Linnæus in many respects resembled Swedenborg, being convinced that his acceptance of truth was the correct one and disliking disputes. Like Swedenborg, he was pious, modest, benevolent and sincere. Of his own exterior and disposition Linnæus has himself given the following characteristic account: “Linnæus was not tall, not small, lean, brown-eyed, light, quick, walked briskly, did everything promptly, disliked slow people, was sensitive, easily moved, worked continuously and could not spare himself. He was fond of good food and drank good drinks, but never to excess. He cared little for exteriors, considering that man should adorn his dress and not vice versa. Faculty meetings were not his delight, or business, for he was made for quite other things, and had other things in mind than those which there were discussed and decided upon.” In the preface to the late edition of his principal work, “Systema Naturæ,” the following noteworthy paragraph is found: “I saw the shadow of the Supreme Being go past me, and I was seized with respect and admiration. I searched for His footsteps in the sand--what power, what wisdom! I saw how the animals existed only by means of the plants, the plants by means of the lifeless particles, and these in their turn constitute the earth. I saw the sun and stars without number hanging suspended in the air, held by the hand of the Being of beings, the artist of this grand masterpiece.”
Linnæus died January 10, 1778, and was buried in the cathedral of Upsala. His botanic system has been superseded by others, but the influence that his researches and discoveries have exerted on the natural sciences and medicine, has not ceased to be benignantly felt, nor have the utmost results of his researches been as yet attained.
Andrew Celsius, professor of astronomy at Upsala, acquired fame as a writer on astronomy and was successful in his efforts to have an observatory built at the university. In 1742 he introduced his invention, the Celsius or centigrade thermometer, which is of almost indispensable practical value in all physical and chemical experiments. Olof Celsius, Senior, the able botanist, Orientalist and patron of Linnæus, was his uncle, he thus being a cousin of Olof Celsius, Junior, whose brightly written histories of Gustavus Vasa and Eric XIV. were translated into contemporaneous French and German.