THE 



EDINBURGH NEW 

 PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL. 



Memoir of the Life and JFritings of the late Professor Blu- 

 menbach of Gottingen. By Professor K. F. H. Marx. Con- 

 cluded from Volume XXX. p. 240. 



Let us now turn our attention from Blumenbach as an author 

 to his characteristics as a teacher, and let us regard him in his 

 class-room, whither the young as well as the old flocked, to be 

 instructed by his learning, at the same time that they were 

 charmed by his wit and humour. 



The unrivalled success which attended his lectiu'es was hard- 

 ly at all diminished when he reached extreme old age, and he 

 did not give up teaching because strength or inclination was 

 awanting, or because his audience or reputation had diminished, 

 but solely at the solicitation of his relations. He understood, 

 in a way which is as rare as it is inimitable, how to unite 

 dignity with liveliness, the narration of dry facts and scientific 

 conclusions with mirth and jocularity, and how to season the 

 whole with pointed and pertinent anecdotes. Every one was 

 happy at Blumenbach's lecture ; and whether it happened to 

 be grave or gay, the student always left the room roused and 

 instructed. As pupils came to him from all quarters, and 

 returned home with a high sense of his reputation, his name 

 reached countries where German men of science were but little 

 known. With a letter of introduction from Blumenbach, one 

 might have travelled to all regions of the globe. 



He possessed the art of not giving too much ; of limiting 

 himself to the leading features of the subject ; and of impress- 

 ing on his auditors what was essential, by varied repetition. 

 He assisted the apprehension of the points under discussion by 



VOL. XXXI. NO. LXI, — JULY 1841. A 



