] 2 BLUMENBACII. 



" Whene'er with haggard eyes I view 

 This dungeon that I'm rotting in, 

 I think of those companions true, 

 Who studied with me at the U- 

 -niversity of Gottingen, 

 -niversity of Grottingen." 



The stanzas are quizzical enough, but the University 

 itself was a staid, grave place, fall of earnest students, and 

 learned professors. Among the latter we may mention 

 three who were celebrated in their different branches of 

 literature and science, and who helped to mould the 

 minds of William and Alexander. These were Blumen- 

 bach, Heyne, and Eichhorn. Eichhorn, the professor 

 of Arabic, was a profound scholar, especially in biblical 

 literature, of which he may be considered the historian. 

 He filled the chair of Theology. In the chair of Archae- 

 ology sat Christian Gottlob Heyne, a venerable man of 

 sixty, who had risen from the lowest circumstances by 

 the force of his will, and his talents. His specialite was 

 classic bibliography. He edited Homer, Pindar, Diodo- 

 riis Siculus, Epictetus, Virgil, Tibullus, and other Greek 

 and Eoman authors, great and small, enriching their text 

 with learned commentaries. When the Humboldts be- 

 came his scholars he was busy making out a catalogue of 

 the immense library of the University. 



Last was Johann Frederic Blumenbach, professor of 

 physiology and comparative anatomy. Passionately at- 

 tached to science all his life, which by the way was 

 nearly as long as that of his famous pupil, Humboldt, his 

 love of anatomy commenced at the early age of ten, from 

 accidentally seeing a skeleton in the house of one of his 

 father's friends, a physician of course. He soon had a 



