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216 A History of Sweden
to Sweden. He next names as an inducement the
healthful climate of the North : "The winter here/* he
declares, "is clear, pure, and bracing." In the South
it is accompanied with "filth, fogs, and stench." The
summer in the North, "both night and day, is so de-
lightful that no place in the South can compare with
it. Infectious diseases rarely reach the North, hence,
people, as a rule, here reach a very great age" and
acquire greater strength than people in the South. In
the North "light and its charm" is richer than in the
South; for in winter flame the northern lights and
with the whiteness of the snow "furnish such bright-
ness that one can travel night and day."
His contemporaries wondered and admired. Later
generations were to learn that his national zeal had
led him astray.
The evening of Olof Rudbeck’s untiring life was
approaching. It seemed calm and peaceful. Then came
a crushing stroke. On the night of Ascension Day,
1702, fire broke out in Uppsala. A raging windstorm
carried the flames from house to house. In the morn-
ing fire threatened the "Gustavianum," which housed
within its walls the university’s greatest treasure, its
library.
"Then was seen on the roof of the building," says an
old record, "in a shower of sparks, between tongues of
flame and columns of smoke, an aged man of giant
form and with gray locks fluttering in the wind. It
was Olof Rudbeck, who from the smoking shingle roof
directed the fire extinguishers, and whose orders, given
in a stentorian voice, were distinctly heard in all direc-
tions over the din and the tumult. He was informed
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