DIVISlOli 07 FISHES 



ij. s. NAiioNAL mssm 







^>^>*.\.lltU -Oi^ 



Vol. III. 



JULY, 1895. 



Copyright 1895. All Rights Reserved. 



Xo. 36. 



CHEISTIAN GOTTFKIED 

 EHEENBERG. 



NE of the most 

 prominent natural- 

 ists that the nine- 

 teenth century has 

 produced was C. G. 

 Ehrenberg. He was not 

 only a countryman of 

 ours, but he was also born 

 and raised in our own 

 native town, Delitzsch, 

 and reminiscences of our 

 own happy childhood are 

 connected with the name 

 of Ehrenberg. His father's and our 

 grandfather's gardens adjoined each 

 other, being separated by a small hedge 

 only. 



When yet a small schoolboy, our in- 

 terest in Natural History was such that 

 every spare hour was spent in grand- 

 father's large garden, hunting butter- 

 flies, beetles and caterpillers, or fishing 

 all kinds of living creatures out of the 

 moats that surrounded tlie castle and 

 the walls of the town. The professor, 

 who frequently visited the old home- 

 stead, would take much pleasure in en- 

 lightening us on the various objects 



that fell i^rey to us, and gave us the 

 first practical instruction for their 

 preparation or care. 



It is the one hundredth anniversary 

 of his birth that caused this sketch to 

 be written of a man who was shortly 

 before his death honored by the Leeu- 

 wenhoek medal, and proclaimed by the 

 Academy of Science of Amsterdam 

 the most eminent microscopist alive; 

 for he was also famous as a botanist 

 and zoologist, taking great interest in 

 the aquarium. 



0. G. Ehrenberg was born April 19, 

 1795, in Delitzsch, a small town near 

 Leipsic (Germany). His father held 

 the office of recorder of the Lutheran- 

 Evangelical diocese in that town. The 

 duties of his office brought him in close 

 contact with the pastors of the various 

 churches. Many of these gentlemen 

 were noted for their love of natural 

 history, and especially one of them, the 

 pastor of the nearby Count Hohenthal 

 estate, " Doebernitz," was a great botan- 

 ist, who went so far in his enthusiasm 

 as to form a small class of five or six 

 young boys for the study of this branch 

 of science. 



Ehrenberg was among these pupils. 

 His craving for knowledge, and ability 



