SKETCH OF JACOB MOLESCTIOTT. 401 



prospects in Utreclit. One day a Protestant clergyman paid liim 

 a visit and, after speaking in flattering terms of hia professional 

 ability and success, expressed regret that Molescliott did not at- 

 tend churcli, and promised, on this condition, to recommend him 

 to the members of the congregation. Moleschott thanked him 

 for his good opinion and kind intention, but positively declined 

 to pretend to worship God in the service of Mammon. 



Moleschott's predilection for scientific research became more 

 and more a passion to him. He determined henceforth to make a 

 specialty of the study and teaching of biology in the broadest 

 sense of the terra as the science of life, and for this purpose habili- 

 tated as Privatdocent in his alma mater, the University of Heidel- 

 berg. No sooner was his intention made known than he was 

 offered the position of Lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence in the 

 University of Utrecht, which, however, had no attractions for him. 



The subject chosen for his first course of lectures at Heidel- 

 berg in the summer of 1847 was physiological chemistry, and, 

 although his audience was small, it comprised a number of stu- 

 dents who afterward became scientists of distinction. As the fees 

 for lectures furnished only a scanty source of revenue, he was 

 compelled to keep up a limited medical practice and to devote 

 himself earnestly to literary work. One of his first tasks of this 

 kind was a thorough revision of the volume on foods in Prof. 

 Tiedemann's elaborately planned but unfortunately never com- 

 pleted Manual of Human Physiology, which he undertook at the 

 request of the venerable author. 



On March 14, 1849, Moleschott married Sophie Strecker, the 

 eldest daughter of a prominent citizen of Mayence, who entered 

 heartily and intelligently into her husband's special studies and 

 proved to be an efficient helpmate in catching and preparing frogs 

 for experimental purposes, and aiding him in his microscopical 

 observations. 



In a course of lectures on the blood and its constitution, espe- 

 cially as to the effects of different kinds of food upon the relation 

 of the white to the red corpuscles, Moleschott was assisted by 

 seven students, who volunteered to undergo the necessary experi- 

 ments. They came in the morning without having eaten any- 

 thing and then partook of the prescribed diet, whose nutritive 

 qualities were to be tested by an analysis of the blood. If eggs 

 and other albuminous fare, roast meats, and peas were served, all 

 was well ; but if the meal consisted merely of potatoes and apple 

 sauce, the youthful votaries of science, after their work was done, 

 returned to their homes with ravenous appetites and pillaged cup- 

 boards and kitchens, so that the cooks in their respective families 

 began to gossip about the queer sort of hospitality shown by that 

 Dr. Moleschott, who invited the young men to dine with him and 

 VOL. xj.ix. — 33 



