Natural Histori/ in Foreign Countries, 477 



periodicals as Dr. Eischweiier would approve of. In the mean time, it must 

 not be forgotten, that the nearest approximation to such a state of things 

 has been made by the Baron F^russac, in his system of Bulletins Universals 

 des Sciences et des Arts, a work which, it is to be hoped, will meet with 

 such encouragement as to enable its conductor to render it as perfect as the 

 present state of things admits of. 



Nuremberg^ Nov. 12. —There is neither botanic garden nor public col- 

 lection of natural history here ; but there is a lady, Madame de Hepp, who 

 is one of the greatest botanical amateurs in Germany. Her collection of 

 hot-house and green-house plants is the most extensive which we have seen 

 in Bavaria, next to those or the government at Munich, and of the king 

 at Nymphenburg. This lady makes an extensive journey almost every 

 year, to see what is new or rare in Holland, France, Prussia, and Austria; 

 and no price deters her from purchasing what she considers desirable. She 

 has also an aviary with a variety of birds. The garden of Madame de Hepp 

 is close to the town, beautifully laid out, and highly kept ; but of this we 

 shall speak elsewhere, though we cannot help adding, that we have seldom 

 been more delighted than when we were conducted through it by this 

 charming woman, 



Stttttgard, Nov. 21. — There was formerly a very considerable menagery 

 here, the private property of the late king ; but it was given up on the pre- 

 sent king's accession to the throne ; some say, as being too expensive to 

 support; and others, because the king is so great a lover of liberty, that he 

 cannot bear to see any animal in confinement, not even birds in cages. The 

 inhaWtants of the menagery were poisoned by prussic acid, and stuffed for 

 the Cabinet of Natural History ; where they may now be seen, bearing, with 

 other objects there, evidence that this institution also is found rather ex- 

 pensive to keep in order. It deserves to be noticed, that the academy of 

 Stuttgard, celebrated about thirty years ago, and in which were educated 

 several great men from every part of Europe, many of them now living, no 

 longer exists, and for the same reason. The building is now occupied by 

 the king's private library ; and the grounds, for every pupil of the academy 

 had a small garden for his recreation, have been levelled, and formed into 

 an English garden, in front of what is called the New Palace. The truth, 

 probably, is, that poor kings, like other poor men, are generally blessed with 

 large families ; like other poor men, they, too, feel it necessary to economise ; 

 and collections of natural history, being luxuries, are dispensed with, in 

 order to build palaces, and lay out gardens, for the rising generation of 

 princes. This evil, however (which, it must be observed, neither applies to 

 Wurtemberg nor Bavaria), like other evils, will, in time, work its own cure; 

 and what was proposed to be brought about in some of the German states, 

 in the beginning of the present century, and rejected at the time, will, pro- 

 bably, before the century is completed, be adopted as the result of public 

 opinion throughout Europe, and as matter of necessity. 



The Museum of Natural History is placed in a very suitable building, 

 and, compared with the collections at Strasburg and Munich, is respect- 

 able. In every department there are species of most of the Linnean genera ; 

 and, in the class of birds, there are several hundreds, not yet mounted, 

 which have been sent from the Cape of Good Hope by Ludwig, a native of 

 Wurtemberg, resident at the Cape, and a great lover and promoter of natu- 

 ral history. A considerable proportion of the articles are neither arranged 

 nor named; some of those which have names do not present the labels to 

 advantage; and the cases, in respect of light and the convenience of the 

 spectator, are not either so favourably designed or placed as in the museums 

 of Strasburg and Munich. These defects are not the result of any want 

 of skill or anxiety on the part of the naturalists who are connected with 

 the establishment. Professors Jager and Bopp, but are evidently unavoid- 

 able, for want of funds. The most remarkable objects, and, happily, those 



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