HASSELQUIST, FnEn•rticx, a celebrated Swedish botanist, was born at Toeruvalla in East Gothland, on the 3d Jan. 1722, old style. Having been left an orphan at an early age, he was for some time supported by his maternal uncle ; but upon the death of this his only friend, he was obliged to support himself by teaching, even for some time after he entered the university of Upsal in 1741. In 1746, he procured a royal stipend or scholarship, and such was his progress in botanical acquirements, that he became a favourite pupil of Linnxus ; and was inspired with such an ardour to examine the botany of distant countries, that though affected with a pulmonary complaint, he resolved to examine the natural history of Palestine. In 1749, he read lectures on botany in Stockholm ; and having received the offer from the Levant Company of a free passage to Smyrna, he set sail on the 7th August, and arrived in that city on the 27th of Nov. 1747. During the winter, he made an excursion to Magnesia, and on the 13th May he arrived at Alexandria, and afterwards visited Rosetta and Grand Cairo. In March 1751, he proceeded to Damietta, from which he sailed to Jaffa, where he began his exami nation of the natural history of Palestine. On the 23d May he set sail for Cyprus, and after visiting Rhodes and Stanchio, he returned to Smyrna in the end of July. His
laborious exertions had now begun to impair his strength, and though he tried a milk diet, and a winter's repose at Smyrna, yet his health gradually declined, and he died on the 9th February 1752, in the 31st year of his age.
During his travels and illness, Hasselquist had unfortu nately contracted a debt of about 350/. sterling, and upon death his collections and MSS. were seized by his cre ditors at Smyrna. As soon as the Queen of Sweden was Informed of this event, she redeemed that valuable deposit, and put it under the care of Linnxus. The MSS. papers of Hasselquist were published in 1757 in Swedish, under the title of her Palestitzum, in one vol. 8vo. with a biogra phical preface by Linnxus, and his correspondence with the author. His work has been translated into several lan guages, and appeared in English in London in 1766. Has selquist is also the author of several memoirs in the Trans actions of the Academies of Upsal and Stockholm, from 1750 to 1752. See the preface to his her Palestinum ; Haller's Bibliotheque Botanique ; and Rees's Cyclopedia.