Fries Elias Magnus

Fries, Elias Magnus, born at Smaland, Sweden, in 1794, was early led to the pursuit, of botany by his father, an intelligent pastor. At the age of 12 he discovered a new fungus, Hydnum, and henceforward he devoted himself chiefly to studying the cryptogamia, upon which he wrote many learned treatises, not, however, neglecting other varieties of the Scandinavian flora. After graduating at the university of Lund, he became professor in 1824, and ten years later was transferred to Upsala, which he represented in the Rigsdag. He was elected a foreign member of the London Royal Society in 1875, and died in 1878.