22 THE LATE PROFESSOR REINWARDT. 
practice of medicine, and he applied himself with zeal to those sciences 
which form the basis of the art of healing ; but his reputation for learning 
being established before he could commence this career, he was called 
to the Chair of Natural History at the University of Harderwijk, and, os 
a later period, to that of the Athenzeum of Amsterdam. From this 
time may be dated his almost exclusive devotion to the study of botany, 
geology, and chemistry, without, however, losing sight of the rapid 
progress which the other natural sciences were making. 
In 1815 he was appointed by the Government to accompany the 
commissioners who were to retake possession of the Dutch East Indies, 
ceded to it by treaty with the English Government. To render his 
talents useful to the Colonial Government of his country, by improving 
all that relates to the nature of the soil of Java, to agriculture, to sana- 
tory regulations, to education, ete. ete., was the task imposed on Mr. 
Reinwardt. 
Not satisfied with acquitting himself of these laborious duties, he 
travelled in all directions over Java, the Moluccas, seconded by the 
Government in all that he judged necessary to aid his botanical, geo- 
logical, and zoological researches, and to form the numerous collection 
of the natural history and antiquities of India with which the museums 
_ of the University at Leyden are enriched. 
Although his stay in India contributed much to enlarge the horizon 
of his scientific ideas, and enabled him to discover new relations 
between the different sciences which he cultivated, we must, however, 
regret that the encyclopedic tendency of his mind did not permit him 
to fathom the details, and by that means to increase the number of his 
discoveries. He embraced too much at once; and that explains how he 
could have attained the age of eighty years without having finished the 
description of his travels, which alone could give an exact idea of his 
knowledge and of the activity he displayed in the exercise of his nume- 
rous functions. 
: On his return to the Netherlands, Mr. Reinwardt was called to the 
chair of Natural History and Chemistry at the University of Leyden. 
After that period he completed his extensive library, to which he 
devoted much care and perhaps too much time. His constitution 
having suffered from tropical climates and from the fatigues of his 
travels, he experienced difficulty in walking; and although the handling 
of : large folio volumes cost him much labour, the amiable man even in 
