Editing Carl Linnaeus (section)

===Doctorate===
[[File:Karte Linne.png|thumb|right|Cities where he worked; those outside Sweden were only visited during 1735–1738]]
His relations with Nils Rosén having worsened, Linnaeus accepted an invitation from Claes Sohlberg, son of a mining inspector, to spend the Christmas holiday in [[Falun]], where Linnaeus was permitted to visit the mines.<ref>[[#Blunt2001|Blunt (2001)]], p. 74.</ref>

In April 1735, at the suggestion of Sohlberg's father, Linnaeus and Sohlberg set out for the [[Dutch Republic]], where Linnaeus intended to study medicine at the [[University of Harderwijk]]<ref>[[#Stöver|Stöver (1794)]], p. 71.</ref> while tutoring Sohlberg in exchange for an annual salary. At the time, it was common for Swedes to pursue doctoral degrees in the [[Netherlands]], then a highly revered place to study natural history.<ref>[[#Blunt2001|Blunt (2001)]], pp. 78–79.</ref>

On the way, the pair stopped in [[Hamburg]], where they met the mayor, who proudly showed them a supposed wonder of nature in his possession: the [[taxidermy|taxidermied]] remains of a seven-headed [[Lernaean Hydra|hydra]]. Linnaeus quickly discovered the specimen was a [[hoax|fake]], cobbled together from the jaws and paws of weasels and the skins of snakes. The provenance of the hydra suggested to Linnaeus that it had been manufactured by monks to represent the [[The Beast (Bible)|Beast of Revelation]]. Even at the risk of incurring the mayor's wrath, Linnaeus made his observations public, dashing the mayor's dreams of selling the hydra for an enormous sum. Linnaeus and Sohlberg were forced to flee from Hamburg.<ref name="Anderson60-61">[[#Anderson|Anderson (1997)]], pp. 60–61.</ref><ref>[[#Blunt|Blunt (2004)]], p. 90.</ref>

Linnaeus began working towards his degree as soon as he reached [[Harderwijk]], a university known for awarding degrees in as little as a week.<ref name="Blunt94"/> He submitted a dissertation, written back in Sweden, entitled ''Dissertatio medica inauguralis in qua exhibetur hypothesis nova de febrium intermittentium causa'',<ref group=note name=dissertatio>That is, ''Inaugural thesis in medicine, in which a new hypothesis on the cause of intermittent fevers is presented''</ref> in which he laid out his hypothesis that [[malaria]] arose only in areas with clay-rich soils.<ref name=hempelmann>{{cite journal|last1=Hempelmann|first1=Ernst|last2=Krafts|first2=Kristine|title=Bad air, amulets and mosquitoes: 2,000 years of changing perspectives on malaria|journal=Malaria Journal|year=2013|volume=12|issue=1|page=232|doi=10.1186/1475-2875-12-232|pmid=23835014|pmc=3723432 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Although he failed to identify the true source of disease transmission, (i.e., the ''[[Anopheles]]'' [[mosquito]]),<ref>[http://www.linnaeus.uu.se/online/animal/4_1.html Linnaeus's thesis on the ague (malaria)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812174203/http://www.linnaeus.uu.se/online/animal/4_1.html |date=12 August 2014 }}, 2008, Uppsala University.</ref> he did correctly predict that ''[[Artemisia annua]]'' ([[artemisinins|wormwood]]) would become a source of [[antimalarial]] medications.<ref name=hempelmann/>

Within two weeks he had completed his oral and practical examinations and was awarded a doctoral degree.<ref name="Anderson60-61"/><ref name="Blunt94">[[#Blunt2001|Blunt (2001)]], p. 94.</ref>

That summer Linnaeus reunited with [[Peter Artedi]], a friend from Uppsala with whom he had once made a pact that should either of the two predecease the other, the survivor would finish the decedent's work. Ten weeks later, Artedi drowned in the [[canals of Amsterdam]], leaving behind an unfinished manuscript on the classification of fish.<ref>[[#Anderson|Anderson (1997)]], p. 66.</ref><ref>[[#Blunt|Blunt (2004)]], pp. 98–100.</ref>