25 8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the humanitarian courses in the pro-gymnasium of his native 

 village, and thence, for the completion of his studies, to the 

 Jesuit College at Cologne. His lively intelligence and assiduity 

 attracted the attention of all his teachers. He exhibited a 

 marked predilection for mathematical and scientific studies, es- 

 pecially in physics. 



He was still undecided as to the career he should choose, when 

 he enrolled himself, in October, 1829, in the class in philosophy 

 at Bonn. His family were deeply religious, and would have been 

 glad to see him become a clergyman like his elder brother Peter, 

 who died in 1881, Professor of Theology and honorary canon at 

 Frauenburg. Therefore he began with a mixed course, including 

 metaphysical and logical studies, along with those in mathematics 

 and science. The latter branches in the end absorbed all his at- 

 tention, and he decided to study medicine. 



He became the pupil of the anatomist and physiologist Jo- 

 hann Muller, and that fixed his destiny. Muller, with a full 

 appreciation of Schwann's abilities, made him an associate in his 

 labors, and they experimented together on the motor and sensitive 

 roots of the spinal nerves, and on the coagulation of the blood. 

 Having passed the philosophical and scientific examinations at 

 Bonn, Schwann went to Wurzburg, where he passed three semes- 

 ters, and then removed to Berlin to complete his studies and go 

 through his final examinations. He found Muller here again, as 

 Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, and under his direction 

 performed the investigation on the necessity of oxygen to the 

 development of the embryo in the hen's egg, on which was based 

 his inaugural dissertation on receiving the degree of doctor of 

 medicine. 



Muller, insisting upon Schwann's following a scientific career, 

 had him appointed in 1834 aid at the Anatomical Museum, of 

 which he was director. The position was an extremely modest 

 one, and not at all pleasant. The late Director of the Berlin Mu- 

 seum, Peters, speaks of having seen Schwann at work for whole 

 days scraping the fins of a giant ray while preparing its skeleton ; 

 and many of the specimens in the zoological collections bear wit- 

 ness to the conscientious care with which he performed this mo- 

 notonous work. The five years which Schwann spent here with 

 Muller were a period of intense application, marked by a succes- 

 sion of discoveries. All the great works which illustrate his name 

 date from this epoch. 



A characteristic portrait of Schwann as he appeared at this 

 time has been drawn by Henle, who passed several years under 

 the same roof with him. He says : " He was a man of stature 

 below the medium, with a beardless face, an almost infantine and 

 always smiling expression, smooth, dark-brown hair, wearing a 



