OF DR. J. R. T. VOGEL. 601 



and a careful choice of means, it must be admitted that little 

 has been accomplished by the numerous and deeply calculated 

 plans for obtaining a more perfect knowledge of the interior 

 of Africa. Amongst many others, one of the naturalists of 

 the expedition, to whose memory the following pages are 

 dedicated, has succumbed to the destructive influence of the 

 climate. If, however, according to the expression of a philoso- 

 pher, it be the province of eloquence to commemorate illus- 

 tnous minds, whose labours, owing to an unfortunate concur- 

 rence of circumstances, have not been productive of commen- 

 surate effects, and so, to compensate* for the want of incident, 

 a more skilful pen than mine is requisite. I must be contented 

 to show what the world and what science have lost, by the 

 simple relation of a few circumstances, and by extracts from 

 the last official records of the deceased. 



Julius Rudolph Theodor Vogel, or as he frequently called 

 himself by an abridgement of his baptismal name, Theodor 

 Vogel, was born at Berlin, on the 30th of July, 1812. 

 While yet a boy, he showed a decided inclination for the 

 study of history, geography, and the productions of nature. No 

 book was read by him with greater delight than Robinson 

 Crusoe. He knew it almost by heart, and in all probability its 

 perusal awakened in him that eagerness to visit countries yet 

 unexplored by science, which was hereafter destined never to 

 leave him. He received his first scientific education at the 

 Friedric-Wilhelms-Gymnasium at Berlin, of which Spilleke 

 was then the director, from which establishment he was dis- 

 missed with the testimonial No. I. The Gymnasium, how- 

 ever, afforded no opportunity of acquiring botanical know- 

 ledge, but under the guidance of Ruthe, upper master 

 °f the Gewerbschule, he commenced studying and collecting 

 plants. With him he went as a pupil in summer weekly 

 to botanize, and if he had leisure for a day or two, it was 

 devoted to more distant excursions. At the beginning of 

 ^e summer term, 1832, Vogel was a student at the univer- 

 8l ty of Berlin, where he attended the philosophic and hu- 



* F. Hcmsterhuis, CEuvrcs philosophiques, I. 268. 



