1836-37-] KARL SCHIMPER. in 



biological phenomena, which according to his views 

 were the causes of the fall of temperature (la chute dc 

 la temperature}. Schimper exhibits a curious combina- 

 tion of a dreaming philosophy and mathematical spirit 

 with a great deal of poetical inspiration, -- a most 

 attractive man. From the first he made use of mathe- 

 matical drawings in his explanations of the morphology 

 and phyllotaxy of plants ; and during his stay at Neu- 

 chatel in 1837, he constructed, with the help of Agassiz, 

 a synoptical table, showing the disposition, the history, 

 and classification of the animal kingdom, which has 

 since been published under the title of " Crust of the 

 Earth as related to Zoology," as a frontispiece to 

 " Principles of Zoology," by Agassiz and Gould, Bos- 

 ton, 1848. Shortly after, during the same year, Schim- 

 per constructed a table showing the different systems 

 of upheaval, as imagined by Elie de Beaumont, by 

 means of concentric circles, with a wheel in the centre 

 showing the directions. Applying his mathematical 

 bent to the fall of the temperature due, according 

 to him, to the complete extinction of life at the end of 

 each geological period, he drew the little figure which 

 was inserted by Agassiz in his address. 



Two features characteristic of the style of this 

 celebrated discourse must occur with force to any 



him, dated Cambridge, March 13, 1868, in which he said: " Ce n'etait pas 

 petite chose de se poser en adversaire de Leopold de Buch, en 1837, e ^ 

 d'avoir conquis sur ce sujet 1'assentiment de tous les geologues, a 1'excep- 

 tion d'Elie de Beaumont; car Tan dernier Murchison lui-meme m'ecrivait 

 qu'il se rendait entin a 1'evidence. Vous savez que la part de Charpentier 

 se reduit a avoir demontre la grande extension du glacier du Rhone. C'est 

 moi qui ai pose la question d'une epoque glaciaire et qui 1'ai fait prevaloir." 



