CH. xxiii. HERMANN BOERHAA VE. 191 



siege of four months which the starving inhabitants endured 

 with the utmost heroism, when the Protestant Netherlanders 

 were struggling for life and liberty against Philip II. of Spain. 

 The Dutchmen were successful at last and drove out the 

 Spanish army, by cutting away the dykes and letting the sea 

 swallow up their beautiful pastures, their neat villages, and 

 their fruitful orchards ; and as a reward for their devotion to 

 the cause, William of Orange founded the University of 

 Leyden, which afterwards became very celebrated. 



Hermann Boerhaave, of whose work we are now going 

 to speak, was a Professor of Medicine in this University 

 about a hundred years after its commencement. The son 

 of a Dutch clergyman, he was born in 1668 at Vorhout, one 

 of those same small Dutch villages near Leyden which had 

 been for days under the sea in 1574. His father intended 

 him for the church j but the young student, having been 

 accused of holding false opinions, was only too glad to give 

 up this profession and study medicine, in which he de- 

 lighted. He was so successful that in 1701 he was made 

 Lecturer of Medicine in the University, and a few years 

 later the Professorships of Chemistry and Botany were 

 also given to him. From that time the Medical School of 

 Leyden became famous all over the world. Students 

 flocked to it from all quarters, and most of the best me- 

 dical men of Europe were pupils of Boerhaave. This was 

 due chiefly, of course, to his wonderful medical knowledge 

 and his skill as a lecturer ; but his popularity was greatly 

 increased by his enthusiasm, kindly temper, and the great 

 interest which he took in the success of his pupils. He 

 was always ready to help others and to give them credit 

 for the work they had done, and it is said that even his 

 enemies could not resist his constant and uniform kind- 



