OE3SKR, COXRAD. 



QESNEU, CONRAD. 



of the celebrated historian Johannes Ton Miiller, wiw appointed pro- 

 fetaor of ancient literature in the gymnasium of Heiligenstadt. This 

 office however wai of abort duration, for in tho year following he 

 accepted the appointment of professor extraordinary of theology in 

 the Unirenity of llalle, where iu 1811 he waa raied to the rank of 

 ordi: ary profcwor. During the war of the Liberation the university 

 WM cloaed, and when it was opened again in 1614 Qesenius resumed 

 his former office, and waa created Doctor of Divinity. During the 

 aumuier of 1>20 lie made a journey to Paris and Oxford, where he 

 collected materials for his Kat lexicographical works on the Semitic 

 languages. He died on the 23rd of October 1842. Qeseuius w.is 

 unquestionably the greatest scholar of modern times in bis particular 

 department of Oriental literature, and the light he has thrown on the 

 Semitic languages, and especially ou the Hebrew, has made a new ere 



i - 1.1 * > it. . \ ; __*__! 1 _i C L _ iL. 



of which ho waa very often severely attacked by the orthodox party. 



11 m works on tho Hebrew language enjoy a universal reputation, 

 and some of them are translated into most European languages. Tho 

 most important among them nrj : 1. ' Lexicon Manuale Uebraicum 

 et Chaldaicum in Veteris Testtmenti Libros,' 2 vols. 8vo, Leipzig, 1833. 

 This work was originally written in German, aud went through two 

 editions; the third was made in Latin, and a fourth in Qeruiau appeared 

 in 1834. 2. 'Hebruisches Kleiuentarbuch,' 2 vols. 8vo. The first 

 volume of this work is a Hebrew Grammar, of which the twelfth edition 

 appeared at Leipzio in 1839 ; the second is a Hebrew Delectus, and 

 the seventh or hut edition was edited after the author's death by Do 

 Wettc, Leipzig, 1844. 3. ' Kritische Geachichte dr Hebriiischen 

 Sprache und Schrift,' Leipzig, 181. r >, Svo, is intended as an introduction 

 to the study of Hebrew; a second edition appeared in 1827. 4. 'Da 

 Pentateuchi Samaritan! Origine, Indole et Auctoritate,' Halle, 1816. 

 5. ' Ausfiihrliches grainmatischkritisches Lehrgobaiide der Hebriiischen 

 Sprache, mit durchgiingiger Vergleichung der verwandten Dialecte,' 

 Leipzig, Isl7, Svo. 6. 'A Qeruiau translation of the Prophet Isaiah, 

 witti a philological, critical, and historical commentary,' Leipzig, 1820- 

 21, 3 vols. Svo : of the first volume a second edition appeared iu 1829. 

 7. 'Scriptune Phoenicia; Monumeuta quotquot supersunt edita et 

 inedita ad Antographorum optimorumque Ext-ruplorum Fidem edidit, 

 Comnientariis illustravit,' &c., parts i. to UL, with plates, Leipzig, 1837, 

 4to. 8. ' Virsuch iiber die Maltesische Sprache, zur Beurtheilung der 

 neulich wiederholten Behauptung, doss sie ein Uebcrrest des alt- 

 Punischen sei,' Leipzig, 1S10, Svo. 9. ' Thesaurus philologicus criticus 

 Linguse Hebraiese et ChaldaicsD Veteris Testament;,' vol. i. consisting 

 of two parts, and the second of one, Leipzig, 1829-42, 4to. A few 

 copies of this work, which is in reality an enlargement of the one 

 mentioned above under No. 1, were printed iu folio. Qesenius also 

 contributed a great number of articles 03 Hebrew and other Oriental 

 subjects to Krsch and Gruber's great ' Encyclopaedia.' Biblical 

 geography is especially indebted to him for the notes which he added 

 to the German translation of Eurckhardt's ' Travels in Syria and 

 Palestine,' Weimar, 1823, 2 vols. Svo. 



(Never Nekrolog der Deutichen for 1842 ; Gesenius, Erne Erinncruny 

 fir teine Freunde, Berlin, 1S42, Svo.) 



GKSNKU, CONRAD, an eminent scholar and naturalist, who waa a 

 thiuing example of the truth of the remark, that those who have most 

 a do, and are willing to work, find most time. Beginning his career 

 under all the disadvantages attendant on poverty, sickness, and domestic 

 calamity, and cut off at the early age of forty-eight, Qesner left behind 

 him, notwithstanding the cares of the medical profession which he 

 actively and successfully exercised, such an amount of literary labour 

 as would have won for him the title of one of the most learned and 

 industrious of men, if his useful life had been occupied solely in its 

 production. Zurich was bis birth-place, where on the 26th of March 

 1516 he came into the world to add to the difficulties of his parents, 

 who were struggling to support a large family. His father appears to 

 have been a skinner or worker In hides, and his mother's name was 

 Friccitu, or Frick. To his maternal uncle, John Friccius, he seems to have 

 been indebted for kind assistance and tuition ; but this good relation 

 died his father was killed at the battle of Zug (1531), when the sou 

 was only fifteen and the poor lad, after struggling with a dropsical 

 disorder, set out for Strasbourg to seek his fortune. He was among 

 strangers, but bis spirit bore him up ; ami in the service of the well- 

 known Lutheran, Wolfgang Fabricius Capito, he resumed the study of 

 the Hebrew language, which he had begun to learn at Zurich. On his 

 return to Switzerland the academy of Zurich allowed him a pension, 

 which enabled him to travel in France. At Bourges, where he stayed 

 a year, Greek and Latin principally engaged his attention; and to 

 assist in defraying his expenses, he taught in school From Bourges 

 be proceeded to 1'aris, where he does not appear to have done much ; 

 and after a short stay at Strasbourg, whither he was led by the hope 

 of employment, the University of Zurich sent for him, and he becauio 

 a teacher there. He now married, at the ago of twenty, not with the 

 approbation of l.is friends, who saw that his income could not be equal 

 to his want*. 



The church was ha destination, but the strong impulse of his mind 

 itiiniilatcd him to the study of physic, to which ho determined to 

 apply liiiiiself with a profcsnional vie.v ; aud, resigning his situation at 



Zurich, ho went to Basel as a modioal student, his pension being still 

 continued. Mure lie seems to have commenced bis labours for thu 

 public iu superintending tho edition of the Qreek Dictionary of 1'lia- 

 voriuus; aud he accepted the G reek professorship i n the newly-founded 

 university of Lausanne. He afterwards passed a year at Moutpollier, 

 where he formed an intimate acquaintance with Laurent Joubert, tho 

 celebrated physician, and Roudeletius, the great naturalist. His 

 emoluments were now not only adequate to his expenses, but more- 

 over enabled him to prosecute the medical and botanical pursuits so 

 dear to him ; and at liasel in 1541, or as others say iu 1540, he took 

 his degree of Doctor in Medicine. Zurich was the field of his practice, 

 which enabled him to cultivate his taste for natural history, tin 

 founded aud supported a botanic garden, collected a fine library, 

 mule numerous drawings, and gave constant employment to a painter 

 aud to an engraver in wood. In the midst of his laborious profession, 

 the astonishing industry of the man found time for tho principal works 

 on which his fame rests. He lived honoured and rexpceted for his 

 talents and benevolence iu his native town, till an attack of the 

 pestilence which he had successfully combated in the cases of otlu -r<, 

 aud to which his professional activity most probably exposed him, 

 carried him off iu his forty-ninth year, on the 13th of December 1565. 

 His remains rest iu the cloister of the great church at Zurich, near 

 those of his friend Fri.iiug. He was bewailed iu abundance of Latin 

 aud iu some Greek verses. Theodore Beza was among the most elegnnt 

 of these tributaries ; and his funeral oration was pronounced by Josias 

 Simler, who wrote his life (1566, 4to), of which Qosuer himseh h i 1 

 given some details in his ' Bibliotheca ;' but perhaps the mo 

 plete biography is that of Schmiedel, prefixed to Gesner's botanical 

 works. He must have been much lamented by his contcmpoi 

 for, in addition to his other amiable qualities, he appears to have been 

 a general peacemaker his calm, candid, and equable temper enabling 

 him to soothe the angry feelings of authors under their > 

 imagined wrongs ; and he was always ready to lay aside his own 

 labours to assist others. He devoted his time to tho supervision and 

 publication of Moiban's work on Dioscoridos for the emolument of 

 his deceased friend's family ; and the ' Historia Plantarum ' of Valerius 

 Cordus was after the death of the author edited by Qesner ; as well 

 as the 'Lexicon Kei Herbarhc Trilingue' of David Kyber, who died of 

 the plague at Strasbourg in 1553. 



In the year 1545 Gesner journeyed to Venice and Augsburg, where 

 he made the acquaintance of many learned and meritorious men ; and 

 this leads us to the literary works which have justly rendered Qesner's 

 name famous, for then it was he commenced the publication of his 

 ' Bibliotheca Universalis,' a grand design, and the first aud hitherto 

 the moet complete bibliographical work upon a large scale. Gesuer's 

 'Bibliotheca' was a catalogue of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew works, 

 with criticisms, and frequently specimens of the author quoted, and 

 appeared in 1 voL folio (1545, Zurich). The volume ' Pandectarura, 

 sive Partitionum Universalium ' (154S) may be considered as the 

 second of the ' Bibliotheca.' Gesner never published the book relating 

 to medical works, because he did not consider it to be sufficiently 

 perfect An abridgment of the ' Bibliotheca ' by Lycosthenes, aud 

 completed by Simler aud J. J. Fries, was published in 1583 (folio). 

 Hallrr'a ' Bibliotheca Botanica,' and ' Bibliotheca Anatomies,' were 

 probably imagined from Gesuer's work. 



But the ' Historic Animalium ' must be considered the' great work 

 of Gesner. These well-filled folio volumes appeared at Zurich in tho 

 following order: Viviparous Quadrupeds (1551); Oviparous Quadru- 

 peds (1554) ; Birds (1555); Fishes and other Aquatic Animals \. 

 this volume contains tho labours of his contemporaries and friends 

 Bclou and Kondelet, with some additions by himself; Serpents (post- 

 humous and published by James Carron, a Frankfurt physician, 1587) 

 this is more rare than tho other volumes, and there is usually added 

 a treatise on the Scorpion, posthumous also, and published iu the last- 

 mentioned year at Zurich by Caspar Wolf. There is also an edition 

 in German. Of the Insects, some incditcd figures of butterflies arc 

 all that are known ; but that Gesner had not neglected this class of 

 animals is manifest from Mouffet's ' Insectorum sive Miuimorum 

 Auimaliuui Theatrum ; oliui ab Kdoardo Wottouo, Conrado Uesnero, 

 Thomaquo Penuio, inchoatum' (fol., Lond., 1034), which is partly made 

 up from Gesner's fragments. Tho work does not comprise the Mollusks 

 aud Testaceous as a class. 



All agree that this compilation, having for its object nothing less 

 than a general history of animated nature, concentrating and critically 

 revising all that had been done before the time of the author, enriched 

 with his own knowledge, and illustrated by many incidental remarks 

 iu the departments of botany and medicine, might have been considered 

 as evidence of most persevering and praiseworthy industry, if it had 

 been the production of a recluse whoso long life had been entirely 

 spent iu the task ; whereas it was only one of many books written by 

 a man who gained his subsistence by perhaps tho most hara.-i-mg and 

 time-consuming of oil professions, aud who died in harness when ha 

 was not forty-nine years old. 



Gesner, in this work, which ho carried out to completion as far as 

 ths Vertebrata are concerned, followed tho method of Aristotle; 

 and though there is not any establishment of genera, it inay bo con- 

 fidtred its the principal source of more modern zoology, from which 

 succeeding writuja drew largely, and of which their publications mainly 



