22 MODERN HISTORY 



Qiiadrupedum e Glirium Online, the best monogra]^liy we 

 possess in the class Mammaliaj and distinguished by cha- 

 racters which few naturalists have been able to impress on 

 their writings. He not only accurately describes the animals, 

 and their anatomy, but details their habits, and in many 

 cases adds valuable physiological information on their tem- 

 perature. 



After living some years in the Crimea, on estates given 

 him by the Empress, he returned, towards the close of his 

 life, to Berlin ; where, for some months before the event, 

 he was admonished by pain and increasing weakness of 

 his approaching end. Like many professors of our art, he 

 obstinately refused to take physic ; exhibiting that want of 

 faith, which, whether or not it diminishes the chance of sal- 

 vation, certainly amuses the profane. He died as he lived, 

 engaged in zoological pursuits : for his last occupation was 

 that of arranging papers, and giving directions for a grand 

 work he had been long preparing on the animals of the 

 Russian empire; destined to illustrate their structure and 

 functions, as well as natural history. This *, or at least 

 some portion of it, is printed, but I believe not yet published. 



Perhaps it is not necessary to insist on the merits of 

 Haller in comparative anatomy, before an audience un- 

 doubtedly familiar with the works, and therefore fully able 

 to appreciate the greatest ornament of our profession. I 

 must however observe, that he saw the subject in its just 

 light : he perceived clearly that the physiology of an organ 

 could not be complete until its structure had been examined 

 in every class of animals — until all its modifications and 

 their effects had been noted. Hence each section of his 

 immortal work contains a collection of all the facts then 

 known respecting the structure of animals, as well as of man. 



At this favourable era, when the spirit of inquiry was 

 awakened, and active minds in all parts of Europe were 



* AnimaUa Imperii Hossici. Rudolphi informs us, in his life of Pallas, 

 that he had seen the text of the first volume, and part of the second ; and 

 gives some account of the object and ^contents of the work. Berjlragc, s. 55. 

 u. fo)g. 



