SOME ACCOUNT OF PROFESSOR BLUMENBACH. 
The following particulars relative to the great lion of Gottingen, are extracted 
from a communication in the Medical Gazette^ and will, doubtless, prove in¬ 
teresting to our readers :— 
The great lion of this university (Gottingen) is Blumenbach, Professor of 
Natural History, by whom I was most graciously received, though without any 
formal introduction : yet I have heard he is not always so courteous. He speaks 
English fluently,—in fact he is the only professor who appeared to have any 
knowledge of the language, which surprised me much, considering the intimate 
connection that exists between Hanover and our own country. The venerable 
Professor, though he has reached his eighty-second year, still retains all his 
faculties perfect. Pie spoke of the kindness of George III. during his visit to 
England, forty years since, at which period he also went to Oxford. One of his 
apartments is fitted up as a museum; it is by no means large, but contains 
rather an odd medley of preparations, and a numerous collection of skulls of 
negro tribes, as well as specimens explanatory of Comparative Anatomy. He 
called my attention more particularly to a tattooed head of a New Zealand chief, 
which was presented to him by the Duke of Northumberland, and on which he 
appeared to set a very high value. 
His lecture commences every day, except Saturday, at three; his class did not 
exceed forty. He stoops considerably, usually wore a shaggy great coat, with a 
small green velvet cap on his head, his hair hanging in long silvery locks. He 
was particularly fond of laughing at his own jokes and anecdotes, which he 
mentioned during his lecture, sometimes raising his voice to a stentorian pitch, 
whilst at others it could scarcely be heard. He could read his notes without the 
assistance of spectacles, and often explained his subject in terms not quite adapted 
to “ ears politeexpressing his astonishment or admiration at the wonders of 
Nature in no measured language—making use of a phrase which, though of very 
unusual occurrence among us, still is very common among the Germans,—that of 
“^Herr Jesus,” which is, however, only an expletive, and occupies the place of 
mon dieu of the French. He exemplified his subject with preparations either 
dried or in spirits, as well as by plates or drawings; some of which, from their 
age and roughness, were very curious. 
A specimen he valued much, and which he prized above all others, was the 
foetus of a Bear in spirits, which is very rarely seen; and it was certainly a 
most misshapen object of very diminutive size; it was quite, as the old Professor 
expressed it, an ‘‘ unlicked cub.” Another rather interesting specimen was a 
young Porcupine in spirits, before the quills had commenced growing; in which 
