Linnaeus’s Genera plantarum is almost out of print, and a new edition should be published. Van Royen declares himself willing to take care of the publication. He asks Linnaeus to give instructions and inform him if he wants to add material etc. Van Royen also asks Linnaeus to entrust him with the edition of Philosophia botanica (by which he probably meant Fundamenta botanica) and promises a beautiful result. Olaus Rudbeck’s Campi Elysii is not available in Holland. If Linnaeus could send him a copy of this work, and also of all other modern Swedish botanical works, he would be very grateful. “You do not know how much I appreciate you and your erudition” van Royen says, and explains that he has tried to demonstrate this in his eulogy of Linnaeus in the preface of his Prodromus. The burden of van Royen’s all tasks and occupations prevents him from writing poetry. This regrettable fact explains why he did not write anything to honour Linnaeus on his wedding (on 26 June 1739). Van Royen is truly sorry for this. However, it has come to his notice that Linnaeus’s wife is carrying a “germ” in her “receptacle”. Very good. Van Royen himself has three little “botanists” in his house, what about a forth one? “I think you would say: Close the streaming water, the fields have drunk enough”. By this Virgilian quotation van Royen means: “It is enough!” The rest of the letter is devoted to a detailed description of a plant that van Royen believes to be a Gladiolus, but he asks for Linnaeus’s opinion.
Sender:
Royen, Adriaan van
Sent from location:
Leÿdae [Leiden, Netherlands]
Recipient:
Linnaeus, Carl
Transcription:
Amico Integerrimo D[omino] Carolo Linnaeo S[alutem] P[lurimam D[icit] A. Van Roÿen. Si vales, bene est, ego valeo; et civium amorem et favorem erga Te laudo, probo et gratulor. Medicum Practicum Te saluto et faustis avibus hanc provinciam suceptam ess gaudeo, Tibique perpetuam et auream voveo. Pro responsis ad interrogata grates ago, nec Tibi subinde aurem vellicare desinam, si quid, quod ex tua doctrina planum fieri possit, occurrat dubii vel minus a Botanicis determinati. Nimiam in scribendo negligentiam, quam forsitan aegre tulisti, condonabis, spero, homini Tibi bene volenti at undique occupatissimo, minus tamen in posterum festinare coacto plus dabitur otii, quo melius et frequentius Botanicum Tecum habere possim commercium. Paucos sed raros et Elegantes Botanicos ex Bibliotheca Boerhaavi obtinui, ut Renealmium, Donatum, Triumphettum et similes. Boerhaavii Indicem alterum, De Gorter Institutiones, & Crameri Chemiam, his addidi Scultensii Orat[ionem] funebrem, De Gorter Dissertationes, et Prodromum Florae Leydensis, quem ut perpetuum amicitiae et obsequii monumentum, offero, donec majora et meliora dare valeam. Adjeci et semina aliquot, quae non ingrata fore credidi: Utinam prodeant ex voto examinantemque delectent! Cum Cl[arissimus] Burmannus, ut mihi relatum est, Decades Plantarum Africanarum tibi obtulerit, has mittere supersedeo. ut et Floram Virginicam Cl[arissimi]. Gronovii, quam ni ab Auctore acceperis dudum, certo accipies. Si autem alterutras vel utrasque a me desideres, obtinere poteris, modo significes. Grates ago pro novis generibus indicatis; inquiram in haec sedulo, quam primum sese nobis offerant examinandas. Genera Tua vel Characteres plantarum, cum poene nulla exemplaria supersint, redimprimi debent; Curam hujus in me suscipiam, ubi cognoverim, qua id ratione et quo ordine fieri debeat: velis itaque Tuam super his mentem mihi aperire, et significare an alia addenda habeas, nec ne: immo an placeret, si Tuis generibus insererentur nova Gronoviana et nostra &c Bibliopola Wishofius urget opus et responsum. Si quid a Te obtinere possum, quaeso, Philosophiam Tuam Botanicam mihi imprimendam transmittas; curabo ut nitidissima prodeat, conditiones autem, sub quibus Pibliopolae eam tradere liceat, determines. Rudbeckii Campos Elysios, acta Svecica, et quosunque Suecos auctores auro redimere vellem, si obtinere possem; hos itaque mihi collige, hos transmitte, et gratus rependam, quicquid erogaveris, verbo dulcissimum, id si praestiteris, mihi praestabis officium. Quanti Te faciam tuamque doctrinam nescis: in praefatione tamen aliquod Tibi a me positum agnosces monumentum, quo constet posteritati, quid de Tuis in rem herbariam meritis sentiam. Carmina secessum scribentis & otia quaerunt, quae mihi cum jam per biennium defecerint, habes rationem, quo minus, Torpentes Musas ad Tua festa excitare potuerim. Id enim officii quod Tibi non praestiterim, gravioribus curis & negotiis impeditus, ipse doleo. Sed quid audio, an Tua jam germen gerit in Receptaculo? Mihi jam tertius ridet Botanicus, quid dicam de Quarto? Vestrates puto, dicerent, Claudite jam rivos pueri; sat prata biberunt. Inter alias quam plurimas hoc anno ex Cap[ite] B[onae] Spei acceptas floruit, quam ex facie Gladiolum fore suspicabar. Delineandum curavi characterem dedit sequentem. Cal[yx]. nullus. Spatha, triphylla, erecta; capsulam includens, persistens, foliolis ovatis, acuminatis, duobus lateralibus minoribus, exteriori majori; omnibus concavis membranaceis pellucidis. Cor[olla] sexpartita, erecta; laciniis omnibus ovatis aequalibus, Unguibus in tubum rectum angustissimum longitudine corollae connatis. Stam[ina] tria, corolla duplo breviora. Filamenta subulata, alternis petalorum unguibus ad ingressum Tubi inserta. Antherae longitudine Filamentorum reclinatae, oblongae. Pist[illum]. Germen infra receptaculum. Stylus simplex, filiformis, longitudine staminum: stigma trifidum (vel potius stigmata tria, stylo duplo vel triplo breviora reflexa obtusa). Peric[arpium] Capsula oblonga, ventricosa, trigora, obtusa, trilocularis, trivalvis. Sem[ina] plurima subrotunda (an calyptra donata?) Obs. Corolla monopetala est, Laciniae omnes concavae at tres interiores totae flavescunt, reliquae intus flavae extus e flavo pulcre et amoene rubescunt. Flos ad solem explicatur alias clausus. Fores in spicam laxam sensim dilatatam congesti sunt. Caulis plus quam pedalis teres & Foliis ensiformibus striatis nervo medio insignior[i] instructus ipso caule brevioribus emergit, superne ubi in spicam jamjam terminatur, poene nudu, aut una alterave duntaxat stipula aut folii rudimento praeditus. Radix An ergo Gladiolus? an propter singularem et a Gladiolis longissime recedentem Corollae figuram & structuram novae plantae genus? Consideres & reliquas, et tu quid sentias, mihi significa. Interim me Tui memorem vivere persuassimum habe Valeque. P.S. Sambucus racemosa rubra Bauh. pin. specie differt a vulgari per flores manifeste racemosos. ut cernis in ramulo florifero heîc incluso. NB Exercitationes medicas D[omini] De Gorter mittere decreveram sed eas hac urbe hoc tempore obtinere non potui. Dabam Leÿdae ad d[iem] X Novembris 1739. [address] Monsieur / Monsieur Carolus Linnaeus / Docteur en Medicine &c. &c
Previous reference number:
L0310
Condition note:
Seal tear. Seal present. R.h.edge 274 recto rather discol.
