842 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Professor Semper had a rare art of attaching his students to him- 

 self. His manner of meeting and greeting them attracted them. 

 His intercourse with them was friendly and cordial, and was not 

 confined to the hours of instruction. The students of the Wiirz- 

 burg Institute, Dr. Schuberg says, when Professor Semper was in 

 the height of his power as a teacher, constituted a family, of which 

 he was the head. He knew how to pick out the students inclined to 

 independent thought, to draw out their peculiar traits, and to prompt 

 each of them to develop his individuality, or cultivate his habit of 

 independence. Hence, although he had many students, he formed 

 no " school." 



A writer in the Londou Spectator, visiting the Zoological Gardens in 

 Amsterdam, was much interested in the colony of nesting cormorants on 

 one of the small canals crossing parts of the grounds, where the " domes- 

 tic side of cormorant life could be seen at close quarters." The birds car- 

 ried on there their daily work of " fishing, nest-building, sitting on eggs, 

 rearing the young, quarreling for ' stands ' for future nests, or basking in 

 the sun within a couple of yards of the path. At the time of the writer's 

 visit there were five nests built close to the water. They were made of 

 large sticks piled to a height of from two feet to three feet. One held a 

 pair of young cormorants, covered with close, black down. In the second 

 were three birds of rather larger growth. On a third nest an old hen bird 

 was still sitting on her eggs, while the cock kept guard on the ground in 

 front. The compact and glossy plumage of both shone with gleams of 

 black and purple luster, set off by the pale yellow skin on the cheek and 

 bill. The cormorant is not usually credited with beauty, but, like the star- 

 ling, it is a lovely bird in the breeding season, when the sight of the old 

 cock rushing to battle with all intruders, exchanging rapierlike thrusts of 

 the beak with his enemies, croaking, swelling his throat, and even throw- 

 ing himself on the ground to prevent access to the nest, makes a pretty 

 illustration of bird courage. All this fuss and excitement is confined en- 

 tirely to the male birds. The hens are quite ready to see a little company 

 when sitting; and two were seen sitting side by side on eggs laid in a joint 

 nest. " 



Carl Vogt's publication of his theory of microcephalism caused great 

 offense in certain circles in Germany, and even the children in the streets 

 would sometimes call after him "Affenvogt." William Vogt relates in his 

 Vie oVun Homme that, desiring to examine a specimen of microcephaly in 

 a strictly closed convent at Eger, Carl took advantage of the doors being 

 opened for General de Gablenz, and attached himself to his party. They 

 were all received cordially and given the freedom of the house. The friar 

 pastor exhibited as the greatest curiosity of the convent "a real man- 

 monkey," a microcephal, which Vogt examined at great length. While he 

 was measuring its angles, the monk exclaimed : " A real man-monkey, isn't 

 it ? Wouldn't that pestilent monster of a Carl Vogt be happy if he could 

 see it ! I am not malicious, but if he should come within a league of this 

 place he would be lost ! " 



