3o6 THE HISTORY OF BIOLOGY 



descendants are white, red, and intermediate. Finally, it is worth mentioning 

 that as a descriptive anatomist he produced a copiously illustrated work on 

 the brain and its nervous system — a splendid work for his period and in its 

 extent the most considerable of all his productions. Thus, in more than one 

 respect Vicq d'Azyr has left his mark on the history of biology; he will be 

 especially remembered as a pioneer in the sphere of comparative anatomy. 



In Germany at the beginning of the nineteenth century, biology was 

 dominated by the romantic natural philosophy that was described at the 

 close of Part II, in which it was also pointed out that during that period 

 there were working by the side of the natural philosophers a number of 

 scientists who pursued their inquiries by exact methods, thereby upholding 

 the traditions of the preceding era and at the same time paving the way for 

 the succeeding age's magnificent progress in the field of biology. Of these 

 exact scientists working during a period given over to fantastic dreams some 

 of the most prominent merit description here. 



JoHANN Friedrich Blumenbach was born at Gotha in 1751; his father 

 was a schoolmaster, and his mother, to whose memory he dedicated a special 

 work, was a good and gifted woman. Even as a child he was interested in 

 natural science; one of his keenest delights was putting together skeletons 

 out of bones that he collected. He studied first at Jena, and then at Got- 

 tingen, where he took his degree with a dissertation on the human races, 

 which brought him immediate fame and procured for him, as early as in 

 the year 1776, the professorship in anatomy at that university. He carried 

 on his work as a teacher for nearly sixty years, during which he led a quiet 

 life, interrupted only by a few collecting-expeditions. At last, in 1835, ^^ 

 resigned, and died in 1840. In his old age he was a very original character; 

 he was regarded as one of the sights of Gottingen, and he was always quite 

 willing to show himself, especially to distinguished visitors. As an author, 

 too, Blumenbach is peculiar; his style is heavy and full of long periods, oc- 

 casionally lightened by dry humour, which is always inoffensive, though 

 now and then not in the best of taste according to modern standards. It is 

 also said that his lectures were interspersed with witty remarks, which re- 

 curred year after year in a given context to the delight of generations of 

 undergraduates. And Blumenbach had innumerable pupils; he had the ability 

 both to gather round him and to train scientific experts, and not a few scien- 

 tists of European reputation derived their knowledge from him. As an author 

 of text-books and manuals he was very fine for the age in which he lived, 

 and, generally speaking, he has contributed very largely towards stimulating 

 his countrymen's interest in the study of nature, which, indeed, was to at- 

 tain, during the generation that immediately followed his own, unexpected 

 heights in his country; so that he has honourably deserved the title of 

 '* Mapsfer Gerfnania," which he enjoyed even in his lifetime. 



