MEMOIR OF GESNER. 19 



a numerous offspring besides Conrad, his parents 

 could do little to encourage the love for reading and 

 learning which he showed at an early period. But 

 his maternal uncle, John Friccius, who was a minis- 

 ter, did every thing in his power to promote the 

 talents which he could not fail to discover in his 

 young relative ; and it was to this individual that 

 Conrad was indebted for the rudiments of his edu- 

 cation. Besides instructing him in the elements of 

 literature, his uncle inspired him with a love for 

 the study of plants, from which the transition be- 

 came easy to other branches of natural history. 

 He had a garden well supplied with plants, in- 

 cluding many of the rarest kinds then known, the 

 care of which was in a great measure entrusted to 

 young Gesner, who even at this early period, ac- 

 quired some reputation in his immediate neighbour- 

 hood as an herbalist. But before his progress had 

 been considerable, this valuable friend was removed 

 by death, and Gesner's prospects assumed a very 

 unpromising aspect. He was taken for a while, 

 however, into the family of John James Ammianus, 

 a professor of polite literature, who gratuitously 

 superintended his studies, and showed him many 

 acts of kindness otherwise for a period of three years. 

 Shortly after the death of his uncle, his father, 

 who was engaged in the civil wars of Switzerland, 

 was killed in the battle of Zug (the same in which 

 the famous reformer Zwingli us perished); and thus 

 deprived of any assistance that might be expected 

 from that quarter, he was thrown entirely on his 



