HASSELQUIST (Frederick) was born in the province of East Gothland in 1722, and studied medicine and botany in the university of Upsal. Linnaeus had in his lectures represented the extraordinary merits and great celebrity which a young student might obtain by travelling through Palestine, and by inquiring into and describing the natural history of that country, which was till then unknown, and had become of the greatest importance to interpret the bible, and to understand eastern philology. Hasselquist was fired with ambition to accomplish an object so important in itself, and so warmly recommended by his beloved master. There being no fund arising from the liberality of the crown, private collections were made, which poured in very copiously, especially from the native country of the young traveller. All the faculties of the university of Upsal also granted him a stipend. Thus protected, he commenced his journey in the summer of 1749. By the interference of Lagerstroem, he had a free passage to Smyrna in one of the Swedish East Indiamen. He arrived there at the conclusion of the year, and was received in the most friendly manner by Mr A. Rydel, the Swedish consul. In the beginning of 1750 he set out for Egypt, and remained nine months at Cairo the capital. Hence he sent to Linnaeus, and to the learned societies of his country, some specimens of his researches. They were published in the public papers, and met with the greatest approbation; and upon the proposition of Dean Baeck and Dr Wargentin, secretary of the Royal Academy of Sciences, a collection of upwards of 10,000 dollars in copper money was made for the continuance of the travels of young Hasselquist. Counsellors Lagerstroem and Nordencrantz were the most active in raising subscriptions at Stockholm and Gothenburgh. In the spring of 1751, he repaired to his destination, and passed through Jaffa to Jerusalem, Jericho, &c. He returned afterwards through Rhodus and Scio to Smyrna. Thus he fulfilled all the expectations of his country, but he was not to reap the reward of his toils. The burning heat of the sandy deserts of Arabia had affected his lungs; he reached Smyrna in a state of illness, in which he languished for some time, and died February 9. 1752, in the 30th year of his age. The fruits of his travels were, however, preserved through the liberality of a great prince. He had been obliged to contract debts. The Turks, therefore, seized upon all his collections, and threatened to expose them to public sale. The Swedish consul prevented it. He sent, with the intelligence of the unhappy exit of his countryman, an account of the distresses under which he died;—and at the representation of Dean Baeck, Queen Louisa Ulrica granted the sum of 14,000 dollars in copper specie to redeem all his collections. They arrived afterwards in good preservation at Stockholm; consisting of a great quantity of antiques, Arabian manuscripts, shells, birds, serpents, insects, &c. and were kept in the cabinets at Ulrichsdale and Drottningholm. The specimens of the natural curiosities of these museums being double or treble in number, Linnaeus obtained some of them, and published the voyage of his ill-fated friend, and honoured his memory with a plant, which he called from his name Hasselquistia. HASSELQUISTA, Encycl.