Biographical Memoir of the late Friedrich Hoffmann. 15 



hurried along by the zeal of tlieir professor. His house was 

 ever open to his pupils ; he gave up to them almost his whole 

 time, and, whenever he found a fondness for the subject, he 

 used every endeavour to secure young votaries of the science ; 

 although his career as a teacher was short, yet assuredly the 

 matured fruits of his exertions will be visible in time to come. 

 HofFmann^s academical life at Berlin embraced but four ses- 

 sions : during the two winters he lectured on physical geogra- 

 phy, and on volcanos and earthquakes ; and during the two 

 summers, on geography, together with fossils and hydrography. 

 His deeply meditated plan was to extend his subject, so as to 

 include general natural history, in order to unite with the suc- 

 cessive epochs which indicate the history of the formation of 

 our globe, the characteristic successive generations of plants and 

 animals, and to pass from the original primitive inhabitants of 

 the earth to those of the present time. 



The apparent signs of a progressive improvement of his bo- 

 dily condition, unfortunately caused him to overlook how much 

 in his case precautions were necessary. He expected especially 

 much advantage to his students from the geognostical excur- 

 sions he proposed to make yearly, — at one time to the Hartz, 

 and at another to the Erzgebirge. An expedition to the Hartz 

 was proposed as the first of the series, and it was fixed for Au- 

 gust 1835. Hoffmann felt himself indisposed in the spring of 

 that year, but he considered the sensations he experienced mere- 

 ly as the consequence of a want of such exercise as he had been 

 accustomed to for so many years during his wanderings and 

 journeys ; and he longed so much the more for a trip to the 

 mountains. With this feeling of illness, and the desire for a 

 cure, he went alone to the Hartz during the Whitsunday holi- 

 days, in order to select the route which might prove the most 

 instructive. A map, which he intended should facilitate the 

 comprehension of the phenomena to those who might accom- 

 pany him, was already engraved ; but the excursion never took 

 place. Whitsunday week, 1835, was remarkable for its great 

 heat compared to the otherwise cold summer. Hoffmann, ac- 

 customed to perform long daily walks, believed himself still in 

 possession of sufficient strength for the purpose, and returned 

 to Berlin fatigued by excessive exertions during intense heat. 



