SKETCH OF CARL VOGT. 121 



In 18 64-' 6 6 Professor Vogt published a collection of lectures on 

 injurious and useful animals, embodying one of tbe earliest pleas for 

 the birds, and for which he received a silver medal and a testimonial 

 letter from the Paris Society for the Protection of Animals; and a 

 memoir on those curiously deformed human beings (of which the 

 " Aztec children " of the showmen were specimens) called " micro- 

 cephales " or man-monkeys. He regarded the defects in structure 

 of these creatures as phenomena of atavism, or reversion to the struc- 

 ture of simian ancestors man in body, monkey in mind. The pub- 

 lication was the occasion of bitter controversies. 



This added to his fame, and when, in 1867, he started on a lec- 

 ture tour in Germany, Austria, and Belgium, he met large audi- 

 ences. The purpose of his lectures was to make a popular presenta- 

 tion of the Darwinian principles and to vindicate freedom of inquiry. 

 The theory of the man-monkey was formally and earnestly discussed, 

 at the Prehistoric Congress held at Copenhagen in 1869, between 

 Professors Yogt and Quatrefages. Vogt, with Yirchow, Praas, 

 Ecker, and others, at this time took the first steps toward the forma- 

 tion of the German Anthropological Society; and the first volume 

 of the Archiv fur Anthropologic contained an article by Yogt on the 

 Primitive Times of the Human Kace. 



During the Franco-German War of 1870 Vogt's sympathies were 

 with France, and he opposed the German annexation of Alsace- 

 Lorraine. This caused a temporary estrangement between him and 

 his German friends. The unpleasant feeling gradually passed away, 

 and when, in 1871, the Congress of Prehistoric Archaeology and 

 Anthropology met at Bologna in connection with the celebration of 

 the eight hundredth anniversary of the university, he was relied 

 upon to temper the hostility between the French and German pro- 

 fessors, who had carried their political animosities into their science. 



One of the most curious incidents of Professor Vogt's life, con- 

 sidering what a freethinker he was, was his defense of the Roman 

 Catholic schools in Geneva against a bill depriving them of privileges 

 which were still left to the Protestants and Jews. The bishop asked 

 his influence in the matter, saying in his letter that notwithstanding 

 their differences on all common questions, he recognized Vogt as 

 the impartial champion of the liberties of all. This act caused a 

 separation of Vogt from the majority of his party on the question 

 and aroused some animosity, culminating in an unsuccessful effort 

 to disturb his position in the academy. Shortly afterward a faculty 

 of medicine was created, and the academy was raised to the rank of 

 a university. Professor Vogt was active in the efforts that were 

 used toward making the institution worthy of its name and providing 

 it with a suitable building. His lectures to his classes are described 



