BOTANY AT ST. LOUIS 



131 



while all received their higher training, especially in the languages, 

 from their father. The boys aided in the farming operations and Theo- 

 dore early manifested a marked interest in the natural sciences, and es- 

 pecially in botany; in which, however, his father could not help him. 

 He soon found an enthusiastic helper in his younger brother Eugene, 

 and together they made extensive collections of the native plants and in- 

 sects of the vicinity. Dr. George Engelmann, a second cousin, greatly 

 assisted the boys in their botanical studies. 



Early in 1847 Theodore went to Europe and entered the University 

 of Heidelberg as a student of medicine. Henle, Chelius and Hasse 

 then made Heidelberg the most notable center for medical study outside 

 of Vienna, while Bischoff represented botany. Hilgard at once began 

 to make what subsequently became a very complete collection of the 

 flora of central Europe. The revolutionary agitation of 1848 some- 

 what disturbed the regularity of the 

 course of study, but no actual in- 

 terruption occurred until, in the 

 spring of 1849, active revolutionary 

 movements took place in Baden 

 itself. Theodore then (with his 

 brother Eugene, who had meantime 

 joined him) went to Ziirich, and 

 there passed three semesters, study- 

 ing especially microscopy under 

 Naegeli, and physiology under Lud- 

 wig, besides attending the natural 

 history lectures of Oken. During 

 this time the brothers made ex- 

 tended excursions on foot through 

 Switzerland and collected the Al- 

 pine flora. In 1851 Theodore went 

 to Vienna to study, where were 

 then such medical celebrities as 



as Eokitansky, Oppolzer, Bednar and Hebra. After nearly two semes- 

 ters, during which he gave much time to botanical study in the great 

 Endlicher collection, he was obliged to go to Malaga to bring back 

 his widowed sister. While there he made an extensive collection of 

 Mediterranean plants which greatly interested him. On his return 

 he went to Wilrzburg, where he graduated in June, 1852, summa cum 

 laude, as doctor in medicine, surgery and obstetrics. He then went 

 to Berlin to study ophthalmology with Graefe, as well as surgery. 

 In the summer of 1853 he returned to America, taking a position as 

 ship physician on an emigrant vessel, on which he experienced an 

 epidemic of cholera. 



Pig. 12. De. Theodore C. Hilgard ; by 

 courtesy of Dr. Eugene Hilgard. 



