514 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



commentation of Aristotle. A few years later we find him at the 

 Gymnasium, where, in spite of the old scholastic system of teaching, 

 he took a deep interest in the study of the animal and plant worlds — 

 an interest which was no doubt stimulated by the reading of Goethe, 

 whose works were a source of great delight to young Muller. During 

 this period there also appears to have developed in him that rich gift 

 of imagination which, as one of his biographers says, is so necessary 

 not only to the poet, but also to the natural investigator. In his later 

 work on the " Phantasmal Phenomena of Vision," Muller tells us how, 

 as a boy, he perceived in the crumbling walls of a neighbor's house all 

 sorts of odd and fantastic figures and faces. 



At the age of seventeen, Muller left the Gymnasium and, having 

 served one year in the army — as was customary with the youths of his 

 station — he entered, at the age of eighteen, the University of Bonn, 

 which had just been founded. As has been the case with so many 

 natural scientists, here Muller at first hesitated in making his decision 

 between the church and medicine. Born as he was of Eoman Catholic 

 parents and nurtured in the Catholic faith by a strongly believing 

 mother, it is not strange that, even as a child, he manifested a desire 

 to enter the priesthood. But the decision was soon made. For three 

 days, so we are told, young Muller closeted himself in his room in 

 order that he might deliberate. At the expiration of this time he 

 made known his decision to a friend in these words : " I am deter- 

 mined. I shall study medicine; for I know what I have and whom 

 I serve." 



While at the University of Bonn, Miiller's career was characterized 

 by an intense application to study. He maintained, however, a con- 

 stant exercise of independent thought, and manifested a keen relish 

 for original investigation. Here he initiated, even in the first year 

 of his studies, a series of experiments upon the " respiration of the 

 foetus," a subject in which a prize had been offered by the university. 

 This prize Muller secured when at the age of nineteen. In connection 

 with the work, a story which a friend of Muller has made known, is 

 characteristic of the young investigator at this time. He had once 

 started upon a journey on horse to Arrthal and was but a short dis- 

 tance on the way when, by the roadside, he espied a pregnant cat. 

 He immediately gave chase, captured it and, for the time being post- 

 poning his journey, carried the animal back to the university, where, 

 by Caesarian section, he deprived it of its young in order that he 

 might consequently solve some point in his first problem of inves- 

 tigation. 



During the early part of his period at Bonn, although as a student 

 he was most intent upon his work, he was not wholly indifferent to 

 the general yearning for constitutional freedom which was pervading 

 the thought of the middle and lower classes throughout the German 



