KARL ERNST VON BAER. ' 333 



ciated by his pupils, and by none more than Von Baer, wlio speaks of 

 him as his " worthy, well beloved, deeply revered teacher." During 

 his stay at Wiirzburg, Von Baer became intimate with Pander, then 

 beginning, under the direction of Dollinger and with the assistance of 

 Dalton, the great series of embryological investigations, in which Von 

 Baer afterward took so prominent a part, and which has made the 

 names of all three, Dollinger, Von Baer, and Pander, synonymous 

 with the science of embryology. Pander's embryology of the chick 

 first gave the clew to Kaspar Friedrich Wolff's descriptions, and the 

 connection of Von Baer with Pander's researches led him to investi- 

 gations long unnoticed, and barely appreciated even now in thei/ full 

 value and significance, tliough they have gained for him the title of 

 the founder of modern embryology. 



The doubts as to his future career were happily solved at the close 

 of his two years' residence in Wiirzburg by a letter from Burdach his 

 former professor in Dorpat, offering him a place as assistant in the 

 newly founded anatomical department in the University of Kbnigsberg. 

 This he gladly accepted, and, after a winter spent in Berlin in prepara- 

 tion for his new office, we find him established in 1817 at Konigsberg. 

 He entered on his duties with energy and success, cheered by seeing 

 his old professor amon^ the regular attendants at his lectures. His 

 knowledge of the lower animals w3s extensive ; and, though compelled 

 to give his time chiefly to human anatomy, he made a series of prepa- 

 rations intended as the basis of a small museum. In 1819, through the 

 influence of his colleague, Schweigger, he was appointed professor of 

 zoology, with an additional salary of 300 thalei's, and the understanding 

 that he was to build up a great museum for the University of Konigs- 

 berg. With his prospects thus improved, he now married Friiuleiu 

 von ]\Ieden, and felt himself bound by new ties to Konigsberg, where 

 -he remained till 1829. It was a brilliant period in the life of the 

 university when, beside Von Baer, its faculty could boast of men like 

 Schweigger, Schubert, Jacobi, Bessel, Struve, Lobech and the older 

 Hagea. On Schweigger's death, Von Baer was made regular professor 

 of natural history and zoology, with a considerable increase of salary, 

 virtually diminished, however, by the necessity of purchasing books for 

 his department, which the university found itself too poor to supply. 

 His professional duties, combining instruction to the medical and zoolo- 

 gical students with the care of the museum, were now very onerous. 

 With all his energy and devotion, the museum moved far too slowly for 

 his zeal. Occasionally, he was cheered by donations or by collections 

 contributed from distant lands ; and he succeeded in enlisting the sym- 



