MEMOIR OF GESNER. 25 



was from this source that his income was princi- 

 pally derived. In 1554 the magistrates of Zurich 

 appointed him chief physician (agx/argo^), and pub- 

 lic professor of philosophy and natural history, an 

 honour which he justly merited, and which he 

 seems to have valued highly. He had scarcely at- 

 tained this more influential sphere of action, than 

 he exerted himself to turn it to the public good ; 

 and he succeeded in establishing an association of 

 medical men to watch over the public health. By 

 these means, a college of medicine and surgery was 

 ultimately established ; and Gesner may thus be 

 regarded, as the founder of an establishment which 

 has been of great service to the city of Zurich up 

 to the present day. 



His natural history expeditions into various parts 

 of Switzerland, Germany, &c., were frequent, and 

 he had an additional motive for undertaking them 

 besides his love of collecting, for his constitution 

 was naturally feeble, and he had still further im- 

 paired it by ardent study. Among other excur- 

 sions of less note, we find, that in the year 1555, 

 he visited Lucerne and the places adjacent, in com- 

 pany with two brother physicians, and a draftsman 

 named John Thoma. He was received with dis- 

 tinguished honours by the magistrates of that place, 

 honours such as were wont to be paid only to 

 those invested with offices of public authority. He 

 asked permission, as was then the custom, to ascend 

 Mont Pilate (mons fractus), and a public officer 

 was appointed to conduct him, and guard him from 



