318 Linnean Society. [May 24, 



to the grave. He became a Fellow of the Ro5'al Society in 1 829 ; 

 and nearly all the more important scientific societies of Europe, 

 America, and the East had enrolled him among their members. 



The loss among our Foreign Members has been unusually severe, 

 no fewer than six having died within the year. 



Gotthelf Friedrich Fischer, M.Z)., Professor of Natural History in 

 the University of Moscow, and Vice-President of the Medico-Chi~ 

 rurgical Academy, was born at Waldheim, in Saxony, on the 15 th 

 of October 1771. He became a pupil of the celebrated Mining 

 Academy at Freyberg, at the same time with Von Buch and Alexan- 

 der von Humboldt ; and completed his medical studies in the Uni- 

 versity of Leipzig, where he also paid much attention to Botany and 

 Comparative Anatomy, of his proficiency in which latter pursuit he 

 gave early evidence in his ' Versuch iiber die Schwimmblase der 

 Fische,' Leipzig, 1795, 8vo. After leaving the university he accom- 

 panied the brothers Humboldt on a tour through Germany and 

 France, and remained for some time in Paris, where he attended the 

 lectures of Cuvier, and diligently investigated the natural-history 

 collections of the Museum. Among the results of his studies at this 

 period may be mentioned his treatise ' Ueber die verschiedene Form 

 des Intermaxillarknochens in verschiedenen Thieren,' Leipzig, 1800, 

 Svo ; his ' Naturhistorische Fragmente,' Frankfux't am Main, 1801, 

 4to ; and ' Das National-Museum der Naturgeschichte zu Paris,' 

 Frankfurt, 2 vols., 1802-3, Svo. In 1800 he received a call as 

 Professor of Natural History in the Central School at Mayence, 

 but found on his arrival that the chair had been given to another, 

 and accepted in its stead the appointment of Librarian, which for 

 a time led him away to an entirely new study, that of typographical 

 antiquities. On this subject he published several valuable works, 

 including an ' Essai sur les Monumens typographiques de Jean 

 Guttenberg,' Mainz, 1804 ; ' Beschreibung typographischen Selten- 

 heiteii und merkwiirdigen Handschriften, nebst Beitragen zur Erfin- 

 dungsgeschichte der Buchdruckerkunst,' 6 Heftp, Niirnberg, 1801-5 ; 

 and a ' Notice du premier Monument typographique en caracteres 

 mobiles avec date,' Mainz, 1804. As a member of the Municipal 

 Council of Mayence he was sent to Paris on a special mission, the 

 object of which was to procure for that town some commercial privi- 

 leges, and obtained from the First Consul a considerable grant of 

 books for its library. He also founded at Mayence a Natural-History 

 Society, of which he became Secretary ; and, as a proof that he had 

 not abandoned his former studies, published his ' Anatomic der 

 Maki und der ihm verwandten Thiere,' Frankfurt, 1804, 4to. In 



