SKETCH OF CARL SEMPER. 839 



This preference was recognized by the authorities of the univer- 

 sity in an assurance that a reorganization of the zoological cabinet — ■ 

 the arrangement of which was poorly adapted for purposes of instruc- 

 tion — should be begun, to be completed in five years. Professor 

 Semper proceeded at once with a provisional rearrangement, and with 

 the foundation of a museum of comparative anatomy; and the 

 former zoological cabinet was named by the Academical Senate in 

 December, 1871, the Zoological Zootomical Institute. The number 

 of his pupils increased, and many valuable studies were undertaken 

 by them under his lead and at his suggestion ; but all their work was 

 hampered by want of means and of space. A site for a building had 

 been granted the university by the city authorities of Wiirzburg in 

 1875, but no building money had been appropriated, and the ques- 

 tion of the way in which funds could be obtained offered a serious 

 problem. 



His work at "Wurzburg suffered several interruptions. During 

 the war of 1870 his characteristic energy found full sway in the direc- 

 tion of the transportation of provisions and hospital furnishings to the 

 seat of hostilities, in which he was several times engaged. A sojourn 

 in Heligoland in 1S73 and 1874, and a visit of a few months in 1876 

 in company with some of his pupils to the Balearic Islands, were of 

 much advantage to his scientific work. Most important results of 

 his residence in Heligoland were his thorough investigations of the 

 excretory organs of the shark. 



In 1877 Professor Semper was invited to deliver the Lowell 

 Institute Lectures in Boston, and improved the opportunity to travel 

 over the western part of our continent. The substance of the twelve 

 Lowell Lectures was afterward embodied in the book, Animal Life 

 as affected by the Natural Conditions of Existence, which was pub- 

 lished as No. 30 of the International Scientific Series, and is char- 

 acterized by Dr. Schuberg as one of his most important works. 



In 1887 Professor Semper suffered a stroke of apoplexy, by 

 which his life was immediately endangered and his vigor was per- 

 manently weakened. For a short time he seemed to recover very 

 rapidly, but the evidence of advancing disease which was destined 

 to end in his death became gradually plainer. Still, he would not 

 spare himself, but labored on, as he had done in his younger days, to 

 his injury. 



One joy, however, was still to be afforded him. The Bavarian 

 Landtag in 1887 voted money for the erection of a zoological insti- 

 tute. He was permitted to have this building constructed according 

 to his own views. It was ready for use in November, 1889, and he 

 was able to enjoy it for a short time; but his health continuing to fail, 

 he was not permitted to carry on the investigations for which it had 



