18 INVISIBLE FLOWERS.

made, and gradually perfecting his theories and
systems. “ He led a very active and bustling life,”
says one who visited him at Upsala. “I never
saw him at leisure; even his walks had for their
object discoveries in natural history.” On one
occasion he had received the seed of a rare plant
which he was anxious to rear. He suceeded in his
object; the plant bore two flowers. Delighted with
them, he desired the gardener to take especial care
of them; and two days after, returning home late
in the evening, he eagerly went to the garden to
see how they were thriving; but they were not to
be found. The next night the same thing oc-
curred. In the morning the flowers reappeared,
fresh and beautiful as ever. The gardener sup-
posed them to be new ones, as he had not been
able to find them the two previous evenings. The
attention of Linneus was immediately caught, and
he visited for the third time at nightfall his fugi-
tive flowers. They were once more invisible; but
he found them at last, deeply wrapped up in and
entirely covered by the leaves. This discovery
stimulated his curiosity, and he visited his gardens
and hothouses in the night-time, lantern in hand,
desirous of observing minutely the condition of
the plants under the influence of darkness. He
found the greater part of the flowers contracted

and concealed, and the vegetable kingdom alinost
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