CH. IX. THE FIRST ZOOLOGICAL CABINET. 67 



Zoological Gardens must feel interested in Gesner, the first 

 man since the time of Aristotle who wrote anything original 

 about animals and plants. 



Conrad Gesner was born at Zurich in 1516. He was 

 the son of very poor parents, and, being left an orphan, was 

 educated chiefly by the charity of an uncle and other friends ; 

 but his love of knowledge was so great that he conquered 

 all difficulties, and after taking his degree as a medical man 

 in 1540, earned enough by his profession, and as Professor 

 of Natural History at Zurich, to carry on his favourite studies. 

 He learnt Greek, Latin, French, Italian, English, and even 

 some of the Eastern languages, and read works of science in 

 all these tongues ; and although he was very delicate, he 

 travelled all over the Alps, Switzerland, Northern Italy, and 

 France, in search of plants, and made journeys to the 

 Adriatic and the Rhine in order to study marine and fresh- 

 water fish. He employed a man exclusively to draw figures 

 of animals and plants, and he made a zoological cabinet, 

 which contained the dried parts of animals arranged in 

 their proper order. This was probably the first zoological 

 cabinet which ever existed. He also founded a botanical 

 garden at Zurich, and paid the expenses of it himself. He 

 took great interest in studying the medical uses of plants, 

 and often hurt his health by trying the effects of different 

 herbs. His friends once thought he had killed himself by 

 taking a dose of a poisonous plant called ' Doronicum/ 

 or ' Leopard's Bane,' but he recovered, and gave them a 

 most interesting account of his own symptoms. 



Between the years 1551 and 1565, Gesner published his 

 famous ' History of Animals,' in five parts ; two on quadru- 

 peds, one on birds, one on fish, and one on serpents. In this 

 book he describes every animal then known, and gives the 

 countries it inhabits and the names it has been called, both 

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