AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 149 



of Germany was just then beginning, and it 

 opened a new world to me. Familiar as I was 

 with Cuvier's ' Regne Animal/ I had not then 

 seen his ( Researches on Fossil Remains,' 

 and the study of fossils seemed to me only an 

 extension of the field of zoology. I had no 

 idea of its direct connection with geology, or 

 of its bearing on the problem of the successive 

 introduction of animals on the earth. I had 

 never thought of the larger and more philo- 

 sophical view of nature as one great world, 

 but considered the study of animals only as it 

 was taught by descriptive zoology in those 

 days. At about this time, however, I made 

 the acquaintance of two young botanists, 

 Braun and Schimper, both of whom have 

 since become distinguished in the annals of 

 science. Botany had in those days received a 

 new impulse from the great conceptions of 

 Goethe. The metamorphosis of plants was 

 the chief study of my friends, and I could not 

 but feel that descriptive zoology had not 

 spoken the last word in our science, and that 

 grand generalizations, such as were opening 

 upon botanists, must be preparing for zoolo- 

 gists also. Intimate contact with German 

 students made me feel that I had neglected 

 my philosophical education ; and when, in the 



