364 SKETCH OF THE 



philosophy of Kant and Schelling, then in vogue in Germany, served 

 to combine these opposite tendencies; and to seek imaginary things in 

 realities, and vice versd^ was the most fascinating occupation of the 

 young. The German Universities took their full share of these specu- 

 lations, in 1812 to 1816 ; and though disgraced by a Sand, it must be 

 asserted that the majority of the pupils were inspired with an honest 

 and disinterested patriotic zeal, and that arts, science, and literature 

 received a powerful impulse at that period. Like their own majestic 

 Rhine, the Germans pursued their course : the troubled and tumultuous 

 mountain-stream works itself clear, strong, and broad, as it flows along 

 the level plain. 



M. de Martins had by no means gone all lengths in these juvenile 

 ebullitions : his zeal for study, the influence of his worthy friends, and 

 other soberizing circumstances availed, and soon he had the exciting 

 prospect of making a distant expedition into the New World. During 

 his Erlangen career, Theodore Nees von Esenbeck, younger brother of 

 the President of the Natural History Society, was his most intimate 

 acquaintance ; they worked together, and when separated, they carried 

 on a Latin correspondence. Theodore was a remarkably amiable and 

 Tvell-informed man, a close observer, and one whose works, especially 

 the earlier portion of the ' Genera Plantarum Florse GermanicEe,' are 

 deservedly esteemed. He and Martins often spent many weeks at 

 Wurzburg, in the house of the elder Von Esenbeck, studying botany, 

 science, and philosophy. 



At the death of Schreber, the Bavarian Academy purchased his col- 

 lections, and sent the aged Professor Schrank to Erlangen, to receive 

 them and bring them away. The latter had noticed young Martius 

 remarkable intelligence, and held out some hope of his obtaining em- 

 ployment at Munich ; a prospect which was eagerly seized, for after 

 passing very strict examinations, he became a pupil of the Academy, 

 and in 1816 he was appointed to a charge in the Botanic Garden. 



STue 



mic 



As 



may be supposed, these little works were marked by no novelty ; ma- 

 terials for which were in fact wanting. War had closed all communica- 

 tion with foreign countries ; and herbaria of exotic plants were few and 

 poor, and had already been worked out by the botanists to whom they 



belonged. 



brilliant 



