SKETCH OF JOHN GUNDLACH. 691 



SKETCH OF JOHN GUNDLACH. 



Br JUAN VILAKO, M. D., A. M., Ph. D., 



PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY, HAVANA UNIVERSITY. 



THE words by which Sir William Jardine characterized Alex- 

 ander Wilson may be equally well applied, with a slight 

 change, to Gundlach, the Cuban naturalist. He "was the first 

 who truly studied the birds of Cuba in their natural abodes from 

 real observation ; and his work will always remain an ever- to-be- 

 admired testimony of enthusiasm and perseverance." Gundlach 

 studied with equal completeness all the land and river fauna of 

 Cuba and that of the sea, except the fishes, on which Poey was 

 engaged. 



John Christopher Gundlach was born July 17, 1810, at the 

 University of Marburg, Hesse Cassel, where his father, Dr. John 

 Gundlach, was Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. 

 When the father died he left his five children a good name and a 

 noble example ; and the mother received a pension. 



These resources, however, were not sufficient for so numerous 

 a family. Great sacrifices were necessary if so many children 

 were to be fittingly educated. The young students were com- 

 pelled to devote their leisure moments to work, instead of the 

 exercises of pleasure and recreation which were the privilege of 

 their fellows. Henry became a doctor of medicine ; Conrad, a 

 Protestant minister ; William, a guardian of the forests ; and 

 John accustomed himself, to use his own words, to "accept des- 

 tiny in whatever shape it might present itself," and to do much 

 while he spent little. He was in his ninth year when his elder 

 brother returned from Cassel with a ready and practical knowl- 

 edge of taxidermy. He used to watch the brother's work, closely 

 and quietly following all the processes of his preparations. The 

 boy was an industrious collector of insects all the while ; and in 

 the study and classification of his collections enjoyed the counsel 

 and assistance of naturalists, who were glad to give him their 

 encouragement. Those fruitful collecting excursions were the 

 pastime of his youth. About this time the young man suffered 

 a serious disaster from the accidental discharge of a shotgun, by 

 which his nose was shattered, and he was permanently deprived 

 of the sense of smell. The misfortune, however, had one com- 

 forting compensation, in that the student was thereby enabled to 

 deal with subjects in extreme stages of decomposition as easily as 

 if they had been entirely fresh. He gained an extensive reputa- 

 tion as a taxidermist, a practical demonstration of which was the 

 fact that a captain residing in Marburg intrusted him with the 

 preparation and mounting of his valuable collection of birds. 



