SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES 2.35 

 short of amazing; a list of his writings gives a total of 650, among them 

 many very extensive works. But during this period the melancholy that 

 had pursued him since his youth increased. He felt dissatisfied with the re- 

 sults he obtained, as also with the new ideas that were becoming more and 

 more common. In particular, the increasing free-thinking in the world 

 troubled him and called forth a number of pamphlets in defence of Chris- 

 tianity from his hand. He himself, however, in spite of his firm belief in 

 the Gospel, had no internal peace, but ruminated over the Tightness of what 

 he had done in his life; the vivisections which he had performed, and which 

 always troubled his sensitive mind, now appeared to be specially repugnant 

 to him. After some years of decline in health he died in 1777. 



In his youth Haller devoted himself principally to botany and verse- 

 writing. This, of course, is not the place to criticize his poetry; this much, 

 however, may be mentioned, that he is considered to have discovered the 

 poetical value of Alpine beauty; otherwise his poems are now read apparently 

 only by students of literature. As a botanist Haller appears in conscious 

 rivalry with Linnasus; he seeks to set up, in opposition to Linnaeus 's arti- 

 ficial system, a natural system based primarily on the character of the fruit. 

 It was not successful; Linnxus's investigations into the possibilities of the 

 natural system clearly proved that the time was not yet ripe for such a one, 

 whereas the sexual system in every respect fulfilled the requirements of the 

 period. Haller was embittered by defeat; and although his criticism of his 

 successful rival may be partially justified, nevertheless his disappointment 

 over his failure is clearly apparent. 1 In actual fact the two rivals were in- 

 commensurable; in contrast to Haller's magnificent but divided many-sided- 

 ness is Linn^us's consummate limitation — the former never touched 

 supremacy at any point; the latter possessed only one sphere, but there he 

 was master. 



Haller' s physiological researches 

 The branch of biology in which Haller made his finest contribution is un- 

 doubtedly physiology; in this field he has not only developed the method, 

 he also established new and important facts, made valuable additions of a 

 purely theoretical nature, and finally compiled the results hitherto attained 

 in a comprehensive manner, which should be a pattern for all time. His 

 writings on this subject consist partly of a mass of articles written for jour- 

 nals, in which he recorded the results of his direct observations, partly of an 

 immense physiological compendium, and, finally, of a smaller and extremely 

 concise handbook on physiology, which was still in use for educational 

 purposes until the nineteent h century. In the foreword to the last-mentioned 



1 Curiously enough, Haller published his bitterest attacks against Linnxus in the form of 

 a series of disputations (Dubia exLinnai fundamentis hausta, Gottingen, 175 1-3) which purported 

 to have been written by his son, a young medical student. 



