4 Biographkal Memoir of the late Henry KiiM. 



had long wished to behold, and access furnished to the rich col- 

 lections of Holland, — he daily saw new objects to excite afresh 

 his thirst after knowledge. In short, he there found opportu- 

 nities of improvement which few other places could better afford. 

 Difficulties, however, occurred, which presented obstacles to 

 his departure for Holland ; but these were removed by the kind- 

 ness of Swinderen, who felt much interested in him, and, more- 

 over, was influenced by the hope that he would prove an ho- 

 nour to the university of which he himself was a member. At 

 the end of September 1816, Kuhl arrived at Groningen, and 

 from this time they pursued their studies together. It happened 

 that Swinderen liad then commenced his lectures on Natural His- 

 tory, which being on a larger scale, usually occupied four years 

 in continuance, whereas his ordinary lectures were finished within 

 a year. Klihl, therefore, was admitted into the number of his 

 hearers ; nor was he merely a hearer, but also an assistant. 

 This year, although he attended De la Faille and Bakker on na- 

 tural philosophy and anatomy, he was chiefly occupied in the 

 study of natural history, confining himself to the mammaha, 

 and making choice of a more precise method in treating these dif- 

 ferent subjects, than is usually followed. With regard to Swin- 

 deren's lectures on quadrupeds, this is sufficiently attested by 

 his prize essay, in which he very ingeniously explained the gra- 

 dual manner in which the animals of this class pass into each 

 other. There needs be little wonder, then, if he gained the 

 gold medal. 



Previous to 1816, the year in which he came to Groningen, 

 the zoological knowledge which he had acquired, included only 

 indigenous animals, as he had seen but very few exotic ones. 

 On this account, however accurately he knew indigenous ani- 

 mals, and their mode of living, he yet wanted some general pro- 

 spectus, without which there can be no order in the study. He, 

 therefore, first of all read Illiger's Prodromus, which Swinderen 

 followed in his lectures on quadrupeds and birds. But he did 

 not confine himself to merely reading it, but at the same time 

 diligently compared each description with the object itself in the 

 museum. In this manner, during the first period of his resi- 

 dence here, he passed five days of the week ; but on Saturday 

 he made an excursion to this or that village along the coast, in 



