.52 MEMOIR OF GESNER. 



as well as his offspring, who were very numerous. 

 This honour was accompanied by another mark of 

 the Emperor s esteem, which our naturalist valued 

 highly, namely, a present of some fragments of bezoir 

 stone, which was then very rare, and held in high 

 estimation. 



Subsequently to this he again visited Baden, and 

 for the last time. On his return he was greatly 

 distressed by the death of his mother, to whom he 

 was very warmly attached : this event took place 

 in April 1564. Soon after, the plague, which had 

 for some time raged in Basle, made its appearance 

 in Zurich ; and Gesner, both on account of his pro- 

 fessional experience and scientific skill, was looked 

 to more than any other individual for some means 

 of checking its ravages. He was not slow in de- 

 voting himself to the inquiry ; and the result of his 

 investigations soon appeared in a work on the nature 

 of the contagion and the best means of cure. He 

 was fully sensible of the risk he incurred by visiting 

 so many patients, and had a strong presentiment 

 that he was himself to be a victim. In a dream, 

 which made a great impression on him, he thought 

 that he was bitten by a serpent ; this he interpreted 

 to denote the attack of the disease ; and he wrote 

 to several of his friends to intimate that he was now 

 preparing himself for another world. For the pre- 

 sent, however, it pleased Providence to spare him. 

 The severity of the disease gradually abated, and 

 Gesner was enabled to resume his former occupa- 

 tions, and for a considerable time to labour at his 



