AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 147 



consisted chiefly of extracts from Cuvier's 

 ' Regne Animal/ and from Lamarck's ' Ani- 

 maux sans Vertebres.' I now became aware, 

 for the first time, that the learned differ in 

 their classifications. With this discovery, an 

 immense field of study opened before me, and 

 I longed for some knowledge of anatomy, that 

 I might see for myself where the truth was. 

 During two years spent in the Medical School 

 of Zurich, I applied myself exclusively to the 

 study of anatomy, physiology, and zoology, 

 under the guidance of Professors Schinz and 

 Hirzel. My inability to buy books was, per- 

 haps, not so great a misfortune as it seemed to 

 me ; at least, it saved me from too great de- 

 pendence on written authority. I spent all 

 my time in dissecting animals and in studying 

 human anatomy, not forgetting my favorite 

 amusements of fishing and collecting. I was 

 always surrounded with pets, and had at this 

 time some forty birds flyuig about my study, 

 with no other home than a large pine-tree in 

 the corner. I still remember my grief when a 

 visitor, entering suddenly, caught one of my 

 little favorites between the floor and the door, 

 and he was killed before I could extricate him. 

 Professor Schinz's private collection of birds 

 was my daily resort, and I then described every 



