AN EXTRAORDINARY YOUTH. 15

leaves, and fruit, was placed in a phial holding
about six ounces of alcohol.” The fruit is annually
collected and preserved, being used as a sauce with
meat and in soups ; and wishing to send some to his
friends in England, Dr Clarke purchased a few jars
on reaching the town of Tornea. They were
brought by a boy without shoes or stockings, who,
having executed his errand, was observed to cast a
longing eye towards some books of specimens of
plants which lay on the table ready for arrange-
ment. ‘To the surprise of the travellers, he named
every one of them as fast as they were shown him,
giving to each its appropriate Linnean appellation.
They found, on inquiry, that this extraordinary
youth was the son of a poor widow, who had placed
him an apprentice under this apothecary. His
master had himself a turn for natural history; —
nevertheless, he did not choose that his young
pupil should leave the pestle and mortar to run
after botanical specimens. “It interrupted,” he
said (and probably with sufficient reason), “the
business of the shop.” The consequence was, that
the lad had secretly carried on his studies, snatch-
ing every hour he could spare to ramble, barefooted,
in search of a new plant or insect, which he care-
fully concealed from his master, who at length, by
accident, discovered his boxes of insects, which he
unscrupulously appropriated to his own use, ex-