AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 155 



our quarters " The Little Academy." In that 

 room I made all the skeletons represented on 

 the plates of Wagler's "Natural System of 

 Reptiles ; " there I once received the great 

 anatomist, Meckel, sent to me by Dollinger, 

 to examine my anatomical preparations and 

 especially the many fish-skeletons I had made 

 from fresh-water fishes. By my side were 

 constantly at work two artists; one engaged 

 in drawing various objects of natural history, 

 the other in drawing fossil fishes. I kept al- 

 ways one and sometimes two artists in my 

 pay; it was not easy, with an allowance of 

 $250 a year, but they were even poorer than 

 I, and so we managed to get along together. 

 My microscope I had earned by writing. 



" I had hardly finished the publication of 

 the Brazilian Fishes, when I began to study 

 the works of the older naturalists. Professor 

 Dollinger had presented me with a copy of 

 Rondelet, which was my delight for a long 

 time. I was especially struck by the naivete of 

 his narrative and the minuteness of his descrip- 

 tions as well as by the fidelity of his wood- 

 cuts, some of which are to this day the best 

 figures we have of the species they represent. 

 His learning overwhelmed me ; I would gladly 

 have read, as he did, everything that had been 

 written before my time ; but there were au- 



