1884.] 
Friedrich Wohler. 
255 
When Wohler was a boy Germany languished under the 
unbearable yoke of the French invaders. He was too young 
fully to feel the heaviness of the oppression, too young to 
share the glorious impulse which aided in liberating Europe 
from the hated tyrant, yet he preserved in later years a vivid 
recollection of the great events of that time. 
Meanwhile our young friend had, from a feeble and even 
sickly boy, grown to be a strong bright youth. He himself 
attributes this happy transformation to the extreme care 
which his parents took of his physical development, and to 
their sensible way of strengthening his constitution. 
In the spring of 1820, when nearly twenty years old, 
Wohler went to the University. A family council had de- 
termined that he should study medicine, partly because 
favourable circumstances seemed to assure him a prosperous 
future in this line, partly because his own inclination pointed 
in that way. The first year he spent at Marburg, where his 
father had studied before him, and where several old friends 
of his family still lived, who had been requested to guide the 
inexperienced youth. He attended lectures on Botany, on 
Physics and Mathematics, as well as on Anatomy, and at 
the expiration of the year exchanged Marburg for Heidel- 
berg. His mind was filled beforehand with enthusiasm for 
Prof. Gmelin, who then leCtured on Chemistry at that town, 
and who throughout his College life remained his true friend 
and benevolent adviser. He ardently wished to attend his 
readings : Gmelin, however (in Wohler’s case), considered 
it a waste of time, and thus it came to pass that he, of all 
men, never heard leCtures on Chemistry. He greatly pro- 
fited, however, by the opportunity of working in his labora- 
tory. Nearly all the time he could spare from his medical 
studies he devoted to Chemistry. He began the experiments 
on cyanogen, the results of which he deposited in two 
essays, published in 1821 and 1822. In their author we al- 
ready recognise the accomplished man of Science. 
Wohler still intended to become a practising physician, 
his inclination for this vocation strengthening as he gained 
more precise knowledge of the practical side of medical 
science. In September, 1823, Wohler and a friend of his 
took their degree as M.D. It had been decided that Wohler 
should now go abroad, in order to visit larger hospitals. 
Another direction, however, was given to his life by Prof. 
Gmelin, who advised him to abandon the medical science, 
and to devote himself wholly to Chemistry, a proposal to 
which Wohler immediately consented. Stimulated by 
Gmelin, and encouraged by the friendly manner in which his 
