THE STORY OF THE DEVELOP- 
MENT OF A YOUTH BY 
ERNST HAECKEL 
LETTERS TO HIS PARENTS 
1852-1856 TRANSLATED BY 
G. BARRY GIFFORD 
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS 
NEW YORK AND LONDON 
MCMXXIII THE STORY OF THE 
DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Copyright, 1923 
By Harper & Brothers 
Printed in the U.S.A. 
First Edition TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE 
In the following translation of the remarkable 
series of letters written, in the full flush of youthful 
enthusiasm that held him captive for the remainder 
of his life, by Ernst Haeckel to his parents, the aim 
throughout has been to render into English as 
literally as 'possible the exact words of the writer. 
It is hoped that in this attempt full appreciation 
and justice have been accorded to the acumen and 
concepts of the boy who was destined to become 
in later life so illustrious a naturalist. 
The definite trains of thought have been studi- 
ously followed and developed, the logical sequence 
of ideas has been preserved, the spontaneous out- 
bursts of zeal and enthusiasm have been repro- 
duced as clearly and faithfully as the special condi- 
tions would allow. There is considerable repetition, 
in spite of the effort to vary the handful of ad- 
jectives and adverbs which recur, sentence after 
sentence (often several times in some), paragraph 
after paragraph, throughout the letters. Indeed, 
in this respect the task was practically an insur- 
mountable one; for the youthful Haeckel was first 
of all an enthusiast, and a very sincere and honest 
one, and the admirable and natural manner in 
which he poured out his soul to his parents in 
V TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE 
adoration of Nature and her marvels, without 
thought of style or choice of words, left him barren 
of new expressions wherewith to adorn his glowing 
thoughts, his ecstatic, passionate intensity of feel- 
ing. Thus we find him, often lost in endless involved 
sentences bristling with German idioms and locu- 
tions (for which equivalent English expressions are 
generally to be sought for in vain), regardless of the 
external form, but ardently conscious of the visions 
that perpetually floated before his artistic and 
scientific perception, plunging headlong with boyish 
intrepidity into his descriptions that seemed to 
have baffled all his powers. 
The whole story is one of development, and is told 
gradually and more in the form of a diary to the 
sympathetic and loving hearts of his parents. 
Surely when the letters were written they were 
not intended for publication! Therefore, covering 
as they do a period of several years, they must 
naturally overflow with repetition, and for that 
reason must be read as a whole, not as an arrange- 
ment of carefully revised and independent chapters. 
Sometimes they were penned in haste, on the spur 
of the moment, often after a hard day’s work or 
an arduous and long journey; at other times, amid 
the distraction of pressing occupations and the 
daily events of university life. 
The character of these letters does not lend itself 
to any freedom in their translation into another 
language. Consequently, with the object of doing 
VI TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE 
the fullest justice to the writer and his fascinating 
subject, any suggestion of departure from the strict 
style of the original with his frequently peculiar 
dialectics, has been carefully and deliberately 
avoided. There has, likewise, been no intention of 
substituting any modernism of language for that of 
the original. To interfere with the diction and 
mannerism by the much easier and often tempting 
process of cutting down the long sentences into 
many shorter ones, would have the appearance of 
officious tampering with the author’s style. 
In the same spirit, scarcely any weeding or 
trimming have been resorted to; for it has been 
considered that the natural vista of the boyish ideas 
and ideals presents a more pleasing picture, and 
one that would best have appealed to Ernst Haeckel 
himself. 
G. BARRY GIFFORD. 
Berlin, January, 1923. 
VII INTRODUCTION 
Eknst Haeckel was born at Potsdam on the 
16th February, 1834. In the same year, his father, 
Oberregierungsrat Karl Haeckel, was transferred 
to Merseburg, and it was here that the future 
naturalist passed his childhood and his early youth. 
From his youngest days the miraculous work of 
nature inspired him with joy, and animals and 
plants were the declared favorites of his childhood. 
It was his mother, Charlotte Sethe, who, above all, 
awakened and fostered his sense for the infinite 
beauties of nature. His father was more a philos- 
opher than a lawyer, enthusiastic about Plato, 
Goethe, and Schleiermacher, and vividly interested 
in the religious and political movements of his 
time. Both parents devoted themselves to a simple 
life, conscious of their high parental duties, accus- 
toming their two sons, Karl and Ernst, to simplic- 
ity, unremitting work, and fidelity to duty, educat- 
ing them up to veneration for all that is true, good, 
and beautiful. 
At the age of six years, Ernst went to the inter- 
mediate school, where he found in his teacher, 
Karl Gude, an understanding promoter of his botan- 
ical inclinations, which continued to accompany 
IX INTRODUCTION 
him through the cathedral classical school of Merse- 
burg, as well as through the whole of his later 
career. Fields and hedgerows, meadows and woods, 
rubbish heaps and swamps, were rigorously searched 
for plants, which were afterward classified, dried, 
and mounted. “Surely there was never a school- 
boy from Merseburg who had laid out such a really 
magnificent herbarium, in regard to both quantity 
and quality, as Ernst Haeckel,” writes one of his 
school-fellows, Finsterbusch, whose name is men- 
tioned in these letters. Journeys and walking tours 
to the Riesengebirge (the home of his father), to 
Bonn, into the Thuringer Forest and the Harz 
Mountains, augmented the botanical treasures and 
the knowledge of the conditions of their growth, 
and at the same time stimulated his desire to see 
still more of the world and its wonders. When 
asked as a small boy what he wanted to become, he 
answered without much hesitation, “I will be a 
Reiser.”1 Descriptions of the travels of Humboldt 
and Darwin, but, above all, the Life of the Plant 
(Leben der Pflanze), by Schleiden, strengthened his 
love for the plant world as well as that for travel, 
and so he resolved to study botany at Jena with 
Schleiden and then to go to the tropics in order to 
study the plant world of the forest primeval. 
In the autumn of 1851 his father retired. His 
parents removed to Berlin, while Ernst remained 
alone at Merseburg till Easter, 1852, as a boarder 
1A childish form of the German word Reisender, a traveler, 
X INTRODUCTION 
with his friendly school professor, Osterwald. In 
March, 1852, he passed his final examination. In 
his maturity certificate the following, among other 
things, occurs: “Full of warm reverence for his 
teachers, amiable and agreeable toward his school- 
fellows, thoroughly obedient to the regulations, by 
his conduct, which was in all respects exemplary 
and pure, he has completely satisfied his teachers 
of his moral fitness, and in no small degree has won 
for himself their love. Endowed with excellent 
talents, he has exhibited during the whole of his 
school time the most praiseworthy diligence in order 
to develop them conscientiously, in which it must 
commendably be recognized that, although from an 
early time a pronounced predilection had attracted 
him to natural science, he has nevertheless in no 
way pursued this favorite study of his at the 
expense of other branches of education, but he has 
applied the same consistent and energetic diligence 
to all his studies. His work in the German language 
is distinguished by a peculiar treatment of the sub- 
ject, by a conception full of spirit and feeling, and 
by a very skillful and fluent style. He has a good 
understanding of Christianity and a warm apprecia- 
tion of it. He possesses a distinct and well-founded 
knowledge of the Christian doctrine of faith and 
morality, combined with a general view of the 
history of the Christian religion. His work in 
physics and the description of nature is excellent; 
his botanical knowledge, in particular, far exceeds 
XI INTRODUCTION 
the requirements of the school.” The certificate 
concludes with the words: “ The undersigned exam- 
ining committee has, therefore, on his leaving school 
for the purpose of studying medicine and natural 
science, granted him the certificate of maturity, and 
on account of the special interest which has been 
raised in them by his mental and moral qualities 
takes leave of him with the hearty desire that, under 
the gracious assistance of God, he will succeed in 
fulfilling all the hopes and expectations they have 
placed in him.” 
His intention to go to Schleiden at Jena at Easter, 
1852, was frustrated. In searching for the rare 
Scilla bifolia in the marshy Leislinger meadows at 
Weissenfels, he contracted articular rheumatism, 
which forced him to go first of all to be nursed in 
the parental home in Berlin. Meanwhile he matric- 
ulated at the University of Berlin, and attended, 
as well as his rheumatic knees would permit him to 
do, the botanical lectures by Alexander Braun and 
the physical lectures by Dove. In the autumn of 
1852 he went to Wurzburg and here began the letters 
which are published in the following pages and 
which give an account in a diary-like completeness 
of the external events, and the internal movements 
of the mind of the future medical man and naturalist 
without ever falling into the dryness of an ordinary 
diary. 
XII THE STORY OF 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF 
A YOUTH 
OF the time preceding this the Haeckel Archives 
only possess a few letters, and these are gen- 
erally unimportant. The oldest one in existence 
reads (when translated) something like this: 
Merseburg, 22d Mei, 184.0. 
Mi dere grandfather: What are you doing? The 15th 
Mei we were in Leipzig: I and mother were in a wild 
beast show we saw there: 1. 4 pelicans, 2. 1 tiger, 3. 
monkeys, 4. 1 raccoon, 5. 1 wolf and 1 bare together in 
1 cage, 6. 1 bare, 7. 1 lion, 8. 1 badger, 9. 1 cockatoo, 
10. parrot, 11. 1 big snake. Your Ernst. 
From Easter, 1854, to Easter, 1855, Ernst Haeckel 
studied in Berlin and Johannes Miiller inspired him 
for zoology, particularly for comparative anatomy, 
which thenceforward remained his favorite science 
during the whole of his life. Unfortunately, the 
Ernst Haeckel Archives possess no letters of that 
period, with the exception of those which describe 
his six weeks in Heligoland. On the other hand, 
those to his parents, to his brother Karl and his 
wife Hermine, nee Sethe, as well as the letters 
addressed to his aunt Berta Sethe, from Wurzburg, 
1 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
whither Ernst Haeckel returned for three further 
terms at Easter, 1855, are all existing, faithfully 
preserved by the parents, so it would seem, in 
anticipation of their importance. From these let- 
ters we have inserted in this publication all those 
which are important in regard to the development 
of Ernst Haeckel, all those in which the peculiar 
character of this ripening man reveals itself. Omis- 
sions are indicated by three dots; short remarks 
added to the text are indicated by square brackets. 
If I may rely upon my own judgment, the youth- 
ful letters of Ernst Haeckel are among the most 
precious in the whole of epistolary literature. They 
acquire a special interest through the personality 
which is revealed in them. They show the whole 
Haeckel in growing perfection: his vivid interest 
in everything natural and human, his quick and 
keen apprehension, his rapid and striking reproduc- 
tion of all impressions, his enchanting enthusiasm 
for his science, his brilliant imagination, his exu- 
berant humor, the variation in his moods, his 
impulsiveness, his contempt for outward appear- 
ances, his veneration for nature, amounting almost 
to pantheism, his incessant leaning toward the 
ideal, toward everything that is true, beautiful, 
and good—toward everything that is characteristic 
of the perfected Haeckel, all of these we meet here 
already in the storm and stress of his youth. More 
surprising than anything else to everyone who 
knows only the later monist Ernst Haeckel, is the 
2 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
fact of his sincere Christianity, which is expressed 
over and over again in the letters. But the change 
to a naturalist and monist is in course of prepara- 
tion, is beginning, and is leading to grave internal 
and external struggles. The serious experiences of 
life, the study of natural science, the influence of 
excellent teachers, particularly of Rudolf Virchow, 
and riper friends, above all of the highly esteemed 
Beckmann, the observation of the external practice 
of religion in Wurzburg, the Tyrol, and upper Italy, 
the bitter recognition of human incompleteness and 
of human misery, all combined gradually to lead 
him from the religious standpoint of Christianity 
in respect to the world and life toward a new appre- 
hension of things. This spiritual development, 
which reveals itself in thrilling soul outpourings, 
together with the moral development of his per- 
sonality in constant striving after his real life 
profession, indeed, make these letters of Ernst 
Haeckel into a fascinating Story of the Development 
of a Youth, sufficient to arouse the highest interest 
in the man who announces himself in them. 
Heinrich Schmidt. 
Jena, Ernst Haeckel Haus, 
16th February, 1921. 
1. Wurzburg, 27th October, 1852, evening. 
Dearest parents, 
I have just washed the first human blood from 
my hands, which, strangely enough, I have not cut 
and I am now hastening to give you the first news 
3 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
from here. My journey passed off quite well. From 
Berlin to Juterbogk, where the cars were changed, 
I sat alone in the compartment, and had time to 
suppress by various desperate reflections the strong 
moral fit of the blues which had overtaken me at 
my departure. We had to wait at Cothen for an 
hour and a half. From there to Halle I traveled 
with two young married couples, one of whom had 
only just been married, and they talked of the 
beautiful wedding presents, and seemed to be very 
loving and happy. The other couple had with 
them a little child who cried a great deal, and the 
mother wept very bitterly. I could not help think- 
ing a good deal of our turtle doves, brother Karl 
and his wife, and how joy and grief journey side by 
side. At Halle Weber, Hetzer and Weiss {who had 
run over from Merseburg in order to see me!!!) 
received me at the station. I left my things at the 
station and accompanied them to their little attic, 
where first of all I ate your sausage with them. 
Then I invited them to a confectioner’s for a cup 
of chocolate. After that, at 11 o’clock, we went to 
an inn which Weber had decorated with comical 
wall paintings, the burden of which was “Wel- 
come!” There we chatted very merrily to our 
heart’s content and in particular poured out our 
botanical souls for the whole summer. At 3.30, in 
spite of the resistance of Weiss, who absolutely 
insisted upon taking me to Merseburg, we went to 
the station, whence I departed for Leipzig. There 
4 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
I found only one single cab, and in it I drove to the 
Bavarian station. From there onward the journey 
was rather tedious, and it was only later, after we 
had passed the Fichtelgebirge and the Erzgebirge, 
that it became more interesting; particularly the 
two enormous viaducts, one of which leads over 
the Plauen Valley, are very remarkable. They con- 
sist of three tiers, rising one above the other, each 
about thirty feet high with some fifty arches. We 
remained at Hof from noon till 1.30 in the after- 
noon. Unfortunately it rained, so that I could not 
look around the place. 
The farther we proceeded in the Main Valley, 
the more beautiful the country became. In par- 
ticular, Kulmbach, and the Plassenburg over- 
shadowing it, are very finely situated. We could 
only see the magnificent convent of Banz, where I 
was with Karl last Whitsun, in the last glow of the 
evening sun. At 6.30 we arrived at Bamberg; as 
the coach to this place only leaves at 10 o’clock, I 
set out with a Jewish medical student, who has also 
come here, so as to see something of the town in 
the meantime. The atmosphere was very cold and 
clear, and there was a magnificent full moon. The 
town, antiquated and built on hilly ground, seemed 
to be very interesting; it possesses very many 
bridges (over the Regnitz) and (as is the case, also, 
at Wurzburg) a number of churches. The cathedral, 
standing on an open elevated place, is the most 
beautiful and the largest of them. It is built in 
5 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
the purest Byzantine style and is of truly gigantic 
proportions. The splendid doorway has eleven 
magnificent arches, very artistically and variously 
carved, one overtopping the other toward the front. 
In addition, there were also many magnificent large 
buildings; but, although mass was being celebrated, 
all the streets were as though deserted, and we 
wandered aimlessly about, because there was no 
one whom we could question. Suddenly, while we 
passed a very tall, brilliantly lighted church, an 
immense crowd of people rushed out of it. Mingled 
with them was a number of monks, nuns, and 
clergy, who were forming themselves into a proces- 
sion, which paraded the streets amid singing and 
howling. From a citizen, of whom we asked the 
way, we learned that the Jesuits had just been 
preaching there again, as they were doing four 
times a day. He grumbled terribly at this non- 
sense and insisted that the Jesuits only desired to 
seduce and stupefy the people. My Israelitish 
traveling companion did not seem to agree with 
this at all. He regretted not to have come earlier, 
so that he could have heard them preach. After- 
ward I also sat with him on the stagecoach in a 
cabriolet, where we made ourselves very comfortable 
and slept splendidly through almost the whole of 
the night. By the way, the mail coaches here con- 
sist only of two cabriolets lying one behind the 
other, and are badly enough driven. We arrived 
here early this morning. Bertheau received me at 
6 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
the post office, and took me with him to his house, 
where I had to breakfast with him. Then we went 
to mine, which, at most, is but thirty steps distant 
from his, and lies at a similar distance from the 
new and old Schools of Anatomy. The landlord 
and his wife received me in a very friendly manner. 
But here everybody is friendly, as well as being 
terribly talkative and inquisitive, whereby the 
people generally become very tiresome. 
About the house and the landlord and his wife 
more anon. To-day I want just to have a good 
sleep, and to-morrow morning the letter must 
immediately go, so that I can get my passport in 
good time. When I had unpacked my things and 
had had a little rest, I went out at once with B., 
who is exceedingly friendly and agreeable, in order 
to enroll myself. Then I learned that before I can 
do this it will be absolutely necessary for me to 
have a traveling passport from the Berlin Police 
Presidency. Therefore, perhaps, father will be so 
kind as to notify my removal to the police as soon 
as possible, to procure me a passport, and to send 
the same here immediately, because I must have it 
within twelve days (from to-day). Then we still 
lounged a little about the town, went to the beau- 
tiful Main bridge, and then to dine with B., where 
I ate quite well for 21 kreuzer. After that, B. took 
me to a coffee-house (here, by the way, one drinks 
coffee out of glasses) and introduced me to his 
Mannheim acquaintances, who seemed to be very 
7 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
nice people. At three o’clock we went to the School 
of Anatomy; you might well imagine that I got 
into a terrible funk at the various sights I saw 
there. Nevertheless, I pulled myself together and 
took the precaution not to gaze around me too 
much, and then set to work with good courage. I 
had to buy myself a dissecting overall for four 
gulden. It would have been well, after all, if I had 
brought an old coat with me. By 5 o’clock I had 
finished the preparation of the musculus cucullaris, 
in which B. had again considerably helped me. I 
must really be very glad that I have immediately 
found a friend in B., who is so helpful to me and 
who renders me such capable assistance in every- 
thing. If the weather will be fine again to-morrow, 
we intend to go for a walk together; although hilly, 
the surroundings seem to be quite bare of wood. 
They consist chiefly of vineyards. The citadel, al- 
most impregnably strong, is very finely situated on 
a very steep, high place on the bank of the Main. In 
other respects the town is only slightly fortified, but 
possesses a great number of churches and convents. 
When you send the passport, dear mother, you 
might, perhaps, also pack in some needles and 
thread. The confusion in this letter is attributable 
to my terrible fatigue from traveling, the bad hand- 
writing to the horribly pale and blotchy ink. 
Hearty greetings to No. 6 and to our young mar- 
ried couple, whom may God further protect and 
bless. In old faithful love, your Ernst H. 
8 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
B. sends his best greetings, and also his assurance 
that he will duly mother me. 
2. Wurzburg, 31 October, 1852. 
My dear parents, 
Sitting as I am now on a Sunday evening quite 
alone here (Bertheau and my other acquaintances, 
in spite of the abominable rainy weather, have 
gone out to take part in the festivities for the recep- 
tion of the King of Bavaria), and thinking how 
happily, and in specie a week ago, I generally spent 
the Sunday evenings with you, my sudden distance 
from you seems again to be very painful and I 
think that homesickness will probably best pass 
away when I converse with you, even if only in 
thought and by letter. I have already found my 
bearings here to some extent, and have arranged 
a preliminary program for the day. But, before 
anything else, I want to tell you what I have been 
doing here up till now. From Thursday till Satur- 
day I have been preparing the muscles of the arm, 
as well as of the shoulder and the nape of the neck. 
The first aversion for dissection was soon overcome, 
but I cannot acknowledge that I have a real taste 
for this business. On Thursday morning I became 
enrolled, which here, like everything else, proceeds 
with infinite dilatoriness and slowness. By the 
way, it was only done, “under the reservation of 
the production of a police legitimation within 12 
days,” which, therefore, you must obtain for me 
9 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
from the police, as I have already said in my first 
letter. 
On Thursday afternoon Bertheau conducted me 
to the “Kappele,” a Capuchin monastery magnifi- 
cently situated in a steep vineyard on the left bank 
of the Main, from which one enjoys a very fine 
view over the whole of the surrounding country, 
particularly over the massive labyrinths of houses 
in the town itself on the other bank (on the right 
bank), with its promenades surrounding it in a 
ring, and a vast number of towers and cupolas. 
Still more beautiful and more grand on this side, 
the very strong citadel of the fortress, of which 
one obtains a complete view in its entire length 
and breadth, stands out. The country, as a whole, 
is very monotonous—nothing but vineyards, no 
potato or rye fields, and on the most distant heights 
scarcely a trace of wood. After all, the most beau- 
tiful spot is the Main bridge, from which one sees 
little of the naked mountains, but, on the other 
hand, the fortress from its most beautiful side. 
Friday was a day of festivity, and consequently 
I went in the evening with B. and his friends to a 
small tavern in order to eat baked carp, which, by 
the way, was rather large, bad, and cheap. B.’s 
acquaintances, to whom he introduced me and who, 
contrary to my expectation, I found to be abstemi- 
ous and decent (in this country a great rarity), 
are three Mannheimers: (1) a Jew (very pleasant 
and reasonable for his nation), of the name of 
10 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Weyl; (2) a Walloon, Dyckerhoff (a very handsome 
and nice man); (3) Zerroni, of an Italian family, 
clever and amusing. With these two latter, Bertheau 
(being of French blood) boasts that they represent 
the three nationalities ruling in Mannheim (Alsa- 
tian, Walloon and Lombard). . . . 
My room is now completely arranged. It is about 
16 ft. long, the same broad, and 8 ft. high, an 
irregular square in shape and possesses, being a 
corner room, four windows, each pair of windows 
opening on to the two adjoining streets. As these 
latter are very narrow and dark, and as, in addition, 
two windows open toward the north and two toward 
the east, where the buildings are high, no ray of 
sunshine penetrates the room throughout the day. 
It is also rather cold; the stove is small, entirely 
of iron and, being a good conductor of warmth, 
heats the room very quickly, and for a quarter of 
an hour very considerably indeed, whereafter it 
gets cold again. The furniture consists of a bed, 
cupboard, sofa, three chairs, one looking-glass, and 
a chest of drawers with a smaller draw which has 
no lock and two that can be locked. In order to 
give you a proper idea of your boy’s cave I inclose 
a plan. The washstand has a superficial area of 
one square foot. As a matter of fact, I am very 
much in need of a desk, as I have only two drawers 
capable of being locked. Consequently the bed- 
box with a lock and key is of great service to me, 
because in it I pack all my plants, summer clothing, 
11 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
etc. I have also had to pack many other things in 
the trunk. The books are standing in row on the 
chest of drawers. For the rest, the room stands six 
steps above the ground. The landlord and land- 
lady, as I have already told you, are extremely 
obliging and solicitous, often overflowing with 
courteousness. The Doctor (whom, by the way, I 
would not like to call in as a medical attendant) is a 
fat, very good-humored Bavarian, with a broad head 
and pointed crown, who talks nearly as much as his 
broad-shouldered, but also very good-humored wife, 
who is probably about fifteen years younger than him- 
self (about 35 years of age); one must really be care- 
ful not to begin to talk with this good married couple, 
for the stream of their eloquence and of their benev- 
olence when once let loose can no longer be checked. 
Regarding my material physical existence, I pass 
it thus: (1) early with the assistance of a gigantic 
cup of fairly passable coffee with two small milk 
rolls, and (2) mainly with that of the dinner at 
the “Harmony,” where, besides B. and myself, four 
officers and six students dine. We get 5 courses 
there for 18 kr. (7 kr. are equal to 2 silver-groschen), 
namely; (1) soup, (2) beef with sauce, (3) another 
kind of boiled meat with vegetable (generally cab- 
bage), (4) a kind of pudding, pastry, or something 
of that kind, and (5) grapes. After that there fol- 
lows a glass of coffee, for 4 kr., at the Cafe Oben 
(where very many students usually gather to play 
billiards or cards). At the beginning I had ordered 
12 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
for supper for “certain reasons” (?) some soup at 
home; but as this appeared to me to be very spiced, 
fat and heavy, and, also, not too palatable, I have 
preferred as long as fresh grapes are to be had to 
eat them for supper. Here they are quite excellent 
and very cheap; on an average each bunch costs 
one pfennig; when they are exceptionally good I 
always think how I would like nothing better than to 
give you some of them—what a pity that I cannot 
send you some! The wine itself is also supposed 
to be extremely cheap and good here. Of the best 
kind (Steinwein and Bocksbeutel), which are pre- 
ferred to Rhine and Moselle wine, a glass, larger 
than grandfather’s ordinary wine-glass, costs only 
6 kr. This afternoon for the first time, with B. and 
his comrades, I tippled sweet must, which tasted 
to me very delicately sour-sweet. A small tumbler 
of it also costs only 6 kr. Otherwise the food here 
is not particularly pleasing to me; I specially miss 
potatoes, which are not eaten here at all. Potatoes 
are not even cultivated here, nearly the entire pop- 
ulation subsisting on wine-growing. As this is very 
profitable, there is consequently no real proletariat, 
and, on the other hand, great riches are said to be 
scarce; the population is mainly a well-to-do middle- 
class which, however, is said to have rather gone 
to the dogs as far as its morality is concerned; this, 
it is pretended, is due to the superabundance of 
officers and studiosis medicince. These two classes 
moreover, stand in rather a peculiar position to one 
13 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
another; because, not long ago a decree of the late 
King Ludwig has been renewed, and in which it 
is said in plain language that no student, under 
penalty of expulsion, is permitted to offend an 
officer either by word or deed, and, if offended by 
one, would not be permitted to challenge him to 
fight a duel. They are everywhere addressed by 
the inhabitants (whose chief sources of income, 
besides wine-growing, are the students) as doctores 
and are treated as such; even in official matters, 
as, for instance, on the rolls, etc., it is never said: 
stud, med., but always cand. med. (candidate: quite 
right—). I myself am always addressed, not only by 
the landlady, but even by the real Dr. med., as “Herr 
Doctor!” 
Monday morning, All Saints' Day. 
Yes! poor Dr. med.! poorer cand. med.! poorest 
stud. med. If only you could know how it stands 
with him. I will immediately tell you quite openly 
and straightforwardly that the stud. med. has never 
been so distasteful to me as it is at this moment. 
I have now the firm conviction, which also others, 
wiser ones, have already had before, namely that 
I can never become a practicing doctor nor can even 
study medicine. Do not believe, dear parents, that 
I may have arrived at this conclusion through my 
first sense of disgust at the practice of dissection, 
through the “mephitis of the dissecting-room and 
cadaverum sordes.” The unpleasantness connected 
with that has already, to a great extent, been over- 
14 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
come, and also in the future could and must be 
overcome. But it is quite a different thing to study 
the healthy body from studying the diseased sub- 
ject, from studying the disease itself. For this 
latter I have an unconquerable disgust (which is 
probably due to weak nerves and hypochondria) 
and I shall not be able to adapt myself to it. Even 
last summer I often tormented myself with the 
thought of having to overcome this repulsion for 
disease, and I believed that I could do so; at that 
time I was still too unfamiliar with the circum- 
stances; now here, where I have exclusively to 
associate with medical men, where I continually 
enjoy their pathologico-therapeutical conversations, 
the impossibility has become absolutely clear and 
certain to me. I should never be able to follow 
pathology with my heart and soul, never be able 
to practice surgery. In order to convince myself 
completely and incontestably of this, I shall occa- 
sionally follow the different specifically medical, 
above all the pathological and therapeutical courses 
of lectures. As for the rest, I shall do all I can to 
see that this winter shall be as little wasted as 
possible. Kolliker’s anatomy course (which, by 
the way, is the case with nearly all the other courses, 
has not even been announced yet, and, therefore, 
will probably not begin for a week or two) I shall 
nevertheless follow, and also diligently continue to 
practice dissection. Thus I contemplate anatomy 
purely from the standpoint of natural history and 
15 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
(not of medicine!) as the natural history of men, 
and as such it can perhaps be of advantage to me 
should the day arrive for me to study mathematics 
and natural science. Perhaps next summer I shall 
also follow “physiology” and “comparative anat- 
omy” from exactly the same standpoint. Beyond 
that I shall not take up any further courses, because 
those in natural history are in reality very few and 
not particularly good; the very good chemical labo- 
ratory (“practical chemistry exercises in the exam- 
ination of organic and inorganic matter”) with 
Scherer is exactly from 10 till 1 o’clock privatissime, 
while Kolliker is lecturing on anatomy (from 11 to 
1 o’clock). That brings me to another thought. 
Shall I, perhaps, follow this chemical privatissimum? 
and drop Kolliker? 
If I were to do this I would lose scarcely any 
time (and trouble) presuming (as I and, perhaps, 
others hope) that I can study natural science and 
mathematics (that is, if I have enough nous and 
mathematical sense, which, after all, is rather 
doubtful). Do me the kindness of speaking, as 
soon as possible, to Quincke, who has always been 
so kind to me, so that I may have the benefit of 
his advice. You, dearest father, might then be so 
kind as to write to me immediately your own and 
Quincke’s opinion. Ask Aunt Berta’s opinion also 
so that I may know what she thinks about it (N. B. 
the main question, upon which everything depends 
and for reply to which I beg Quincke, is, whether 
16 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
mathematics is to be acquired with ordinary fac- 
ulties, or whether special talent is necessary for it?) 
While writing this after careful consideration 
(that is to say after careful consideration in as far 
as the short space of time in which a decision and a 
speedy resolution must be taken will allow), I really 
feel as though a burden had been lifted from my 
shoulders, as though, after a long while, I could 
once more breathe freely. I really believe that I 
would never have felt happy in the medical profes- 
sion. At first I intended to conceal the whole of 
this struggle of feelings and moods from you, and 
push along with the medicine; however, after I 
had again in the evening and night of yesterday 
wrestled with myself, I came to the conclusion that 
in any case it would be better for me to write to 
you quite unreservedly and to beg for your advice 
and help. If, notwithstanding this, Quincke thinks 
it better for me to go on following anatomy, little 
time will be lost thereby. In that case I would 
occupy myself with chemistry, physics and zoology 
as well. (N. B. I have not yet joined Kolliker’s 
lectures.) Anatomy in itself is certainly highly 
interesting. In order to get a preliminary idea 
about mathematics, you, dearest mother, might 
send me with the other things a book wrapped in 
blue paper, called “Elements (or Text-book?) of 
Mathematics” (or Geometry), by van Swinden, 
translated by Jacobi, which is standing on the first 
or second shelf in my little glass cupboard in the 
17 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
bedroom. However, there is no hurry about this. 
If I have not sufficient nous for mathematics (which 
I hope is not the case), I would necessarily have to 
turn to Law, for which, probably, nobody has a real 
inclination. But, after all, this can be arranged at 
Easter. 
If I follow only anatomy or chemistry now I have 
not lost much as far as money is concerned, because 
the lectures here, like everything else, are very cheap. 
Thus a course of lectures of three, four, five, up to 
six lectures a week, cost, according to the regula- 
tions, respectively, five, seven, nine gulden. In the 
practice of dissection I have wisely for the time 
being taken up only one part, the study of the 
muscles, which costs only ten gulden; so that in 
this also there would not be much lost. 
Now, before everything else, I must make the 
fervent request that you will not be angry with me 
for having poured out to you so openly and unre- 
servedly that which moves and occupies me con- 
stantly. As I have said, I believe firmly that 
already on account of my weak nerves I could never 
become a doctor. Bertheau, who, by the way, 
treats me very cordially, amicably, and nicely, con- 
tinually assures me, however, that in the course of 
time I would learn to regard and to treat both the 
living man and the dead subject in the same manner, 
namely, “not as a man,” but as something inorganic 
or, at least, as a vegetable. He added that he and 
many of his acquaintances had at first behaved with 
18 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
still more timidity and weakness; indeed, some had 
even fainted at their first dissection, whereas, for 
myself, I was already going along quite excellently 
—and so on, in the same strain. But I believe I 
cannot succeed in it. 
Best of parents, do not be annoyed with me on 
account of my fickleness, my indecision, my want 
of character, or whatever else you may call it. I 
should so very much like to possess a firm char- 
acter, and shall always try to make you happy. 
In old filial love, your faithful son 
Ernst Haeckel. 
8. Wurzburg, 6.11.1852. 
Saturday evening. 
Dearly loved parents, 
For the last few days I have always been wanting 
to write to you, but I have waited till to-night, 
because I have continually hoped that a letter from 
you would arrive. First of all, therefore, I must 
tell you that from the middle of this week, since 
the beginning of the courses of lectures, I am as 
one newly revived, and that I am more lively than 
I have been for a long time. Indeed, I could scarcely 
have believed that kicking about for three months 
could have had such a slackening and discontenting 
influence on a man as I have now experienced from 
the time between the first of August and the first 
of November. Apart from this slight attack of 
homesickness that always appears regularly, par- 
19 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
ticularly in the evening (and then often even very 
violently), I am now once more very cheerful, which 
I attribute chiefly to reading Humboldt’s Cosmos 
and to Kolliker’s splendid course of lectures. 
Already two days after my great lamentation epistle 
of the 31st of October had been dispatched to you, 
I decided to follow Kolliker’s lectures, and so far I 
have not repented it for one moment. The subject 
matter, the lecture, the whole of Kolliker’s concep- 
tion, are so charmingly beautiful that I cannot 
describe to you at all with what pleasure I and 
many others follow his anatomical lectures. Hitherto 
he has given us a historical outline of anatomy, 
an outlook over the different animal and vegetable 
systems of the human body, and now to-day he has 
commenced an “external contemplation” of the 
same, which is highly attractive and interesting. 
Kolliker himself is an exceedingly amiable and 
interesting man; besides being such a perfect speci- 
men of a man as I have rarely seen; in particular, 
his black eyes are very fine. . . . 
Including Kolliker’s lectures, for which I was for- 
tunate enough to secure one of the best seats, those 
I am now following are: 
(1) A. Kolliker, anatomy of man, daily from 11- 
1 o’clock, costing 20 gulden. 
(2) H. Muller, anatomy of the bones, joints and 
organs of sense, 4 times from 9-10 o’clock, 
costing 8 gulden. 
(3) F. Leydig, microscopical anatomy or his- 
20 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
tology of man, 3 times from 5-6 o’clock, 
costing 8 gulden. 
(4) P. Siebold, dissecting, at optional times, cost- 
ing 11 gulden. 
Besides these, I shall still follow a three hours’ 
public lecture on German archaeology, and perhaps 
also on the study of cryptogams, if they should be 
given. Then, from time to time, I shall follow the 
only mathematical lectures that are given here and 
hear Scherer’s “ Chemistry in regard to Physiology.” 
The osteology, etc., is tedious but exact, and I am 
able to get all the bones in my hand separately, 
from which I profit by drawing them, both from 
the front and from the back. I have taken up his- 
tology with Leydig, a young and clever privat- 
docent on the special advice of Kolliker. I shall 
leave dissecting alone for the moment until Kolliker 
has gone through the muscles in question; in any 
case, I have done with the arm muscles. 
The division of my day has now become somewhat 
altered: At 7 o’clock I get up and take my coffee; 
read till 9. From 9 to 10 osteology, 10 to 11 draw- 
ing of bones, 11 to 1 anatomy, 1 to 2 dinner time, 
2 to 3 coffee or attending lectures. From 3 to 5 
idling about or dissecting or going for a walk, 5 to 
6 histology, 6 to 9 working up my notes of Kolliker’s 
lecture, 9 to 10 reading Cosmos, which really attracts 
me so powerfully that I feel angry with myself for 
not having thought of it earlier. 
For the rest, with regard to the university, philos- 
21 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
ophy and the other nonmedical sciences are very 
poorly represented. The building itself is also a 
funny old thing. My lectures are all given in the 
anatomical school, which smells barbarously of rot- 
ten meat and which is quite extraordinarily small 
and narrow so that we have to sit in it like pickled 
herrings; even the table at which Kolliker reads 
is so closely surrounded that he is scarcely able to 
get out. These inconveniences, however, will all 
be removed by the new anatomical school-building 
which will be opened during this month. . . . 
By the way, if I have not enough odors to satisfy 
me at the school of anatomy, the glue-manufacturer 
opposite me and the soap-boiler not far off would 
afford me a satiety of such delights, as, indeed, 
they do. In fact, the whole town is one stinking 
nest, where one perceives one’s olfactory nerves to 
be assailed everywhere in the most varying and 
unpleasant manner, particularly in the evening; 
perhaps for this reason the place is called “Wurz- 
burg!”1 . . . 
4. Wurzburg, Sunday early, 1J,\. 11. 1852. 
My dear parents, 
When I was at the post office at 10 o’clock on 
Sunday I thought: “You must try whether you 
cannot find an evangelical church,” and I arrived 
at one just in time for the last verse before the 
sermon began. The text was taken from the parable 
1 “ Wurze,” means spice or seasoning. 
22 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
of the servant, the whole of whose debt was for- 
given by the master, and who then caused his fellow- 
servant to be cast into prison on account of a small 
debt. The preacher, an active young man, first 
spoke about the infinite grace of God, and then how 
we should and could show ourselves worthy of it. 
The sermon pleased me immensely, partly on its 
own account and partly on account of the great 
congregation, which really inspired one for devo- 
tion. It was rather a plain church, with a very 
simple, lofty aisle as wide as that of Merseburg 
Cathedral, but at least twice as long. The whole 
of this immense space was so thickly crowded with 
people (at least from 800 to 900), it being the only 
Protestant church here, that, in the most literal 
meaning of the word, they were standing as far as 
the entrance door. You need not imagine that 
like Friedrich, I would have concluded that simply 
because many people were present the sermon 
was a fine one; but I had never seen such a large 
congregation, and in the middle of a Catholic coun- 
try such a sight in its devotional calm is really 
uplifting. 
When I returned home I found your parcel of 
books: I would have been very glad if van 
Swinden’s Elements of Mathematics had been among 
them; this, however, together with the Echter- 
meyer, can now wait till you have the occasion to 
send me something with them. That you mean, 
after all, that I should take my Dr. medicince has, 
23 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
speaking honestly, somewhat astounded me; I 
think I would much rather take the Dr. 'philoso- 
/phicB (do not be shocked, dear little mother, regard- 
ing philosophy I do not mean it quite seriously). 
Yet I shall reserve all I have to say concerning this 
important point for verbal discussion at Easter. 
At least I am glad that I know what I shall have 
to do this winter, and I will hammer away at 
anatomy as well as I can, in which the excellent 
course of lectures and the good opportunities for 
dissection will aid me in every way. 
As it was a fine day (the opposite of to-day) on 
Sunday I went for a walk in the afternoon with 
Bertheau and several of his friends to Diirrbach, 
a village which lies beyond the next vineyard on 
this (right) bank ( 24 of an hour away). We enjoyed 
the magnificent view over the town and the fortress 
from the top of this very steep ridge; but most 
beautiful of all seemed to be the Main, which here 
in a graceful bend flows at the foot of the height, 
and peeps through further above between the high 
banks in the distance. Just opposite the elevation, 
on the top of which we stood, a convent is 
nestling most romantically in the valley; there 
were several others further down, as, indeed, 
churches and convents are everywhere to be met 
with here in numbers. On the whole, this week has 
passed rather quietly and prosaically for me, as I 
am now getting more accustomed to the work 
which at first did not run quite smoothly; I cannot 
24 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
say that it is yet going particularly well, for home- 
sickness, which I believed a week ago I was over- 
coming, has begun to reappear with great violence; 
especially when I am sitting alone in the evening, 
you and my little couple from Ziegenriick [his 
brother Karl and his young wife] are always run- 
ning across the paper. In spite of all effort properly 
to collect the few thoughts which are left to me after 
all my sorrows and gloomy meditations, I am not 
even capable of reading two or three sentences, 
even Schleiden [The Life of the Plant] or Humboldt, 
consecutively without their running away with me 
again, especially to Berlin. I believed that it would 
not be so bad here as at Merseburg, where every 
locality and object recalled my having lived together 
with you there, but here quite another thought, 
I might call it a more ideal one, of homesickness 
makes its appearance. However, I believe, after 
all, that it is quite good as it is, and I am already 
learning something of the advantage of being alone. 
I have also been a few times in the evening with 
Bertheau and his acquaintances to a tavern, but 
it does not please me very much, not because they 
were perhaps somewhat rough; on the contrary, 
they were much more decent than I had expected; 
but almost the only entertainment that they know 
is cards, especially whist, for which I have no 
special inclination, and almost the sole conversa- 
tion is on technical medical subjects, chiefly surgical 
operations, of which I am now rather sick. On the 
25 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
other hand, I have renewed a very nice Berlin 
acquaintance; it is with “La Valette Saint George,” 
of Cologne, whom I met in Berlin, although I only 
knew him superficially, during an excursion. He 
also knows Wittgenstein and, like myself, only 
studies natural science; he will, however, remain 
here for several terms, because he wants to devote 
himself, in addition to chemistry and botany, 
chiefly to comparative anatomy, the main branch 
of zoology, and for this purpose requires human 
anatomy as well. He, also, has no special liking 
for mathematics and later on will take the degree 
of Dr. philosophic, for which purpose, as he tells 
me, he must undergo an examination in four sub- 
jects (for example, botany, chemistry, physics, 
zoology), but, nevertheless, it is necessary to be 
absolutely proficient in one only. Then, perhaps, 
he would like to acquire the right of giving academ- 
ical lectures as a privat-docent; this would be a 
good thing for him, as he has a private income. . . . 
Yesterday I passed a very delightful evening. I 
was at the “Physical Society,” of which the presi- 
dent now is Virchow, and of which all the resident 
notabilities are members; there are other non- 
notabilities belonging to the branch of natural his- 
tory. However, students are also admitted. I 
obtained my introduction through my neighbor in 
Kolliker’s course, a Swiss, a Dr. phil., of the name 
of “Gsell-Fels,” who knows Kolliker, and who is 
very friendly and obliging to me. As I heard 
26 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
yesterday, he is already married and has not been 
here long; I have not heard what he is doing. The 
Physical Society devotes its activities, as most of 
them (including the Geographical Society of Berlin) 
do/ in addition to correspondence, exchange, etc., 
chiefly to free lectures, of which three were delivered 
yesterday and which lasted from six to nine o’clock 
in the evening. The first lecture was delivered by 
Professor Schenk, the resident botanist, whose lec- 
tures I may yet, probably, follow, a very genial 
and clever young man, but who unfortunately has 
a somewhat bad and uneven manner of lecturing, 
on the subject of his botanical holiday trip to the 
lower Danube countries, Wallachia, Hungary, Tran- 
sylvania and the Carpathians. The flora of these 
districts accords in the plains nearly throughout 
with the flora of the steppes of Southern Russia, in 
the mountains with the Alpine flora of the Cau- 
casus. There are few woods, as they have generally 
been cut down or burnt down in order to provide 
pasture land for sheep; nevertheless, there is a 
great quantity of impenetrable underwood. The 
mountain districts are generally very barren; often 
for whole days’ journeys only one single species 
of grass (Agrostis rupestris), in the steppes often 
only Poa glauca. In some stretches, especially 
around the soda lakes, salt-plants. Of cultivated 
plants, exclusively vine, wheat, maize. In addition 
to these and many other special botanical results, 
he also spoke about many highly interesting geo- 
27 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
logical and oryctognostical subjects, for instance, 
concerning the occurrence of important mud vol- 
canoes in Hungary, about which till now no one 
has known anything. Further on he spoke much 
about the Saxons in Transylvania, a subject which 
would have been of particular interest to you, dear 
little father. Till the present time, the Saxons have 
always preserved themselves very pure, speak the 
old low Saxon (while their children are not taught 
high German), still observe old German customs 
and habits, and are still very much attached to 
Germany. Exteriorly they are immediately to be 
distinguished from their Slav neighbors, who also 
wear neither boots nor shoes, by their long shirt, 
while the others wear a short ditto over the trousers. 
It is very remarkable that in answer to all questions 
as to their origin they stoutly and firmly maintain, 
as is also to be read in their old documents, that they 
have been led to that locality by the Pied Piper of 
Hamelin, which myth is, as you know, also quite 
common in Germany. 
The second lecture was delivered by Professor 
Virchow, also about his holiday trip, but which, 
however, dealt with quite another subject, namely 
cretinism in lower Franconia. He referred to a 
mass of data, highly interesting to a medical man, 
important also from the social point of view, the 
repetition of which, however, will not amuse either 
of us, because, for example, he recommended us to 
take a journey into the districts that are richest in 
28 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
cretins, for the reason that it is only there that one 
can discover what caricatures nature is capable of 
making of man. Among others, he has seen a 
twenty-one-year-old female cretin 84 c.m. ft.) 
high, the head of whom had a circumference of 54 
c.m., and whose feet were 17 c.m. long—and other 
examples. By the way, it is really astounding 
what a number of cretins there are there; in one 
small place he found over twenty of them. They 
are particularly numerous on the slopes of the 
mountains in the neighborhood of the river. They 
are not to be found in the dry plains and in the 
mountains themselves. He is of the opinion that 
cretinism is due chiefly to local causes, to miasma 
or something of that kind. 
The third lecture was delivered by Professor 
Osanne, the resident physicist, about some of his 
labors in the realm of electricity. He had con- 
structed, among other things, a new electrometer. 
At first he gave a tedious mathematical explanation, 
of which I understood little, because he has a very 
bad voice; then he showed us some very interesting 
experiments. The first one was: if one suspends 
zinc in a weak solution of sulphuric acid, hydrogen, 
as we know, is developed; now if one brings the 
zinc from which the development of the gas grad- 
ually proceeds into contact with platinum there 
suddenly arises a most intensive stream of hydrogen 
gas, which is liberated into the air. Then he showed 
us a very strong inductive rotary apparatus, and 
29 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
experimented with it on himself and on Professor 
Kolliker. On completing the chain, one immedi- 
ately experienced most violent cramps and contor- 
tions of the limbs. 
The ordinary members still remained for the 
soiree, which is said to have gone off very well; 
we, La Valette and I, cleared out. What struck 
me as being particularly pleasant at the meeting, 
was the remarkable ease and lack of constraint 
with which the professors associated with one 
another as well as with other people, of which one 
has no idea in Berlin, especially among profes- 
sors. . . . 
For the moment there can be no thought of a 
piano in my room, because every corner is so 
thickly crowded that I can scarcely turn round 
myself. . . . But opposite to me there lives one of 
Bertheau’s friends, who has permitted me to play 
on his beautiful piano as often as I like. . . . 
I must still tell you of a great pleasure which I 
experienced the day before yesterday. In the 
twilight I took a walk on the square near the Main, 
where the ships unlade their cargoes; suddenly I 
saw on the shore among some shrubs the rare 
species of the cabbage family (Brassica nigra) 
which I first found at Merseburg. Now when I 
had plucked it, I discovered on the ground, under 
where it had been, a strange, very nice, equally 
yellow-colored, cruciferous plant, related to it but 
still quite unknown to me. When I classified it at 
30 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
home I found it to be the rare Diplotaxis muralit: 
immense joy! . . . 
I have not become more closely acquainted with 
Kolliker. He only spoke to me when I took my 
place. By the way, he is said to offer his recom- 
mendations for the “Harmony” to nearly every- 
body. It is already quite crowded there, and 
probably no more will be admitted. As far as 
that is concerned I am not at all sorry about it, 
because in such gatherings enjoyment is only pos- 
sible under certain conditions. For my part, I 
have now become melancholy and glum at every 
ball; I do not know why? I am in the same state 
as the man in Wallenstein! (I believe it is Max 
Piccolomini): “You know that great crowds always 
make me silent!” . . . 
Hearty greetings and a kiss from your faithful 
old boy 
E. H. 
5. Wurzburg, 19.11.1852. 
Most dearly beloved father, 
Again, in this year I can only offer you, in writ- 
ing, my most fervent congratulations and heartiest 
greetings on your birthday. May God preserve 
you to us for a long time yet, for a long time so 
fresh and bright; above all, may you have real 
happiness in your children; in one of your boys 
you have already a sure guaranty that he will 
always be good and happy. The other, unfortu- 
31 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
nately, has till now shown little enough prospect of 
equaling his brother very soon, especially in regard 
to order, perseverance, and firmness of character; 
nevertheless, you may feel absolutely certain that 
he will endeavor most seriously to become an honest 
man and also to become worthy of his parents and 
to be a joy to them. He will certainly take all 
possible pains to overcome his weaknesses more 
and more. 
How happy it would make me to be with you on 
this our greatest family day of festivity I need not 
assure you; it would also have made me very happy 
to make you some kind of present, if it were only 
a well-executed drawing; especially as at the present 
time I am in good drawing practice, and it is almost 
the only real happiness that at all times succeeds 
in driving away my evil thoughts. But my time 
has been very restricted this week, and it is already 
too autumnal and cold for me to be able to make 
a landscape sketch in the open air. You will see, 
however, by the inclosed outline sketch, which I 
made yesterday afternoon in the most horrible 
autumnal weather at the landing stage of the 
steamers, that my good will was not lacking; I 
had crouched down in a somewhat uncomfortable 
position to protect myself against the violent wind, 
behind a stack of wood, which you will observe in 
the left-hand lower corner. 
The big castle up above to the right is part of 
the citadel. Further down to the left, between it 
32 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
and the very ancient church which stands on the 
other side of the bridge, lies the “Kappele,” the 
monastery to which I took the beautiful walk dur- 
ing the first days I was here; an avenue of small 
chapels in which the story of the passion is depicted 
leads up to it. Underneath the citadel, on the left 
bank, lies the suburb: the Main quarter. Wurz- 
burg itself, which must be left to your imagination, 
lies opposite, to the left of the bridge, on the right 
bank. Of course, the sketch claims neither artistic 
merit nor to have been faithfully executed. It is 
merely intended to be a messenger to tell you of 
the love with which your child is always thinking 
of you, and, above all, how he will dream himself 
longingly over to Berlin at your coming festivity, 
when also those who love him will not forget 
him. . . . 
Be very happy and gay, and when you drink 
the health of your distant general “que nous 
aimons” think of your faithful old boy. 
Ernst Haeckel. 
6. Wurzburg, 19.11. 1852. 
My dear Mama, 
I have still to add to my words to our dear 
“ birthday-child ” (Geburtstagkind), dear papa, a 
specially fervent greeting to you. Probably you 
will both feel very lonely; but remember that your 
children, at least the younger one, is no better off; 
remember, at the same time, that he will always 
33 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
be with you in spirit, and that when he becomes 
low-spirited and despondent it is the thought of his 
parents that always gives him renewed courage. 
I have rather a good deal to do now, as I have 
been dissecting; in this Kolliker also helps the 
individual, and tries to make it as pleasant as 
possible for him, during which time he converses 
in a very friendly manner with the students. 
The second question he put to me, after I had 
answered the first, was: “You are probably from 
Saxony?” !! 
This week the privatissimum at Professor Schenk’s: 
“Microscopic demonstrations of vegetable tissues,” 
has also begun. I am exceedingly glad that I have 
been so lucky in this. Besides myself, there are 
only two who take part in it, and I have every 
prospect, at last, of making the acquaintance of a 
real botanist, which has been my ardent wish for 
a very long time. These demonstrations take place 
on Tuesdays and Thursdays from six to eight o’clock 
in the evening. During them we are each provided 
with a splendid microscope, under which he places 
for us his own excellent preparations made by him- 
self. Then we draw them while he explains them 
to us, and we are allowed to question him as much 
as we like,—question till we understand every- 
thing. You may well imagine what happiness that 
gives me and how important it may be for me. 
“Schenk is very amiable, and one can learn much 
from him, for he is quite an excellent botanist; 
34 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
only not very well known, because he is too lazy 
to write something really good, although, as a mat- 
ter of fact, he could very easily write a great work; 
nor does he present himself as he really is; one 
has at first to penetrate more deeply into his mind. 
It is a great pity that he has so little distinctness 
in his method and in his character, and that in 
many respects he is still like a child.” This charac- 
ter sketch of Schenk, which my neighbor, Dr. Gsell- 
Fells, who knows him very well, gave me I found 
completely confirmed, and in the last sentence I 
was immediately reminded very strongly of a cer- 
tain E. H. Well, if only some day the latter will 
get as far as Schenk! . . . 
Write again soon to your old 
E. H. 
7. Wurzburg, Saturday, 27.11.1852. 
Dearest parents, 
Yesterday I received your parcel so full of affec- 
tion, and the material contents of which have given 
me scarcely less joy than the intellectual ones, 
although I had already longed very much for news 
from you and as to how you had celebrated our 
family chief’s birthday, and for which I return my 
heartiest filial thanks. For my part, I have cele- 
brated the feast of my dear old father much more 
brilliantly than I myself, and surely of all of you, 
would have thought; now guess how? Imagine— 
with champagne! This is how it happened: at 
35 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
first I made the resolution that I would celebrate 
my father’s festival quite quietly, by going in the 
evening to an inn and there devouring a beefsteak 
with a beaker of “Steinwein,” in honor of his good 
health. I had also calculated in advance on a good 
share of homesickness, and how I would long so 
vainly for you; the latter I naturally experienced 
to some extent, but, on the whole, it turned out 
quite differently. That is to say, when I received 
your dear letter on Sunday afternoon, in which 
you, dear mother, asked me to invite a few acquaint- 
ances, I quickly made up my mind, and on the 
following morning invited Bertheau and La Valette 
to be my guests. As I really did not know whence 
to obtain the wine, B. offered to procure it, and, 
indeed, in the evening came laboring under the 
burden of — two bottles of Schalksberger at 24 
kr. and a bottle of Frankish champagne at 1 gulden, 
24 kr. You may well imagine that, for various 
reasons, I was a little bit shocked; yet I took 
courage, and with my two friends, who also found 
it to be of excellent flavor, set myself bravely to 
work, and at 12.30 in the night the three bottles 
were emptied to the last drop!! In spirit I see you 
before me, dear mother! how frightened you are 
and how you clasp your hands over your head; 
you are surely fancying all kinds of “after effects,” 
etc., and you pity your poor boy who has been so 
terribly entertained; but nothing a bit like that 
happened; exceedingly happy and comfortable, we 
36 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
sat together in my inn (N. B. in reality we were 
four, because B. had his dog with him, a frightful, 
ugly, but very comical poodle, which had to eat 
the skins of the sausages for my papa’s good health, 
and who had to empty the dregs!), and we con- 
versed with one another and chatted to our hearts’ 
desire. Naturally, we thought much of those in 
Berlin, and many toasts were drunk to the long 
life and welfare of my dear old father. In the after- 
noon, in company with my landlady, I had bought 
sausages, which, with some sandwiches, were excel- 
lent accompaniments to the wine, and to complete 
the feast I had bought half a bread tart, for 30 kr., 
from the confectioner’s. La Valette, who is alto- 
gether very considerate and abstemious, drank 
least; B. most; I kept in the noble middle of the 
street, but drank at least a good bottle, without it 
having even the slightest effect upon me, to the 
greatest astonishment of my friends, who had little 
guessed that I possess such a capacity; they thought 
that I would have sunk under the table after the 
third glass, and when they saw me quite imper- 
turbably maintaining an upright position they sang 
the praises of the father, whose son could stand so 
bravely such a magnificent essay of arms on his 
birthday, such an excellent primitice armorum. For 
myself, I was even much more astonished, and can 
explain my recently proved talent for drinking solely 
and only by the fact that I am in every respect the 
true son of a gallant woman of the Rheinland (sit 
37 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
venia verbo, dearest Mama). In this I had observed 
myself carefully and did not feel the slightest ill 
effect; it was only after the third glass of sparkling 
Frankish wine that I felt the arteria temporalis 
pulsate slightly, but which immediately ceased after 
I had sipped some water. The next day Bertheau 
slept till 10.30 o’clock. Although I also slept splen- 
didly after I had at length gone to bed at 1.30, I 
rose the next morning, as usual, at 7 o’clock, and 
during the whole day was as happy and bright as 
possible. Never in my life would I have thought 
that such a jollification could have had such good 
consequences, and I am still quite proud of my 
first drinking test. In other respects you need 
not have the slightest anxiety that I have imbibed 
a taste for it or that now I shall more frequently 
tipple wine; on the contrary, I have now made up 
my mind to fast (if only to mend the great hole in 
my purse, which has also been considerably widened 
by a few pots of egg flip), and I shall now make 
a start to-morrow by not drinking the little bottle 
of “Leistenwein” which every midday guest at the 
Harmony gets on Sunday and which costs 6 kr. 
After all, I have had many delightful hours this 
week; Schenk has begun his other course, namely 
about cryptogams (these are the lower nonflowering 
plants: ferns, mosses, lichens, fungi, etc.), and as 
it occupies two hours (on Tuesdays and Thursdays 
from 4-5 o’clock), I have still taken it up; besides 
myself and La Valette there are only three others. 
38 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Need I tell you what happiness this affords me? 
Among other things it leads us into the hothouses, 
and there we are shown the most beautiful tropical 
ferns, etc. But now I have taken up enough courses: 
30 hours, in addition to 18 hours of dissection. The 
latter, however, I have not done too diligently. For 
instance, this week I could not, because I had 
slightly cut my finger again. Also there was a 
complete want of subjects this week; consequently, 
great dissatisfaction among the students (who could 
only be calmed by the assurance that it was impos- 
sible to poison people in order to obtain subjects) 
and great perplexity among the professors; even 
Kolliker in his lectures on the muscles of the head 
and neck could only show us specimens in spirits. 
Besides this and the botanical course, I take a 
special pleasure in the microscopical anatomy of 
men, which is interesting in the highest degree and 
which is remarkably well demonstrated by the 
young privat docent Leydig. He also shows us 
very beautiful microscopic preparations. In addi- 
tion, I have still procured myself Kolliker’s Study 
of Tissue, a magnificent and most important book. 
(I have also had to buy myself a manual of anatomy 
for 8 fl.!) 
Last Sunday I went again to church, but this 
time the preacher was an elderly, rather prosy 
man, who, according to my idea, used far too many 
words and phrases. It happened to be a special 
harvest thanksgiving service. To-morrow I hope 
39 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
to meet the former preacher again. Saturday 
afternoon was dull; first I was with B.’s friends 
in “Smolensk,” a coffee-house at the foot of the 
vineyards; then I went to the gymnasium, which 
I have discovered behind my dwelling and where 
from time to time I exercise the weak muscles of 
my arm (that is to say, my Triceps brachii is very 
weak, and the Biceps flexor not much stronger). 
On Tuesday evening I walked for a long way on 
the right bank of the Main with La Yalette; it 
was already dark, the Main was very much swollen 
after the heavy rain, and the heights around were 
very bare and autumnally bleak; one compact 
mass of cloud entirely covered the skies; the whole 
was very attractive, wild and gloomy, particularly 
as there was no living being to disturb the repose 
of nature. It was altogether different on the night 
before last; a pure, cloudless sky, the most beau- 
tiful full moon, really ethereal air, and a delicate 
veil of mist overspread mountain and valley. I 
left my lecture only at eight o’clock, and at nine 
o’clock I still wanted to go for a walk with La 
Valette to the beautifully situated monastery, the 
Kappele; when, however, we reached the end of the 
town and, having passed through the gate, wanted 
to ascend the hill, the fortress guard stopped us, 
and nolens volens we had to return. But, neverthe- 
less, we clambered at random on the citadel hill 
for over an hour and were happy to reach the high- 
est place whither one may go without being stopped 
40 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
by the guard and whence we were still able to enjoy 
in fullest rapture a magnificent view over the town, 
which lay in solemn silence, in a hazy mist, at our 
feet, dark or only illuminated by a few lights, the 
stream roaring deep down below us and the moon- 
lit heights around us I cannot tell you what 
pleasure such joy of nature affords me, whether it 
be smilingly bright or dark and dreary. Then I 
suddenly feel myself exalted above all the anxieties 
with which I so frequently torment myself all the 
day long; it is as though the peace of God and of 
Nature, for which I have often sought in vain, had 
entered suddenly into my breast. What the con- 
templation of the world’s history and the common 
fate of mankind as a whole is to you, dear father, 
so is the general as well as the particular contem- 
plation of nature to me, but bestowed in a still 
higher degree. I believe I am far too selfish indeed 
to be able to take an interest in political affairs. 
On the other hand, I find another high joy and 
comfort in poetry. It is only recently that I have 
learned to value the latter so greatly, in fact, since 
I have gone out into the world. It is poetry that 
uplifts the man above the dust and worry of every- 
day life, and drives evil thoughts away from 
him. . . . 
I would have had a very good opportunity now 
to become better acquainted with Kolliker. He 
was looking out for a student who “would be in 
the position to be willing to make anatomical draw- 
41 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
ings for him.” At first I felt inclined to apply, 
but he has now obtained rather an unskillful one 
with whom, however, he is satisfied. 
By the way, drawing gives me very great pleasure 
once more, and, in want of a better subject, I cheer- 
fully draw bones after nature. . . . 
Your old faithful boy 
E. H. 
8. Wurzburg, 5.12.1852. 
My dear Mama, 
First of all this letter is specially addressed to you, 
as the private Treasurer-General of the house of 
Haeckel. You will surely not have expected such 
a black-eyed bill so soon, any more than I would 
have done. I can assure you that when, on the 
first of the month, I opened my purse with the 
object of paying the different bills, in specie those 
for the dining table and for mine host, I received 
no small shock when the entire balance, after deduc- 
tion of the summa summarum, amounted only to 
3j/2 fl. No matter how often I went through and 
added up the whole story, it always remained 
exactly as it was and is, and my only comfort con- 
cerning this terrible emaciation of my cash is, that 
it was just in this month that I have necessarily 
had very many extraordinary expenses, as, for 
instance, the journey here, installing myself here, 
the fees for the courses. How it has all accumulated 
to this amount you will see by the detailed account 
42 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
I have inclosed. I had taken with me 50 talers in 
gold and 50 talers in silver, which together amount 
to gulden. Now as the expenses amount to 
184fl., I have only gulden left, and nothing 
remains for me any longer but to resolve firmly to 
manage more economically and in some ways to 
restrict myself. Thus, for instance, I have given 
up drinking coffee in the afternoon; I will go out 
no more in the evenings (for if I meet acquaintances 
then I cannot get off under 10 or 15 kr.), but 
(although she doesn’t do this under 6 or 8 kr.) 
I shall have some soup made for me in the house by 
my landlady (O, dear landlady!). I could also live 
more cheaply at midday, perhaps for 18 kr., while 
at the Harmony I pay 21. But in that case I would 
miss the companionship of Bertheau and La Valette. 
However, after all, it will have to be done. . . . 
I regret very much, dear mother, that you have 
been so upset over the braggadocio about papa’s 
birthday; but I promise you that I will never be 
guilty of such extravagances again, however well 
the end may be. Wine-drinking is altogether a 
superfluous thing and is never profitable, even if 
the wine is as cheap as it is here. Now, probably, 
you will be upset again that my money is already 
finished, but do not forget that you, dearest mother, 
have yourself admonished me never to be avari- 
cious, which I had a great inclination to be, and 
that I should write to you immediately and openly 
when my cash came to an end, so that I should not 
43 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
learn to get into debt. Therefore I have done so 
immediately, but (side by side with my request 
for speedy help) I promise henceforward to manage 
carefully and economically. You can believe me 
when I say that such a begging letter, at least to 
my thinking it is partly so, is very difficult for me 
to write; nevertheless, the money has been spent 
and you will see from my account how little it is 
my fault that it has gone so rapidly. I truly wish 
tenfold more, my dear old mother, that you would 
manage my household for me, so that I need not 
bother myself about income and expenditure. But 
these are the joys of a bachelor’s household! . . . 
At least, my dear old mother, allow yourself to 
be heartily kissed and embraced by 
Your old Ernst. 
9. Wurzburg, 5. 12. 1852. 
Dear father, 
First of all I have a bone to pick with you about 
your having been vexed so much about politics. 
This, my dearest little father, is almost as bad as 
my worrying, so uselessly and vainly, about my 
future. Without any anxiety on our part, God 
will guide the affairs of the single individual, as 
well as those of the State, to a good end. The more 
topsy-turvy things are now the sooner must they 
become better and the crisis be reached. Of 
course, I can very well imagine how the Chambers 
in your immediate neighborhood, with their stupid 
44 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
nonsense, cause you much annoyance, but in the 
entire matter I would take up a much more objec- 
tive standpoint. You write to me that you feel 
the burden of old age, but at the same time its 
other qualities leading us to a more calm, more 
objective contemplation, and in the same line, with 
the entire enthusiasm of a youthful patriot, you fall 
upon the poor Chambers and the “gracious” King! 
Only consider that your wife and children stand 
much closer to you, and that you hurt them when 
through anger you damage your health! Rather 
do as we do here, we who never trouble about either 
the Prussian or the Bavarian Chamber, but who 
at the utmost, read the Kladderadatsch and the 
Fliegende Blatter, and vastly amuse ourselves about 
“Napoleon the Little.” . . . 
It appears very strange to me to spend the long 
evenings here in solitude. I always think at such 
times how my dear parents are, perhaps, at the 
same moment reading to one another: Shakes- 
peare by Gervinus, or Wilmar’s History of Litera- 
ture or some other beautiful historical work; prob- 
ably on some occasions Mama might be very 
anxious when you go for a walk in the dark 
and if you should not come home at the right 
time? 
Speaking of books, I think that Immanuel Kant’s 
complete works, which cost 25 fl. when new, are 
now to be bought here for 8 gulden. It is not, of 
course, the good edition by Rosenkranz, but that 
45 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
by Hartenstein; nevertheless, quite new and in 
good condition. I thought at first that I would 
buy it for you, but then I remembered that prob- 
ably grandfather will have it already? But all the 
same, if you would like it, let me know. I think I 
shall also have to study Kant thoroughly. 
Now once more the request, that you will not 
take politics too much to heart and that you will 
continue to love your old faithful boy E. H. 
10. Wurzburg, Saturday, 11.12.1852. 
Dearest beloved parents, 
What would I give if at this moment I could take 
you in my arms and could pour out before you the 
overflowings of my heart; my poor brain is once 
more suddenly crossed by so many encouraging and 
fresh thoughts that again I feel myself quite newly 
strengthened and full of energy, in spite of tooth- 
ache which has tormented me throughout the week 
and is doing so still. “The sunshine follows the 
rain,” and after great sorrow there always comes 
great joy; this is a sentence I see realized in me 
every week. Yesterday was a day of suffering, in 
which neither physically nor mentally did I feel 
well; to make up for it, I thoroughly slept it out; 
have briskly been drawing with the greatest pleasure 
this morning, then heard a magnificent lecture, and 
when I came home in the afternoon from a coffee- 
house, where I had been reading Kladderadatsch 
with great delight in company with Bertheau and 
46 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
La Valette, I found on my table—guess what!—a 
large parcel from Merseburg. In addition to a 
quantity of dried plants, it contained such a budget 
of letters that I had not had time to read them half 
through when half an hour ago your longingly 
awaited dear letter took me by surprise. Hearty 
thanks for it, as well as for the remittance, which I 
hope to make last twice as long as the last amount 
that you gave me. At 6 o’clock, in order to om- 
plete the happiness of the day, I shall go once more 
to the Physico-Medical Society, which is holding its 
meeting to-day for the first time since I was there; 
there was a meeting a fortnight ago, but it was a 
private one, when the members had their annual 
festival celebration, and the accounts were pre- 
sented. But I see that my time is up. Good-by 
till later! 
Sunday evening, 12.12.1852. 
I have only now found time to continue the letter 
I began yesterday to my dearest old parents. Yes- 
terday evening it was again very interesting. 
Kolliker, in particular, delivered a very fine, clear 
and interesting lecture about the results of his holi- 
day journey to Sicily, which he took in company 
with Professor Muller and Doctor Gegenbaur of this 
place (zoologists and anatomists). Their aim had 
been chiefly directed to the investigation of the 
lower marine animals, the anatomy, morphology 
and physiology of which are highly attractive and 
important. For this purpose they had spent a very 
47 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
long time in the Straits of Messina. Kolliker began 
by speaking generally about the latter, particularly 
about Scylla and Charybdis, the waves of which are 
in constant and violent motion, even when the wind 
is perfectly still. He attributes this mainly to a 
strong current of the sea, which at one time flows 
from south to north, at another vice versa. Then he 
described and drew many new polyps, medusae 
(jellyfish), molluscs, and other similar little crea- 
tures, also strange, small, exceedingly low-organized 
fish, some of which he had newly discovered and 
others he had observed more closely. 
One important discovery he had made on this 
subject simultaneously with our Johannes Muller, 
his teacher, who at the same time (accompanied by 
Lachmann) made similar investigations in the 
Adriatic, near Triest. . . . 
Now back to the treasury of letters I received 
yesterday; the first and longest (4 sheets long!) 
was from Ernst Weiss, who had sent the parcel off. 
It seems to me really touching with what true attach- 
ment the old boy reports and communicates every- 
thing to me. How in his struggle against his dry 
stoicism he reveals his deep, serious mind, and then 
how he offers me his friendly advice, and how he 
comforts me in all my scruples. He also pours out 
his heart about the materialism of his school-fellows 
and about his loneliness, Weber’s visits from Halle 
being all that remind him of our former association 
and partly supplies its place with him. Most espe- 
48 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
daily, as this is the case with me also, he misses 
somebody to whom he could pour out his natural 
scientific and, in specie, botanical heart. Inclosed 
with it is a letter from Osterwald, which I want to 
give you literally. 
Only a few lines, dearest chum, to prevent you from 
thinking that I have quite forgotten you. Unfortunately, 
up to now I have not found any time for a detailed letter, 
because a greater scientific work on the Odyssey, in 
which I see nothing now but spring, claims my atten- 
tion very much. Weiss has already told me of your 
scruples with regard to your future. Already, a long 
time ago, I had predicted to your father that I do not 
believe in you as a medical man, and for this reason I am 
not at all surprised at the resolution you have taken to 
change your profession. If the resolution is now ripe, 
then carry it out without regret. There is no doubt 
that you will learn enough mathematics, and natural 
science can still remain as the chief thing. Do not shut 
yourself up against humaniora, keep your mind open to 
“things in general” and then steer toward the academ- 
ical—and if that does not work—toward the career of a 
schoolmaster. Indeed, to be a schoolmaster is surely to 
eat sour bread; but, in any case, one has much more joy 
as such than, say, as a stone-breaker, particularly if one 
has such excellent people as pupils as yourself, my dear 
chum, or has had them. It would be very nice if some 
day you would have to pass the probationary year in 
Merseburg! Good-by for to-day! Hearty greetings from 
my wife; little Minnie is really funny and Ernst quite a 
darling. Good-by. In old friendship, 
Yours, 
Osterwald. 
49 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
You can scarcely believe, dearest parents, how 
these few lines have stirred me to my innermost 
depths, and have contributed to a feeling of con- 
tentment. I felt nearly as happy and calm, as rest- 
ful in God, as when I received Aunt Berta’s splendid 
letter. The only thing that really keeps me up now 
and does not allow me to despair of myself is, that 
such magnificent people as Osterwald, as Aunt 
Berta, as you yourselves, dear parents, as my excel- 
lent brother, together with my able old friends, 
Weber and Weiss, do not abandon me, but stick 
to me, and think of me with love and sympathy. 
Almost more fervent and cordial than the preced- 
ing one, is a letter from my dear faithful Weber, 
who also opens out to me his great mind, his deep, 
overflowing heart which lies so completely hidden 
and locked away from the outer world. He begins 
also by consoling me about homesickness, and 
describes to me in a really poetical, thoughtfully 
simple manner, how he was tormented by it him- 
self for nearly six long years, in fact, as long as he 
was at school, as often as he went home for his holi- 
days, and how at length he has now overcome it, 
and has even acquired a cheerfulness which the 
most cramped conditions could not suppress. (Oh, 
when shall I have reached that stage!!) 
Then he (who, in reality, only pursues it for 
nature’s sake) gave me some quite special advice 
with regard to the study of mathematics, how I 
should go on with it, and how he likes it himself. 
50 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Dear little sketches (chiefly of beautiful foliage) are 
inclosed in this precious letter, as well as some dried 
plants and a letter from Gandtner to Weber, which 
the former had written to him when he had asked 
him at Easter ’52 for his advice about a study he 
wished to take up. (Gandtner is also entirely of 
the opinion that Weber—and, therefore, I as well— 
should study mathematics and natural history with 
a good heart. I shall, by the way, write to G. in a 
few days.) The fifth letter is from Finsterbusch, 
also couched in very cordial and friendly terms, but 
with a sense of mental superiority and a pronounced 
character which for a long time I have suspected in 
him and which makes me very glad for his sake, 
although it deeply pains1 me when I compare my- 
self with him and realize how in my case nothing 
at all ever will or can become of me. Before all, 
he warns me quite rightly “against a morbid, 
mawkish condition in which one too easily takes a 
pleasure, strangely enough delights in embittering 
one’s life, and allows it to pass unprofitably.” The 
following is also perfectly true: “Like you, when 
at school I had a mistaken idea about studying. I 
regarded the deep absorption into it as being the 
highest thing in studying, and, in a certain way, 
it is so. Only one must not confound it with always 
remaining in a state of absorption in it”!! At the 
same time he urgently advises me to move about 
among people with my eyes open, to make acquaint- 
ances, to seek a friend; not to be afraid of any exer- 
51 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
tion, etc. All this is surely very true, but more 
easily said than done. At least, I perceive that the 
more trouble I take to pull myself together the less 
I succeed. 
How happy is such a man by reason of his self- 
dependent character! 
Last of all there was still a letter from Hetzer, in 
his usual sarcastic and good-natured style. Now 
with regard to the main question concerning my 
future career and course of study that is dealt with 
in detail and with great sympathy in all these 
letters (N. B. You must know that in a letter 
from here to Weiss and Weber I also poured out 
my heart and asked them for advice), there is only 
one opinion in all of them and one which you will 
find is concisely summed up in Osterwald’s words. 
It is little Weiss in particular who urges me with 
positive insistence to follow his advice, that of his 
friends, and of all reasonable people, and not to 
torment myself with doubts. It is almost ludi- 
crously touching how he emphasizes with certitude 
that I should become a professor, most likely of 
botany. That the medical profession has not lost 
a shining light in me he is, and has always been, 
in agreement with me and all the others. . . . 
If I shall now give you an account of last week 
I find that it has offered me a good deal of variety. 
At least I have been one evening (hear! hear!) in so- 
ciety (!). It happened in the following way: When 
I went home in the evening with Schenk after the 
52 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
microscopical lecture, he asked me whether I liked 
music. When I replied half and half in the affirm- 
ative, he invited me to his house for next Wednes- 
day evening. As “a well-bred young man” (!) I 
went there on the Wednesday morning in a black 
swallow-tailed coat, trousers (which on this occa- 
sion made their first appearance, and were, there- 
fore, not brought with me in vain like the white 
ones I took to Teplitz) and gloves (Bertheau wanted 
at all cost to make me wear his black hat as well; 
this, however, I objected to), in order to pay my 
respects to Frau Professor Schenk. Fortunately 
enough she was not at home. The evening passed 
in a very pleasant and homely way, and in many 
respects it has for once done me some good. 
N. B. If you should again be sending me some- 
thing, please send me the Odyssey with it; I 
believe it is on my second shelf in my glass cup- 
board; I have often a great longing for it! . . . 
11. Wurzburg, 21.12.1852. 
Dearest parents, 
Your anxiety about the apartment has become 
quite superfluous through the fact that already 
last week I have taken a new one. It is situated 
in district I. No. 358, not very far from my present 
one, and consists of a very comfortable, although 
small, room with a side chamber adjoining it, 
which is nearly three-fourths of it in size. It has 
two windows and is nicely furnished; the rent 
53 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
amounts to only 5 ft., because they have taken off 
1 fl. for the reason that I have brought my own 
bed. I must confess that the view into an old and 
dark lane, so narrow that I could (as in the old 
town of Frankfurt) nearly shake hands with my 
opposite neighbor, is not very nice. But, after all, 
one has to seek in vain through the whole of Wurz- 
burg for free and pure air, except in the courtyard 
of the hospital, the Botanical Gardens and the 
Main quarter on the other side, where the poor 
fishermen live. . . . 
Concerning my “vital question” I think that we 
had better spare ourselves further correspondence 
about it, and postpone it until we can talk it over 
verbally at Easter. Half of the bitter time of 
separation has now already past. About the idea 
of a schoolmaster, by the way, I do not find it, 
dear father, as bad as you do! For one thing, we 
are not put upon this earth merely to lead a com- 
fortable and pleasant life. One can be content if 
one has just one’s daily bread. Ruminating over 
one and the same subject in front of the ever newly 
arriving pupils would surely be a miserable thing 
for a long time; but just consider how the academ- 
ical teachers are in almost the same position. And 
then how uncertain and full of doubt is an aca- 
demic career unless one is endowed either with 
exceptional talent or considerable means! On the 
other hand, however, La Valette has quoted to me 
a whole string of examples of such teachers who 
54 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
were well instructed in a few branches of science, 
as, for instance, botany and zoology, or chemistry 
and physics, and then found very pleasant and 
remunerative positions in the Rhenish Secondary 
Modern Schools, where such men are very highly 
estimated. The idea of the career of a practical 
chemist is not to be thought of in view of my totally 
unpractical disposition. 0 jerum 'praxis! As for 
the rest, I shall dedicate the remaining part of the 
term entirely to anatomy, for, in any case, there 
would be no time left for anything else, and then 
we shall see all about it at Easter! . . . 
N. B. There are certain curiosities that are the 
best part of me in the study of natural history; 
thus, for instance, I can look through the microscope 
with the left eye while with the right I can draw 
what I see. Regarding this, a short time ago (in 
a microscopical anatomy lecture) the docent, Herr 
Leydig, broke out in the greatest astonishment in 
the middle of his lecture, because he had never seen 
such a thing before; most people are only able to 
look through the microscope with the right eye. 
(As a matter of fact, I now feel, particularly in the 
evening, how it fatigues the eyes.) . . . 
The presence of the Emperor of Austria will not 
have been very agreeable to you, my dear old father; 
you would rather like to devour him as well as the 
whole of the Junkers; that would be indigestible 
stuff, like the coagulated white of an egg; take care 
of that! . . . 
55 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Once again a thousand greetings and kisses from 
your faithful old boy 
E. H. 
12. Wurzburg, 25.12.1852. 
Dearest beloved parents, 
I hope you received my little parcel in as good 
time as I received your large one; I really doubt 
whether you have had even half as much pleasure 
over mine as I have had over yours, for I can 
scarcely believe that anybody has ever received a 
more beautiful and more desirable present than the 
one you have sent me, or that anybody could be 
more delighted with it. . . . 
What shall I say about the Berghaus? When I 
first saw the large dark book peeping through from 
the bottom of the box, strangely enough in the flash 
of the moment I made a good guess! While I was 
busily removing the obstacles which covered it, my 
first thought appeared to me to be far too rash, and 
I felt almost ashamed to repeat such an immodest 
and yet so heartily felt an old wish, and then I 
thought it would be Renard the Fox, by Kaul- 
bach, or something like it. Yet how shall I describe 
to you my astonishment and delight when I saw 
realized that for which I had scarcely ventured to 
hope? It would be superfluous for me to describe 
to you my unbounded joy and my fervent thanks 
for it. You know yourselves, my best of parents, 
how much the possession of this classical work has 
56 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
always been, and still is, a real longing of my life. 
Only one thing I will confess to you, namely, that, 
particularly of late, since the sad and yet necessary 
thought of changing my profession had increased, 
and the study of mathematics, but especially that 
of physics, as well as the future career of a teacher, 
were waving before my eyes like pictures, Berg- 
haus’ Physical Atlas has been one of the most 
important focal points in which my next wishes in 
regard to the future were concentrated and to 
which I always returned. Or, have I perhaps 
expressed this dear old wish of mine in one of my 
recent letters? As far as I can remember, I have 
only nourished it in secret, because, in my state of 
depression, I ventured to think as little of the ful- 
fillment of this wish as of that of my other aspi- 
rations. Even when I awoke this morning, I had to 
recall whether, after all, it was nothing but a beau- 
tiful dream, and when I had convinced myself of 
the actual presence of the beloved book I plunged 
into it again with renewed delight. Yet I try in 
vain to describe to you the joy and the hope which 
I connect with the use of this master-work, or the 
enjoyment it will afford me. You will feel this 
better yourselves, my own parents, as you under- 
stand and recognize my little soul through and 
through. One thing I would still like to tell you, 
and that is that, especially for myself personally, I 
shall derive the greatest profit and enjoyment from 
it. There exists in me, so to say, a real sensuous 
57 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
element, which permits me to conceive and to retain 
thoughts and facts, and to imprint them on my 
mind much more strongly when they are symbolized 
by pictures than when they are merely represented 
dryly and nakedly in words. I observe this* for 
instance, very clearly in anatomy, where, while in a 
few days I have forgotten things which I have pain- 
fully learned by heart, that which Kolliker, on the 
other hand, has put before us in a drawing, how- 
ever hastily it has been done, is definitely fixed in 
my mind and I retain it there. Of what use in this 
connection the excellent physical atlas will be to me, 
and how it will really become for me “something to 
last me for the rest of my life” in the real sense of 
the words, you can scarcely believe. It will like- 
wise be a great pleasure when I can go through the 
splendid geographical plates with you, dearest 
father, and when I can give you the physical expla- 
nations of them (this sounds much more presump- 
tuous than it is intended to be!). That will, indeed, 
be a great pleasure when we can study it together, 
which I hope will be very soon!! For the moment 
I am very glad that the professors, contrary to all 
expectation and quite unhoped-for (for the first time 
this year!), have converted next week into one of 
holiday. Then I shall have an opportunity of look- 
ing through the book thoroughly! Also accept my 
heartiest thanks for the other presents; the prov- 
ender will be of excellent use to me and will again 
furnish me with supper for several weeks, but I 
58 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
have already thoroughly enjoyed their excellent 
flavor (even just now with my two house com- 
panions, the v. Franques from Wiesbaden), espe- 
cially as I had to observe Thursday as (the day 
before yesterday) a day of fasting. That is to say, 
I intend to practice fasting from time to time, just 
for fun, partly in preparation for my future career 
as a teacher in a classical and modern secondary 
school, and partly, but not probably (!), in view of 
my travels in the future. (N. B. the latter thought 
often crosses my mind again now, especially when 
I am engrossed in my Berghaus!) Weber has 
already made great strides in such hunger exercises; 
now he fasts regularly for 36 hours and more, and 
this for mere pleasure, even when he has sufficient 
to eat in his cupboard and there is no necessity for 
it. By the way, so far I have only tried my hand 
at hungering for no more than 24 hours, by not 
having taken either a bite of food or a drop of any- 
thing to drink (not even water!) from Thursday 
morning (after my morning coffee) till Friday at the 
same hour, whereby I was in the very best of health, 
felt myself braced up for mental activity, and expe- 
rienced no consequences beyond a somewhat more 
healthy appetite on the following day. . . . 
The memento of grandfather is naturally another 
very precious thing to me; the hair of his dear 
head I regard as a particularly valuable souvenir; 
regarding the gold, you know my opinion about it; 
it has always something connected with it that 
59 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
causes me anxiety. In order, however, to show my 
obedience and not to allow the precious present to 
lie idle, I have already worn it yesterday evening 
and this morning, and fastened the pin in the front 
of my neckerchief, which fact was immediately 
noticed by my acquaintances. But always from 
time to time I squinted down nervously in order 
to see whether it was still sitting there. . . . 
This morning I heard a very good sermon by an 
elderly parson, who in his exterior, as well as in his 
diction, reminded me a great deal of our uncle Bleek. 
He represented Christmas to us as a day of miracle, 
of honor and of grace. It has rather pleased me, 
and was very simple and impressive. There is said 
to have been a great deal of hubbub last night in 
the Catholic churches, with music, processions, etc. 
After church I went for a walk in the Hofgarten, 
which is a larger edition of a Merseburg castle 
garden, and which stretches along the ramparts. 
The air was so mild (for several days we have had 
quite a warm southwest breeze here; no trace of 
snow yet), the trees have already begun to sprout 
well (even the Gagea trail out from the earth with 
their thin sap-green cotyledon, already for a length 
of three-quarters of a foot), so that I really felt 
quite at home and in my innermost fancied that 
spring had really made its appearance once again. 
Then I thanked God very fervently that he has 
bestowed on me such excellent parents and relations, 
and I have again taken full confidence in the feeling 
60 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
that he will still do well for me. In many respects 
I begin, after all, in spite of all the hardships, to 
realize the use of my separation from you. One is 
much more intensely and more frequently directed 
toward one’s own self—and thereby to God. By 
this means Faith grows involuntarily and over- 
comes the faint-heartedness which would lead to 
despair. The sermon to-day also pointed out beau- 
tifully how one can attain inward peace by true 
belief in the Word which was made flesh. 
Unfortunately, as a general rule, I shall not be 
able any longer to listen to the sermons on Sunday, 
because just at that time there is a demonstration 
of the cryptogams in the Botanical Gardens, for 
which no other hour was to be found. . . . 
13. Wurzburg, 11.1.1853. 
Tuesday morning. 
. . . Yesterday a week ago, on Monday the 3d, 
there was the celebration of the foundation of the 
University, which was founded in the year 1582 by 
the founder of the Julius Hospital, Bishop Julius 
Echter von Mespelbrunn. The results of the prize 
tasks of the last year were made known. Neither 
the theological nor the law had been attempted at 
all; the only composition which was crowned with 
a prize was the medical one: “ Concerning the Study 
of Thrush in the Human Body.” Then the old 
rector, Doctor Hoffmann, professor of philosophy, 
made a speech about the “Importance of the Facul- 
61 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
ties for the Development of Science,” which pleased 
me very much and which you will also receive. He 
chiefly contemplated the connection existing between 
philosophy and theology, and proved that a system 
of theism based upon a profound Christianism, as 
in the most recent time has been attempted with 
much success but little recognition by Franz Bader 
(N. B. I had never heard the name before!), could 
alone be the means of real salvation for philosophy 
and for mankind itself, and, further, it is also the 
only right and true thing. From the beginning to 
the end he specially proves the inconsequence and 
futility of Spinozism, although one cannot fail to 
render honor to the founder of this school. Hegel 
and Fichte, as well as Schelling, even Kant, are also 
not to be contemplated as being absolutely conse- 
quent and unprejudiced. What yet struck me most 
forcibly in the dissertation, which for the greater 
part seems quite right and good, is that he places 
Schleiermacher in the same category as the above- 
mentioned pantheists, and attributes to him an 
idealistic pantheism (!), while at the same time he 
admits that the great and important ones among 
his pupils have not remained steadfast on the ground 
of pantheism, as Schelling himself, among the 
others, has elevated himself to theism, and the same, 
more or less, can be said of all their pupils in modern 
times. The main tendency is, as already mentioned, 
the refutation of pantheism. . . . 
With what you write to me about the value and 
62 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
importance of the omnipotence and the great influ- 
ence which Christianity has on our modern high 
degree of civilization, and to the attainment of 
which it has contributed, I am in complete agree- 
ment. On Sunday night I also read in Hiecke’s 
reading book for higher school classes, a very excel- 
lent composition in which the same subject is 
referred to. (This collection of Hiecke’s contains 
altogether a real treasury of the most excellent com- 
positions, which will also interest you very much 
and which you must still read. According to my 
opinion they are too deep for such schools!). 
With regard to my medical studies I am daily 
more firmly convinced of their impracticability; 
in order to subject myself once more to a test, 
to-day I attended the surgical clinic in the hospital, 
where a cancerous swelling under the shoulder was 
operated upon, and I have had enough of it, not 
only for this term, but for the remainder of my 
life; that, by the way, it is not mere hypochondria 
with me that keeps me away from it you may see 
from the fact that during the first days of my stay 
here typhoid fever was rampant in the hospital, 
and that I have not become ill, although the very 
man whose arm I dissected had died of typhoid. 
Anatomy in itself is, as I have already said, 
wonderful, but only no pathology, no stories of 
disease! . . . 
Yesterday afternoon I listened to Scherer in 
materia medica; on the whole, it is but very slightly 
63 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
to be distinguished from organic chemistry, and in 
particular from anthropochemistry. His lectures 
are very attractive; Scherer is, as also are Virchow 
and Kolliker, with whom he forms the renowned 
trinity of Wurzburg, still very young. All three 
are only at the beginning of the thirties. And 
what shall I have done at that age? Probably 
nothing? 
However, till then there is plenty of time, and 
perhaps, after all, something may yet come out of 
your faithful old boy 
Ernst Haeckel, stud. phil. 
14. Wurzburg, 31.1.1853. 
Dearest parents, 
. . . This week I have made another discovery 
that can prove to be a fertile one. I heard quite 
by accident that there is a “Musical Institute of a 
superior kind” here that gives public concerts every 
Wednesday and Saturday throughout the year, from 
4 till 6 o’clock, at which the classical symphonies 
of Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn, and occasionally 
something from Mendelssohn, are exclusively pro- 
duced. The specially appointed director is a uni- 
versity professor, called Frohlich. Naturally I 
went there immediately and it pleased me very 
much (that is to say, as far as music can please me 
at all!). The very large hall was crowded with 
fellow students. I shall go there again from time 
to time. 
64 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Now I have still to tell you the chief story, namely 
that about the grand and solemn torchlight proces- 
sion which we arranged for Wednesday, the 12th 
of January, in honor of the renowned Virchow. The 
reason for it was partly in recognition of his excel- 
lent scientific attainments in general, partly in 
thankfulness that he had not accepted an honorable 
call to Zurich (which would have brought him many 
material advantages). (N. B. in consequence of 
this, he had made an application for an increase of 
his salary by the amount of 400 fl., but he only 
received from the Royal Bavarian Government— 
200 fl.! So you can see that people here can be still 
more mean than with us; the same fate was also 
shared by the rector, who likewise received only 
one-half of the increase of salary he had demanded!). 
Of course, several large meetings had been called 
previously by the students, at which the affair had 
been discussed and arranged, where matters had 
proceeded in a lively manner, and where, naturally, 
many mad proposals had been made. By the way, 
only 150 took part in the torchlight procession; 
most of the others were disinclined to sacrifice so 
much money. (It cost each one We had 
two large bands; one belonging to the fortress 
artillery, costing 40 fl., the other belonging to the 
Landwehr (that is to say, what is so called here; 
it would be better to call them the national guard 
or civil guard, or “the Philistine Guards”; these 
brave warriors may best be compared to the Merse- 
65 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
burg rifle club) costing 44 fl. 24 kr. (general laugh- 
ter!). The procession was a grand success. The 
conditions were very favorable; the night was pitch- 
dark and a fresh breeze caused the flames to flare 
splendidly. And what part do you believe your 
“pedantic, stay-at-home plant-man,” as my official 
title is here, played in it? I will tell you: a leading 
'part! (hear, hear!), and that on account of a single 
intelligent inspiration which was lauded by my 
fellow-students as exceedingly witty and classical. 
I pulled my shiny calico dissecting overall over Karl’s 
old coat! As I was rather afraid all the time of 
catching a cold, particularly as my teeth began 
again to trouble me a little, I pulled father’s old 
inexpressibles over my thick check trousers; but 
as the former were much the shorter the others 
came down a good way below them. Now still 
imagine the big old cap, the light-gray clumsy 
galoshes over my black boots, fur gloves, a gigantic 
torch in my left hand, a knobbed stick in my right, 
and there stands before you in the red glare of the 
torches the highly successful, really poetical picture 
in romantic classical garb. There is yet to be 
mentioned the layer of soot which began to appear 
from the first moment after the torches were lit, 
and which entered into intimate union, just like 
printer’s ink, with the perspiration on my face, so 
that, in reality, I presented the appearance of a 
charcoal-burner or a devil incarnate, or something 
of the same kind. 
66 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
The effect of this successful representation is 
scarcely to be described. The children fled in ter- 
ror, the women and maidens actually formed circles 
of giggling and astounded spectators wherever we 
stopped, notwithstanding that we pushed our 
torches as near as possible into their faces; the 
men regarded me rather dubiously, and my fellow- 
students themselves admired in me the “true dis- 
ciple of science,” the “anatomist as he should be,” 
and all this effect was produced by the beautiful 
dissecting overall, the monotonous black of which 
was aggreably interrupted by brown bloodstains, 
small particles of fat, etc. It was natural that the 
soul inclosed in such a charming exterior felt itself 
uplifted accordingly; I waved my torch, and when, 
after nearly two hours of perambulating (from 8 
till 9.45 o’clock), we arrived at the Cathedral square, 
we threw the remains of our torches in a heap and 
performed a wild witches’ dance around the bonfire, 
my anatomical figure playing a leading part therein. 
This last moment, moreover, was among the finest 
of all. At first a huge ring was formed and “gau- 
deamus ignitur” was sung, and then all at once the 
whole of the 150 torches were flung high in the air 
and described wonderful parabolas like rockets, 
after which they fell to earth in a wide curve. Some 
specially skillful ones hurled theirs a few times 
more into the air with such a swing that in their 
flight the torches spun round several times on their 
own axes, which produced a marvellous effect. . . . 
67 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
We stood in front of Virchow’s house for nearly 
an hour. A deputation, which drove in a special 
carriage, was sent to Virchow in order to express 
to him our sympathies (which with us are not what 
you would call very great, although, personally, I 
very much admire his cold, firm, very strong char- 
acter); then he came out himself and made rather 
a long speech, full of noble self-possession and zeal 
for science, to which he belonged with heart and 
soul! I would have preferred to have this torch- 
light procession in honor of Kolliker! When I 
reached home, full of exuberance and merriment, 
my good landlady received me immediately with 
“Jesus, Mary, Joseph, what a sight you are! 
{Jesses, Maria, Juseph, wie schahe sa ausch) Herr 
Doctor!” Indeed, I looked quite a sweet pet, 
especially about my face, where a little piece of 
my skin en profit slightly magnified would have 
looked something like the following: the entire 
skin was covered with a thick beard of black fibrils 
and soot, like a magnet that had been lying among 
iron filings, so that I could scarcely recognize myself. 
However, with warm water, butter and brimstone 
soap, we soon succeeded through our united endeav- 
ors to remove this coating as far as two black rings 
round my eyes, which still remained for a few days. 
As a matter of fact, the whole affair had an excellent 
effect on me, the toothache was almost driven away 
by it and my dissecting overall possesses, even 
now, a powerful odor of pine-wood soot, which, 
68 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
mingled with the exquisite smell of flesh in the 
dissecting room, does me much good, and always re- 
minds me of our beautiful pine-woods in the Mark 
Brandenburg. . . . 
At 11 o’clock I still went for an hour to a great 
jollification where nearly the whole of the medical 
students were assembled (for here also the non- 
torch-bearers were not absent), and where all the 
medical docents, Virchow himself at the head of 
them, entered with me. In the beginning it was 
all right; there was much merriment and much 
music-making, and student songs were sung. But 
after a little while the whole tone began to become 
rather too boisterous and wild, and even among the 
professors some confusion of ideas commenced to 
be observable. Kolliker, who is always the most 
prudent one, crept away on this account after a 
short hour, and I followed his example. But the 
others remained together till the next morning, 
when at last the whole jumble dissolved into a 
general state of being sorry for themselves. Virchow 
himself reached home after 3 o’clock; how? 
probably he himself knows least of all about it! 
The consequence was, that on the next day no 
lectures were given by anyone except Kolliker, 
and there were only 25 present at it. Virchow 
stayed at home for a week, suffering from an 
attack of “Grippe.” That is the end of the 
song! . . . 
1,000 greetings. E. H. 
69 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
15. Wurzburg, 21. 1.1853. 
At last, at last your dear letter arrived this 
morning. Many thanks for it. But the cause of 
the delay, namely that our dearest Aunt Berta is 
so ill, has made me very, very sad. In such cases 
one would like to ask God how he can allow the 
best soul to suffer so innocently. Yes, there are 
many riddles the solution of which is beyond our 
reach. With regard to your religious ideas, I am 
otherwise quite in accord with you, dear father; 
only many a thing is not yet so clear to me. . . . 
Now good-by. Still many hearty thanks for your 
two dear letters, and continue to love your old boy 
E. H. 
16. Wurzburg, 30. 1.1853. 
Dear parents, 
Your remittance, which I received yesterday, 
came to me as surprisingly and unexpectedly as,‘ in 
reality, it is unnecessary. The fact that I have 
actually cost you in the first month of my abode 
here nearly 100 talers has given me such a shock 
that I have made up my mind to cost you only 50 
during the remaining three. I have spoken to a few 
comrades who have assured me that they can 
manage quite comfortable each term on 150 talers, 
and I do not see why I should be more favored than 
others, especially when I think of my friends in 
Halle, who do not even require as much as 50 talers. 
For this purpose I have now undertaken and am 
70 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
carrying through certain economies in my budget! 
At the utmost, I only go out in the evening once a 
week, and eat bread at home for 2 kreuzer, and with 
it the delicious plum jam and the excellent sausage 
which you, dear mother, sent me for Christmas. 
Although I have lived on the two latter victuals 
every evening since the new year began, they are 
only consumed to the extent of three-quarters. For 
dinner, too, I no longer eat for 21 kr., but for 15 kr. 
This noble dinner-table always reminds me of the 
one papa and grandpapa used to refer to when 
speaking of their student days at Halle; probably 
in many ways it even beats it. The best thing there 
is that one gets a good big helping of soup, which 
you have recommended to me for special consider- 
ation and which is fairly good; to compensate for 
it, the beef from which it has been boiled is all the 
drier—a real bunch of fibers! My pen is too weak 
to describe the delight of the roast joint on Sundays. 
I will merely mention one thing, namely, that it 
always consists of a piece of the “ribs of a hare,” 
which opalesces in all the possible tints of the rain- 
bow, and in which, even with one of Schenk’s micro- 
scopes, one could not detect a diminutive atom of 
fat. The sole vegetable always consists of rather 
sour cabbage (N. B. in which medicos continually 
pretend to recognize the odor peculiar to hippuric 
acid!), which is particularly agreeable after having 
listened for a couple of hours to Kolliker on the 
study of the bowels, and after having been dissect- 
71 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
ing. Anyhow, I must admit the true merits of this 
excellent table and duly appreciate them, for, above 
all else, it has converted your spoiled sweet-tooth 
into an “all-round eater” (always excluding, how- 
ever, sour kidney and buttermilk soup!), of which 
you will be glad, and which establishes the truth of 
the proverb “Hunger is the best sauce.” But, sec- 
ondly, it helps to increase my longing for Easter. 
Every time that a particularly sour morsel is swal- 
lowed with repugnance, I think: “Just be patient, 
dear stomach, and you will find how excellent dear 
mama’s cooking will taste to you at Easter!” and 
then I take a plunge into this Utopia of the future, 
and I gobble down my helping in the twinkling of 
an eye, without noticing how strenuously my diges- 
tive system may be struggling against it. And, 
lastly, these delights of the table are still increased 
by a students’ corps “Rhenania” dining in the same 
hall, and who drown all unpleasant impressions by 
their boisterous shouting, rollicking, howling, sing- 
ing, etc., which could not be equaled anywhere else. 
We other students (“Kamels”), who are sitting 
near by at the “outsiders’” table, are completely 
ignored and are subjected to the infliction of their 
disdain, which is quite satisfactory to us. For the 
rest, they cause us much amusement by their whim- 
sical and grotesque freaks. Among other things, 
they have trained the entire poultry yard belonging 
to the landlord, so that during the meal the fowls 
come over the roof and enter at the windows to 
72 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
obtain their share, which produces the most delight- 
ful scenes. 
After all, I really feel that this meager meal 
agrees with me very well and that, as a matter of 
fact and greatly to my advantage, I am not at 
all spoiled. In addition I have introduced some 
other little economies (for instance, I have not 
drunk a drop of wine since Christmas, etc.), so 
that I really hope to manage on the 50 talers 
you have already sent me; in any case, I would 
still have been in need of money for the journey 
at Easter, and the present amount can be applied 
to that purpose. Therefore, the best and heartiest 
thanks for it! . . . 
To you, dear father, I must still render my special 
thanks for your account about Sydow’s Union lec- 
tures. On the whole, I am quite in agreement with 
these opinions; nevertheless, I have sketched for 
myself a picture of the personality of Christ which, 
in a certain way, is still more divine, by imagining 
him rather as of the essence of God clad in a mortal 
frame, whereby he becomes more accessible to us. 
I believe, however, that this is still a riddle that 
can only be solved by us beyond this world, con- 
sequently I attach no great importance to the 
slight distinctions and differences that are to be 
found among true Christians regarding the opinions 
concerning the personality of Christ; after all, 
scarcely two people have quite the same concep- 
tion of this question; it will always adapt itself 
73 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
and become modified according to the ideas of the 
particular individual. . . . 
A thousand thanks and greetings from your old 
Ernst H. 
17. Wurzburg, 8. 2.1853. 
Shrove Tuesday. 
Dear parents, 
. . . For eight days such a mad turmoil has been 
reigning here that one (i.e., the other people) is 
quite bewildered. With us in Northern Germany 
one has really no idea what such a beautiful time 
of carnival as Shrovetide may mean. Ever since 
Christmas there has been a ball here at least every 
third day, and especially during the last weeks most 
of my fellow-students were literally attending balls 
or drinking-bouts almost every day, so that lately 
they really began to grumble and said: “Such 
hardships can bring even the strongest hero down 
to the dogs.” On Tuesday in every week there has 
been a great soiree at the President’s, on Wednes- 
days at the theater, on Thursdays somewhere else, 
on Saturdays at the Harmony, etc., etc. But the 
culminating point of all these events is reached by 
the socalled “population balls,” which are known 
under this extremely ambiguous title in the lowest 
as well as in the highest circles, and which, unfor- 
tunately, they deserve with only too much justice. 
They are masquerade balls which take place in the 
largest halls in the town and the male contingent 
74 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
of which is comprised, for the greater part, in addi- 
tion to some counter-jumpers and young lawyers, 
etc., of the students (over 400), but concerning the 
female contribution nothing more can be said but 
that the most noble among them are cooks, servant 
girls, etc. How mad the “goings-on” there must 
be I could see from the fact that my cautious land- 
lady, with her truly motherly anxiety and solicitude, 
warned me and begged me not to go there on any 
account. Naturally, I am not affected at all by 
these happenings, any more than by all the other 
soirees and balls, carousals, mummeries, etc., which 
are now the order of the day. I have, however, 
greatly amused myself to-day over a fancy-dress 
show, which has been arranged and thought out 
in a really remarkable way by a students’ corps, 
the “Bavaria.” These handsome, strongly built 
fellows, all of whom are well known by sight in the 
entire town, looked extremely ludicrous and comical 
in their disguises. The advance guard was com- 
posed of several of them, dressed as fools or clowns, 
who hit the people with their fans and fool’s caps, 
to the general merriment of those who thronged 
the streets nearly to suffocation, and thus made 
way for the procession itself. The latter consisted 
first of all of four musicians, in the most costly 
apparel, two of whom, garbed as guitar girls, played 
a most graceful part, and performed truly heart- 
breaking and ear-splitting caterwauling music. They 
were followed by one disguised as a boot-fag and 
75 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
who gallantly flourished his polishing-brush in the 
faces of the people, and after him came the hero of 
the procession, Don Quixote, literally made-up 
according to Cervantes, seated on Rosinante, which 
was perfectly matchless, followed by Sancho Panza, 
also faithfully counterfeited, seated astride an ass, 
and, last of all, Dulcinea riding on a gray palfrey. 
This delicate spinster was represented by the 
strongest and most robust fellow in the entire 
corps, whose face showed the crisscross scars of 
gashes of all descriptions, and whose ft. long 
carcass reached down to the ground. Then followed 
several notabilities of the town, among whom the 
chief of the university police, who had recently 
been removed on account of the story about the 
officers, was conspicuous; all of these characters 
were imitated with exact fidelity to nature. Then 
came the second act: showing how Don Quixote 
is wounded, and is transported home by two maidens 
of his village; also this same Don Quixote, excel- 
lently portrayed lying in bed with a baby’s “com- 
forter” in his mouth, drawn in a car by two rough 
fellows dressed up in the ordinary comical national 
dress of the peasant girls. And now there followed 
a number of other no less delightful and highly 
comical groups, among which the god of beer, 
accompanied by the beer queen and a tippler riding 
on a huge barrel, made a very good show. The 
barrel was drawn by two old mokes, but it was 
continually tapped and the beer either immediately 
76 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
swilled or poured over the heads of the people. The 
end of the procession was brought up by another car 
which carried a costly, really marvelously dressed- 
up and ridiculous family of male and female English 
travelers; on the box seat squatted the real boot- 
fag of the “Bavaria,” representing, with marvel- 
ous fidelity to nature, a baboon, and behind him 
a perfectly black devil with a long tail, armed with 
a pitchfork, with which implement he merrily poked 
the crowd that followed and thus brought the pro- 
cession to a close. With what enthusiasm and 
really exuberant shouts of joy the entire procession 
was accompanied by the whole of the population 
is scarcely to be described. Here could be seen 
once more the lively South German national char- 
acter, which bears so many traces of the influence 
of the South. The sound of the shouting and the 
noise is penetrating even now to my quiet hermit- 
age; it seems to be endless, and probably will not 
end throughout the night. But, to make up for it, 
to-morrow will be Ash Wednesday, when, as my 
pious landlady tells me, all the people will go to 
church in order to prove their devotion thereby, 
with ashes sprinkled on their heads, and will allow 
the clergyman to scandalize and illtreat them in 
every possible way! This is certainly a wonderful 
kind of piety that is practiced here! It consists 
chiefly in bells being rung for five minutes nearly 
every quarter of an hour, so that often the clanging 
causes one to feel quite stunned and to think that 
77 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
the people have nothing better to do than to toll 
bells. But this is the kind of piety that exactly 
pleases the priests, and they try to promote it by 
all imaginable means. One of their papers, the 
Miinchener Volksbote, sometimes fell into my hands 
here; it is a real organ of the hierarchy of Bavaria, 
in which everything is distorted in a Jesuitical 
fashion and by which black is made white, and white 
black, so that I get quite annoyed and would often 
like to tear the paper up. For instance, a little 
while ago the following appeared in it: “It was a 
real, godly joy for every Christian to observe how 
even the Prussian Royal House is being converted 
more and more from the heretical to the only true 
religion; which can already be seen from the fact 
that the entire surroundings of the Prince and 
Princess of Prussia, as well as the future King 
himself in Coblenz, are ardent auditors and warm 
admirers of the Jesuits!!!” As though one could 
not listen to this devil’s brood without being their 
adherent and disciple!! By such means everything 
is distorted, and the point of it all is, that in every 
possible way the people are constantly being excited 
to warlike feelings and hatred against the North 
German heretics (Protestant and Radical Ration- 
alist is all the same to them!). The worst thing of 
all is that this black rag has secured for itself a 
very widespread authority and adherence through 
the peculiarly popular handling of its tone and its 
facts. By the way, the “holy patres et jratres of 
78 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Jesus” are reported to have the intention to haunt 
around there also; naturally, with similar success 
as in this place! . . . 
Schenk, who is himself a Catholic, but one who is 
extremely disgusted with the nonsense and the 
villainy of the Catholic clergy, and who, as though 
driven by necessity, is a Rationalist (which he 
surely would not be if he were a Protestant), has 
coined quite an excellent expression for their activ- 
ities, and besides it is altogether really very amusing 
to hear him grumbling about the clergy here. (Thus, 
for instance, he often asks me: “Now, Herr Haeckel, 
you who have come from godless, heretical North 
Germany, have you not yet learned true piety 
here?!”) While I was with him last Wednesday 
morning there passed by a great procession with 
torches (it was the Feast of the Purification of the 
Virgin Mary); in the middle of it was the bishop, 
or whatever he might have been, a fat, bloated, well- 
fed priest, vestured in gold and silver, over whom 
four choir boys carried a large velvet baldachin. 
When I heard the ringing and the singing afar off 
I asked him what was the cause of it, whereupon 
Schenk replied quite dryly: “Ah, here comes a great 
Bonze again!” (Quite a wonderfully chosen and 
marvelously significant expression!) 
I have had two very happy botanical days this 
week, on Wednesday and Sunday, when from 9 
o’clock in the morning till 9 o’clock in the evening 
I have lived in nothing but plants. That is to say, 
79 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
with Steudner I have helped Schenk to sort out and 
pack the duplicates of his herbarium (particularly 
very beautiful monocotyledon plants from his last 
Wallachia-Transylvania journey), during which 
occupation many a choice titbit has fallen to our 
share. Here the flora is very beautiful in itself; and 
what will happen in the summer, when I cannot 
run about?! . . . 
Schenk is now always telling me in his lecture 
much about the Montenegrins, in whom he is very 
much interested, because he has traveled through 
their little country. They are a very strong, hardy, 
mountaineering people of Greek religion. He believes 
that their history may be the cause of a general Euro- 
pean war, and that the very much hated, despicable 
Turks would meet their ruin in it. I have also seen in 
Berghaus that the number of the Turkish colonies in 
Turkey and Greece is exceedingly small, and that, in 
reality, they are restricted merely to the larger mili- 
tary stations. If Austria so desired it (at least so 
Schenk thinks), in one day the whole of Wallachia and 
Moldavia, and in one week the whole of Turkey, would 
fall into her hands—assuming that Russia (who sup- 
ports Montenegro) would give her consent, and that 
France would not offer her support to the Turks. 
The latter, which is now supposed to be happening, 
is one of those very interesting occurrences that 
have repeated themselves in history. One need 
only think of Francis I of France, who backed up 
the Turks against Charles V. . . . 
80 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Wurzburg, 17. 2.1853. 
Dearest beloved parents, 
First of all accept my most heartfelt and best 
thanks for all your love, which is always a support 
and encouragement to me on my way through life, 
and with which yesterday you made me a special 
joy. The proof of your maternal thoughtfulness, 
dearest mother, is all the stronger because I had 
absolutely expected nothing, and received quite a 
shock when the parcel arrived. I found it yester- 
day morning when I hastened home between two 
lectures in the certain hope of finding letters from 
you. The replenishment of my larder is now of the 
greatest service to me, particularly as my store had 
dwindled down to the last crumb and consisted of 
no more than a tiny scrap of the Christmas sausage 
3 c.m. in length. The lovely plum jam and the last 
scrap of the honey cakes left over from Christmas 
were finished on the day before yesterday, after 
they had done excellent service. . . . 
As a matter of fact, I have spent my birthday 
alone, just as quietly as every other day; none of 
my acquaintances knew anything about it, other- 
wise I would probably have had to celebrate it in 
beer. My good landlady, who had been racking her 
brain yesterday to discover what was the matter 
when she saw the arrangements I wTas making (that 
is to say, I had tidied up my room very carefully, 
had donned my best coat—which otherwise I only 
wear on Sundays—had tried on my gray hat, etc.— 
81 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
only guessed this morning, when I showed her the 
splendid presents I had received, that it must have 
been my birthday. She was almost indignant that 
I had not told her, and said she must now celebrate 
it as a belated festival; if only she had known she 
would have cooked “ground-pears (potatoes) in 
their jackets,” which she knows to be a favorite 
dish of mine. She is really a good soul, and looks 
after me like a mother. . . . 
I received a very cordial letter this morning from 
Finsterbusch, and this afternoon came others from 
Weber, Weiss, and Hetzer. Weiss writes to me only 
quite shortly; he is very sad about the death of his 
uncle. What you, dear father, write to me about 
the life and character of the latter, is absolutely 
correct. I find all these traits in miniature in his 
nephew, my friend. Also in him, under a stiff and 
often repulsive exterior, a very good and dear heart 
is lying, and just as strictly moral a character is 
hidden. It is really as though this were hereditary 
in the family. Weber is still hoping to accompany 
me to Jena in the summer. I must confess, how- 
ever, that I am no longer so blindly enthusiastic 
about Herr Schleiden as I was formerly, although 
he is a capable genius and quite unique in his way; 
for he is, after all, terribly prejudiced, dogmatic 
and, worst of all, very negative. On the other 
hand, under certain conditions, I would not be so 
very much disinclined to kill the summer here, and 
to go through the classical, microscopical courses 
82 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
here with Kolliker, particularly if, which is very 
easily possible, I should become assistant to Schenk, 
for he will probably offer this to me in the near 
future. But I shall not accept it on account of my 
foot. . . . 
There is nothing very new happening here, except 
that on a daily average half a dozen duels, which 
generally terminate somewhat bloodlessly, take 
place. These combats usually proceed from the dif- 
ferent corps; the worst of it is, they take up much 
valuable time and money, and result in nothing but 
disfigured faces. Last week, shortly after one 
another, two of my acquaintances, very nice fellows, 
fought a duel with one and the same insolent Jew 
boy from Frankfort-on-the-Main, a disgusting, inso- 
lent man, and slashed his Jewish face about hand- 
somely, without receiving even a scratch in return. 
By the way, the Jew has already issued another 
challenge. To a great extent, this noble zeal for 
dueling might be merely a counterblast to the 
immense, really terrible, piety which is so apparent 
here everywhere and floods the streets. Since last 
Sunday a “Mission of the Holy Fathers” is preach- 
ing here; it consists of six men societatis Jesu, among 
whom also is the future General of the Jesuits, a 
most eloquent, sly, and learned fox, who preaches in 
seven languages. The thronging of the crowds to 
hear these Jesuit sermons is so immense that the 
two largest of the innumerable churches in the town 
in which they preach are, literally, not empty all 
83 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
day long, while the other churches are completely 
deserted. Even for hours before the sermon begins, 
the vast Cathedral is so crowded, that people are 
still left standing out in the street. From the 
countryside the individual communities are formally 
and expressly commanded in episcopal letters to 
come, and, nolens volens, must hear at least three 
sermons. The entire nest is then so overcrowded 
that a continual humming and buzzing of the 
uncountable congregations, who have come from 
many miles around, fill and animate the streets all 
day long. Best of all are the really remarkable and 
most peculiar and comical national costumes of the 
different districts and surrounding country which 
are to be seen everywhere. The peasant women, 
their costumes reminding one of the Altenburg 
women, are specially distinguished for an extraor- 
dinary lack of taste and a variety of glaring colors 
in their finery, with which they are overloaded and 
in which they flaunt about. Red and yellow, in the 
most awful combinations, are predominant. The 
Jesuits are preaching at least six times a day, and 
throughout the day many people do not leave the 
church at all. They also preach special class ser- 
mons: for instance, for children, for scholars, for 
handicraftsmen, married people; soon there will be 
one for the students, concerning which I am filled 
with expectation. I immediately seized the very 
first opportunity, and on Sunday evening I heard 
the third one which they preached. The preacher 
84 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
was a handsome young man, who spoke with much 
eloquence, fire, and emphasis; I was especially 
interested in the peculiar logic that formed the scaf- 
folding for the whole sermon. At first he declared 
that thing to be “good” which fulfills its purpose. 
Man is ordained by God to be good, and in that 
direction the mission desires to work, in order to 
lead men to this their destination. Then he began 
to talk about God, endeavored to prove his existence 
and his substance, and quoted his grace and kind- 
ness in contradiction to our sinfulness, which caused 
him toward the end to become very fiery, and in the 
most violent terms he exhorted the people to repent- 
ance. Although one could not mistake a thorough 
and intellectual study of philosophy, and particu- 
larly of logic, in the whole treatment of his theme, 
yet there were not lacking numerous deviations and 
paralogisms. On the whole, I could say nothing in 
the least against the sermon, notwithstanding that 
I paid great attention and took all possible trouble 
to discover something offensive in it. The reason 
for that is, that it was one of the first, and they 
pursue the clever policy of beginning by preaching 
quite generally, plausible matter for everybody, and 
it is only gradually that they enter more profoundly 
and more in detail into their doctrine. By such 
means, as I have even now heard, they are supposed 
to introduce mischievous matter. Thus they 
attack natural science (and, naturally, all other 
enlightening subjects as well), and they are said, 
[85] THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
in particular, always to have hell’s flames near at 
hand. Thus one of them is reported yesterday to 
have represented hell as an eight-cornered pool, 
from every corner and end of which emerged hellish 
torments and demons, and all this was depicted in 
the minutest detail. Then he suddenly cried out 
that he knew, for a fact, that there were two among 
his male and female auditors who were among the 
most evil of the devils. Then a general sobbing and 
sighing was observed among the numerous wenches, 
because each had believed that she was the one 
indicated. 
The psychiatric clinic promises itself the greatest 
advantage from the whole story, and as the holy 
fathers will go on working in this way for a fort- 
night and will go on making it more and more 
wicked the longer they continue, there is surely 
every prospect that the lunacy department of the 
hospital will considerably augment the number of 
its inhabitants. 
The sermon which I heard was, in any case, over 
the heads of the common people, who at all events 
formed the bulk of those present (although all 
classes were very numerously represented); it was 
composed far too philosophically in manner and 
expression, it contained far too many incompre- 
hensible foreign words, so that only half of it could 
have been understood. But it is exactly in this 
that the effect is partly produced, because the 
masses admire the sublime language which they do 
86 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
not understand, and allow themselves to be carried 
away by rhetorical artifice and, above all, by the 
exceedingly lively, almost theatrical, action. Next 
Sunday mission crosses will be erected everywhere, 
and I am full of curiosity about this as well. As 
a matter of fact, in reality I was not in agreement 
with the main theses of that sermon, in which he 
tried mathematically to prove the existence of God, 
because in this I hold quite the same conviction 
as you, dear father, have expressed to me, namely, 
that this cannot be perceived with our restricted 
human understanding, but that faith is absolutely 
necessary for this. In this connection, I also heard 
a very beautiful sermon last Sunday by an eminent 
Protestant preacher. The text was: “The old 
things are passed away; behold, they are become 
new.” So I have decided on my birthday to put 
on the new man more and more and to grow and 
increase in faith. The outward celebration of my 
birthday I have observed alone by myself in all 
quietness. It consisted in my eating my midday 
meal heartily and to my satisfaction, and with it 
I drank a stoup of wine (the first, and probably the 
last, this year, at least here). In the afternoon I 
made an excursion, or rather took a walk, in the 
most magnificent and clearest weather, with Schenk 
and Steudner; as yet the phanerogams are not in 
bloom and only here and there a tender moss bloom 
peeped from under the snow. When we had reached 
our goal, the Guttenberg Wald (the nearest to this 
87 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
place!), which is about three-quarters of an hour 
away, I had to turn back alone, because it became 
too far for me and the climbing up the hill partic- 
ularly fatigued me. Nevertheless, the walk agreed 
with me quite well, as well as with my knee after 
so much sitting in the rooms. In the evening I 
reveled once again in poetry and Berghaus, and 
once more read one of my favorite poems, “Her- 
mann and Dorothea.” Then late as it was I wrote 
to Aunt Berta and afterward I thanked God very 
fervently that he has given me such dear good 
parents, relations, and friends. . . . 
Embracing you with the most fervent love, 
Your old Ernst H. 
19. Wurzburg, 27. 2. 1853. 
Sunday evening. 
Dearest parents, 
After I have, literally, scarcely risen from my 
chair throughout the whole of the day and have 
not even gone to dinner because I had to draw 
nearly a whole week’s arrears in anatomy with 
Kolliker, it will be my Sunday pleasure this even- 
ing to chat a little with you, which is always my 
greatest happiness. But it will not be much, 
because my letter paper has come to an end and 
the letter would become too heavy on such thick 
paper. A week ago to-day I was with Professor 
Schenk; besides myself, there was only Steudner 
there. In the beginning we amused ourselves and 
88 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
spoke only of plants and other botanicis, abused 
the Jesuits, etc. But gradually and unexpectedly, 
the conversation turned upon politics, and then I 
wished above everything else that you, dear papa, 
had been there, for you would have been proud of 
your boy. Really, never in my life would I have 
thought that such patriotic sentiments were slum- 
bering in me! Schenk is as amiable and clever as, 
in regard to politics, he is completely stupid; he 
represents the absolutist and un-German policy of 
the Austrian Cabinet, and pretends to have arrived 
at this opinion through having traveled in the 
Austrian States. Naturally, the first thing that 
occurred was quite a terrific attack against Prussia, 
against her perfidious conduct toward Germany, 
as in anno 1805, so also now; then such phrases as 
for instance: “The Olmiitz Treaty is the only 
wise and honorable act of Prussia; naturally also 
Manteufel, the only good Minister, of whom it is 
still to be hoped that he will do something for 
Germany! Prussia has always desired nothing more 
than to suppress Germany; she has coquetted with 
revolution; if it should ever be united, the first 
thing that would happen would be that Prussia 
would become an Austrian province, as had Hun- 
gary, Transylvania, and the other Slav States, all 
of which have to be received within the German 
Federation!! Austria has always followed far too 
lenient and mild, benevolent and open, a policy; 
she ought rather to have been far more energetic 
89 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
and astute!—again: the Rhinelands had originally- 
been Bavarian property and land-grabbing, unjust 
Prussia has, half by force, seized them! ” (Schenk 
himself was born at Cleves when, as he pretends, 
it was still Bavarian, together with the Grand- 
Duchy of Berg, etc.) > and other similar nonsense. 
Naturally, Steudner and I permitted nothing of all 
this to remain unanswered; we quarreled a great 
deal among ourselves, reproached Bavaria and 
Austria for all their sins, and, finally, I began to 
argue with as much heat and spleen as would have 
done all honor to my dear hyperpatriotic father. 
At last I went so far that I jumped up and shut 
my ears, and stamped a few times up and down the 
room, at which the good Frau Professor became 
quite alarmed and did her best to calm me; at 
length she interfered, forbade all further politics, 
and diverted the conversation into another channel, 
but where once more it almost came to another 
quarrel: the respective superiority of North and 
South Germany was discussed, and naturally in 
this, as you may well imagine, we did not abandon 
our Northern Fatherland. But afterward, in the 
end, we chatted quite amiably and merrily till 
nearly one o’clock. As I left, I told Schenk that I 
could now take comfort in the fact that the more 
clever the botanists, as wTell as all natural scientists, 
were in their own department, the more miserable 
politicians did they make, whereupon he laughed 
very much and tried to retort by applying the 
90 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
phrase to myself. That, after all, he was not vexed 
at my North German rudeness, I can conclude by 
his having made me a present in a very friendly 
manner on the following day of some dear little 
mosses (duplicates from his herbarium), in order 
to appease my Prussian patriotic wrath, and wound 
up by saying: “But if I were in your place I would 
not accept the mosses—they come from wicked 
Bavaria!” Yesterday he also showed me some 
fine, really wonderful plants, which the botanist 
Preiss had collected in New Holland. All the speci- 
mens have a very peculiar character, which quite 
corresponds to that of the strange, desolate southern 
country. One seeks in vain for a fresh green; 
everything is gray-green or altogether gray and 
usually covered with long, shaggy hair, but the 
shape is quite peculiar and odd. The flowers are 
generally most intensely and quite magnificently 
colored; the character of the entire plant is ex- 
traordinarily compact, firm and dry (for instance, 
the very characteristic proteacea); they are gen- 
erally plants which, although very grand in them- 
selves, are not at all designed to embellish the 
landscape. Yes, if only I could botanize there 
some day! . . . 
The great winding-up period of the lectures has 
commenced, so that everybody is hurrying with all 
possible speed, although it is impossible to over- 
take all that, in a proper apportionment of the 
time, ought to have been finished long ago. Kolliker 
91 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
has doubled his lectures and proceeds so rapidy 
that one’s fingers are cramped from taking down 
the notes; thus, for example, he has now gone 
through the whole of angiology in a fortnight, so 
that I am no longer able to keep pace in working 
up my notebook (which will really become a splen- 
did illustrated production). But in spite of all 
this everything is intensely interesting. 
To-day the Jesuits have preached here for the 
last time, to the accompaniment of such general 
sobbing, sighing, fainting, strewing of flowers, bind- 
ing of wreaths, that they could scarcely hear their 
own voices. For hours in advance the great 
Cathedral was already quite crowded; the jostling 
is said to have been terrific. Yesterday evening I 
heard another sermon by a “mission father,” and 
it happened to be about a very interesting point, 
namely, the worship of the Saints in the Catholic 
Church; as a matter of fact, it has scarcely recon- 
ciled me to it. The main argument was something 
like this: there are two kinds of worship, condi- 
tional and unconditional. The latter we offer to 
the king, the former we owe to his friends, relations 
and servants. It is the sameVith God, whom alone 
we should worship absolutely. In the same way, 
however, we must also relatively worship his best 
friends, who are the Saints, and, above all, the 
Mother of God, Mary, the perfect virgin, and yet 
the mother of us all. 
A parallel was then drawn between Eve and 
92 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Mary (according to which the former is the example, 
the latter the perfected and realized ideal); and 
then followed an extended explanation of the Mary 
cult, as to how it must be practiced, how necessary 
and salutary it is, how it can perform all things by 
its intercession with God, and how she alone accom- 
panies, protects us in all our ways and through 
all our lives, leads us to repentance and amend- 
ment, etc. 
A leading factor consisted in a series of touching 
pictures; the suffering of Mary, for instance, was 
depicted as her holding in her arms her only Son, 
Christ, murdered and yet guiltless, then her purity, 
her immaculateness, etc., whereby many were ac- 
tually affected to tears. I must confess that I can 
reconcile myself to the Mary cult and the worship 
of the Saints even less than before. And then a 
very unpleasant impression was produced by the 
simultaneous chattering of several thousand voices, 
which was actually in full swing when I entered the 
church; it continued without expression, like the 
measured rolling of drums, and exemplified sense- 
less lip-service in its naked form. Really it reminded 
one in a striking manner of a Jewish school, or even 
of a ragged school where the children are first 
taught how to spell. . . . 
Now, dreaming or waking, my chief thought is 
our approaching reunion, most heartily longing for 
which is your old faithful boy 
Ernst H. 
93 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
20. Wurzburg, 10. 3.1853. 
Dearest parents, 
In reality man is nothing but “a two-legged, 
plucked cock” (as Plato says: at least, I think it 
was he), who in all he does and thinks is dependent 
upon the weather. In any case, it is so with me. 
Since my birthday, winter has come upon us; we 
have had cold, snow a yard deep, etc., as you have 
had in Berlin. During this time, I have been 
grinding like mad, I have been sitting and sitting 
and grinding, so that at last I have begun to wonder 
how I could stand it, and I thought that I would 
become quite silly. It has been thawing for the last 
three days, and to-day is as warm and sunny a 
spring day as ever could be desired. All the snow 
has melted to water, but at the same time so, also, 
has all patience, all perseverance, all work and what- 
ever else such praiseworthy virtues might be called. 
The old mercury is once more coursing through all 
my veins, so that, in spite of all my efforts, I can 
scarcely command enough leisure and thought to 
allow me, even half reasonably, to write to you. 
The latter is hardly necessary any more, because 
in the nearest future the ardently longed for and 
feverishly hoped for moment will arrive when I can 
enfold you, my beloved parents, in my arms. 
Perhaps I may be right when I attribute my gigantic 
instability, restlessness, etc., solely and alone to the 
terrible impatience with which I am hoping for the 
reunion and picture it to myself. When I ask my- 
94 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
self why I have suddenly become so “petulant,” it 
is, after all, nothing but the old love and longing 
for the parental home, and the love of wandering 
about (or if, alas, it cannot be the love of wander- 
ing, at least the love of traveling) that thrills through 
my being and spoils my pleasure all the time I am 
sitting at home or in the lecture-room. The worst 
of it is, that Kolliker will lecture not only this week, 
but probably the whole of the next, and I am 
obliged to wait patiently till he deigns to stop. All 
the others have closed their doors; in addition to 
the chapter that K. is now going through, the topo- 
graphical description of the peripheric expansion of 
the nerves is terribly difficult and, at the same time, 
tedious, and he goes ahead with such fearful rapidity 
that one (at least I) can scarcely think and sketch 
(to say nothing of taking notes). Therefore no one 
ought to be astonished, and I would not like to 
deny the impossibility of the idea if one good 
morning Ernst Haeckel would get up and say good- 
by to beautiful .Wurzburg (perhaps forever), as like- 
wise to everything connected with medicine. Now 
you must not be surprised, dear mummy, if at the 
end of next week a long, dried-up (perhaps fam- 
ished!) lath, with shaggy, fair and almost yellow- 
brown hair, and a beard of the same (a mustache 
as well as a beard, the latter, however, only three 
or four lines long) and with a long pipe in his 
mouth (the smoking had to come sooner or later, 
particularly as you wanted partout to turn me into 
95 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
a medical man!) enters your house and pretends to 
be your boy; only do not be shocked! In the 
course of time you will soon recognize him, at least 
by his philanthropic, decent behavior, which has 
always remained as it was (as altogether has the 
whole boy, who, with the exception of the new 
beard and the tobacco pipe, is still the old one!). 
And you, dear papa, will have to give up my big an- 
cestral room (in case, that is to say, you have been in- 
habiting it), for a beautiful haycock of one foot in 
diameter is coming with me and will become a pleas- 
ant addition to my lonely barn. There the great table 
will be loaded up again with plants, and the rioting 
in the hay will go on to my great delight! . . . 
Now I must close, because my little piece of letter 
paper (which I still turned out accidentally from a 
corner) is coming to an end, as well as my oil, my 
butter, my sealing wax, my anatomical notebook, 
but, above all, my patience! A very, very happy 
and joyous meeting. Embracing you for the last 
time in words your old 
Ernst. 
21. Wurzburg, 25. J/-. 1853. 
Dearest parents, 
I am employing the evening of grandfather’s 
birthday, when you will be sitting together very 
cozily and merrily with the great head of our family, 
and when you may sometimes, perhaps, be thinking 
of me, to announce to you my happy arrival here 
96 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
and to tell you something about my journey I 
spent the night on the way at Halle by sleeping 
splendidly as far as Cothen, quite alone in the com- 
partment for “nonsmokers.” I arrived at Halle at 
three o’clock and then hunted Weber, Hetzer and 
Weiss, who had come over the previous day from 
Merseburg, out of their beds. During the course of 
the morning, I made a longer excursion to Giebich- 
enstein, Krollwitz, etc., with the latter. But every- 
thing was still so extraordinarily backward, that 
even on the Ochsenberg we scarcely found any flour- 
ishing examples of the Gagea saxatilis, which is sup- 
posed to be in bloom at the beginning of March. 
Instead, we were fortunate in finding a few nice 
mosses, Guembelia ovata and Polytrichum piliferum, 
the latter colored a very beautiful red and with 
many male flowers wThich I have never seen before. 
In other respects, we walked the whole time in the 
most terrible storm and rain. At midday we ate in 
a students’ inn, where I met several friends from 
Merseburg. . . . 
Then I went to Schlechtendal, who did not exactly 
satisfy me, particularly when I led the conversation 
to the subject of my profession. He advised me 
rather to give up botany (for which I might have 
the will, but not the strength); later on I heard, 
however, from Henkel that he is altogether very 
selfish toward younger people, that he does not sup- 
port them, and tries to divert them from botany. 
I paid no attention to this. On Thursday, the 21st, 
97 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
in the evening, I went with Weiss and Weber to 
Merseburg. . . . 
On Friday morning, Weiss and I experimented 
with Bertheau’s new microscope, which is quite 
excellent and which has reawakened in me the long- 
ing for my new one. . . . 
Then I went to Liiben, who received me in a very 
friendly manner, and with whom I remained for 
over four hours, during which time, mutually and 
thoroughly, we poured out our natural-historic and 
particularly our botanic hearts to one another. We 
had to exchange the events of a whole year! He 
was of the opinion, as also were all other friends 
with whom I spoke (especially Weiss, who is abso- 
lutely sure of it, Osterwald, etc.), that in reality I 
am not fit for anything but to be a Professor Bota- 
nices, and for nothing less than that!—Oh! Oh! 
Oh!—0 scientia amabilis; quando tandem tecum in 
ceternum conjugas?!!! Now all this has put such 
strange ideas into my head, that up till now I 
have been very cheerful and jolly! . . . 
The following morning I went to see Christel and 
her husband. They seem to live very happily and 
cheerfully; their little Emma is a fat-cheeked, 
bright child. Then I was with Friedrich, who is 
now also a blissful, tender father of a family. His 
little boy, a solid, fairly pretty little fellow, is called 
Ernst, in honor of myself! (Already the second 
godchild! Too much honor for such a good-for- 
nothing, as it seems, after all, I shall some day 
98 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
become!) From this poverty-stricken hut I then 
proceeded to the palace of wealth and good fortune, 
to the ever-gay old Count Henkel, much envied by 
me both for his botanical treasures and for his 
leisure, who received me with almost as much ten- 
derness as though I were his own son. In honor of 
me he arranged a sumptuous breakfast in high 
style: fish pie, to which I did full justice, and a 
bottle of “real old sparkling Xeres.” This old wine, 
and another bouteille of a still older and heavier 
one (I have forgotten its name), made us exceed- 
ingly jolly and amiable. After a few hours we had 
also poured out our botanic hearts for the whole year. 
At noon I was with the Merkes. They are always 
the same hearty people, and never know how to 
express how much they have lost in me. In the 
old familiar rooms, the old recollections awakened 
in all their strength and all the springtime of my 
life spent there passed through my soul in vivid 
pictures, which often caused me to feel sad enough 
when I considered how badly I employed that 
precious time. I rambled through the old house, 
and especially through the gardens where every 
spot has become so dear to me and where some par- 
ticular remembrance was attached to every clod, to 
every tree and stone, with feelings of the most 
painful and deepest melancholy, and the parting 
almost made my heart bleed. . . . 
Toward 8 o’clock I went on to Halle, where 
Hetzer, Weber, and Finsterbusch received me. We 
99 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
went together at once to the Halloria, the only inn 
where our favorite drink is brewed, the pleasantly 
sour Lichtenhainer beer (the only one I drink), the 
home of which is Jena, and where we spent a jolly 
time. Full of merriment and in excellent humor we 
proceeded to Weber’s room, where we had a long, 
cordial and friendly chat. At 3 o’clock I left once 
more for Leipzig, at 6 o’clock from there for Hof 
(where we again passed the two gigantic and cele- 
brated viaducts) and at 1 o’clock from there for 
Bamberg, where we arrived at 7 o’clock in the 
evening. For the greater part of the entire journey 
the way led through magnificent, very charming 
mountainous country, especially so just before and 
after passing Hof. There the upward gradient of 
the railway, as well as the descent afterward, is 
very marked. A few stations before we came to 
Kulmbach, the railway runs down, rather steeply 
and most picturesquely, in the midst of a high semi- 
circular wall of the mountain, where the railway 
track is banked up some thirty feet high and had 
to be worked into the rock. On the other side a 
wild mountain rivulet gushes down. For a long 
stretch here the train ran down the mountain 
incline by itself, without any assistance from the 
engine, so that the speed had even to be checked 
by the brake. While the weather in the morning was 
very rainy and stormy, it cleared up in the after- 
noon, so that we saw the Lichtenfels and the Bam- 
berg country under the most beautiful conditions 
100 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
of light. Here the vegetation was already very far 
advanced,whereas around Hof deep snow had still 
been lying. Already the crops were splendidly 
green and luxuriant, and everywhere pretty little 
yellow stars were flourishing among them. In the 
evening (as on the 26th October last year) I again 
looked around the beautiful old town of Bamberg, 
with its old houses, bridges and churches. At 10 
o’clock I left by the coach, and on the next morn- 
ing at 7.30 (Monday, the 25th, to-day) I arrived 
once more at old Wurzburg, where my landlady 
received me in an exceedingly cordial manner. At 
8 o’clock I was once more following one of Schenk’s 
lectures, on medical botany, which, in reality, is 
of little use to me (except for the beautiful plants 
which one gets there). Nevertheless, I shall follow 
them for “decency’s sake” and more out of regard 
for him than myself, for he has half offered them to 
me. At least by this means I can remain in close 
touch with him. However, I have had the least 
luck with the botanical lectures, because, as a mat- 
ter of fact, I have not heard a single one that has 
been quite satisfactory to me. . . . 
Your faithful son 
Ernst Haeckel. 
22. Wurzburg, 4- 5.1853. 
Dear parents, 
I have been once more in my old esse since the 
beginning of this week, and I am already feeling 
101 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
much better therein. I passed last week rather 
sadly, because, except for an early hour with 
Schenk, no lecture had yet begun, nor had any of 
my acquaintances arrived here. Therefore, par- 
ticularly as the weather was beautiful, I scarcely 
knew what to do, although I sat nearly the whole 
of the day at my writing-table with the text-book 
of anatomy before me, with the firm determination 
to grasp the anatomy of the nerves, of which as yet 
I have no idea. I read about them with my eyes, 
and really traversed the whole subject, but when, 
at last, I reconsidered what I had really learned, 
I found that it was absolutely nothing. For, in 
spite of the greatest pains that I took to be very 
attentive and not allow my thoughts to wander as 
usual, they did so all the same, and sometimes 
settled down in the familiar circle of relations and 
friends; sometimes they paid flying visits to Merse- 
burg, sometimes they were enthroned in the mag- 
nificent castle of Ziegenriick and disported them- 
selves in the romantic glens of Sornitz, anon they 
botanized down the slopes of the sunny valley of 
the Main, and discovered the most beautiful chalk 
plants which my luckless knee forbids me to pluck, 
then swiftly they flew away into the country, where 
the pepper grows, to India, or wherever the thoughts 
of an abstruse medico should never wander. It is 
just the worst thing for me, that at certain times 
(indeed, unfortunately, very frequently) I cannot 
easily collect my few stupid thoughts, in spite of 
102 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
the most serious effort. Nevertheless, the week has 
passed rather rapidly for me, although I have been 
fearfully annoyed, and am so still, that I have not 
passed it with you. How much have I lost thereby! 
I would have shared the grand family feast with you, 
would have still seen Aunt Bleek and little Mary, 
would have seen Humboldt (which for a long time 
has been one of my greatest desires) at the banquet 
given in his honor by the Geographical Society, 
would still have seen my little sister [sister-in-law], 
would have found many a beautiful thing already 
in bloom in Halle and Merseburg, would not have 
fed here for a whole week long on melancholy 
thoughts and freaks of fancy, and goodness knows 
how many other confounded “would haves” 
besides. But it seems to be my fate that everything 
I undertake is a failure! The most stupid thing that 
I have done lately is not to have remained in 
Berlin for this summer. The very lectures I hear 
now I could have heard nowhere better than in 
Berlin, and as they are the most important and 
most interesting ones and I would have heard them 
there by one of the greatest and most eminent men, 
Johannes Muller, who has had a particularly attrac- 
tive influence upon me, I am doubly and trebly 
sorry for it. It is just physiology and comparative 
anatomy (the two most interesting subjects in exis- 
tence) that he delivers incomparably better than 
Kolliker, although in anatomy itself he is inferior 
to him (Miiller is compared to Aristotle). But, in 
103 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
any case, these two courses please me exceedingly 
well; more details about this I can only tell you 
later, because so far I have only attended six lec- 
tures. For instance, Kolliker told us things to-day 
about infusoria that caused our jaws to drop agape, 
and made us believe that we were plunged into a 
realm of myth; as, for example, with certain little 
animals (Adinophrys), two individuals are com- 
pletely amalgamated into one, and then in the 
center of these two an egg is developed out of which 
there emerge many new ones, etc.! In physiology 
he made a very attractive philosophical introduc- 
tion in which he clearly and sharply defined the 
standpoint of the naturalist and completely sepa- 
rated him from that of a man. The naturalist 
must proceed purely empirieo-critically; he must 
only make objective researches, observations and 
experiments, and, at the utmost, he can only 
establish and deduce general laws from the results 
he has attained. He must never become teleologic, 
never idealistic nor dynamic, never, in a word, 
naturo-philosophic. Although I must recognize this 
real empirical method of research to be right in its 
absolute objectivity, it does not please me very well, 
and a general naturo-philosophical view and survey 
of the whole, after exploration of the individual 
does very particularly please me and is essential 
to me. 
To-day he has begun with the study of digestion. 
Physiology is altogether the study of life, of all the 
104 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
individual activities and functions of the organism! 
What can there be more attractive? . . . 
This summer I shall take the greatest delight in 
these most fascinating subjects, to the detailed 
study of which I have long been looking forward. 
But then, O woe! natural science will have come to 
an end and the terrible practice will begin, for all 
the others the longed-for aurea, for me the dreaded 
cinereal Then comes the unnatural study of 
disease, pathology and therapeutics, etc. 
To my great advantage and to his great anger, 
I have abandoned the course of lectures in medical 
botany with Schenk, which I followed last week. 
For my part, I had not derived even the slightest 
trace of profit from it, although the others who, 
as a matter of fact, cannot distinguish a burdock 
from an orchid, at the utmost a violet from an apple- 
tree, are highly praising it. All I could have gained 
from it would have been a few rare plants of which 
I am still in need. But a medical man must not 
worry about a little bit, more or less of, hay. . . . 
I suddenly remember that I have nearly forgotten 
the chief thing, which might bring comfort to you, 
dear father. One of the first of Kolliker’s intro- 
ductory words was that physiology, this science 
of sciences, owes its experience, knowledge and suc- 
cess in the greatest measure to pathology, and that 
it is only through precise knowledge of the diseased, 
abnormal conditions that the normal, healthy life 
can be understood. This has really comforted me 
105 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
very much and to some extent has reconciled me to 
medicine, so that, at least, I take some hope and 
courage in permitting myself to believe that I may 
become a medico-botanicus or botanico-medicus, but 
as such, however, I beg ever to remain, more plant- 
man than man-man, 
Your old faithful boy 
E. H. 
23. Wurzburg, 14. 5. 1853. 
Dear parents, 
I am writing to you to-day at such an unusual 
hour, namely at 5 o’clock in the morning (now my 
usual time for rising), that you must not be aston- 
ished if my letter appears to be as drowsy as my 
eyelids. I received your eagerly awaited letter on 
the day before yesterday. At the same time there 
arrived a very large, but light, cigar box from 
Weiss, which came from Merseburg and in which 
there was something that rattled and shook about 
very strangely. Burning with curiosity, I opened 
it immediately, and what do you think tumbled 
out of it? A gigantic shrub (say Shrub!), about one 
cubic foot in bulk, of the Viscum album, with a few 
hundred blossoms on it. To be sure, it is a very 
strange, parasitic shrub, which grows on poplars, 
pines and fruit trees (closely related to the Lauran- 
thus I found near Teplitz), which we always sought 
for at Halle but never found there; it is not at all 
uncommon here. Nevertheless, the joke vastly 
106 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
amused me, and the entire large mistletoe bough is 
now suspended in the center of my room, as a sub- 
stitute for a chandelier. In addition to this, the 
little box contained a few petrifactions (leaves of 
a willow) the first that have hitherto been found 
near Merseburg, and some pretty mosses. For 
myself, I have now practically put botany on the 
shelf (N. B. as far as this is possible!) and instead 
of it I dissect with all my might and main. During 
the last days I have been preparing the lungs and 
the heart in the fine dissecting hall of the new 
anatomical school, which, in spite of its cheerful- 
ness and size, has already acquired that fatal specific 
odor. I am now quite clear about my courses; they 
will not be as many as I thought at first they would 
be. I am now following: 
(1) Physiology, seven times; daily from 11-12 
and Saturdays from 8-9. In the latter hour chem- 
ical and physiological experiments are made on sub- 
jects and living animals; although Kolliker does 
not lecture in physiology so well, it is interesting 
to me in the highest degree. We are now going 
through the chapter on digestion, and, quite nat- 
urally, I have established my menu on strict 
physiologico-medical lines; that is to say in the 
evening, for instance, I always “eat” milk. 
(2) Comparative anatomy three times, from 12-1 
and twice from 6-7. This is really the most inter- 
esting that one can hear, although it is just the 
medical practici who run it down very much. This 
107 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
week we have finished with the infusoria and have 
begun the polyps and corals. If, after all, Ehrenberg 
is annoyed with Kolliker one cannot blame him for 
it. For, although Kolliker is generally in the right, 
he criticizes him too unmercifully; for instance, he 
said to us: “If Professor Ehrenberg would not have 
been a professor in Berlin and a member of the 
Academy there, he would long ago have been handed 
down to history (i.e., to oblivion). I do not under- 
stand how anybody can explain that which he sees 
under the microscope in so arbitrary and incom- 
patible a manner!” The chief difference is that 
Ehrenberg believes that he discovers in the infusoria 
all the complete organs—implements—which the 
higher animals also possess, for instance, stomach, 
bowels, lungs, etc., while all this is out of the ques- 
tion, and all these animals, as all new investigators 
unanimously admit, are nothing but a single cell, 
as well, also, as are the lowest plants, from which 
they are only distinguished by their contractile 
membrane. Although this is quite right, I think 
one ought, in any case, to recognize the diligence 
and the pertinacity with which Ehrenberg has fol- 
lowed up and discovered these little animals. 
As a textbook I have bought Vogt’s Zoological 
Letters, by which Kolliker is also guided in his 
lectures, and which, at the same time, deal with 
zoology (that is to say, the systematic side) and 
comparative anatomy (that is, the higher, scien- 
tific side). For comparative anatomy (founded by 
108 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Johannes Muller) is in reality nothing, in the highest 
scientific sense, but zoology in connection with 
anatomy and physiology. On the whole, the book 
is very attractively and clearly written, and is well 
arranged. But it is to be regretted that many 
passages have been disfigured by the mad radicalism 
of the author, so that one is immediately tempted 
to paste black paper over them. The author is the 
same notorious Karl Vogt of Giessen, “The German 
Prefect of the Empire” (Reichsvogt), and “Ex-Mon- 
arch of the German Empire,” as he calls himself. 
You will probably still remember him from the years 
’48, ’49, ’50, especially in the Paul’s Church, where 
he was very insolent and intolerable. Now he lives 
in banishment in Switzerland, and “is glad that the 
German people buy his books, while they are abus- 
ing the author himself.” Nor could I help giving 
him this pleasure, because the book really treats 
the so highly interesting invertebrate animals very 
intellectually and clearly. But what shall we say 
when we read passages like this: “The progressive 
expansion of Christianity has killed every science, 
but above all natural philosophy, which necessarily 
had to oppose it in a hostile manner! ” Or, when the 
author speaks of the childish fairy tale of Christian- 
ity, etc. At first it made me angry; but it is really 
not worth that; in fact, one can only be sorry for 
him. 
(3) History of development, with Doctor Leydig, a 
talented young privat docent whom I followed last 
109 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
winter in microscopical anatomy. A nice lecture 
in which also much drawing is done, especially in 
comparative anatomy; three times from 10-11 
o’clock. 
(4) Physiology of the eye, with Heinrich Muller, 
twice from 10-11; an interesting lecture in which 
the study of optics plays an important part. 
(5) Organic chemistry with Professor Scherer, 
twice from 3-4 o’clock. Although Scherer is a 
celebrated chemist, he has an unpleasant delivery, 
and does not enter much into details, so that this 
course attracts me much less than I had hoped; 
also two hours a week are far too little. 
Therefore, on the whole, I have taken up exceed- 
ingly few real courses. Instead, I shall thoroughly 
repeat anatomy, dissect a great deal, and thus be 
able to make up for much lost time. Besides these, 
there are still a few courses which are run through 
by all strangers (therefore by myself as well), at 
least periodically; as, for instance: analytical chem- 
istry, magnetism and electricity, history of medicine 
(with Marcus: very good!), study of surgical instru- 
ments (the most horrible thing that one can imagine) 
and still a few others which we contemplate as 
publica, because there are scarcely any publica 
proper given here. In addition to all this there come 
bathing and walking (that is to say, botanizing), 
so that the time is barely sufficient; apart from that 
the summer passes so rapidly; it scarcely lasts 
three months. . . . 
110 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
If the weather will be fine at Whitsun I shall settle 
down very comfortably in the beautiful Guttenberg 
woods, and shall take my delight in the magnificent 
trees, the delicate mosses and the cheerful singing 
of the birds (which is sweetly pretty here), and 
shall likewise make some more sketches after nature. 
There is a positive superfluity of nightingales here, 
even in the beautiful public gardens which stretch 
outside right around the glacis, and which sur- 
round the entire town with a garland of green. 
I have often wished that you were here to enjoy 
it with me. . . . 
Spend a very happy Whitsun and think then of 
your old boy 
E. H. 
24. Wurzburg, S3. 5. 1853. 
Dear parents, 
I have celebrated Whitsun in my own way, that 
is to say, sadly and merrily at the same time. On 
Sunday I wanted to go to church; although I 
arrived there fully five minutes before the hour and 
no sound of the organ was yet to be heard, never- 
theless the people were standing before the opened 
doors right into the street, so that there was no 
thought of being able to hear. Instead, I heard a 
very good early sermon the next morning. As the 
weather was so fine I would have liked to make a 
proper excursion. All my acquaintances had under- 
taken a longer three days’ trip to the beautiful 
111 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Wertheim, situated lower down, in which for vari- 
ous reasons, one, because it was much too far for 
me, I could not take part. I had therefore to 
satisfy myself with reveling in the reminiscences 
of the past Whitsun holidays, which I have always 
spent in beautiful country, especially two years ago 
when I was with Karl in Coburg. The glorious sun, 
which after many rainy days reappeared in its full 
splendor, seduced me too strongly to go out, and 
I resolved, therefore, to wander on my own account 
into the Zelle woods, an hour’s distance from here. 
Already on the way there I achieved a great 
triumph; by an old vineyard wall I found a rare, 
strange fern, Ceterach officinarum, for which till 
now only one single uncertain habitat in the local 
flora has been known. From the height in front 
of the wood a magnificent view can be obtained 
over the whole valley of the Main, including the 
town and the fortress. Unfortunately I could not 
sketch, because it was very windy. Inside the 
wood it was simply grand, so still and calm, and 
yet so sunny and delightful under the fine old 
beeches, so that I prepared myself a real couch of 
beautiful moss (of which I inclose a specimen), at 
the foot of a very, very old tree—then—(hear! 
hear!) I read, to my own astonishment, with true 
and fervent pleasure, a few books of the Odyssey 
in the original text! Then dreamily I stretched 
myself out from time to time and thought with 
keen longing of my dear ones far away. Now also 
112 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
it became very painfully clear to me how very 
much I miss an intimate friend, one to whom I 
could disclose my innermost to my heart’s desire. 
It is also part of my misfortune that probably I 
shall never find one. It is true that I know many 
very nice people here; but they form a secluded 
circle of their own, into which I, an odd plant, 
cannot and dare not enter. That I am not guilty 
of this painful need you can conclude from the fact 
that I am really and seriously seeking to gain a 
bosom friend, almost like Diogenes with his lantern. 
But what nonsense am I chattering here again; 
rather, back to our wood, which was, indeed, quite 
magnificent, and in which I took such delight 
(almost sentimentally and shudderingly) that lost 
in the joy of the singing of the birds and the sough 
of the wind, it was already late in the evening before 
I could tear myself away from it, and, with my 
drum filled with lovely ivy, with which I have 
decorated Humboldt’s picture, wandered home by 
the side of the Main, amusing myself with the 
sight of a steamboat crammed full of students who 
had been making an excursion. Such little steam- 
boat excursions were made during the holidays by 
private parties as well as by the publici, and will, 
so I hear, be made throughout the summer, on 
every fine Sunday and days of festivity (of which 
there are one or two in every week!), and this both 
by the people who are very fond of amusement and 
by the students who enjoy fife no less than the 
113 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
others. I also took part in one of them on Whit 
Monday, more for the fun of the thing than for 
real enjoyment (because I was alone). We left 
at 2 o’clock in a steamer decorated with flowers 
and flags, which was soon followed down the Main 
by two others to Veitshochheim, which is distant 
about an hour and a half away. The journey itself, 
following the multifarious windings of the beautiful 
Main, alternating between sloping vineyard and 
little woods, afforded me much pleasure and 
reminded me a great deal of our last trip on the 
Rhine, the last time I was on a steamboat. When 
we arrived at the place of our destination, every- 
body rushed at once to the Prince’s Park, of which 
my landlady could not sufficiently tell me and depict 
to me how magnificent and wonderful it is there. 
But one single glance and I had had enough, for I 
had scarcely entered it when I saw before me a long 
avenue of horribly mutilated beech trees, one lopped 
like the other into regular four-sided pyramids. 
When, added to this, I saw and heard that the 
haute volSe as well as the profanum vulgus of Wurz- 
burg admired, in loud, high-sounding phrases, the 
execrable ancient French tastelessnesses, the stone 
cupids, the figures cut in the box trees, Chinese 
pavilions, etc., I immediately made a right-about 
turn and darted as quickly as I could into the 
Edelmann’s Wood, at a distance of three-quarters 
of an hour from there, a noted botanical habitat, 
where it is true I found no man (unfortunately!?) 
114 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
but all the more magnificent forest trees, among 
which I wandered at random for a few hours. Then 
I came quite unexpectedly upon an open patch in 
the wood, from which one has a splendid view over 
the whole of the Main valley and which took me 
completely by surprise. There were beautiful, rare 
and also new plants there, but nothing yet in bloom, 
because, on account of the great cold, the whole 
of the vegetation is backward by at least three to 
four weeks. At 7 o’clock I began the return journey, 
during which the spectacle of the people, rejoicing 
in beer and love, who had augmented their Southern 
susceptibilities severalfold per cent in the “foine 
preshus” (herrlich kunstboren) garden, amused me 
very much. As everybody, from the captain down 
to the stoker, was decidedly half-seas-over, we did 
not arrive at Wiirzburg till very late, and then 
under continual salutes from mortars, together with 
shouting, jubilating, cheering, singing, and the hor- 
rible performance by a band of music, which had 
given free rein to its talents throughout the whole 
of the afternoon. As often as a few individuals or 
groups of merry villagers became visible on the 
banks, the entire ship’s company and passengers, 
several hundred persons strong, raised shouts of 
“ Vivat hoch/,” waved their handkerchiefs, and made 
the village musicians answer with a flourish of 
trumpets. Although I did not see a face I recog- 
nized, nor spoke a word throughout the trip, it 
gave me much pleasure in the glorious weather. 
115 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
But then there followed a deluge of rain which did 
not stop for more than one day till yesterday. On 
that day, however, I made solo an excursion over 
the northern vineyards to Versbach, during which I 
found the beautiful pearl-hyacinth (Muscari race- 
mosum), which we had in our gardens, but I searched 
in vain for a pretty moss. Otherwise this week has 
passed very quietly and solitarily for me. . . . 
25. Wurzburg, 25. 5.1853. 
Dear parents, 
In comparative anatomy we have now reached 
the polyps. I keep a small colony of these dear 
little animals in a little glass, namely the green 
water-polyps (Hydra viridis), which are only as 
large as a pin’s head, and which, when magnified 
120 diameters, are nearly like starfish, and have 
the strangest and most peculiar conditions of life. 
They sit firmly on a stem, and can stretch their arms 
far out and draw them in again; they feed on 
infusoria and propagate like plants by shooting 
out buds at the side. If one cuts the little animal 
into as many pieces as one chooses, out of each 
piece there develops another animal. One can make 
the most interesting and beautiful experiments with 
them in a very simple manner. In physiology we 
have laid out a few hundred fistula of the salivary 
glands and fistula of the stomach. Thus we obtain 
pure saliva of the parotis and pure gastric juice, 
directly from the living animal, which, although it 
116 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
gives you a shudder, is employed for very important 
experiments concerning artificial digestion. Other- 
wise, although the material in itself is much more 
interesting, Kolliker’s course does not please me 
nearly so well as that in anatomy; everything is 
acquired by books alone. . . . Greetings to you 
and all other relations, Aunt Berta, etc., 
from your Ernst H. 
26. Wurzburg, 1. 6.1853. 
Dear parents, 
It is only to-day that I find time to write to you 
again, because the marvelous polyps, jellyfish, 
corals, etc., have occupied me during the whole of 
last week from 5 o’clock in the morning till 10 
o’clock at night, and have given me the greatest 
pleasure. My passion for zoology, which impelled 
me, even when I was a little boy, to pursue, with 
special interest, the history of animals before that 
of plants and which was my favorite occupation, 
has now reawakened very vividly, and naturally 
affords me far higher delight since, through my 
knowledge of anatomy, the way of studying the 
marvelous internal structure of the animals is now 
also open to me. Quite involuntarily at every step 
one is overpowered with‘ astonishment at and 
admiration for the divine omnipotence and loving- 
kindness, and I cannot understand how it is that 
just those very people who occupy themselves with 
these wondrous miracles and search into their details 
117 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
can doubt and even deny the creative, all-wise 
power of the divinity. Besides comparative anat- 
omy I am also kept very busy with physiology, so 
that, notwithstanding that I have fewer courses to 
occupy me than ever, I have barely as little spare 
time as before. The bad weather, which contin- 
ually poured forth the vials of its wrath in streaming 
torrents of rain, suited me exactly, because I was 
not tempted to go out into the beautiful spring 
nature, which otherwise I enjoy with unbounded 
delight. Last Saturday I again took part in a 
botanical excursion, which lasted for about five 
hours and somewhat fatigued my knee, a fact of 
which it gave evidence for a few days by making 
itself very distinctly felt; now it is exactly as it 
was before. In a wood behind Versbach we were 
seeking for the most beautiful German orchid, the 
magnificent Cypripedium calceolus; I was happy 
enough to find two out of the four specimens of 
these exceedingly beautiful and rare plants that 
were found. A single very large flower, at the 
utmost two, stands on the slender multileaved stem. 
Four petals of a beautiful dark purple-red, narrow 
and wavy, stand opposite one another in the form 
of a cross. In the midst between them there lies 
a small boat-shaped petal, and underneath it a 
very large one of a magnificent golden color, hol- 
low, and shaped quite like a wooden shoe or like 
a little round boat. For this reason this splendid 
plant is also called the “lady’s slipper.” How 
118 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
happy I was over this long-yearned-for find you 
can scarcely imagine. Besides them, we also found 
one of the most beautiful and largest orchids, the 
dark-brown, white-spotted Orchis fusca, and I was 
also happy enough to find some specimens with 
yellow flowers of a very common kind of vetch 
{Vida sepium), which is blue inside. On the way 
back we still found a charming little primula with 
white blossoms: Androsace septentrionalis. . . . 
For various reasons I am now very little in the 
company of Bertheau, La Valette and Steudner, 
who are daily playing whist together. On the 
whole they are far too fast, and when I go with 
them to have a drink they do nothing else but try 
to induce me to drink beer and fall in love, which 
they believe to be the only means of salvation to 
make a man of me, and one of these occupations 
appears to me to be just as obnoxious and super- 
fluous as the other. I have also rather fallen into 
Schenk’s bad books, because I had not followed 
his tedious lectures, on which he must have set his 
heart. 
Last Thursday, being Corpus Cristi Day, there 
was a high show, about which my landlady had 
not been able to tell me enough for weeks previously 
and which appeared to me almost to be frightfully 
magnificent. In all my life I had never seen such a 
procession. It lasted from 8 o’clock till 12 o’clock. 
The people had flowed in from every part of the 
countryside, the entire town was festively decorated 
119 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
with garlands and flags, all the streets were strewn 
with flowers, the hall of the Julius Hospital was 
converted into a temple with altars, all the soldiers 
were in full-dress order, as well as the so-called 
“Landwehr,” about equal to the Berlin citizen 
force and the Merseburg rifle club put together, 
only about ten times as unmilitary, commonplace 
and ridiculous. Among them were the most com- 
ical and grotesque figures, looking quite unique in 
sky-blue uniforms with heavy shakos; for instance 
there were tailors with long beards, carpenters with 
bearskin caps, as axe-bearers. The procession itself 
was the most mixed and fantastic that one could 
imagine; in many respects it was only one step 
from the sublime to the ridiculous and despicable. 
The different stately dresses, with their outward 
splendor, their peculiar character, presented so 
much that was remarkable that one could write a 
whole book about it. Among the rest, all the 
representatives of the trades marched with their 
flags, insignias and banners, then came the school 
children in specially festive garments, the magis- 
trates and members of the government in plain 
clothes, the Capuchins in their brown cowls, and 
all kinds of monkish people, a great number of the 
Catholic stud, theol., then long ranks of little and 
big girls dressed in white frocks decorated with 
flowers. Everywhere among them there were sing- 
ing and shouting groups of priests, who rang little 
bells, burned incense, etc. From time to time they 
120 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
stopped and mass was read at altars specially 
erected for this purpose, during which all the people 
fell on their knees, and we were regarded with side 
glances because we did not follow their example. 
The bishop and others of the higher clergy, glori- 
ously attired in purple and gold, marched or rather 
were carried under a baldachin, and then, no less 
well-nourished, shining with fat, continually taking 
snuff, came the canons in violet, who reminded me 
strikingly of the Merseburg ditto individuals. 
Between them again, from time to time, there came 
a golden Madonna, or a life-sized silver saint, hung 
about with all kinds of little chains and little rings 
and little ornaments, clanking and rattling like 
a child’s toy, borne by four white-robed virgins 
(not, in any case, to be accepted in the real meaning 
of the word); then again, long rows of devotees 
who sang after a reciter of prayers (who behaved 
like a cheap-jack) but who, nevertheless, comfort- 
ably carried on their conversations during the 
intervals, laughed, and enjoyed the magnificence 
of the procession. . . . 
The professors also made a very good appearance 
in the gowns of their different faculties, the medicos 
in green and the lawyers in red, etc. The Catholics 
are all obliged to follow, for which reason, Schenk 
had fallen “seriously ill” a few days previously 
and many other medical men were away. 
With all this lust of the eye it was also intended 
that one should hear something proper, and that 
121 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
is why throughout the morning the cannons were 
fired off at the fortress above, which had a per- 
fectly wonderful effect on those down below. In 
short, it was a turmoil and a din beyond all pos- 
sibility of description. . . . 
I envy you your great cattle-show at Krolls; I 
would far rather have preferred to see it than all 
this rumpus of a fair and carnival procession. . . . 
Now, still a word to you, my dearest mother, 
with regard to your desire to have me with you in 
Berlin for the winter. Much as I would like this 
myself, it is quite impossible of realization this 
next winter. ... It is just during the next winter 
that I shall have to follow the very lectures for the 
advantage of which I have principally come here, 
and which elsewhere, and, in any case never so 
classically as here, are scarcely delivered at all. 
Chief among them are Kolliker’s microscopical lec- 
tures, for which I am already burning with eager- 
ness; next, Virchow’s general pathology and path- 
ological anatomy, about which everybody is raving. 
And, lastly, it is said that two very capable young 
professors are coming here to take the places of the 
old pathologist and the old surgeon, who will now 
retire on pension. Besides that, I have already 
subscribed for the winter the preparation 
of arteries and nerves, which is connected with 
exceeding difficulty and discomfort in Berlin. If, 
therefore, I went to Berlin where I would miss all 
this next winter, it would be one more mistake 
122 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
regarding my lectures, which I would have to add 
to all the many others I have already made. It 
would have been far better if I had remained there 
this summer, and then I would have been able to 
follow the lectures of classical Johannes Miiller, 
which I shall always regret having missed. It is 
much more probable that I shall come to you next 
summer, as it is most unlikely, under any circum- 
stances, that I shall go either to Heidelberg or 
Bonn. After all, the details about this can be dis- 
cussed much better by word of mouth. If I come 
once more to Berlin I shall probably stay there for 
good. And then, again, next winter will have come 
and gone before I can turn round. There are only 
four months before it arrives. And for half of 
them, two full months and more, we shall be 
together in Rehme and Ziegenriick. You can 
scarcely imagine how I am already looking forward 
to this glorious life in the autumn, most of all in 
Ziegenriick. As for the books which we shall read 
there at home, dear mother, I have thought of the 
following: I to bring Humboldt’s Aspects of Nature, 
Schubert’s Mirror of Nature (which pleased you so 
much), and Schleiden’s Plant (perhaps!); you, I 
thought, ought to bring Goethe’s Truth and Fiction, 
also something by Schiller, Goethe or Lessing (per- 
haps Laocoon) and Immermann’s Miinchhausen, 
if you can possibly procure it somehow. I would 
so very much like to read it, as it is generally 
extolled as the most classical and the best German 
123 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
novel. Besides these, I shall also bring Vogt’s 
Zoological Letters, some parts of which will surely 
interest you. If you should not agree with this, 
make me another proposal; I should then suggest 
descriptions of travels, about which I am very keen 
indeed at the present time and which I would also 
devour with passion if I had the time. Perhaps 
you could borrow somewhere the excellent travels 
of Darwin, Poppig, Tschudi or Humboldt, or some- 
thing by Kohl. Perhaps father could get something 
from Karo, who, for example, has Tschudi’s Journey 
to Peru, also Munchhausen. In any case, you have 
plenty of time in which to think it over. . . . 
With the same fervent love, I remain ever your 
faithful old boy 
E. H. 
27. Wurzburg, 18. 6.1853. 
Dear parents, 
. . . Nearly every evening I go with my Danzig 
friend Hein, a very nice man, who is almost too 
reasonable, clear and thoughtful for me, over the 
bridge a little way above the town, where the 
bathing-place is very nicely situated at the foot 
of the fortress. Then we throw ourselves with 
genuine delight into the flood of the Main (which 
at the present time is as yellow as clay and reminds 
me of the Unstrut, and which some day will perhaps 
become green), have a good bathe, and afterward 
go to Siberia.' This is one of the few places here 
124 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
where one can get no beer, but milk of every descrip- 
tion (preferably we stick to the sour, which is here 
called gestockte, milk); one sits on a lawn situated 
on the slope of the hillside in a valley that branches 
off south of the fortress and is exactly opposite to 
it; and the best of it is that scarcely any people go 
there at all, and, at the utmost, one hears only the 
song of a few birds. This is quite delightful, and 
is my chief pleasure. I do not take any long walks 
now, because it occupies such a long time before 
one crosses the hot chalk hills and reaches the 
shade, and this does not seem to be the best thing 
for my knee. Likewise, my time is very limited; it 
is particularly comparative anatomy that makes 
the afternoon pass without one being aware of it. 
Kolliker has now gone through the starfish and 
sea-urchins, and quite suddenly I have taken a 
frightful fancy to go to the seaside in order to 
examine these wonderful creatures and to make the 
acquaintance in natura of their marvelously artistic 
structure. That would be quite another thing alto- 
gether to the pictures, although the latter are very 
good. They are already to be counted by the 
hundred in my notebook. If only I had my micro- 
scope! In any case, it is now about time to hurry 
up Herr Schieck a little bit. You might be so 
kind, dear little mother, as to ask him “whether 
my microscope is in hand, and beg him to have it 
ready by the beginning of August, as he has prom- 
ised. I must absolutely have it in the winter, for 
125 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Virchow’s lectures!” Tell him that expressly; but 
be very polite, and be sure, in any case, to admire 
very much the magnificent, choice, original copper 
etchings with which this original man has papered 
his entire room, and which are his sole pride and 
hobby. But be so good as to go there yourself, 
because I begged him to give you the microscope 
when it is ready. Mother will then be able to bring 
it with her to Rheme. 
In physiology many experiments are now being 
made which, however, are unsuccessful, partly 
through the fault of the anatomy servant, and 
which often cause many merry and laughable 
scenes. Thus the other day he was told to feed a 
cat with milk, because Kolliker wanted to show us 
the transference of the chyle into the chyle vessels 
of the intestines; he pretended to have done so, 
but instead of that had drunk the milk himself; 
when the cat was opened nothing was found in the 
intestines but some bread and potatoes, not a drop 
of milk, which caused no end of hilarity. Besides, 
we found a tapeworm a yard in length. Although 
in reality these are quite nice little animals in their 
way, I fancied all that evening that I felt quite 
distinctly the gnawing of such a creature in my own 
tractus. This, however, you may take to be a 
hypochondriacal fancy. 
Last week my poor body had also to subject 
itself to an experiment in physiology. Kolliker 
wanted to show how quickly saliva changes starch 
126 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
(flour) into sugar, and for that purpose spat into a 
test-tube till it was half full; at the same time he 
requested one of us to fill another test-tube in a 
similar manner, and, as I chanced to be next to him, 
this noble lot fell to me. Scarcely had the saliva 
been in touch with the paste for a few minutes, than 
the “Saliva hseckeliana,” as Kolliker called it, had 
changed the whole of the starch into sugar, while 
his own had a much weaker effect; naturally, this 
also caused much laughter and rallying. . . . 
28. Wurzburg, £7. 6.1853. 
Most fervently loved Birthday child (Geburts- 
tagskind), 
So I cannot be present even for your birthday, 
my dearest mother, and must celebrate it alone 
and in quiet, as I have already had to do father’s 
and my own several times. This time I cannot, as 
I usually do, throw myself joyfully and happily 
around your neck and tell you and make you feel 
by a kiss everything that moves my innermost 
heart. I have often felt rather sad lately when I 
have thought how, as a rule, you have had your 
two boys (or even all your three children) with you 
on this festival day, and how you thanked God in 
company with them for all his kindness and his 
grace, and how, on the contrary, now you have none 
of the three with you whom you can hug and kiss. 
But although outwardly we are so far separated 
from you this time, and I, in particular, for the first 
127 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
time, we are inwardly all the more fervently and 
intimately together in spirit, and with you we pray 
to God most humbly in our very soul that he might 
preserve you to us, as our dearest treasure, for a 
very, very long time and in good health. Yes, dear 
mother of my heart, it is surely one of the greatest 
and most important blessings of God which he has 
shown to me and for which I cannot sufficiently 
thank him every day, that he has given me such a 
good, pious mother, who has preserved me from 
my very childhood in the fear of God, who has 
implanted in me the first and firmest foundations 
of my intellectual and moral education to make full 
use of the precious time, and who has taught me to 
avoid evil in whatsoever form it might assail me. 
This is only becoming clear to me now, and has 
only lately been revealed to me, since I have entered 
independently into the world, have been exposed to 
manifold and new temptations, where I have made 
closer acquaintances in my own personal experience 
with the thoughts and aspirations of the human 
heart, what immense influence the first maternal 
education has had, and how the effect of it con- 
tinues throughout life; and then I have thanked 
God most fervently, and have prayed to him to 
preserve my own dear mother to me for a long time 
yet, to be my comfort and my joy. . . . 
Flowers must never be missing on your birthday; 
therefore the flora of Wurzburg has sent its repre- 
sentatives, which it must be admitted are less beau- 
128 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
tiful than selected rare ones. Probably most of 
them will scarcely interest you and, as you do not 
know them, their habitats will not appeal to you, 
but I think that through their means you might 
accompany your boy in his botanical wanderings. 
Also, as far as the two drawings are concerned you 
must take the will for the deed, and you must con- 
sider the best of them to be the deep filial love with 
which I have thought of you in every line. The 
sketch of the fortress of Marienberg, which I have 
made from the south side of the Nikolaus hill, 
above my favorite place “Siberia” in the lonely 
valley, is a representative one of a collection of 
sketches of the surroundings of Wurzburg which I 
intended to have finished for your birthday, but 
which up till now consist of outlines that have been 
begun and the completion of which has been hin- 
dered, partly from want of time and partly by the 
rainy weather. Even this one so far completed has 
been finished in a beautiful spell of rainy weather 
under the shelter of a vineyard shed for an umbrella. 
At the first sight of the drawing you might feel as 
my landlady did when I first showed it to her, and 
when she cried out in astonishment: “Jesses Maria, 
Herr Doctor, what a skillful man you are! Your 
mother must love you even against her will! Nay, 
how naturally you have depicted the Main and the 
steamers on it, just as if they were all alive!!” She 
took the round tower to the left to be the crane, 
and the two walls of the vineyard to be its arms. 
129 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Probably she believed the vineyard itself to be the 
Main, which would naturally have been very pleas- 
ing to my artistic self-consciousness. But how can 
one draw the confounded shapeless vineyards in 
any other way than by one line always near to 
another! At best one could dot in many rows of 
green spots instead of the parallel lines. From the 
external appearance of the mother with the two 
boys you would scarcely take it to be one of 
Raphael’s Madonnas! Indeed, in drawing it I 
thought less of the Virgin Mary than of my dear 
mother, and therefore you cannot contemplate it 
as the representation of a Madonna, but as a family 
symbol of maternal love, which in reality it is. 
The two real old Wtirzburger “Bocksbeutel” I 
hope that your Rhenish-wine lips will not disdain. 
Probably they have been grown just by the side of 
the fortress hill which I have drawn. I hope you 
will like them, as I hope they are good! 
As for the rest, I have nothing to add but the 
wish that you may celebrate your own particular 
festal day right well and cheerfully and, at the 
same time, think lovingly of your faithful old 
Ernst, who in thought will be entirely with you. . .. 
29. Wurzburg, 8. 7. 1853. 
Dear parents, 
I am employing the evening of Mimi’s birthday 
by talking for a little hour with you once more. 
The whole celebration of this family festivity has 
130 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
consisted for my part in my having eaten for dinner 
to-day with my landlady her much-beloved goose, 
which she had been cramming for weeks in honor 
of this day. To-day there is being celebrated here 
the feast of Saint Kilianus, a most important festi- 
val in this town, and, at the same time, it is the last 
holiday this summer (really the last, what a pity! 
what a pity!). Once upon a time this saint washed 
his feet in a local spring, and since then this spring, 
above which a great church was subsequently 
erected, has flowed only once a year, that is to say 
on this very day! while otherwise it is completely 
dry throughout the year!! And on this day this 
spring possesses the most marvelous qualities, it 
makes blind those who can see (or perhaps vice 
versa!), etc., !!! Consequently, on this occasion the 
whole of the country-folk from lower Franconia 
have come into the town in great processions in 
order to try their utmost to obtain a little flask of 
this delicious curative water (stagnant rain water, 
with which the sacristan has filled the basin, which 
otherwise is usually empty, the day before.) It is 
really an amusing and yet a sad sight to behold 
this stupefied peasantry, thronging with the other 
members of the populace, pressing, pushing, strug- 
gling, etc., for a few drops of water, being more than 
happy if eventually they succeed in crossing them- 
selves on the forehead with it or rubbing it into 
their eyes. This power of the clergy and of super- 
stition here is still monstrous. . . . 
131 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
I have passed your birthday, dearest little 
mother, in spirit with you, very quietly by myself; 
in the afternoon I went for a walk to the highest 
point of the Nikolaus hill, on which the Kapelle is 
situated and which is the highest point in the whole 
neighborhood. Hitherto I had never gone so high 
and was now wonderfully surprised to get a magnifi- 
cent view, first of all, over Franconia, and, secondly, 
down the Main. Toward the north the Spessart 
appeared on the horizon; toward the west the 
Rhon with its highest peaks; toward the east the 
Franconian mountains. The Main valley, with its 
innumerable windings and turnings which I could 
follow right down a great distance, presented quite 
a magnificent appearance; oh, how longingly I 
wished that you were here so that you might have 
shared this great joy with me! It is only half a 
joy, in any case, when one enjoys such a thing 
quite by oneself; the effect of the light was also 
quite unique; gigantic cloud shadows overcast the 
mountains. And, added to all this, there still came 
some charming botanical gifts, such as I had not 
been favored with for a long time. First of all, I 
found a nice woodruff with blue flowers (Asperula 
arvensis), and then a beautiful, and not hitherto 
found, umbelliferous plant (Turgenia latifolia); 
after that a very strange fern (Botrychium lunaria) 
with a fruit ear or raceme. So many treasures had 
not been offered to me at one time for ever so long. 
I was quite overjoyed. And then, in this blissful- 
132 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
ness, this searching, this seeking and admiring, I 
wandered rather far into a district that was quite 
unknown to me before, and in the end was over- 
taken by a violent thunderstorm, during which the 
echo of the thunder in the gorges and valleys was 
wonderfully effective. But my being soaked to the 
skin was not suffered in vain. When I regained the 
summit of the Nikolaus hill, a magnificent double 
rainbow was spread out before me, and to my right 
hand (from south to east) the lower part reached right 
down below and seemed to rest on the Main bridge. 
Thus I obtained a view of a rainbow in the valley 
from the height above, and in the far distance the 
blue mountains served as a background, a strange 
spectacle which I had only once before observed, 
and that was on the Inselsberg in the Thiiringer 
Forest. If only you could have shared these delights 
with me, this afternoon would have been the pleas- 
antest that I have spent here! But the best is still 
to come. As I came on my way home, singing and 
bounding with delight, and had arrived at a wall 
in the suburb, I noticed how the convicts were 
cleaning the surface of it of weeds. For some time 
my attention had been attracted by a fine, big, 
sulphur-yellow cinquefoil among them, which I 
would only have been too glad to inspect at close 
range, and now when I could take possession of 
one I found out—imagine my joyful, astonished 
surprise!—that it was Potentilla recta, which Schenk 
pretends to have sought for in vain among the 
133 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
entire flora of Wurzburg, and, without guessing it, 
I have so often passed quite near to it. Naturally, 
I ran posthaste to him with my precious find and 
related the story of my discovery to him. You 
ought to have seen his face! At first he seemed to 
be dumbstruck with surprise, and then, half in a 
tone of anger and half of friendliness, he said: 
“After all, you are a child of the devil; where have 
you dug that out?” You can well imagine my 
pride and my happiness! Then on Sunday we 
wandered out with a nice Swiss (a merchant whose 
acquaintance I had already made in Berlin), and 
I had to show him my newly discovered habitat; 
then we went once more to the Nikolaus hill, where 
I found a great rarity, quite new to me, the long- 
wished-for Altlicea hirsuta. 0 gaudium! 
And now, after all, I have gathered together 
quite a nice bundle of hay, which corresponds to 
about four volumes of my herbarium, partly from 
the flora herbipolitana, partly from the local Botan- 
ical Gardens, and often I feel quite nervous about 
transporting it all to Berlin! But these vegetable 
pleasures are still in a way surpassed by the animal 
ones. By this I mean to imply comparative anat- 
omy, which, after all, is a unique science! We are 
now diligently dissecting snails, shellfish, etc. . . . 
My best thanks to you, dear father,''" for your 
account about your studies, the Geographical 
Society, etc. When Herr Dingel, of Stuttgart, in 
his writings about France runs down the French- 
134 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
man so much, I am quite of his opinion. I cannot 
bear this supercilious and slimy nation, and am 
constantly quarreling about them with Schenk, 
who takes their part. I cannot reconcile myself 
to their false, veneered character. . . . 
30. Wurzburg, 18. 7.1853. 
. . . Last week I emerged quite unexpectedly 
from my usual, quiet, everyday life into the great 
world of humanity. How it happened to me, I can 
scarcely yet realize myself. On Sunday, the 10th, 
the elite of the professors here, Virchow, Kolliker, 
Muller, Scanzoni, Scherer, etc., arranged a great 
excursion to the Guttenberg woods. Each of them 
had invited some friends, chiefly young doctors and 
specially favored students, whom he undertook to 
feed as his guests. Now Kolliker took it into his 
head, God only knows why, to invite me among 
his guests; what a shock it gave me you may well 
imagine. The affair passed off better than I had 
expected. In the morning at 7 o’clock the excur- 
sion, consisting of about 75 persons, set forth, and 
to my absolute terror about one third of the party 
were young girls. However, I have learned how to 
navigate safely around such rocks (namely, the 
task of entertaining these ladies) so I did not speak 
a single word to one of them throughout the 
day. . . . 
In the wood itself it was very nice. As it is a 
very frequented and a most important pleasure 
135 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
resort of the people of Wiirzburg (only yesterday 
there was a party of about a thousand to eleven 
hundred persons there!) various sheds, benches and 
tables are erected in the middle of the wood, on a 
somewhat elevated place which is surrounded on 
all sides by grand old trees. On one of the highest 
of them an outlook place is built, which is reached 
by stairs, and from it one can obtain a wide vista 
over the extensive wood. 
There the respective wives of the professors 
unpacked all the treasures of their kitchens and 
larders before the famished palates of their guests 
and endeavored to regale them, in which process 
each lady professor did her very best to surpass the 
others. It was only Frau Professor Kolliker, by 
the way a very beautiful and distinguished lady, 
who had not attempted to compete in this contest. 
It is one of the very few bad, but at the same time 
all the more weak, sides of Kolliker’s character, 
that he is somewhat stingy (horridum exemplum!) 
and thus it happened that we who were Kolliker’s 
guests (among whom also were my acquaintances, 
Bertheau, Heim, Gerhard, Passow, La Valette, etc., 
which afterward gave rise to many jokes) were 
rather out of it in all this display of luxury, where 
milk and honey flowed abundantly; indeed, I must 
absolutely confess that the little titbits and nib- 
blings increased rather than appeased my appetite; 
and, after all, it was I who took less than any of 
the others! But all these little trials were soon for- 
136 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
gotten when after a time I discovered a clear spring 
and some magnificent strawberries in the wood, and 
later a few beautiful flowers which were quite new 
to me, Rosa arvensis and Campanula cervicaria. 
After breakfast, as well as after dinner, the young 
folk tried to pass the time as well as they could 
with all kinds of games and amusements, such, for 
instance, as blindman’s buff, the game of the 
knotted handkerchief, dancing, singing, shooting, 
skittles, walking about, etc. You can well believe 
me when I say that I took no part in all this. 
Nevertheless, I did my utmost not to remain too 
far behind the others. In any case, I was heartily 
glad when at 8 o’clock in the evening four different 
omnibuses and several other conveyances were made 
ready for the return. I was very nearly of the same 
opinion as the Swiss from Freiburg when, after he 
had become so tired of loafing about all the day 
long, he said that he would rather be an anatomy 
servant for a week than have to kill every Sunday 
in so shameful a manner. The best thing in the 
whole affair was, that I made the acquaintance of 
Virchow, to whom I bore all kinds of greetings 
from Georg Reimer, to whom he gave me hearty 
greetings in return. Altogether the cordial, open 
South German tone which ruled during the whole 
excursion, during which the gentle young ladies 
drank beer, shot, played skittles, etc., with the 
gentlemen, amused me. . . . 
Last Sunday, yesterday, I went for the first time 
137 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
into the fortress. In each year it is only opened 
to the public on two festivity days; the cause for 
it yesterday was the “Continuous Prayer,” a 
strange observation of the Catholic Church, accord- 
ing to which prayers must be said without any 
intermission, at some place in the whole of Bavaria 
throughout the year, wherever that place might be 
(that is to say, words without meaning are reeled 
off mechanically), and in this, naturally, one place 
after another takes its turn. The turn of this 
Continuous Prayer happened to come round to the 
fortress. I had expected to get a very fine view 
from up there, and I also intended to inspect the 
interesting arrangements of the fortress works, but 
I saw nothing of all this, for the simple reason that 
sentries were posted everywhere and they hindered 
one from guiding one’s steps in any other direction 
than to the fearfully and wonderfully decorated 
chapel—or to the beer cellar of the house steward; 
indeed, the latter, by reason of his beer, which has the 
reputation of being excellent, attracted most of the 
people. For myself, I respectfully declined that treat. 
The approaching end of this summer term, which 
has passed for me quicker than any other, can now 
already be felt in a terrible manner. The professors 
who have not yet gone through a fourth part of 
the work double their lectures and go through 
the remaining part most superficially and inaccu- 
rately; and this can be said particularly of Kolliker, 
who has been dwelling on the lower animals too 
138 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
long—which I must admit was very enjoyable for 
me—so that he has not yet even reached the insects. 
Therefore there is no idea of coming to a proper 
end. I have now become somewhat better 
acquainted with Kolliker by my having brought 
him last week some eggs of a mole cricket (Gryllo- 
talpa), which I had come across in the Botanical 
Gardens. He asked me to examine them, as well 
as the development of the young from the egg, and 
for this purpose he placed at my disposal a micro- 
scope which I could use for the work at any time 
in his room in the School of Anatomy. So that 
now I am occupied with this for a few hours daily 
in the morning. It is a highly interesting subject 
and could lead to practical results if I were not so 
fearfully clumsy, even in the preparation! . . . 
The best greetings from your old 
Ernst H. 
SI. Wurzburg, 28. 7. 1853. 
Dear parents, 
. . . This physiology of the nerves is really a 
queer and strange subject, but most interesting; 
but what a pity it is that one must or should 
(really ought to) come actually to the conviction 
that the whole of the marvelous human mind is 
nothing but a little piece of gray nerve substance, 
from which white threads with ganglia, each of 
which exercises a special function of the brain and, 
at least, function of the senses, radiate in all direc- 
139 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
tions throughout the body! I am not yet quite 
seized of this—but more about it verbally. . . . 
In old love and thankfulness 
Your faithful Ernst H. 
32. Rehme, 18. 8.1853. 
My dear dwellers in Ziegenruck, 
... I arrived here at 7.30 in the evening, and 
was met by mother and Herr Corthen at the sta- 
tion. I find Mama very well and cheerful, and we 
live together here in a very rural house, very nice 
and quiet and homely, and I feel all the better for 
it. But, after all, the bath here is very primitive, 
“uncivilized,” as you call it, assuredly not pretty, 
and as for the country it is rather melancholy, but 
an ideal place in which to lead a homely and quiet 
life. We are enjoying it with all our hearts, and I 
live very comfortably with Mama, and it is very 
convenient for myself. The whole morning is 
dedicated to my dearest inorganic treasure, my 
incomparable microscope; a fellow to it is not to 
be found anywhere, unless, possibly, with Virchow 
at Wurzburg. You cannot imagine what super- 
terrestrial bliss I feel when I revel in it. . . . 
Once again the heartiest greetings from your 
Ernst. 
33. Rehme, 30. 8.1853. 
My dear father, 
. . . Although daily we have wandered at ran- 
dom in search of discoveries in every possible direc- 
140 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
tion, we have not been able to find the slightest 
beauty in the country. With regard to the flora 
there is still less to be found. With the exception 
of a single salt grass (Poa distans) on the salt 
works, I have not found the smallest new or even 
remarkable thing. So I dissect all the more and 
work with my microscope, chiefly on frogs, mice, 
snails, grasshoppers and other insects. The bliss 
of the microscope need not be described further. 
It is really the highest thing that I know. . . . 
I scarcely occupy myself at all with botany; 
except microscopical phytotomy and the examina- 
tion of a Herbarium constantinopolitanum by Roe, 
which a Russian princess, Handjeri, who has a 
farm in the neighborhood and is acquainted with 
Corthens, has sent me for inspection, a circum- 
stance that appears to me to be quite incompre- 
hensible. . . . 
The best greetings to yourself from your son 
Ernst. 
34. ZlEGENRUCK, If. 10. 1853. 
My dear old mother, 
So the beautiful time of our having been together 
has passed, and I must write to you again, which at 
first is always rather painful to me, because I like 
to tell you everything personally and at once. 
Being together with both my dear brother and 
sister has, however, somewhat mitigated the hard 
separation from you this time, and it is nice to be 
141 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
able to communicate with one another by letter. 
During the first days after your departure nothing 
seemed to go quite well; I was always missing 
you; now somehow we have grown a little more 
accustomed to it. The day of your departure 
was a really unlucky day for us. Nothing seemed 
to prosper. . . . 
But it was I who had most of the sorrow and 
the greatest ill luck. For, first of all, two of my 
little salamanders, brought to the light of the world 
so fortunately by means of artificial premature 
birth, have died during the night, so that out of 
my thirty embryos I have now only nine alive. 
Secondly, during the night one of the crayfish had 
yielded up his noble soul, and the second one fol- 
lowed his example in the forenoon. Thirdly and 
lastly, I tormented myself in vain the whole of the 
morning with the classification of a dear little moss, 
the name of which I do not know even to-day. . . . 
The next day passed somewhat better. It began 
for me with a very joyful event. The doctor sent 
me a dear little snake which he had caught by the 
wayside. The little animal is a real pet and it is 
already becoming quite tame; for example, when 
I take my coffee it drinks milk very nicely out of 
the saucer. In the afternoon when I went out for 
a walk I found many salamanders in the river 
Sornitz, so that now I have my washing basin quite 
full of them. After the rain they come out in 
swarms. When I have a few dozen of them I shall 
142 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
preserve them (in spirits, so that I can take them 
with me). On Sunday I found another pair of 
them in the third bend of the Saale valley, in the 
direction of the Linken mill. It was very fine in 
the afternoon, and Karl and I took a very long 
walk through the meanderings of the Saale valley 
behind the Conrad, where the fisherman’s hut 
stands down below. . . . 
The daily walks agree excellently with me. At 
the present time I really feel very well, even not- 
withstanding the joyous life here, the grandeur of 
which you yourself have experienced. I would 
really be very sorry if these dear ones would have 
soon to leave Ziegenriick, this primeval paradise of 
“uncivilized mankind,” as seems to be not at all 
impossible in view of the splendid offer which Karl 
has received to-day. . . . 
35. ZlEGENRUCK, 13.10.1853. 
Dear parents, 
... We continue to be very jolly and cheerful 
here; I feel much better and much more free of 
worry now than I have for a long time, the reason 
for which is surely as much on account of the seclu- 
sion from all the outside bustle of humanity as of 
the inexhaustible magnificence of nature in this 
mountain paradise; yes, hypochondria is partially 
relegated to the background to such a degree that 
I venture to look again with curiosity, with a 
strange kind of love of life, and with a feeling of 
143 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
anticipation into my future life, whatever it is to 
be, which I had lost for a long time. Item, here 
is my Tusculanum! Since your departure, except 
for the constant impenetrable fogs in the valley 
which either descend or rise in the morning, we 
have had at intervals several wonderful autumn 
days, which were only to be distinguished from 
those when you were here with us by greater cold, 
the multicolored variety of the woods and the 
autumnal surroundings, and a gentle and frequent 
rainfall. One of the first days was really quite 
like spring, and I made an excursion with Karl to 
the Haken mill, where we wanted once to take 
Papa. Admittedly it is rather far off (we left at 
3 o’clock in the afternoon and only returned at 
7 o’clock in the evening), but the way there (over 
the Conrad and the Lasterberg, even further west- 
ward into the gorges along the Saale) makes it 
remarkably worth while; and how grand is the 
situation of the mill itself! Inclosed on both sides 
by high woods, in quite a narrow and very lonely 
gorge of the Saale, over which a giddy plank leads 
to the rocks on the other bank! It is a very tall 
and conspicuous house, furnished with many out- 
buildings, which surprises one in this solitude. . . . 
The day before yesterday (Tuesday the 11th), I 
made an excursion which was even more charming 
than the last (on Saturday). In the morning Karl 
had a lawsuit in the “Liebsten”1 (Liebschiitz). I 
liebsten—dearest. 
144 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
accompanied him early, at 7 o’clock, over the 
Hemmkuppe to the Liebschutz heights (where, as 
far as I can remember, Papa saw the beautiful 
view that opens toward the east and south, par- 
ticularly over the Saale valley toward Lobenstein), 
where I strolled along for a considerable time alone 
and at leisure and sought for mosses and lichens. 
Then I returned by the old road, and slid (halfway 
I rolled) down the steep northern slope facing the 
Hemmkuppe, where I came to a charming little 
rivulet which runs into the Saale. Then I clambered 
along the steep slope by the Saale, and after two 
hours I reached the beginning of the exceedingly 
beautiful Ottergrund, the grandeur of which Karl 
had already described to me so well, but which still 
exceeded all my expectations and may easily be 
compared to the grandest and wildest mountain 
streams of the Thuringer Forest, yea, indeed, of the 
Harz. Apart from rich flora of the most delicate 
mosses, which furnished me with material for my 
microscope for the whole of the following day, this 
exceedingly beautiful Ottergrund, which unites in 
itself all other beauties of nature in Ziegenriick, 
possesses such a number and variety of magnificent 
trees, somber mountain slopes, lovely meadow lands 
and romantic masses of rock on the banks of its 
mountain rivulet, which dashes wildly over bowlders 
and forms graceful cascades, so that it was only with 
difficulty that I could tear myself away after several 
hours. . . . 
145 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
On Sunday we began to read (Stein’s life) with 
the doctor and his wife. The day before yesterday 
we went downstairs in the evening, as it was Frau 
Doctor’s birthday. We were very jolly. In reality, 
they are quite sociable people. I am very much chaffed 
by them about my misogamy. Thus the Doctor, when 
he found me absorbed in mosses yesterday, changed 
the history of the creation in the following manner: 
“And God said, It is not good that man should be 
alone, and he created around him leafy mosses and 
liverworts, and lichens, and a microscope!” 
I have now read with very much interest and 
profit the popular astronomy by Rauch, which you, 
dear mother, brought for me. It is a very instruc- 
tive book, above all, written very intelligibly, and 
is easily to be understood by the layman, and surely 
it would also make the main outlines of astronomy 
perfectly clear to you, dear father, for which you 
have always longed. Try to read it some day. 
Personally, I have had scarcely an idea about it 
hitherto, and have been very much enlightened 
by reading it through once. If you happen to see 
Georg Quincke, greet him heartily from me and tell 
him that, if it is possible, he ought to follow the 
courses of physiology with Helmholtz at Konigsberg. 
He is regarded in Wurzburg as the most exact phys- 
iologist of the present day, and as one who in par- 
ticular has treated all the chapters of physiology 
that belong to the sphere of physics with marvelous 
mathematical exactitude. . . . 
146 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
We have been thinking very much of our poor, 
poor Aunt B., and are heartily sorry about her 
sufferings. If only that could be of some help to 
her! It is far too hard and cruel an affliction, after 
she had so greatly improved during the summer, to 
have to lie down again now prostrate and helpless. 
In such cases one would really like to ask God how 
he can allow such a thing to happen! 
We all greet her from our hearts and hope that 
she may soon have some alleviation of her torments, 
in which may God grant her his aid! . . . 
The best greetings from your old 
Ernst H. 
36. Wurzburg, 26.10.1853. 
Dearest parents, 
. . . Yesterday I left Z. by the carriage belong- 
ing to Counselor Voigt, of Gesell, where I arrived 
at 7 o’clock in the evening. At first I paid a visit 
to the chemist Warnekroo, a very nice and well- 
educated young man, to whom the Doctor had 
given me a letter. Then I went to call upon Frau 
Counselor Voigt, who received me with effusiveness 
and looked after all my needs, and wanted partout 
that I should go to bed, an offer of which, naturally, 
I could not avail myself, for the reason that the 
coach was to leave at 1 o’clock. I drowsed during 
the night hours very comfortably in the warm room 
(while it was freezing out of doors), with a bright 
lamp and a valuable botanical work (Krombholz’s 
147 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Illustrations of Sponges and Reichenbach’s Illustra- 
tions of Grasses), which the chemist had lent to me. 
In the morning at 4 o’clock I arrived at Hof, whence 
thejtrain left at 6 o’clock. The whole journey passed 
without further incident; the only thing to be men- 
tioned is that, whereas at Easter it took me two 
days and three nights to cover the whole distance, 
it took me only one day and a half this time. I 
arrived as early as 11 o’clock at Bamberg, at 1 
o’clock at Schweinfurt, and at 6 o’clock here. 
Naturally, my landlady received me with the same 
old tenderness and pleasure that, with her true 
Bavarian homeliness, she always has at her com- 
mand. She had been expecting my arrival every 
day for the last fortnight and bought beautiful 
fruit, and, among other things, had decorated all 
my cupboards, etc., with the most luscious apples 
and grapes, which, together with some magnificent 
plums, I have already been enjoying very much 
to-day. The fruit is now as excellent as it ever is 
here, and I shall avail myself of it as much as I can. 
What a pity that you cannot share it with me; it 
would then be twice as enjoyable to me. I would 
like so very much to send you a little box of grapes, 
if only the postage would not be so excessively 
high; in any case, they would be too violently 
shaken about. One of the first remarks my land- 
lady made was: “Oh, Herr Doctor, you will be 
very happy about your little children!” I dis- 
covered that she referred to my family of tree- 
148 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
frogs, the members of which had actually grown 
from half an inch in length to quite stately fellows 
of from one to one and a half inches long, and had 
acquired voices that resounded throughout the day. 
But to reach that condition they had been given 
flies which were brought specially every day en gros 
from the baker’s! . . . 
The moral fit of the blues of yesterday has already 
been somewhat alleviated to-day, which is partly to 
be attributed to the first visits I have paid. They 
were no less than five in number, and were (1) to 
Professor Schenk who, beyond my expectations, 
received me in a very friendly and kind manner; 
(2) to Professor Kolliker; (3) to Professor Muller 
(a young, very timid, but capable extraordinarius, 
who, together with K., directs the private circle); 
(4) to Doctor Gsell-Fels, a very rich young Swiss, 
Dr. Philos.,who is now studying medicine, is married, 
and is a bibliomaniac to an extent that I have never 
met before. He must immediately have all the 
newest and most precious works. I try to keep 
his benevolence as warm as possible, so that I can 
make use of his excellent library, which he has 
placed entirely at my disposal; (5) to Dr. Ley dig, 
a very talented, capable, nice and amiable young 
privatdocent, who occupies himself almost exclu- 
sively with microscopic observations, specially with 
histology and the development of animals, prin- 
cipally of the salamander. I am on a very friendly 
footing with Dr. Leydig, the reason for which might 
149 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
be traced to the fact that our natures show many 
points of sympathy; also we have on several occa- 
sions poured out our hearts to one another (that is 
to say, our natural-science hearts). Thus, for 
example (although in his own branch a very capable 
and skillful observer), he is outwardly, particularly 
in his contact with people, rather awkward, and 
not infrequently as clumsy as I am myself (for 
which the elongated bones of his extremities might 
be responsible); in addition to an immense love 
and adoration for pure natural science, principally 
for anatomy and physiology, he also exhibits just 
as great an abhorrence for medicine in general, but, 
above all, for medical practice (by the way, he is 
also Dr. Med.), as I do. Beside, that he is as 
little fond as I am of the bustle and turmoil of civi- 
lized mankind, he is happiest with his beasts and 
his microscope, he is also hypochondriacal, etc., 
etc., etc. 
Again, for example, when I found him unwell he 
growled a great deal about the quackery of medicine, 
which promises to help other people but cannot 
even help itself. He is the son of quite poor parents, 
and it is wonderful how he has raised himself above 
his needy surroundings; he was so poor that during 
the time when he was studying he had to exist for 
a whole year on nothing but bread. Consequently, 
his position was one of great dependence; in order 
not to die of hunger, he had to bow and scrape most 
humbly before several professors who were not half 
150 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
as capable as he was himself, and had to do their 
troublesome work for them. . . . Even to-day he 
has been bewailing his fate again and complaining 
how dependent is the position of a poor privat- 
docent. When I left him to-day, he made me a 
present of two of his latest short essays on the 
anatomy and histology of a certain fish (Polypterus 
bichir) and of a plant louse (Coccus hesperidum) as, 
also, before my departure he had already presented 
me with the description of a dainty parasitic crab 
(.Doridicola agilis) recently discovered by him. I 
hope to become more intimately acquainted with 
this nice man and to learn a great deal from 
him. . . . 
37. Wurzburg, 1. 11.1853. 
My dear little married people, 
. . . My new apartment (No. 137 in District II) 
pleases me very much. I must admit that it is some- 
what small, but nevertheless I have been able to 
get all my things into it, and have even been able 
to keep another box down as well. In order to give 
you an exact description of it, I inclose the plan of 
the complete arrangement of the furniture, from 
which you can see how nice, comfortable and small 
my present nest is. I am especially pleased that 
the dear warm sun, almost throughout the day 
from 9 o’clock in the morning till 3 o’clock in the 
afternoon, shines with its brightest beams into 
both of my windows, unhindered by the opposite 
151 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
house, which is altogether small and stands some 
distance away. In contrast to this, in the last dull 
and dark hole in which I actually fell into a fit of 
melancholy, I have not seen the blessed sun even 
for one hour throughout the whole of the summer. 
Also for my microscopy I have a very good light 
now. My microscope has produced a gigantic 
effect here and I have to produce it before all the 
world. Naturally I am duly envied for it. But 
most of them think that if they would have had to 
five for a whole term as much like a dog as I have 
done, in order by those means to save up for a 
microscope of such value, they would rather have 
abandoned the attempt! . . . 
38. Wurzburg, 5.11.1853. 
My dearest little couple, 
... In general, the people of Wurzburg are very 
much upset that there are so few “Herren Doctors” 
here this term, scarcely half as many as during the 
last term, not even 300 medical students! The 
reason for this is that the two chief positions in 
the Julius Hospital, the professorships of therapeu- 
tics and surgery, and the clinics connected there- 
with, are still held by old, rather unsuitable persons, 
the stone-blind Marcus and the childish Textor, 
who now at last ought to be entirely superseded. 
But now, after all, they are going to remain, be- 
cause Dietrich, of Erlangen, and Ried, of Jena, have 
declined the positions. For this reason people are 
152 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
only coming here now to hear Virchow (who is 
really unique and isolated in his way) and, perhaps, 
also Kolliker, but not at all on account of the badly 
filled positions in the Julius Hospital, which formerly 
attracted most of them. Very few of my acquaint- 
ances, for instance, Bertheau, Zerroni, etc., have 
returned. On the other hand, I have rather a close 
and agreeable associate in Hein, together with 
whom I followed all the courses and near to whom 
I usually sit, as well as in the elder Arnold von 
Franque; besides these I have many other super- 
ficial acquaintances. A real intimate, however, for 
whom I long so much and whom I miss so much, I 
am still absolutely without, and probably I shall 
never find him. Franque has made a splendid 
journey in the Tyrol, and with his stories about it 
has so reawakened in me a restless desire to travel 
and a longing for the Alps, which was stirring in 
me so much during the whole of the holidays, that 
in my foolishness I made up my mind that what- 
ever might happen I must see the Alps next autumn, 
before I return forever to northern Germany, even 
if it would only be, as Moses saw the Promised 
Land, from a distance! . . . 
It will be some time now before I can go on with 
my collection of mosses. I shall scarcely have time 
for the many courses. Several have already begun 
this week; the bulk of them, that is to say, the 
most terrible (namely special pathology, materia 
medica and obstetrics) do not commence before 
153 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
next Monday, when I shall begin to work prac- 
tically in the chemical laboratory with Scherer, 
that is to say, to boil, to burn my clothes, to 
macerate, to combust, etc. . . . 
Be heartily embraced and kissed by your faithful, 
thankful brother Ernst. 
39. Wurzburg, Wednesday, 16. 11.1853. 
My dearest father, 
According to the desire of mother, who likes to 
read all I write and who wrote to me asking me to 
send all letters addressed to you at Berlin via 
Ziegenriick, you will not get your birthday letter 
this year direct from here. This is now the third 
time that I cannot personally take part in this 
chief festivity of the Haeckel family, that I cannot 
tell you, my father, with a kiss and a pres- 
sure of the hand, all that I bear toward you in heart 
and mind and which no words could possibly express 
in an adequate manner. But even under the present 
circumstances I think I need not waste words on the 
fervent and faithfully filial feelings of the most cor- 
dial love of a child, which I have for you and which 
just on your birthday, it being our highest and most 
joyful festival, are increased to a special degree of 
heartiness. You yourself know how intimately I 
have become intertwined with you, my dearest 
parents, with my dear brother and sister, and with 
our entire precious family life; indeed, how I, per- 
haDs too reserved and retiring, find my highest 
154 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
happiness in being together with you! And I have 
always to experience the same pain at the time of 
every new parting hour. I had hoped that home- 
sickness would gradually disappear altogether. But 
ever and ever again when I have left the intimate 
and homely family circle I feel so sore at heart, I 
evince such a childish and senseless fear and timid- 
ity of the outer world around me, that I have often 
to feel ashamed of it myself. Thus even now, after 
these blissful, serene hours of joy which I passed 
with you in blessed quietness, I am obliged to think 
back, only too longingly, of that Elysium, although 
the disturbance and distraction of the new division 
of my time scarcely allow me for a moment to be 
conscious of my loneliness. Oh, how beautiful is 
family life! There is nothing on earth to take its 
place! I have thoroughly observed this also in my 
dear happy brother, concerning whose happiness 
(and that of the coming one as well) I am in reality 
more rejoiced than I could be about my own. What 
a tremendous joy it must be for you still to become 
a happy grandfather; I must particularly congrat- 
ulate you upon this on your birthday, and with all 
my heart I wish that in your old age you may 
experience happiness in your grandchildren, and 
that you may remain youthfully fresh and a cheer- 
ful head of the family, to the joy of your children 
as well as of your grandchildren, for a long time to 
come. The only painful feeling (which also often 
causes me very bitter and gloomy thoughts) I have 
155 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
when I utter this wish that you may still have joy 
in your children, is, my dear father, that I myself 
have hitherto given you so little hope and joy, and 
that I seem to be all the less successful the more 
pains and trouble I take to make you happy. You 
can feel assured, and you know already, that it is 
my most sincere and constant endeavor to become 
a capable and worthy man. But the more eagerly 
I incline with all my heart and soul to that, the 
less can I see any prospect of success. It is exactly 
in this most important point, in the construction 
and realization of my entire plan of life, that I still 
remain as helpless and undecided as ever. It is 
now, as you will remember, just a year ago that I 
explained to you in a long letter, at the first disin- 
clination which my insight into the study of medi- 
cine caused me, the impossibility of my becoming a 
doctor and of my studying medicine. At that time 
you tried to calm me by giving me reasons which, 
to some extent, may even have been quite justified, 
and the effect of that lasted well over the summer 
while I became more engaged in pure natural 
science. I had the distinct intention to carry 
through the study of it, difficult as it might have 
been for me. But now, dear father, although for 
quite different reasons, I stand in the same position 
as I did a year ago. The simple reason now is, that 
when I begin to get a deeper insight into the knowl- 
edge and conduct of practical medicine I commence 
to understand the true character of this noble art. 
156 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
At first I willingly admitted that it was an outward 
disgust, caused by irritable weakness of my nerves, 
that made me regard that side of medical life in 
such a gloomy light. This has now to the greatest 
extent been overcome and, perhaps, in the course 
of time would yet gradually decrease, although I 
believe that I shall never be able to overcome an 
unconquerable aversion to many appearances of 
disease. 
But it is quite another cause now that reveals 
to me with full certitude the impossibility that I can 
practice as a medical man. It is the immense imper- 
fection, unreliability and uncertainty of the entire 
medical science that makes it appear to me to be 
almost incredible at the present time (I might, 
however, be too prejudiced) that a conscientious 
man, who at all times calls himself to the strictest 
account, can torment his fellow creatures and experi- 
ment upon them, so to say, blindly, so that in a 
hundred cases one effect is produced and in a hun- 
dred others of a similar kind the result is exactly the 
reverse. In this regard medicine is diametrically 
opposed to mathematics. In the latter everything 
is restricted to definite, unalterable formulae that 
can admit of no exception; in the former there is 
nothing at all approaching to this; everybody acts 
according to his own judgment; one holds this 
opinion, another that; here, perhaps, the patient 
dies under the hand of a scientifically and highly 
trained physician, while there another is cured by 
157 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
a quack. I now ask you: Must not such a doctor, 
at every moment, when he considers his duty and 
his act, come into serious conflict, into painful 
doubt, with himself? 
When I discuss this with my acquaintances here, 
they laugh at me! When I ask what they mean by 
that, they reply that I am only fit to create natural 
families of plants, and to make microscopic studies 
of mosses or minister to the diseases of infusoria. 
They, too, seem to be united in agreeing with the 
opinion that I am fit for anything rather than to 
become a doctor. I find that it has been a great 
disadvantage to me from my youth up that I have 
not listened to medical conversations, in a word, 
that I have not grown accustomed, to some extent, 
to live in this whole sphere, which has been the 
case with most of my other acquaintances, at least 
with all who are medical students, even if they 
have acquired this medical apprehension and reason- 
ing faculty only in the tavern. From the fact that 
I have no knowledge at all of many of the expres- 
sions which are in everybody’s mouth here and 
which the others understand, even though they 
have not followed the pathological lectures, and 
that I am totally unfamiliar with the most common 
medical phrases, etc., a great part of the Virchow 
lectures, for example, is lost to me. When I ask 
others to tell me something about these matters, 
they say that, in any case, it would be of no use to 
me; at best, I could become a professor; I am not 
158 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
fit for anything respectable, etc. Others, at least, 
are somewhat more sincere, and say: “For you to 
want to become a professor is about the same thing 
as a little boy wanting to become a king.” At the 
same time, I never speak of “becoming a professor’* 
and even do not think of such a thing. Only, not 
a physician! I would rather teach the small boys 
in a ragged school “twice one are two.” In any 
event, it is another question as to whether I shall 
continue the study of medicine that I have begun, 
even in spite of the prospect of my never practicing 
it. Since it is your desire, there is scarcely any- 
thing else left for me to do, especially as it is prob- 
ably too late to make an alteration, as, for instance, 
in the direction of mathematics, so as to take it up 
as an auxiliary to natural science. If I were able 
to do just as I wished I would still probably do 
the latter, or even rather throw myself with all the 
strength at my disposal solely and only into the 
study of pure natural science, solely and only devote 
the whole of the time that is left to me, beyond 
eating, drinking, sleeping, and thinking of you, to 
making myself quite ex fundamento at home in it, 
and then I think that, with the greatest love and 
happiness and endurance I can command (which, 
indeed, does not mean much), I ought to arrive at 
something sound. The only, and, after all, the 
most difficult question is, whether my strength 
would stand it. But now, at the same time, just 
consider the whole field of applied medical science 
159 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
in its wide expansiveness, which in the most recent 
times has been so immensely developed and enlarged 
that in four years most men can only obtain quite a 
superficial survey of it; consider the incredible quan- 
tity of barbaric means, forms, etc., the masses of 
incomplete, half-useless, half-doubtful empiric mate- 
rial which in themselves require nearly a whole 
retentive power of their own—really, when I think 
that in this whole immense, confused rubbish heap, 
which, in addition, particularly possesses for me so 
much that is disgusting and repulsive, for the assim- 
ilation of which half a lifetime is necessary, when I 
consider that I must make this entire disorderly 
chaos altogether my own, my senses grow confused 
—and all that for what purpose? For nothing, and, 
again, for nothing!! Of what use will this ever be 
to me? If only the prospect of some day making 
great journeys as a naturalist were open to me, then 
there would still be some sense in it, but as it is!? 
It is a pity, a pity, that I cannot explain to you 
this and many another thing by word of mouth, 
for this matter can only be half represented and so 
unsatisfactorily in writing! 
Now, dearest father, before everything else a 
heartfelt request. Do not be in the slightest degree 
vexed or troubled because I have revealed all my 
feelings and thoughts about this highly important 
subject quite openly and unreservedly to you. I 
think it better that I should lay my opinions quite 
straightforwardly before you, although they can- 
160 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
not make you happy (which I regret infinitely and 
which pains me), than that from the beginning I 
should conceal them from you and that later on I 
should suddenly disclose others to you. If you still 
think it the best thing for me to do, I shall continue 
to study medicine with all possible diligence 
(although without enjoyment or any prospect of 
success). I must protect myself against any 
responsibility and any reproach at some later time 
if this should turn out to be to my decided disad- 
vantage. Moreover, you can see that I put forward 
every endeavor to make the best use of my time, 
from the following time-table of lectures (reckoned 
in hours for the week): from 8-10 dissecting (12), 
10-11 materia medica (5), 11-1 practical (!) chem- 
ical work in the laboratory (8), 1-2 dinner at the 
Harmony (at your express command; although the 
food is expensive [21 kr.l it is very good, and I do 
such good justice to it that my friends say that the 
landlord does not make a kreuzer profit out of me), 
2-3 physiological chemistry (2), 3-4 general pathol- 
ogy and therapeutics, with special reference to 
pathological anatomy, with Virchow (5), 4-5 theo- 
retical obstetrics, with Scanzoni (the first German 
obstetrician) (5), from 5-6 is the only spare hour 
I have in the day; from 6-8 I have still a micro- 
scopical lecture with Kolliker on Fridays and Satur- 
days, in the examination of normal animal tissues, 
which, although in itself of the highest interest, 
very especially so to myself, is, however, less so 
161 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
for the reason that I have already prepared nearly 
all the things myself for my own microscope. The 
instruction is carried on without any systematic 
rule and order: I shall not derive much that is new 
from it. All these courses together cost only 78 fl. 
Of this amount, 25 for the laboratory alone, 15 for 
the preparation of the arteries, 12 for the micro- 
scopical course, etc. About the individual ones I 
shall still write to you in detail later on. The lec- 
ture by Scherer (one of the most celebrated organic 
chemists) on medical chemistry, in which he traces 
back the most incredible physiological and patho- 
logical processes in the life of the human body to 
inorganic chemical laws, is very clever. The materia 
medica or science of pharmacy (the only, and the 
first, course which I systematically skip, because it 
is too bad), I am following with a certain Rinecker, 
a complete and perfect dancing puppet, a clown, a 
charlatan, or whatever else you would care to call 
him, but, in addition, he is a frightful and often 
quite senseless chatterbox, an unpleasant and argu- 
mentative fellow, accompanying his awful lectures 
with the most grotesque declamatory action. The 
only good thing about the course is that it succeeds 
in the very first lecture absolutely to drive out of 
the future doctor every rose-tinted illusion which 
he might still be fostering with respect to his adopted 
profession as a Messiah of suffering mankind, with 
respect to medicine or the healing art. Immediately 
at the very beginning of the lecture Herr R. declares, 
162 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
with a really astounding and ridiculous naivete and 
sincerity, that none of us need imagine that the 
task of the doctors, or their calling as such, is to 
diminish and eradicate the number of diseases. On 
the contrary, the higher medical science advances 
rationally, the more do they increase and multiply. 
The entire treatment of sick people is, in reality, 
nothing more than a mere unsystematic experi- 
mentalization, an irrational grappling with the 
human organism, a useless, or, at least, a very 
doubtful submitting of questions to proof, a guess- 
ing this way and that, etc. “If it does not succeed 
by these means, perhaps it will by others!” etc. 
Together with this he relates the most gruesome 
ribaldries and stories of how young doctors who 
have not yet come quite into the swing have, by 
carelessly dosing their patients, made healthy 
people sick and miserable; in short, both my heart 
and conscience are moved when I think of it. You 
can well believe that such a lecture is perfectly 
adapted to drive away every inclination for medicine 
even from one who has a stronger desire for it than 
I have. Many a new light has been thrown upon 
the subject for me through this. Now at least, I 
can understand how it is that most doctors have 
such a greater preference, on account of its material 
certainty, for surgery, which was originally for 
me the most terrible of all, than for this unsystem- 
atic toying with human life. And it was exactly 
from this materia medica, the means of healing, 
163 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
that I had hoped the most in my practice as a 
doctor!! 
The chief course during this term is that in 
general pathological anatomy with Virchow, for 
which reason alone (except for the dissection) I 
have remained here. This course is so unique of 
its kind that it is impossible for me to give you a 
complete picture of it yet. For the moment, there- 
fore, I shall only refer to it superficially. The course 
treats subjects, for the greater part, which have 
not yet even been printed, and which have only 
recently been discovered by Virchow himself. For 
this reason, the rush for it is quite extraordinary. 
The very large amphitheatrical lecture hall, con- 
taining over a hundred seats, is completely filled. 
While the other courses are usually shirked from 
time to time, here everybody tries, as far as he 
possibly can do so, not to miss a single lecture, 
because he can hear things which can neither be 
heard nor read elsewhere. But, although nearly all 
the medical students at present here diligently fol- 
low the course, I will boldly maintain that scarcely 
a tenth part of them can appreciably under- 
stand it. At least, this can be said of the transcen- 
dent philosophical introduction which he delivered, 
and which treats the phenomena of life, of sickness 
and of death. Although difficult, Virchow’s delivery 
is extraordinarily fine; I have never yet come across 
such crisp terseness, such compact strength, such 
close consistency, such sharp logic, and yet withal 
164 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
such remarkably clear descriptions and attractive 
animation in the delivery so intimately united as 
here. But, on the other hand, it is also very diffi- 
cult, if one does not follow it with the most strained 
attention and if one does not possess a good philo- 
sophical and general preparatory education, to 
understand him thoroughly and to keep hold of 
the red thread that runs so wonderfully through it 
all; a clear understanding is, in particular, rendered 
very much more difficult by a mass of dark, high- 
sounding expressions, of learned allusions, by a too 
frequent employment of foreign words which are 
often superfluous, etc. Most of my fellow students 
only contemplate this miracle, motionless and over- 
come; it must be admitted that from such an 
abundance of wealth there falls off a morsel for 
everyone, but how many gems are lost! For myself, 
I can only succeed through the greatest effort and 
by a method of classifying, digesting, and after- 
ward, to some extent, assimilating that which I 
have taken down word for word during the lecture, 
practically with stenographic haste (so that my 
hand becomes quite cramped), but written mechan- 
ically and without consideration. As soon as I 
reach home at 5 o’clock after the lecture, I sit down 
and try with all the tension of mental force of 
which I am capable, by diligent thinking out and 
working out of the matter I have received, to 
acquire for myself an understanding of and a 
familiarity with this abundance of deep thought. 
165 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
In any case, this involves the expenditure of much 
labor and time; I have never finished with one 
lecture in less than from 3 to 4 hours, and often I 
ruminate and digest it the whole evening through, 
till 11 o’clock. But then I appreciate the evident 
advantage of this. Moreover, it seems that it was 
only the beginning that had been so infinitely diffi- 
cult. Now, since he has entered more into the 
particular details, especially into the microscopical 
examination of the changes undergone by the tis- 
sues of the body through disease, he becomes far 
more agreeable and more easily to be understood 
than in the introduction which, in reality, is 
thoroughly philosophical, but full of thought, deal- 
ing with the character of life, disease and death, 
and which, although I am not quite in agreement 
with him, interested me immensely. Virchow is a 
thoroughly matter-of-fact man, a rationalist and 
materialist; he contemplates life as the sum of the 
functions of the individual organs, differing from 
one another materially, chemically and anatom- 
ically. According to this, the entire living body is 
divided into a number of individual seats of life, 
the specific activities of which are dependent upon 
the nature of their elementary parts, therefore, in 
the last instance, upon the cells of which the entire 
body is composed. Thus, mental activity is the 
inherent quality of the living nerve cell, motion the 
result of the construction of the muscular fiber cell, 
etc. Their healthy vital activity is, therefore, unal- 
166 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
terably connected with the normal physical and 
chemical nature of these most minute microscopic 
elements of form. With it it stands or falls. It is 
the vital force, which proceeds from these cells as 
independent but most simple beings, which awakens 
to activity the dead, or rather latent, forces of mat- 
ter, the slumbering forces of the finest material par- 
ticles, the molecules, takes them, so to say, into its 
service, in order to build up the organism. Life, 
therefore, is the result of the individual forces of 
the cells and the forces of the molecules allied to 
them, etc. 
How sorry I am that I cannot communicate and 
completely expound to you all of Virchow’s views 
which he exposes with such great intellectuality. 
But this is impossible in writing. After all, you 
will find this thoroughly materialistic conception 
rather generally in circulation among the first 
naturalists of Germany. I was exceedingly inter- 
ested in it by reason of the sharpness and clearness 
with which I learned to recognize it through and 
through, and, although I cannot share in detail all 
its consequences, I was startled by the consistency 
with which all the conclusions were reached. More- 
over, Virchow did not express himself in detail 
about the chief point of all, namely the relation of 
the soul to this organized complex whole of inde- 
pendent seats of life which are bound to matter. 
However, I shall not have lost much thereby. 
According to his manner of contemplating life and 
167 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
death, certainly one cannot up till now say any- 
thing about the soul. He defines death as “the 
return of the chemical elements, which in the com- 
position of the organism have become united into 
the most complicated, the most complex, and the 
finest and sublimest aggregations of atoms, to their 
extremely simple binary compounds of inorganic 
matter (water, carbonic acid, ammonia, etc.)” As 
a matter of fact, this rationalistic, materialistic 
conception of all the apparitions of life has emanated 
altogether from the whole character of Virchow. 
Everywhere, in all his works and words, you con- 
front with clear and biting sharpness the absolutely 
matter-of-fact man: strong contempt and highly 
refined derision for all those who think differently 
from him, religious rationalism or, even still more, 
political radicalism, etc. (as is well known, Virchow 
was formerly banished from Berlin, whither he 
wished very much to go, on account of his radical 
views in politics!), and, in addition, extraordinary 
firmness of character. Often, with his clear, logical 
sharpness, with his fine but caustic wit, with his 
high self-consciousness, he reminds me very much 
of Hiecke. In the development of his subject he 
very nearly excels him. 
I was exceedingly pleased with the definition of 
disease presented by Virchow in his introduction. 
He contemplates all pathological symptoms not 
absolutely as specifically or qualitatively, but rather 
only as quantitatively, differing from those of a nor- 
168 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
mal physiological character. The extraordinary, 
apparently abnormal, thing (lying prceter naturum) 
about the former consists either in the fact that 
normal events increase and multiply excessively or 
in the fact that a formation appears in another part 
of the body and at another time than, in reality, it 
should do if it were normal. Everything that is 
pathological, diseased, is consequently by no means 
something special, peculiar, but rather merely an 
excess, something exceeding the boundaries of the 
ordinary and of the normal, the heterotopy and the 
heterochrony of it. I am particularly fascinated 
by this conception, because hitherto I have believed 
exactly the opposite, that is to say, I have regarded 
diseases as being quite abnormal, existing in them- 
selves, as specially hostile forces, from which my 
excessive disgust and aversion for them is in part 
derived. But, according to Virchow’s convincing 
arguments, they are by no means that. There are 
no peculiar forces governing them, the external 
symptoms of disease are rather nothing but the 
manifestations of normal vitality, which it practices 
as a reaction against the external contributing 
causes of disease (noxas) affecting it exteriorly, 
opposing it. Moreover, in any case, you must not 
think that thereby I have had even the slightest 
atom more of an inclination to occupy myself with 
it or that I should now be more reconciled to the 
idea of disease. I must protest most vigorously 
against that. In fact, the splendid Virchow lectures 
169 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
will only very slightly contribute to that, as they 
deal scarcely at all with the diseases themselves, 
but only with the chemical and physical changes, 
more particularly (and this has always been for me 
the most interesting subject) with the histological, 
microscopical changes of form which the tissues of 
the human body and their elements suffer through 
the general contributing causes of disease, as, for 
instance, inflammation, etc. Thus the course will 
become very interesting from the point of view of 
natural science, but absolutely not at all from that 
of medicine, because Virchow is certainly no phy- 
sician nor a friend of physicians and their practice, 
but only a very capable natural philosopher, chem- 
ist, anatomist, microscopist, etc. 
In addition to this course, unique in its way so 
that it is well worth my while to remain here for 
the whole term solely on that account, the chief 
work that takes up my time is practical anatomy 
and chemistry. I have now taken a very consider- 
able liking for dissection, because I have only just 
begun to work on the more delicate subjects pre- 
served in spirits, namely the arteries, veins, and 
nerves. Hitherto I had only prepared muscles, 
intestines, and so forth, which are rather coarse and 
tedious. These fine proportions of the structure of 
the human body, which, through the all-high wis- 
dom with which they are joined and united into 
and through one another, not only excite the 
greatest admiration, but, on the other hand, are 
170 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
highly interesting. Likewise, the absolutely exact 
and careful preparation of them is the only means 
by which to gain a topographical knowledge of the 
frame of the body, which is the most important 
thing of all. Therefore, I am now pulling myself 
together very much in order to overcome my fickle- 
ness and impatience, and have also (it must be 
admitted with the expenditure of much time—two 
hours daily during the last fortnight) been able to 
produce, with patience and care, contrary to my 
own expectation, such a beautiful preparation of 
an arm that my acquaintances have been as much 
astonished at it as I am myself, and Kolliker said: 
“You seem to follow the nerves into their finest 
fibers” (which one can only see with a three- 
hundredfold magnification). Not a single nerve, 
not one artery, is cut through, and the whole is so 
clearly arranged that I am half inclined to preserve 
it in spirits as a souvenir. Besides that I have had 
a special surprise in doing it. That is to say, there 
is a very peculiar variation in the hand which 
Kolliker himself had never come across (the ramus 
dorsalis nervi ulnaris is altogether missing and is 
completely replaced by the ramus nervi 
radialis, which runs across the hand and furnishes 
all the five fingers. At the same time the Vena 
basilica does not run across the hand and is replaced 
by the Vena cephalica). In this way I am now 
getting an exact knowledge of the human body, 
such as cannot be obtained through any lecture or 
171 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
any book, and for me, as a natural philosopher, it 
is of the highest interest, although I do not desire 
in any way to make practical use of it as a surgeon 
does, etc. Besides that, it trains the hand to be 
more skillful. 
The chemical work in Scherer’s laboratory also 
gives me a great deal of satisfaction. Up till now 
I have only analyzed inorganic matter. I mix and 
mingle, I splash and puddle, I ignite and spark 
to my heart’s delight. As a chemical overall your 
old overcoat, which I had taken with me, has come 
into honorable use again. In chemistry also one 
can learn but little from books; one must penetrate 
into it by experiments and analyses, if one wants 
fully to grasp the true connection of this strange 
science. You can well imagine yourself that, con- 
sidering the quantity of the material to be mastered, 
which occupies me literally from 8 in the morning 
till 8 in the evening, I can find no time for any 
other occupations, even for my favorite studies, 
drawing, microscopy, painting, botanizing, etc. In 
any case, the evening that follows such a day 
crammed with muddle and medley is then taken 
up with the working out of the Virchow lectures, 
so that, as a matter of fact, I am suffering more 
than ever from such a shortage of time that I am 
quite bewildered, and at night, when, after 11 
o’clock, I come to myself again, I have scarcely the 
leisure to ask myself what I have been doing all 
day long. However, it is just this continuous and 
172 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
strenuous occupation that has its advantages. Thus, 
for instance, it compels me to divert my attention 
for once to totally different subjects, it preserves 
me from too precise pondering and meditating upon 
myself and my future, which is really fruitless, and 
likewise it protects me, at all events to some extent, 
from hypochondria, for which, for the reason that 
I have begin to turn my attention to diseases, I 
have now a greater inclination than ever, and about 
which my acquaintances are often seriously grum- 
bling at me. Thus, for instance, recently in the 
propaedeutic clinic, this studiosus Haeckel was 
quoted by a student, in answer to a question put 
by the professor, as an example of a superhypo- 
chondriac! . . . 
40. Wurzburg, Sunday, 4.12.1853. 
My dearest mother, 
I am utilizing the first light of dawn on this 
Sunday morning so that I may answer immediately 
your dear, longingly expected letter, which I 
received last evening. I would have written to 
you in any case to-day, even if it had not arrived, 
because I had determined that this should be the 
last day till which I would wait before writing, 
ever living in the happy hope that an “announce- 
ment of a birth” would burst upon me. As I see 
from your letter of yesterday the dear little thing, 
or rather mite, keeps us waiting for a long time, 
and appears even now not to be expected to arrive 
173 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
yet. I have till now thought every day a hundred 
and x times in vain: “Surely to-day in the 
Bergschloss at Ziegenriick my first nephew will see 
the light of the world!” And likewise in every 
recreation hour last week I ran home from the 
Anatomy School in the hope that I might possibly 
find the happy tidings of the long-expected appear- 
ance of the son and heir of the Haeckel family. 
Well, the long waiting, although surely somewhat 
trying for the impatient one, does not matter if the 
little munkle (homunculus), who has allowed us to 
wait for him for such a long time, will only become 
a fit, firm, and manly boy (which, unfortunately, 
his uncle is not always!). I always console myself 
with the saying: “Slow and steady wins the race!” 
I have already dreamed several times very vividly 
of my darling little nephew, once having seen him, 
fully life-size, standing in the flesh before me, in 
the act of studying the theory of cells with my 
treasure (that is my microscope), and I believed I 
could discern in his features the unmistakable 
capacity of becoming a great naturalist (which, 
indeed, let us hope he will become); at another 
time the conceptions in the dream mingled in a 
very comical manner: namely, my present chem- 
ical occupations in the laboratory were confused 
with a passage from the second part of “Faust,” 
wherein Wagner (if I am not mistaken) tries to 
create a homunculus artificially by all kinds of 
chemical operations (boiling, distilling, filtering, 
174 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
mixing, etc.). The fantastic god of dream, bring- 
ing these and several other reminiscences together 
in my brain, mingled them so thoroughly that 
thereby he created a really funny and comical pic- 
ture—that is to say, I saw myself in a dream in 
Scherer’s Laboratorio actively and successfully 
occupied in creating, by chemical operations and 
with the aid of carbonic and phosphoric calcareous 
earth and magnesia, out of chloride and sulphate 
of sodium, etc., out of fibrine and albumen, casein 
and glue, etc., an artificial homunculus, who finally, 
as the result of all kinds of precipitations, distilla- 
tions, crystallizations, etc., stood before me, dipur- 
ated and rectified, as my darling nephew, and 
smiled at me very sweetly with his infantile eyes. 
All this I dreamed so vividly that when I awoke 
the next morning I really believed that my nephew 
had already arrived and that I would receive the 
tidings to-day! I write all this humbug, which 
has greatly amused me, just to let you see that I 
am not only in thought every hour of the day, but 
also in dream with you, my dear ones, and that 
I hold you always in my heart and mind. Now I 
wish that the first dream might very speedily and 
happily be fulfilled, and that we shall be made 
glad by the birth of a little Haeckelius, who shall 
become a clever man, a genial naturalist, and a 
happy traveler (naturally, not omitting that he shall 
possess a most excellent disposition!).... 
Now, on the whole, I am really living somewhat 
175 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
like the Wandering Jew: “No rest for me by day 
or night, naught that can afford delight”—except, 
perhaps, the chemical laboratory, where practical 
chemistry (as well now as “higher dissecting”) 
affords me exceedingly great joy, and perhaps also 
the course of microscopy with Kolliker. The latter 
I must admit I could, apart from some precious 
preparations which I do not possess, give myself 
just as well as, or better than to follow it there. 
Indeed, it is really a course I take more out of 
regard for Kolliker or for politeness’ sake. . . . 
This general want of time does not permit me, 
for another thing, to pursue and ponder upon the 
magnificent ideas which interest me so very partic- 
ularly and which the chief quack, charlatan and 
dancing puppet, Professor Dr. Rinecker, expresses 
in his course {materia medico) on the subject of the 
noble art of healing, in general and in particular, 
although they are remarkably well suited to increase 
my love for medical practice to an infinite extent 
and, as such, would be very useful. This noble 
philanthropist begins nearly every lecture with an 
apostrophe somewhat as follows, and which was 
taken down almost literally: “Gentlemen, to-day 
we come to the constitutional employment of mer- 
cury! Here, as everywhere else in pharmacology, 
we are in absolute need of special prescriptions and 
of certain experiences regarding its employment, its 
use and its beneficial effect. In general, every 
doctor makes his own rules for himself, and it is only 
176 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
on his patients that he discovers how much of this 
or that he can give without exactly aggravating 
the disease to an extent sufficient to cause death. 
Yes, gentlemen, therein lies the beauty and the 
attraction of the medical art, whereby we see that 
it is absolutely lacking in a fixed standard that is 
applicable to all cases in general, that there is no 
rule or order, that every doctor can treat and ruin 
his patients just as it pleases him. If there were a 
corpus materiale medicinoe (analogous to the corpus 
juris), according to which every doctor could infal- 
libly cure his patients, then, in the name of Heaven, 
I would not care to become a doctor for anything 
in the world; that would be very tedious, and, per- 
haps, the diseases or rather the noble guild of doc- 
tors, because in that case every patient, with such 
general prescriptions near at hand, could heal him- 
self, would, after all, altogether disappear! But, as 
it is now! How grand it is! No doctor can call 
another to account, because there are never two or 
three united in their opinion as to any particular 
treatment, but each prescribes on his own authority. 
The one prescribes this, the other that! One writes 
prescriptions a yard long which look like something 
important and which, in the best case, can do no 
harm, and when in the end the patient, in spite of 
the druggist, has been restored to health through 
the force of his own nature—who derives the honor 
and profit therefrom?—the doctor alone who, after 
all, generally knows nothing about the disease he 
177 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
has to treat, nor what he shall do for it, etc.; 
therefore is not the art of medicine a beautiful 
science?!” 
Sunday evening. 
The notes of exclamation and interrogation at 
the end of the last letter, dear mother, threw me 
into such a state of meditation yesterday as to 
what they really might and could mean, that at 
last I relapsed into my general condition of misery 
regarding the study of medicine, and about which 
I will say no more, because it is rather a worn-out 
and sad subject (but, unfortunately, a true one) 
and because it would not lead to any satisfactory 
result. In order to distract myself to some extent 
I returned to my treasured microscope and have 
made great use of it again to-day to my heart’s 
content. It is, indeed, too wonderful a thing! . . . 
On Saturday a fortnight ago my acquaintances 
dragged me nolens volens to the great Harmony ball 
(in honor of His Majesty’s birthday)! What an 
absolutely passive, mournful figure I cut there you 
can well imagine; luckily enough, I was lost in a 
great crowd and among the other students, nearly 
all of whom were there. As a matter of fact, I was 
merely an onlooker in the very beautiful hall that 
was hitherto unknown to me, and I amused myself 
at the expense of the people who were quite dancing 
178 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
mad, especially the students, who flirted terribly 
with the ladies (young and old), cutting out all the 
other menfolk, such as, for instance, the officers 
(who occupy a far lower position here), officials, 
budding lawyers, etc., and keeping them all to 
themselves. But there is nothing in the world that 
looks funnier and madder when you shut your ears 
so that you cannot hear the music than a dance, 
when you only see the people jumping about in 
regular time as though possessed by demons. I 
made this experiment with the most complete suc- 
cess and was greatly amused for quite a long time 
at the comical figures as they hopped about. Other- 
wise, the ball so little pleased me that I have had 
enough of that sort of thing to last me for a long 
time, and I shall certainly not take a subscription 
for the Harmony, which at first I was inclined to do 
for this term on account of the numerous (a few 
hundred) newspapers and periodicals which are to 
be read there. That kind of reading, after all, 
takes up too much time. . . . 
41. Wurzburg, Saturday, 10.12.1853. 
Darling mother, 
I cannot possibly allow the heartiest congratula- 
tions I am sending to my dear married couple 
immediately after the receipt of the joyful and 
endlessly longed-for news of the birth of my nephew 
(which, on account of the carelessness of the local 
postal service here, I only received this evening), 
179 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
to go without greeting you also in your new beau- 
tiful dignity of “grandmother.” The whole of the 
titles in Haeckeldom will now suddenly be changed. 
As an uncle I feel myself now suddenly to have 
become so old and reasonable that I would really 
be capable of forming the good resolution to 
behave myself from to-day henceforward like a 
real man. . . . 
42. Wurzburg, 21.12.1853. 
Dear father, 
... In addition to much other work which I 
had set apart for the Christmas celebration, I shall 
now avail myself also of Kolliker’s offer to carry 
on my mic oscopy in his room, by which means one 
gathers very much material. At present there are 
several Englishmen here (young Dr. med.) who do 
nothing all day long but sit in Kolliker’s room in the 
School of Anatomy and study microscopical anat- 
omy. Through this they have the advantage that 
all the material that they can possibly need or 
wish for in any way is directly at their disposal, 
and that they can immediately ask Kolliker, he 
being the greatest histologist, for advice and infor- 
mation on every point about which they are in any 
kind of doubt. You can imagine how terribly I 
envy these people, and I ventured to express this 
fact to* Kolliker when I was doing some microscopy 
with him in his room last Sunday morning, and 
while I was making a drawing of a microscopical 
180 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
preparation (a transverse section through the Nervus 
opticus). Thereupon he replied that this opportunity 
is equally offered to myself. If only I had the time 
I might always come here. It is certain that one 
can only absorb this branch of natural history (the 
histology of men and animals) ex fundamento (as, 
indeed, all others) if one occupies oneself (as these 
Englishmen also do) solely and uninterruptedly 
with it for a length of time (for about a term). 
Therefore, I have now conceived the bold idea of 
accepting his kind offer and of pursuing nothing 
but microscopic anatomy, not only through the 
next Christmas and Easter vacations, but through- 
out the whole of next summer, and, at the utmost, 
concurrently with it chemistry and pathological 
anatomy with Virchow (which, for the greatest 
part, is also treated microscopically); what do you 
think of this proposal? By these means I would at 
least arrive at something satisfactory in one indi- 
vidual branch and, in any case, in addition to the 
immense pleasure, would derive the greatest profit. 
I believe that it is one of my chief mistakes in the 
time-table of my work that I take up too many 
subjects at the same time and that I am trying to 
grasp, at once and thoroughly, all possible branches. 
At least, thereby I would for once escape this 
reproach. . . . 
Now I leave home every morning at 8 o’clock 
and do not return before 5 o’clock in the evening 
(when I have a lecture with Kolliker, even as late 
181 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
as 8 o’clock), an arrangement (although I wish I 
had several spare hours a day) that suits me quite 
well, because I am generally feeling so lonely at 
home, except when I am sitting with my treasure 
(i.e., my divine microscope) or when I am writing 
letters to you. I spend the evenings in working up 
Virchow’s brilliant lecture, which is no longer the 
difficult task it was at the beginning. If I were to 
pretend that I took any interest in the subject, in 
all the different pathological new formations, swell- 
ings, degenerations, etc., I would be perverting the 
truth. But, making allowances for an appreciable 
disgust for it, it is not so bad. Why should one 
entertain such a disgust and abhorrence for an 
abscess or a festering sore when one hears that this 
terrible morbid formation is merely based on the 
formation and augmentation of cells in a liquid 
blastema, which in itself is really a highly interesting 
thing, as, indeed, is the entire life of cells. Yes, 
in my opinion, there is nothing more interesting 
than the theory of cells! I do not know what 
peculiar power of attraction there is specially for 
me in the strange fact that the cell is the origin 
and a component part of all organic bodies; but 
the fact remains that I consider this actually to be 
the greatest miracle of creation, about which I am 
more astounded and pleased than I can adequately 
express. In reality, this genesis of cells is something 
that closely concerns everybody, for, all of us, like 
plants and animals, consist of and have our origin 
182 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
in cells. The egg is nothing but a single cell. How 
inconceivably deadened and indifferent most people 
are in regard to this marvelous fact, the miracle of 
miracles. To me it is the most attractive of all, 
and I would like to dedicate all my strength to the 
study and exploration of the cell. Perhaps this 
inclination seems to be altogether too bold, but 
when I feel that I have some confidence in myself 
in one direction, whatever it might be, a secret dark 
instinct tells me: “This field is the only one in 
which you can achieve something!” It is this same 
instinct that ever attracted me so extraordinarily 
and so extravagantly to microscopical studies, that 
makes me feel that microscopic work gives me the 
highest happiness and delight. And, strangely 
enough, it is this very microscopical anatomy, his- 
tology, or whatever you may care to call it, that 
most medical men abhor as an unpleasant, difficult, 
and fruitless, although necessary, discipline, and 
are glad when they are rid of the lectures concern- 
ing these subjects and have seen in a practical man- 
ner, to some extent, what the little things look like. 
And the strangest thing of all is that they believe 
it to be a severe discipline; but this does not occur 
to me at all, for it seems to me to be at one and the 
same time the most agreeable and the easiest thing. 
I do not know how it happens, but, without having 
really ground hard hitherto at microscopical anat- 
omy and without having read Kolliker’s classic 
book once through, I know, nevertheless, the prin- 
183 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
cipal things in it as though they had been born in 
me and as though I had learned them in the nursery. 
It is strange, but true! In spite of my great clum- 
siness which also here in the delicate preparations 
often annoys me very much, nothing, on the whole, 
appears to me to be easier and more pleasant than 
microscopy, while the others groan and sigh under 
it. No, nothing can be greater to me than my 
cells! Do not take what I say, dear father, to be 
vanity or haughtiness! When I think it over 
quietly and calmly at other hours, I must admit 
that this entire sanguine hope that I may be able 
to do something as a microscopist (whether it be 
one of plants or animals; personally I believe of 
the latter) appears to me to be foolish presump- 
tion. For, how many of the most capable men are 
occupied in this magnificent branch! Schwann, 
Schleiden, Kolliker, Virchow, Mohl, Schacht, all 
these owe their entire renown to this most precious 
of all sciences. Again, how many capable men in 
recent times are engaged everywhere in the most 
minute and most careful microscopy! When I 
contemplate all that they have done I come to the 
conclusion, after calm consideration, that I shall 
never be able to win a place near them; for what 
shall such a helpless, characterless and insignificant 
weakling, as unfortunately I am, who to-day is 
“exulting into the high heavens” and to-morrow is 
“grieved to death,” be able to produce in com- 
parison to and with such a number of excellent 
184 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
and careful investigators! Be that as it may; now 
I will at least drink the chalice of this delight to 
the dregs and will perfect myself in every possible 
way in microscopy. At least I will show you that 
you have not made a present of this magnificent, 
costly microscope to one who does not know how 
to appreciate it. Even if I do not make any new 
discoveries with it, it gives me, in any case, the 
most blissful hours of joy, hours in which I can 
abandon myself entirely to a beloved object! 
Now in the early morning when I look at these 
quickly sketched outpourings of my heart, I must 
again perhaps come to the conclusion that, in 
reality, there is nothing else underlying all this 
enthusiasm for the microscope and the cell but 
happiness and delight in this immense and miracu- 
lous world of the infinitely small, in which the great 
Creator has revealed his most wonderful power and 
wisdom, happiness and delight such as, after all, 
can be experienced by everybody! But take all 
this for what it is worth, dear father, as the breath, 
perhaps, of an exaggerated enthusiasm which from 
time to time consumes all my limbs like a devour- 
ing flame of passion, so that involuntarily my 
muscles suffer from tonic contractions and I break 
out into jubilant cries of delight, as happened, for 
instance, when a few days ago I came home with 
my Schieck in the evening at 8 o’clock after the 
lecture and examined a marvelous and quite trans- 
parent membranous breast muscle of a frog and 
185 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
discovered in it the most beautiful nerve termina- 
tions (the most subtile and finest of objects) partly 
in the shape of loops, partly of fine lace. I was so 
delighted with this picture that I continued to 
study it through the microscope and draw it till 
midnight in the ice-cold room (through which, by 
the way, I caught a cold). 
Such magnificent moments, in which I would 
like to embrace and enfold the entire noble science 
with my whole being and nature, and I am often 
blessed with such moments now, are in my dreary 
life real glimpses into the sun. And in opposition 
to that, on the following day how sad and dark the 
practical medical work, the treatment of the people 
in the clinics, etc., appear to me, and how my 
courage fails when I see the future approaching with 
so desperate a prospect. At such times the only 
comfort I take is in the wild idea that if the worst 
should come to the worst I can retire with my 
microscope, which I never allow out of my sight, 
into some forest primeval of Guiana, there to 
study nature to my heart’s delight. Take, for 
example, several visits I paid to the clinic last week, 
when some incidents that occurred made such a 
violent and disgusting impression upon my irritable 
nervous system that for a few days I felt quite ill, 
and I seriously feared that I would suffer from a 
nervous fever, which, however, proved to be exces- 
sive hypochondria. And it is just these clinics and 
these terrible special pathological and therapeutical THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
courses that most of my acquaintances will follow 
next summer and which, as a matter of fact, I ought 
also to begin. How happy would I be if instead 
I could devote myself for the whole term to micros- 
copy with Kolliker, quite alone privatissime. The 
Virchow lectures would also run quite in harmony 
with the latter! No, once again! Nothing surpasses 
for me the theory of the cells and the study of them! 
Vivant cellulse!! Vi vat microscopia! . . . 
Farewell, my dear papa, now even grandpapa, cel- 
ebrate a very joyous and happy Christmas with the 
dear ones in No. 8, and do not when you think of 
the dear ones in Ziegenriick, forget 
Your cordially loving old boy 
Ernst H. 
Uncle, Dr. phil., et med., privat docent of 
microscopy. 
43. Wurzburg, New-Year's Eve, 1853. 
My dearest parents, 
. . . Among the many most hearty good wishes 
which I always cherish for you and for your welfare 
and very specially at the commencement of this 
year, the most ardent and one of the most heartfelt 
ones is that you may yet experience true happiness 
in your boy! At least you may be assured of this, that 
he for his part will do everything that is possibly in 
his power to perform his duty, and to become really 
worthy of you! I must confess that up till now I have 
given you much anxiety, and that I myself must still 
187 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
regard the future with just as much anxiety. Yet, 
nevertheless, I feel that recently I have at least in- 
creased in courage and confidence in God, and this 
will surely be of assistance to me. . . . 
The frontispiece to this letter shows you Ernst 
Haeckel in about the same attitude as he appeared 
to himself last night in a dream—will it really be 
the picture of the true future? You will surely not 
be a little surprised at the confusion and the 
strange composition of it! As far as I can make 
out of it, medicine is lying in a corner, hidden 
behind the tree. “The golden tree of life,” how- 
ever, is and will still remain botany! 
He is exactly in his classical moment, drawing 
with his right hand and with the aid of his right 
eye that which he sees through the microscope with 
his left eye (shading it from the side light with his 
hand). Before him, besides a galvanic battery, 
there lie on the table a magnet, a pair of forceps, 
some covering glasses, chemical test-tubes, and 
other appliances connected with natural science. 
In the background to the left stands the terrible 
phantom of the future, a school blackboard with a 
mathematical formula a yard long, still to be 
worked out. In the foreground Berghaus’s Physical 
Atlas, which is now altogether forming the whole 
foreground of Ernst Haeckel himself! . . . 
This morning again, I heard a good sermon by 
the same old clergyman whom I heard on Christ- 
mas day. He applied the text “Do not be afraid, 
188 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
for I am with you,” to the Christian and, in par- 
ticular, to the Protestant Church, to the Father- 
land (under the assumption that God would not 
forsake it), and, finally, to the individual Christian 
brethren and sisters of the congregation. I am glad 
to say that thereby many a good resolution I had 
renewed has been strengthened and fortified in me, 
and that in my firm will I am resolved more than 
ever to bear myself this year with more strength of 
character and confidence in God, even if it should 
be under more unfavorable conditions than in the 
one that is just ended. As it was exceedingly mild 
and warm May weather, I went for rather a long 
walk alone this afternoon. I crossed the bridge and 
then on a somewhat high hill, situated southwest of 
the fortress (in the direction of Zell), I was able in 
the beautiful warm glow of the evening to enjoy a 
magnificent view over the Main valley, including 
the windings of the river, which stretches from the 
town downstream away toward the west and forms 
an elongated oval basin. The fortress stood high 
above to my right, and further down lay the Main 
quarter, while just in front of me there was an 
important ridge (on the opposite right shore), 
which on one side was ornamented by a dark fir 
wood and an old ruined castle. Quite to the left, 
where the important manufacturing place of Zell is 
lying, the stream makes a graceful bend again 
toward the north, and is lost in the blue distance 
(which is always the favorite effect for me and 
189 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
which I must always contemplate for some minutes 
with longing in my heart) between still higher 
mountains. The lower part of the valley lying 
between it and me was already quite green with the 
young crops, and the trees had begun to throw out 
the most beautiful buds, while the hazels were 
already in bloom. The temperature might have 
been about 8 deg. Reaumur. If one had not known 
exactly that it was the New Year one could have 
believed that the landscape before one belonged to 
April or May. The grass is already quite green 
with cotyledons. The peacefulness which reigned 
over the entire landscape made a highly attractive 
impression and only from time to time was inter- 
rupted by the ringing of the convent bells. What 
this perpetual clanging of bells means here you can- 
not believe. . . . 
P. S. When I asked you to send Homer to me, 
I meant the original in Greek, which affords me 
quite another pleasure than the translation. How- 
ever, I am quite fond of reading it once more in 
that form. . . . 
Hearty greetings to all friends and relations, the 
best to yourselves, from your old 
Ernst Haeckel. 
44. Wurzburg, 7. 2. 185k. 
Dear parents, 
. . . Now I remain at home daily till 11 o’clock 
and grind furiously—at botany! That is to say, for 
190 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
my lecture in the little physiological circle. At first 
I wanted to take a part from phytogeography (con- 
cerning the influence of climate, particularly of 
warmth, on the distribution of plants and their 
geographical range), for which purpose I have read 
a number of small, very interesting publications 
which, to some extent, would very much have inter- 
ested you, dear father, because some of the ques- 
tions dealt with in them are of general human 
interest. Thus, for instance, there is a very impor- 
tant thought, further elaborated in modern times, 
that the extermination of forests which goes hand 
in hand with civilization has the most destructive 
influence, and not only threatens the existence of 
the people themselves who annihilate the forest, but 
also renders the country concerned forever unin- 
habitable. The examples of the Orient, of the land 
of origin of the ancient nations, confirm this in an 
emphatic manner. India (or rather Persia and 
Babylonia), Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Greece, etc., 
were the richest and most prosperous countries of 
antiquity. But all attempts to make these, now 
quite desolate and devastated areas of land, fertile 
and cultivable again are in vain, because the exter- 
mination of the forests has produced a totally dif- 
ferent climate, a dry and hot atmosphere, free from 
moisture, in which only scanty desert plants can 
still continue to vegetate in the parched soil. That 
this is indeed so has been proved by history and by 
natural science. But the very simple conclusion 
191 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
which we can draw from this is, that our western 
Europe sooner or later will share the same fate; 
that with every newly destroyed forest (the number 
of which is already considerably diminished) we are 
preparing for ourselves a new area of desolate 
country, on which, on account of the lack of moist- 
ure (which is absolutely dependent upon the forests) 
soon no corn will be able any longer to be grown; 
so that in the course of time famines, resulting in 
emigration on a gigantic scale to new countries 
(where the prolific forest verdure has not yet suc- 
cumbed to the ax of civilization), will occur, and 
thus the mass of the civilized peoples, following the 
eternal migration and impetus from east to west, 
will gradually transplant themselves to the New 
World (the present powerful stream of emigration 
is already the beginning of it), till finally the 
latter will also succumb to the same fate as 
Europe and Asia before it.—And what then?— 
Yes, we must admit that no one can answer 
that question! 
In the treatment of this vital question in con- 
nection with natural science (physical and botan- 
ical) one arrives, therefore, at the same result as 
that to which old Wieck, for historical and philo- 
sophical reasons, always came, namely that Europe 
and her hypercivilization will soon come to an end 
and that the current of the irresistible emigration 
of the nations will soon leave Europe behind it, 
just as deserted and as devastated as an exhausted 
192 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
field, as lias happened before with Asia. If I am 
not mistaken, at that time you always held the 
opposite opinion, and you will probably still do so 
now. I must confess, after what I have read and 
thought about it, that I am also more inclined to 
the other view (namely, that Europe, through her 
physical desolation, as a consequence of the exter- 
mination of her forests whereby the climate dis- 
tinctly becomes much hotter, drier, more unfertile, 
as well as, in particular, through her moral corrup- 
tion, which is always the inevitable consequence of 
hypercivilization, will, at least partially, in not too 
distant a time also be ruined). . . . 
On the 28th January a young privat docent 
(Karl Gegenbaur) was habilitated here, and he also 
for comparative anatomy and histology! If only 
there were not far too many people attaching them- 
selves to this beautiful branch! There is no more 
room left for other people, and what in the end is 
to become of all the private docentibus? 
But, after all, this Doctor Gegenbaur is a very clever 
and skillful fellow, who can draw well, and who was 
with Kolliker and Muller at Messina, where he had 
continued to stay for more than a year in order 
specially to observe medusae, polyps and other lower 
marine animals. His habilitation essay dealt with 
the metagenesis of these animals. . . . 
Now, dear parents, farewell, greet all friends and 
relations and continue to love 
Your old Ernst. 
193 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
45. Wurzburg, 16th February, 185\E. H. 
(Penitential sermon of a 20-year-old 
boy to himself) 
Dear Ernst Haeckel, 
To-day you enter upon the third decade of your 
terrestrial life, and on this highly important day it 
is your duty to throw a glance over your past exist- 
ence and your future prospects, over the former 
in order to thank God for the infinite blessings he 
has showered upon you, and to feel in a spirit of 
repentance how little you have shown yourself 
worthy of them, but over the latter in order to form 
new resolutions henceforward to lead a better life 
and to confide yourself entirely to the gracious 
guidance of God. Your first thought on this day 
must be one of fervent, sincere thankfulness to 
God who has embellished and facilitated for you 
the rough path of earthly existence with so many 
blessings both for your body and for your soul. 
He has given you the most excellent, upright and 
loving parents, the best, truest and most honest 
brother and sister and relations; he has inspired 
you with an infinitely strong and tender instinct 
for the most magnificent of all sciences, for the 
recognition of his innumerable and miraculous 
works of nature, in the wonderful structure and 
life of the smallest as well as of the largest, in which 
his omnipotence and wisdom are revealed; follow- 
ing this deep instinct, he has endowed you with the 
power, the means and the capability of consecrat- 
194 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
ing your whole life to the grandeur of natural 
science! And how have you shown yourself in 
return for this munificence on the part of God? 
Unthankful, ungrateful, faint-hearted, desperate, 
selfish! By your undecided, wavering conduct you 
have more frequently grieved than gladdened your 
parents, who love you so heartily and fervently; 
by your one-sided, egotistic and yet fickle, often 
puerile, unmanly, and ridiculous behavior you have 
repelled the friends who have desired to approach 
you more closely! 
From now henceforth all this must be radically 
altered! To-day you enter the 20th1) year of your 
life and thereby become a man! A German, a 
Christian man! But you must prove yourself 
worthy of this honor. Put aside the childish, unde- 
cided, unmanly conduct; by such behavior you 
make yourself ridiculous and despicable. For what 
purpose did God give you free speech, unrestricted 
freedom as an individual man? Surely not in order 
to subject yourself everywhere weakly and miser- 
ably to the defiance and the despotism of others. 
Think of your father, how frankly and openly he 
defends the truth and the right where and when 
necessary. And how do you prove yourself to be 
worthy of this magnificent man? You are silent 
when you ought to speak, you tremble when you 
ought to shake with noble wrath; when others 
make vicious, unworthy speeches in your presence, 
* 21st (?). 
195 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
or do things which your conscience tells you are 
wrong, you are silent and subject yourself to the 
crowd or even you join them under compulsion in 
their excesses. But no such moral compunction 
should be allowed to exist for a free youth. Freely 
and unreservedly he ought to defend truth and 
right before the face of the lowest as well as of 
the highest, should not fear the threats or the ven- 
geance of any man. Think of what Christ hath 
said: “He that is not with me is against me!” 
Or of what is written elsewhere: “Fear God, do 
that which is right, and be afraid of no man!” 
Or of what your excellent friend Reinhold Hein 
always tells you: “Be a man in the face of men, 
a child in the face of God!” Yes, try to be or to 
become that! Hitherto you have done the reverse, 
even as everything you undertake you begin badly 
and at the wrong end. While you showed yourself 
to men as a weak child, you appeared before God as 
a man, not as a real, humble, undefiled man, but 
as one who is obstinate, unthankful, sullen, full of 
self-justification, lacking in self-confidence, with- 
out true Christian hope and love. Herein also you 
must radically reform yourself! 
Above all, hold fast to hope, courage, trust, the 
most steadfast faith in God and a right self- 
confidence. If often enough, only too frequently, 
in many dark and sorrowful hours the whole of 
the prospects, circumstances and confused com- 
binations of your outward future life will appear 
196 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
to you to be completely comfortless and hopeless, 
if with regard to your desires and all your designs 
you make to yourself and which you depict in all 
the glowing colors of aspiring youth, over and over 
again a disheartening and annihilating “but” rises 
up against you, then always consider that it is not 
you but God who shall unravel all these tangled 
skeins, and that in his miraculous loving-kindness 
he will surely unravel them in the most marvelous 
way. And if every access seems barred against 
you and you have nevertheless once for all to choose 
a definite, deliberate path, then only implore God 
fervently; he will not leave you, but he will guide 
you on the best, the most secure, and most suitable 
way out of this confusion. Therefore, only Hope 
and Faith! Think of the motto of Oliver Cromwell: 
“He who does not himself plan whither he will go, 
goes farthest!”1 Confide in God; he will save 
you and guide you; you cannot obtain anything 
from God by sorrowing and self-torture, by vain, 
painful and yet so useless self-torment; it must be 
prayed for! 
But as till now you have lacked the right, the 
faultless, the immovable faith, the invincible, 
unshakable Christian hope, so has it been with 
true, pure, Christian love, the love you bear toward 
your neighbor and toward all men; admittedly, 
1 This is not an exact literal translation of the motto, but I have 
adapted it to the context because I cannot find the correct reference. 
I believe the German text is wrong!—G. B. G. 
197 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
you love your parents and relations in the tenderest 
and most fervent manner; you would be willing 
gladly to give all your blood and possessions for 
their sakes! But even the most wicked loves his 
own! But how does it stand in respect to your 
conduct toward other men whom God has like- 
wise appointed to be your brethren in Christ? 
Beyond all doubt you must confess that hitherto 
your behavior toward them has been anything but 
right. Always in your conduct toward strangers a 
cold, selfish egoism, a loveless and reckless reserve, 
have been noticeable. Can you be astonished then 
that you cannot find a faithful and sincere friend? 
Cast a glance over all your actions! Do you not 
always think first with anxious selfishness of your 
own physical and moral advantage, and only after- 
ward, or, perhaps, even not then, of others? When 
you are asked to contribute to the pleasures of 
others, to their benefit, when they invite you in 
the kindest manner to share their company, the 
smallest sacrifice of money, and, more than all else, 
of time is too great for you; you always think: 
“I can make much better and more profitable use 
of this time for myself! What can I do and per- 
form in this time!” Certainly you can keep the 
time which you ought to dedicate to other people 
also quite alone for yourself and utilize it for the 
development of your knowledge and your mind. 
But remember that there is also another field of 
intellectual life that must be cultivated, and that 
198 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
is intercourse with other people, the obligation for 
which God has not placed upon us without wise 
intention, as your excellent father so often repeats. 
Here also in your association and intercourse with 
others you train your mind in the most various and 
widespread directions in a manner that is quite 
impossible to you in your own glum study, where 
you can only train yourself to be a scientific man 
of books. It is true that you have a special pro- 
pensity for loneliness, for the solitary, fervent con- 
templation of God’s wonders in nature, in which you 
feel happiest and quietest. But remember that 
men also belong to this same nature, toward whom 
God, by putting us in their midst, has imposed 
manifold obligations upon us. Let all that avari- 
cious, selfish conduct, which you try to persuade 
yourself is conscientiousness, depart from you. If 
you desire to remain retired within your own self 
you will never fulfill your mission as a Christian 
man toward your Christian brethren; and what 
will your faith appear like when one day you will 
stand in the presence of God, when he will demand 
of you the talent with which he has intrusted you 
and which you should have increased multifold? 
Therefore let these three precious key words in the 
Kingdom of God, Love, Faith, Hope, be repeated 
to you; try to absorb them into your life and your 
being; do away with selfishness, faint-heartedness, 
with self-torture! Hold God ever before your eyes 
and in your heart! Pray and wTork! This is 
199 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
implored to you from his very heart at the beginning 
of your 21st year by 
Your better I. 
46. Wurzburg, 17. 2.1851k. 
My dear, dear parents! 
This is the first letter which you will receive from 
your twenty-year-old boy, henceforth a young man. 
Should you not at first sight consider these lines 
as having been written in the wise moderation of a 
man with a settled mind, one who has already 
twenty years of his life behind him, in any case for 
the moment you must take the good will for the 
deed. For, the transition from the unsettled mind 
to the settled mind, from folly to wisdom, and from 
the child to the man is, indeed, not so suddenly 
and so rapidly performed as one would desire and 
intend that it should be. But that the most serious 
and decided purpose, the best and most sincere will, 
is existing in me that I shall now solemnly and with 
all my strength strive to become a very capable, 
honest, brave man, and acquire for myself the 
energy and independence, the perseverance and 
self-reliance which is necessary to that end, you 
may be absolutely convinced, and in this you will 
not find yourself disappointed in your old boy. 
Indeed, there are still many and very terrible things 
I have to correct in myself. Before all others, I 
must reckon among them my wavering indecision 
and my helplessness, which never permit me to 
200 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
make a free, independent and firm resolution regard- 
ing the hopeless and unconvincing outlook into the 
future which ever envisages the worst and unhap- 
piest result of every enterprise, and paralyzes 
energy by depriving one of every glimmer of self- 
confidence. But perhaps my worst fault is the 
peculiar kind of selfishness which shows itself, for 
instance, in my intercourse with other people, i.e., 
in my unconquerable unsociability, which has prob- 
ably also been the cause of my having hitherto 
sought in vain for a real friend. From this, my 
dear parents, you will at least see that I fully 
recognize my weak points; indeed, how should I 
not do so after your true parental care, your loving 
endeavor to make a better and more perfect man 
of me—for which I can never be thankful enough 
to you—for you have always drawn my attention 
to these faults, as have also the remarks of my 
nearer acquaintances often enough done. Indeed, 
to recognize one’s errors is quite another thing 
than to correct them. However, with God’s gra- 
cious help, I believe that real improvement and 
perfection in true knowledge will follow, and I 
firmly hope that with the mighty assistance of God 
I might succeed gradually in overcoming these 
weaknesses, and in the end become a good and 
capable man, and still give you, my dearest beloved 
parents, very much and very great joy, and I pray 
that in this he may grant his blessing! 
In the morning of the day before yesterday I 
201 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
received your loving letters and presents. How 
much, above so many others, have I been blessed 
with such good, faithful parents, and what high 
and pure pleasures have been granted to me in my 
spiritual intercourse with them, of which, alas, most 
others are deprived. How few of all my fellows 
whose acquaintance I have made here have the 
happiness of standing in uninterrupted spiritual 
communion with the parental home, and of alto- 
gether growing up in it, a thing in which I can 
proudly take my delight. How much do these poor 
fellows miss! Surely, dear parents, I consider this 
to be absolutely the highest, and not alone terres- 
trial, but also eternal, gift that God had granted 
to me, that I have grown together with you so 
inseparably, strongly, and intimately, and that I 
cannot at all imagine free spiritual intercourse and 
devotion without you. I have probably cause to 
thank God devoutly more than a thousand times a 
day for the happiness of my family life, and I pray 
to him that he will still preserve it to me for a very, 
very long time! The outward material tokens of 
your love yesterday were scarcely necessary to 
cause me to rejoice and enjoy fully and deeply 
the magnificent treasure of your parental love. I 
know surely that throughout the whole of my festal 
day you have been with me in your heart and in 
your mind, as I have been with you, and that you 
have prayed to God with me, for me. But also let 
me thank you for these external tokens of love; 
202 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
they have made me all the happier because they 
came so unexpectedly. . . . 
You, dear mother, are glad that in Hein I have 
found a bosom friend, something for which I have 
been wishing for a very long time. As a matter of 
fact, this is only partly so. Among all my fellows 
I do not know one whom I love and esteem in the 
same measure. He is really far too dear a man, for 
me the true ideal of a student as he ought to be 
(but as I, unfortunately, am not at all)! What I 
particularly admire in him is that he knows how to 
keep within bounds in everything, in work as well 
as in play, in the time which he devotes to his own 
professional training as well as to his intercourse 
with other people. Although he is not exactly a 
specially distinguished genius (though clearly a 
long-headed fellow) and does not show unlimited 
application (which by too great effort is in itself 
enervating), nevertheless he learns and knows an 
immense amount, follows all the lectures carefully, 
and is always conversant with and at home in every 
question that is put to him. In addition to this, 
he enjoys his student’s life with such boyish fresh- 
ness, with an ever merry and open mind—an ideal 
I always picture to myself and which I would be 
only too happy to realize in myself if the thousand 
“buts” were not always standing in my way. . . . 
In order for once to carry out my intention, I 
have immediately commenced the first two days 
of my twenty-first year very cheerfully and full of 
203 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
hope; indeed, during the last few weeks I have 
already been altogether in an animated mood, which 
I owe solely to the lecture I had to deliver in our 
medical circle. After a long time, during which I 
had become rather unfaithful to botany, to other 
stars, particularly zootomy, the opportunity has 
been afforded to me of plunging deeply once more 
into this magnificent favorite science, that is to 
say, into one of the most interesting fields hitherto 
almost unexplored by me, namely into the subtle 
study of the cryptogams. After I had given up the 
lecture on phytogeography I turned toward the 
scientific study of the fructification of these highly 
interesting plants, which up till now have been 
considerably shrouded in darkness, and it is only 
through the latest discoveries that quite new and 
highly brilliant and remarkable results have been 
obtained. Above all, I have been studying a com- 
pletely new work by Hofmeister, which I borrowed 
from Schenk and which has caused me to experience 
the greatest admiration, astonishment and delight, 
on account of the new and magnificent discoveries 
contained in it as well as through the really unsur- 
passable degree of thoroughness and exactitude 
which is shown in the examination of the develop- 
ment of every individual cell, and which is quite 
characteristic of the indefatigable diligence of the 
Germans. This classical work, with its extremely mi- 
nute microscopic examinations, has almost com- 
pletely cost the author his eyesight, so that he is 
204 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
now scarcely able to see. It is a good thing for him 
that he is in very good circumstances! This strange 
man was formerly a bookseller in Leipzig, and 
carried on his business during the day while he 
employed the night for the microscopic examination 
of mosses, ferns, etc., and their strange phenomena 
of life and propagation. Later on, he abandoned 
himself altogether to this magnificent branch, but 
thereby ruined his eyesight by the infinitely minute 
and fatiguing preparations. But to compensate for 
that, it must be admitted that he produced a clas- 
sical work. 
In connection with this I have also read some 
other beautiful and special works on botany, in 
particular Schacht’s Pflanzenzelle [Plant Cell], a 
work that is no less excellent, which on the recom- 
mendation of A. von Humboldt was awarded the 
Gold Medal, and which I shall purchase for my 
birthday with the 5 gulden, of which you made me 
a present. It was a long-wished-for treasure, from 
which I can learn much. My best thanks for it! 
I am quite unable to tell you what tremendous 
happiness it will be for me when I shall be able 
some day, as I have been on this occasion, to bury 
myself in these treasures without being disturbed. 
Then in the true meaning of the word, my heart 
always jumps with joy within me, and I should like 
to jubilate aloud, but, above all, to let you your- 
selves share this pure, unalloyed bliss with me. 
Lately I have often enjoyed such happiness when 
205 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
I have been looking at such precious works in the 
University Library (where I am daily for nearly 
an hour) as Humboldt’s Atlas Pittoresque, his 
travels, Vue des Cordilleres, Novae species plantarum, 
Plantoe aequinoctiales, etc., and then again Corda’s 
Prachtflora der Pilze und Schimmelbildungen, [Lux- 
urious flora of the mushroom and mildew growth], 
but, above all, one thing which I have really read 
greedily and of which I cannot get enough. It is 
this, the Vegetationsansichten von Kittlitz, praised 
very much by Humboldt on account of their fidelity 
to nature, comprising 24 steel engravings in atlas 
form, which represent landscapes of Pacific coun- 
tries and of tropical lands in general, and in which 
the marvelous tropical vegetation is represented 
beautifully and charmingly; indeed, one can fall 
in love with it. For my part, I have actually and 
completely fallen in love with the splendor of the 
tropical plants, can only think that it would be my 
greatest happiness someday to enjoy them face to 
face, and thereby, in fact, I have become powerfully 
obsessed with that idea, if you care to call it so 
(my friends call it “sanguine madness”), which 
although I myself must doubt its practicability, is 
of infinite value to me, because in it I have again 
found a fixed pivot round which all my wishes for 
the future revolve and on which I am able to create 
the most magnificent multicolored castles in the 
air and mind-pictures. This bold wish, of the ful- 
fillment of which I am dreaming day and night, 
206 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
aims at nothing more nor less than the realization 
of the visions of a great journey into tropical lands 
which I nurtured even as a child, and which, instead 
of being something new, is, in reality, something 
quite old. But these recurrences of thought are, 
like all relapses, occurring with increased violence, 
and are now, under present circumstances, modified 
in a somewhat peculiar manner. Because, my 
reason tells me, after due meditation, as follows: 
“You do not possess the means to undertake such 
a journey at your own expense, you have neither 
the qualifications nor the talents to be able to 
make it at the cost of the State (perhaps by means 
of a traveling allowance), you have, finally, a sick 
foot, which will not allow you to undertake this 
journey as a walking tour—on the other hand, you 
are well aware that in Germany, especially as a 
practicing doctor, nothing will ever come of you”; 
in consideration of these cold thoughts, therefore, 
I have sketched the following startling plan (don’t 
laugh at it!):—I shall now study all that is barely 
necessary of medicine to the bitter end, so that I 
can take my degree as a doctor, perfect myself in 
botany, zoology, microscopy, anatomy, etc., as far 
as possible, and then try to get a position as a 
ship’s doctor, so as to obtain a free passage to any 
tropical country (to the Brazils, Madagascar, 
Borneo, or anywhere else), where I shall then settle 
down in some forest primeval with my wife (namely 
my inseparable microscope), and shall anatomize 
207 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
and microscopize animals and plants to my heart’s 
desire, shall collect all possible zoological, botanical, 
geographical, etc., knowledge, so that it will provide 
me with enough material to enable me to do some- 
thing really good. A sufficient supply of food is to 
be found in the forest primeval (because a single 
little piece of land cultivated with bananas suffices 
for the sustenance of a single individual); if neces- 
sary, I shall earn what I require for myself by 
quackery as a practicing doctor (!), surgeon (!!), 
and obstetrician (!!!) among the Red Indians. Then 
when I have saturated myself with and studied 
sufficiently the magnificent flora and fauna of the 
tropics for a few years, I would try to return in the 
same manner, and then later on I can either get a 
position as a privat docent or somehow earn my 
scanty bread by scribbling! 
Do not laugh, dear father, do not be afraid, dear 
mother, when you read this fantastic aberration. 
All this has not actually happened yet! For the 
time being I only picture this Robinson project to 
myself in the most beautiful colors that my imagi- 
nation can conceive, because it seems to me to be 
the only way and means by which something can 
become of me, although personally I doubt the pos- 
sibility of its execution. This dream, this beautiful 
golden castle in the air, however, satisfies my mind 
in every respect for the moment. It shows me a 
definite port toward which I must steer, it dangles 
before my eyes the prospective realization of my 
208 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
most favorite wishes, it spurs me on to perfect 
myself as much as possible in my favorite sciences, 
finally it forces me morally to go on with the hated 
medicine to the bitter end. In every one of these 
respects, but especially in the last, this beautiful 
dream can be useful to me, even if nothing should 
ever come of it, as I am inclined to fear will be the 
case. At all events, there is plenty of time yet 
before I have definitely to decide. But I really do 
not see how I could succeed by any other means. 
Whenever I see or read something concerning this 
(as, for instance, yesterday when I looked with the 
greatest delight at the pictures of tropical land- 
scapes and trees in the splendid work by Martius 
about palms), this fixed idea confronts me contin- 
ually, only all the more vividly and forcibly, so that 
I have already lived quite into it and am quite 
infatuated by it. . . . 
Now, dearest parents, once again the heartiest 
thanks for all your love, and, in particular, still to 
you, dearest little mother, from your faithful 
Ernst H. 
47. Wurzburg, 9. 8. 185\ 
My dear, dear parents, 
. . . The truly magic relationship which, “in spite 
of all that has happened in the interval, the unfor- 
gotten and unforgettable paradise of childhood, the 
parental home, the arms of the mother” (as 
Schleiden expresses himself at the end of Leben der 
209 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Pfianze), is experienced by him who is blessed by 
God with good, loving, excellent parents, surpasses 
in reality all the other charms and blessings for 
which the poor weak human heart yearns. At 
least, this is so with me, and in gloomy hours as 
well as in bright ones. When I have a very great 
joy, as, for instance, only a few days ago when I 
discovered under the microscope a forest full of the 
most charming and delicate forms on a foul piece 
of sausage skin, covered with mildew, it is never 
quite pure and unclouded! I always think: Ah, 
if only you could show this to your dear elders, so 
that they could share your happiness! . . . 
I am now suffering again from a thoroughly bad 
attack of homesickness, such as I have scarcely 
experienced through the whole of the winter. But 
certainly nothing can help it: the resolution to 
remain here during the holidays has been taken, 
and I must try to make it as easy as possible for 
myself, to which surely the amount of work, of 
which there will be no lack, will contribute its 
share. But, besides that, I am tormented, even 
notwithstanding the strong and deep longing which 
attracts me homeward, once again by indecision 
and uncertainty as to what I shall begin with first. 
The plan I have made to continue to remain here 
till next summer has recently been shaken, and this 
mainly by two causes: firstly, on the whole I am 
not half as satisfied with Virchow as I had expected 
to be, nor do I believe that his summer lectures, 
210 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
which in reality are only of advantage to thoroughly 
enthusiastic senior medical men, will be of great 
advantage or profit to me. Secondly, it has also 
become questionable to me whether the privatissime 
in microscopy with Kolliker can be continued for a 
long time. In spite of all the admiration I continue to 
have for Kolliker’s extraordinary talents and capa- 
bilities, my desire to come into closer association 
with him has somewhat decreased, as it seems abso- 
lutely to be the fate of all my ideals in the end to 
melt away in rather gloomy shadows. Besides, if 
I wanted to continue microscopy with Kolliker next 
summer, I would also be obliged, nolens volens, to 
take a privatissimum, in which, as a matter of fact, 
there is no advantage, and for which I have not 
the slightest inclination. In short, quite suddenly 
and in rather an unpleasant manner, the whole 
situation has become doubtful and uncertain to me. 
After all, it is, indeed, very sad in the stern, unsat- 
isfactory reality of life, that one ideal after another 
dissolves into thin air. In every case hitherto it 
has always happened to me like that, but nearly 
always with those from whom I had expected most. 
Thus, for instance, I have come to the same opinion 
as all the other German botanists in regard to 
Schleiden, namely that there is nothing in him as 
he is at present, nothing in the least to boast about 
in him or to distinguish him. The excellent and un- 
surpassable work through which Schleiden, as an 
unknown young privat docent, won for himself with 
211 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
such rapidity and so meteorically a great and 
imperishable name, will remain unforgettable for 
all time, whereas his independence and originality 
are nothing but inflated egotism, arrogant despite 
of all other, often much more thorough, accurate 
investigators, who are in any case much more 
modest and more discerning than he; and now 
Schleiden, whose originality is declining more and 
more, day by day, is only fit to disparage, in pos- 
sibly rough, insulting language, everything that is 
not thoroughly acceptable to him, to maintain his 
own original views as infallible and to advertise 
them, whether or not through later researches they 
have long ago been proved completely to be erro- 
neous, in short, to negate and find fault everywhere. 
But in my dreaming of beautiful lofty ideas which 
afterward melt into nothing, I am running away 
altogether from my subject. I wanted quite seri- 
ously to tell you that, on account of the above- 
mentioned circumstances, I have been thinking for 
a few days of going in the summer to another 
university, either to Berlin or to Breslau. Most 
of my acquaintances are now going to the former; 
what I myself gain by going there it is superfluous 
for me to say; I will only add that yet another 
magnet attracts me now to Berlin. That is, the 
hope to be perhaps more deeply introduced by Al. 
Braun, one of the most excellent investigators of 
cryptogams, into this magnificent sphere of natural 
science which, on account of work upon which I 
212 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
am now engaged, has powerfully attracted me. 
Besides, next summer I would still have my friend 
Hein there, and then, as in reality I need not tell 
you, I have once again a hearty longing to live 
together with you and to share my every moment 
with you. I would go to Breslau on account of the 
medical clinics, which, as I hear everywhere, are 
quite excellent (with Frerichs, with whom I would 
also follow special pathology and therapeutics), 
particularly for beginners. When one begins to 
practice in the clinics much depends upon the num- 
ber of the students being possibly small, so that the 
individual ones have to treat very many cases, and 
also receive special guidance from the teacher him- 
self. This can only be found combined in a small 
university, and it is said that for this reason Breslau 
in particular is quite excellent. In Berlin one finds 
exactly the reverse; the clinics there are of no use 
to the beginner. If, therefore, next summer noth- 
ing shall happen for me with regard to Breslau, it 
would not be impossible for me to go there in the 
summer of ’55. In any case I shall make further 
inquiries. Concerning these and many other ques- 
tions in connection with them, I have been think- 
ing very much and in all directions during the last 
weeks, and have also taken the opinion of many of 
the senior medical men. The final conclusion which 
I draw from it remains, however, always the same, 
namely, that I shall still remain here for the summer. 
Even if much should not come out of the micros- 
213 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
copy with Kolliker, there still remains for me an 
abundance of other very useful occupations. As 
the chief courses I would take up special patholog- 
ical anatomy with Virchow, as well as his privatis- 
sime cursus, which has its equal nowhere else, and 
which attracts most men here. But, in order to 
make the best use of it, I shall have to devote 
myself very much during the holidays to special 
pathology (of which up till now I understand noth- 
ing). Then I hope in this latter to be at least so 
far at home that I can begin in the summer also 
with the medical clinics. Then I might still per- 
haps (I tremble and I shudder while I write this) 
take up surgery. In the place of old Textor, who 
has grown completely incapable, quite a young 
surgeon, from Prague, who is very well spoken of 
here, will come here. Perhaps I might then also 
try in his surgical clinic to get rid of my abominable 
nervous sensitiveness, which would be a good thing 
for me to do, and would really be very necessary! 
Therefore, you see that plenty of good occupation 
could be found for me, not to mention that I still 
want to make many preparations and that I have 
also still in my mind to prepare myself in certain 
branches of natural science, namely physics and 
zoology, for the examen philosophicum. I would 
then go up for the latter at Easter, ’55, after I have 
followed zoology, mineralogy, materia medica and 
philosophy in the winter in Berlin. In any case I 
beg you to send me here soon the list of the Berlin 
214 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
lectures of last winter (’53-’54), as well, also, as 
that for next summer. 
On one of these last days I had a very nice expe- 
rience through a semihypochondriacal idea, the his- 
tory of which will perhaps amuse papa. I had 
thought for a day or two that my bowels had not 
been acting properly, and for that reason, in order 
for once to make practical use of my magnificent (!!) 
medical knowledge, after I had for a long time 
turned over the pages of my prescription book, I 
prescribed for myself some pills compounded of 
rhubarb, jalap root, two to be taken every two 
hours, naturally quite according to the prescrip- 
tion; but can you imagine my joyful surprise when 
my landlady returned from the pharmacy with a 
box full of pills of the size of a good musket ball, 
and asked me whether the ball was to be swallowed 
by a horse or an ox! I do not know even to-day 
where the error has been made; the pills were pre- 
scribed exactly according to the book. But I have 
had enough fun out of it, and you might well 
imagine how I hope that with the help of God my 
entire practical course of medicine will take just as 
tragical an end as this first practical purgative 
attempt on my own nonentity! 
Yesterday evening there took place the final sit- 
ting of our physical and medical circle, the mem- 
bers of which had dwindled down from 60 to 30. 
Unfortunately enough, it happened that just at the 
last moment it was my turn to give a lecture on 
215 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
the cryptogams. I had already hoped to have 
escaped from it. But, after all, it passed off much 
better than I had expected. The immensely pain- 
ful anxiety with which I had daily dreaded this 
hour for nearly two months was, however, as a 
matter of fact, rather unnecessary. I must admit 
that at first it was as though my voice would die 
in my throat, but after the first sentences, which I 
had learned by heart, had been delivered, the rest 
flowed off quite fluently and easily; and I made 
the speech quite extempore. Beforehand I had only 
written down the skeleton quite in general terms. 
For the rest, in spite of the many unnecessary 
anxieties and pains, the story, as I have already 
told you, has given me much pleasure, by having 
afforded me the opportunity of making the closer 
acquaintance of the magnificent wonders of the 
lowest and apparently simplest plants. . . . 
48. Wurzburg, 20. 3. 185J/.. 
Dear parents, 
. . . Let us hope that for Easter we shall have such 
magnificent spring weather as we have been expe- 
riencing during the last few weeks. I have taken 
advantage of it by going for a few longer walks; 
for example, on Sunday (a week ago) to Versbach, 
where, to my greatest joy, I found in the woods a 
few most precious microscopic mosses, and still 
more so one with beautiful male flowers (Phascum 
cuspidatum). The walks have done no harm to my 
216 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
knee. I am now again trying my best to harden it 
and to accustom it to long excursions, although it 
appears to be just the same, neither better nor 
worse. In the town and for shorter walks I always 
go now without a stick, which was difficult for me 
at first, but now I can manage quite well. In these 
courageous attempts to bring the lazy knee into 
decent working order again there is a powerfully 
long spur goading me onward; that is to say, the 
most intense longing to see the Alps during the 
next summer holidays. I do not know how it has 
happened, but quite against my will and wish this 
uncalled-for desire has so firmly built its nest in 
my brain that I cannot get rid of it anyhow, and 
my imagination already conjures up the most beau- 
tiful pictures of the Alpine world, of landscapes, 
plants and animals. Then I think: if nothing 
comes of it this summer while you are still in 
southern Germany, then once for all give up this 
bold idea! I ask you really seriously, dear Papa, 
to consider this question. If something comes of 
it this autumn, then I shall persevere with the 
greatest patience in the sandy uncongenial Spree- 
Athens as long as you like. Then, in any case, I 
can ruminate over the sweet irreplaceable reminis- 
cences of my travels! But, as a real Alpine journey, 
such as Karl made in the autumn of ’44, will be 
impossible for me on account of my knee, I have 
sketched for myself for the present the following 
plan: I travel from here direct to the South Tyro- 
217 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
lean Alps (the greatest treasures of plants are con- 
gregated in South Tyrol) and I fettle down there 
for a few weeks, and formally establish myself 
there with my microscope. From this fixed point 
I shall then make small daily expeditions in all pos- 
sible directions, shall gather hay and vermin to my 
heart’s desire, shall draw and use my microscope 
at my ease, etc.; in short, it will be divine! As yet 
I have not fixed upon any particular locality in my 
mind, but I have already thought of the Fassa 
Valley, the Schlern Mts., or the Meran district. . . . 
That you hear so many beautiful concerts, 
dear Father, is very satisfactory. Last week my 
acquaintances dragged me also to a Harmony con- 
cert, where a celebrated Hungarian violinist, 
“Ernst,” played very admirably, in particular vari- 
ations of the “Carnival of Venice.” The only music, 
however, that can give me real joy is the national 
songs accompanied by the piano. For my part, 
nothing surpasses the so-called “Schnaderhtipfl,” 
the grand nature-breathing Alpine songs of the 
Swiss and the Tyrolese, with their magnificent exul- 
tation and yodling, which make one’s heart leap. 
Thus, when I was with Hein and Gerhard at 
Schenk’s last evening I again heard a few quite 
charming little songs of this description: “Farewell 
to My Mountains,”—“When the Sun Rises,”— 
“Spring is Coming,” etc., etc., sung by the same 
young lady (the friend of Frau Professor Schenk) 
who sometimes sang Upper Bavarian songs for us 
218 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
last winter. This is really the only kind of music 
that I should like to be able to perform myself. . . . 
On the same day there was a large masquerade 
ball at the Harmony. After it had been going on for 
a long while it suddenly came into my mind in the 
evening that for once I would be a spectator of the 
folly. First of all, I had never seen a masquerade 
ball, and, secondly, it happened that on that par- 
ticular evening I was so sadly down in the mouth 
that really I could not settle down to work, and I 
thought that this might somewhat distract me. 
Therefore, no sooner thought than done. I pump 
an entrance ticket out of one of my acquaintances, 
I go there and amuse myself very much with the 
masquerade processions, the comical dances, and 
the adventures and drolleries in which my acquaint- 
ances become involved. But imagine my astonish- 
ment when, after a short time, I myself, who was 
not conscious of knowing, with the exception of 
Frau Professor Schenk and Frau Dr. Gsell-Fels, 
any female soul in the whole of Wurzburg, even by 
sight, was addressed by a young masked girl, garbed 
in a black mantilla and a black biretta with two 
roses and two ostrich feathers on it. She reproached 
me for not taking enough notice of the ladies and 
for mixing so little among people. In this I was 
acting against the will of my parents, as she well 
knew, etc. She continued in this strain, reproach- 
ing me always with my ever-secluded, dead life, in 
which I timidly held myself aloof from all people, 
219 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
the selfishness and sadness of it, etc., etc., and, 
finally, extorted from me the promise that hence- 
forth I would move more among people. I promised 
I would do so if she would write down her name for 
me, being really extremely anxious to make the 
acquaintance of this being of whose true character 
I had no knowledge, as is even the case up till now. 
Then she wrote me her presumed name on a piece 
of paper and immediately disappeared in the crowd, 
while I tried to read the name, which later on I 
deciphered to be “Merriment.” Naturally, at first 
I was terribly dumbfounded and could scarcely 
answer. But afterward the story highly amused me. 
I presume her to have been a friend of one of my 
acquaintances (probably of Franque’s), who had 
set her on to me for the purpose of reading me a 
lecture. For she mentioned several details which 
were known only to some of my friends. 
For the rest, I shall take all your admonitions to 
heart! . . . 
Keep in your love as hitherto your faithful old 
Ernst. 
49. Wurzburg, Saturday, 25. 3. 1854-. 
My darling beloved parents, 
What would you say if I came to Berlin next 
summer? I hope that you will rejoice just as 
immensely about this now quite irrevocable resolu- 
tion, which is not the passing idea of a moment, 
but the fruit of many months of long meditation, 
220 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
as I who can scarcely grasp and think about this 
stupendous happiness of passing next summer once 
again in the dear parental home. Perhaps when 
you read this sentence you will scarcely trust your 
eyes, and you may perhaps even be annoyed that 
I have so inconsiderately abandoned the resolution, 
that was apparently so strong, to continue my stay 
here next summer. But that is not so. First hear 
and then judge! As you know, three reasons in 
particular moved me to remain here: (1) the 
Virchow course, (2) the prospect of further train- 
ing myself with Kolliker privatissime in microscopy, 
and (3) finally, the intention of finishing the prac- 
tice in dissection. The latter I have attained by my 
being already almost done with it; or, in any case, 
within the next eight days, in which I intend to 
make the best use of every day, I hope to come to 
the end of it. With regard to the beautiful dreams 
about privatissime in Kolliker’s microscopy, there 
is no hope of their realization for next summer, for 
cogent reasons which I shall explain to you in 
detail verbally; thirdly, and finally, the classical 
course with Virchow, especially the privatissime 
course in pathological anatomy (which is only to 
be found here and nowhere else), was the chief 
magnet that attracted me here, from which I had 
hoped most. But the following has happened: 
according to the unanimous judgment of all the 
senior students and Drs. med. who have heard 
that course, and who believe it to be the best one 
221 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
here, and who with one voice are enchanted with 
it, one can derive the true advantage from it only 
if one is already complete master of special pathol- 
ogy and therapeutics and has already personally 
attended the clinical course itself; but with me, as 
you know, neither the one nor the other is the case. 
I had formed the bold idea of cramming the neces- 
sary knowledge in this subject, which requires years, 
with due application during the short time of the 
holidays. Now that I have begun to put this idea 
into practice, I am convinced of its impossibility. 
Others had also predicted this to me. Likewise, all 
my acquaintances had unanimously dissuaded me 
from the desire to follow the Virchow course yet. 
But what has definitely moved me to abandon it 
for the present is the (surely impartial) advice of 
Virchow himself. I would gain nothing by it now, 
but, on the other hand, would lose much time and 
labor. Finally, I had also the intention of attend- 
ing the clinics here, medical as well as surgical, in 
the summer, without having followed the corre- 
sponding theoretical lectures. It must be admitted 
that this folly is committed by many of my fellow 
students; I am now convinced of the futility of 
this intention. To make up the full complement 
of the circumstances that drive me away from here, 
I must add that unexpected unpleasant changes 
have taken place here recently, which I shall 
explain to you in detail by word of mouth, in the 
list of the lectures for next summer. These have 
222 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
destroyed my entire plan, which I must admit 
was in itself rather foolish. But even if all this 
would not have been as it is, there are still a thou- 
sand more external circumstances existing which 
completely disgust me with my idea of staying here. 
First of all, all my friends are now leaving here; 
most of them go to Berlin, above all my Hein. 
Then, nothing has come of my plan about the new 
rooms I wanted to take, and there are also many 
other minor reasons. Now, my dearest parents, 
consider, on the other side, the advantages of Berlin. 
First of all, there is my dear, infinitely cherished 
parental home. I cannot find words to describe 
how immensely I rejoice that I shall live together 
with you again. Since this delicious certainty has 
come over me I am in such a blissful delirium of 
joy as I have not experienced since the birth of 
my nephew, so that out of sheer joy I was dancing 
about in my room so wildly that my landlady came 
in to me quite frightened, believing that something 
had happened. Then the intercourse with the many, 
many dear friends and relations, above all Aunt 
Berta, marvelous old grandpapa, in whose society 
who knows for how long I can still delight. Last 
of all, the infinite treasures of science and art that 
stand in the richest measure at my disposal in the 
“Metropolis of Intellectuality,” the museums, the 
Royal Library, the Botanical Gardens; then, again, 
the inspiring and useful intercourse which I miss 
almost entirely here, with friends devoted to natural 
223 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
science. Then, still, the classical courses, above all 
those of Johannes Muller, for which I am most ea- 
ger, then those of Weiss, Lichtenstein, Mitscherlich, 
Ehrenberg, etc., etc. I ask you, my most beloved 
parents, to take all these together, and you will 
find it inconceivable how I could have hesitated 
so long to leave this place, just as inconceivable as 
all my friends and I myself find it now. . . . 
My very dearest parents, let me know by return 
what you have to say to my resolution. I, for my 
part, am quite resolved about it, and shall not alter 
it again. In any case, here I have taken as much 
advice as possible about it, and as a result it has 
generally been approved of. I think you will also 
agree with it?! Or, do you not want to have your 
faithful boy, who loves you so fondly, once again 
with you for a longer period of time? . . . 
50. [Heligoland], Thursday, 17. 8. 185b• 
Dearest parents, 
I am enchanted!!! This for the moment. In 
one of the next days more about my first sea trip, 
during which I did not show a sign of seasickness, 
although rather a considerable breeze threw nearly 
all (with the exception of about five) of the pas- 
sengers (about fifty) into the most abominable fit 
of the blues. The hours during which the sea trip 
lasted, from this morning early at 8 till 5 in the eve- 
ning, were nearly the most beautiful in my life; there 
is nothing I would care to exchange for them! . . . 
224 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
With the heartiest love, your extremely merry 
and gay, really enchanted, 
Ernst H. 
51. Heligoland, Sunday, 20. 8. ’54.. 
My dearest parents, 
On Wednesday, 16. 8., at 8 o’clock in the morn- 
ing, I left Berlin, as you know, with my traveling 
companion Adolph de la Valette Saint George, 
together with 200 lbs. of luggage overweight. Con- 
cerning the journey itself, there is little to be said. 
The strangest thing about it was that we passed 
through portions of Danish and Mecklenburg coun- 
try, and that in the latter we saw an officer with a 
high upstanding collar, a variety of the miles 
gloriosus just as rare as it was strange. Otherwise 
the country is very monotonous. Only at some 
distance from Hamburg beautiful leafy woodland 
begins to alternate with wide stretches of meadows. 
It was very nice that still in Berlin a second 
acquaintance of ours, Corodi, the Transylvanian 
theologian and follower of “the simple life,” who 
had visited me once in the afternoon, entered our 
compartment. We were very cheerful and jolly 
for once, at last, to have escaped from the hot, 
dusty atmosphere of Berlin. 
At four o’clock we arrived at Hamburg, and, with 
the idea of not leaving there till Saturday, went to 
Zingg’s Hotel. After we had regaled ourselves with 
a fried sole, a delicious fish (solea), both of us, 
225 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Valette and I, commenced our wanderings through 
the extremely quaint town. For a great part it 
still consists of antiquated houses, like those one 
sees in such numbers in Frankfort-on-the-Main, but 
besides them there are also many beautiful houses, 
quite like those in Berlin. All the streets through 
which we passed were, crowded with a throng of 
men, such as I have scarcely ever seen before. 
Fishermen, seamen, sailors, constituted the major- 
ity, among them very many foreigners, sunburnt 
southerners, dignified merchants and sea captains, 
and whatever else the exceedingly active commerce 
assembles here of all descriptions of men. Besides 
that, one saw in the streets scarcely a house with- 
out several shops, but many in which there were 
half a dozen together. You may imagine the 
shouting and noise, the swarming and crowding, 
which are inseparable from such an immense active 
traffic. In short, there were a movement and a 
bustle such as are always described as belonging 
to the most animated commercial towns. Specially 
interesting to us were many shops containing the 
strangest and rarest foreign animals and other prod- 
ucts of nature. Magnificent collections of beetles 
and butterflies, stuffed birds and fish, products of 
art from remote regions of the world, and such like, 
were hanging and standing in the windows in 
jumbled variety. First we went through Admiralty 
Street to the harbor. If I am not capable of describ- 
ing quite well to you the absolutely new life which 
226 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
opened itself before us here, after the impression it 
made upon us, the reason is to be traced to the fact 
that this impression was still surpassed by the mani- 
fold delights which we experienced afterward. I 
must admit that in descriptions of travels and so 
forth I had already read much about the life in 
such a harbor, and I had also drawn for myself 
rather an accurate picture of it; but, nevertheless, 
my expectations were far exceeded. Such a perfect 
forest of ships, masts, yards, rigging, and sailors 
climbing about on them, I could scarcely have 
imagined. We were quite enchanted and I did not 
know at all what to admire first. 
After we had looked on at this scene of activity 
for a while, we mounted to the Elbhohe, or the 
Stintfang, a high hill above the harbor, from which 
one enjoys a beautiful view over the latter as well 
as over the entire town and the shore on the other 
side. When we strolled back slowly through the 
different streets of the town, and thus came over 
several beautiful places on one of which a very 
beautiful new church, the Nikolaikirche, similar 
to our Petrikirche, will be erected, and reached the 
opposite northeastern end of the town, we were 
surprised on the Jungfernstieg by a view scarcely 
less beautiful. There are two great clear-water 
basins, one behind the other, separated by a bridge. 
The inner basin, the Binnenalster, is surrounded on 
three sides (the fourth side of the square is formed 
by a dam) by three magnificent rows of houses, 
227 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
the three Jungfernstiegs. Here one sees, as, in fact, 
in most parts of the town which were saved from 
the great fire, nothing but beautiful large houses in 
the new architectural style of Schinkel. One of 
them is the “ Bazaar,”an elegant long arcade covered 
with glass, a glass palace en miniature, the two sides 
of which are formed by nothing but shops adjoin- 
ing one another, containing the most magnificent 
and most precious merchandise of all kinds. Among 
them is an underground cellar, as at Kroll’s, in 
which all classes and kinds of people of both sexes 
enjoy life, in a very South German homely way, 
with beer and wine. There we met our Transyl- 
vanian again, in company with several compatriots 
and comrades, with whom we arranged to make an 
excursion together to the surroundings of Hamburg 
on the following day. But scarcely had we left 
them when La Valette, who had previously com- 
plained strongly about the “altogether too primi- 
tive behaviour ”of these people, and about the fact 
that “they had not even a clean shirt on their 
backs,” declared that he could not possibly go with 
them for the excursion we had arranged, and that 
he preferred to leave without delay the next morn- 
ing. After a long debate, pro and con, he succeeded 
in convincing me to follow him, expecially as he 
demonstrated to me that we had already seen every- 
thing that was interesting, and more of that sort of 
thing; about which I became very annoyed after- 
ward when I learned what beautiful excursions the 
228 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
others had made. After various quarrels, in which 
at length I gave in, we concluded to wander out 
once again to the harbor where the others dwelt, 
in order to let them know that we would not go 
with them. Then we inspected Hamburg by night, 
and strolled as far as the Alster basin, where the 
three Jungfernstiegs, with their many thousands of 
lights reflected in the water, afforded us a very fine 
spectacle. 
In this manner, during the few hours of our stay 
in Hamburg we have surely obtained quite a clear 
idea of the magnificent commercial town, but if it 
will be possible, I still hope to stay there on the 
return journey for a few days more, so that I can 
examine the numerous curiosities somewhat more 
exactly and minutely, in particular see the magnifi- 
cent flower gardens, and then make the charming 
excursion on the right bank of the Elbe to Blanke- 
nese. The greatest affluence is apparent everywhere 
in the town; living is also exceedingly comfortable 
and luxurious. People make it their chief business 
to scrape together as much money as they can, and 
then to devise how they can live as well as possible, 
i.e., in modum Horatii, to eat well and to drink 
well. That the morals have proportionately deteri- 
orated you can easily imagine, and in this, as in 
many other respects, Hamburg is probably in the 
same rank as many much greater cities of the 
world. 
On Thursday, 17. 8., at 6 o’clock in the morning, 
229 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
we left Hamburg in the fine three-masted steamer 
Heligoland, which has two engines and funnels, and 
in beam, length and draught is quite a respectable 
sea-going ship, standing at least eight feet out of the 
water. It was specially built this spring for the pas- 
sage from Hamburg to Heligoland, is constructed 
entirely of iron, and in its whole appearance gives 
a very respectable impression. The weather, which 
at first was fair, soon became very dull, and it began 
at times to rain rather considerably, which, how- 
ever, did not prevent us from remaining all the time 
on the upper deck, whence we had a thorough look 
at the magnificent right shore of the Elbe, as far as 
the rapid passage allowed us to do so. It is really 
quite charming. Very graceful country houses and 
villas, built in the antique style and very romantic- 
ally situated on the different elevations along the 
shore of the Elbe, which rise at least from 50 to 80 
feet high, surrounded by rich flower gardens, alter- 
nate with beautiful clumps of trees and multi- 
colored pasture land. Thus a series of such Tuscu- 
lana begins immediately after Altona, which, in 
reality, only joins Hamburg as a suburb and 
stretches almost uninterruptedly to the famous 
fishing village of Blankenese. On account of its 
charming situation, the latter enjoys a high repu- 
tation. The individual houses on promontories, 
surrounded by woods and clinging to the scarps of 
the red rocks, are highly picturesque. Soon after- 
ward, through the widening of the river Elbe, 
230 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
which is now increasing in importance, the high, 
steep shore becomes lower and more monotonous, 
and retires more and more from view. To compen- 
sate for this, other objects attract the eye, the move- 
ment of the waves begins to be felt, and the sea 
birds, gulls, terns and divers, making their appear- 
ance as we approach the open water, arrest the 
attention. Specially noticeable are numbers of very 
graceful little white gulls, which continually flock 
around us. From time to time, pilots from the 
neighboring stations are boarding the ships, in order 
to guide them through the navigable channels, 
which are very dangerous and in which rocks and 
shallows abound. This lasts still for a good distance 
after we pass Cuxhaven, which is the last stopping- 
place, and whence to the right black buoys and to 
the left white ones mark the channel. For a long 
time before we reach Cuxhaven, after Gliickstadt, 
the right shore of the Elbe has already disappeared, 
and nothing is to be seen of the left, either. Instead 
of it, to the left the island of Neuwerk, with its 
lighthouse, comes in sight, and soon after to the 
right one sees the pilot-boat permanently stationed 
here, and further on a red-flagged lightship. This 
marks the last of the estuary of the Elbe, and now 
we sail out suddenly into the open sea. With what 
tension I anticipated this moment I can scarcely 
tell you, and yet my hopes were far exceeded. Cer- 
tainly we had by no means what is generally called 
a beautiful, i.e., a calm and gentle, voyage, but to 
231 THE DEVELOPMENT OP A YOUTH 
my greatest joy, as well as to the terror of the other 
passengers, among whom was also Professor Pog- 
gendorf, of Berlin, with his wife and daughter, soon 
after our departure from Hamburg a violent north- 
west wind arose which already near Cuxhaven had 
increased to a regular gale, so that only with the 
greatest trouble and real danger could the passen- 
gers be taken ashore in boats. The violently raging 
waves threw the little boat with such force against 
the iron walls of the ship that one expected every 
moment it would be dashed to pieces like a nut- 
shell. Rolling in the waves of the Elbe, even for a 
long time before we reached Cuxhaven, the narrow 
saloon was filled with hysterical females and hus- 
bands sympathizing with their wives, who were 
seized with the horrors of seasickness, surely to a 
great extent through pure imagination, and who 
were now quite miserably maltreated by miseria 
felina varietas, so that one could not decide whether 
to laugh about it or lament with them, but in the 
end one chose the former. For my part, I had made 
up my mind that under no condition would I be 
seasick, and I have faithfully carried out this reso- 
lution. And this means something when you con- 
sider that this was my first sea trip, and that out 
of about 50 to 60 of the passengers on board only 
four or five were not seasick. But most of them 
were already so afraid of it beforehand that they 
crept away right down into the saloon, where the 
rolling and pitching was in any case most to be felt, 
232 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
and where I myself might have become seasick. 
However, it would not have been a miracle if I had. 
But I did neither of these things; on the contrary, 
in spite of rain and storm, I continued to remain 
on the upper deck, firmly wrapped up in my over- 
coat and with my cap bound crosswise over my 
head. In the beginning I had the best place of all, 
that is to say, I stood near the captain high up on 
the paddle-box, where one could look not only over 
the upper deck, but also at everything one wished 
to do far around in all directions. But when we 
were at last in the open sea, and the violently 
roaring and breaking waves were dashing every 
moment over the 8-ft.-high bulkwarks of the fore- 
castle from both sides, and regularly washed over 
it, my high position became somewhat tedious to 
me, and I thought it would be much more pleasant 
to follow the example of some merry musicians who 
were sitting quite in the bows, on the bowsprit, that 
is to say, on the little inclined spar at the bow of 
the ship. I took up a place in front of them, and 
now sat the very foremost one on board the ship, 
riding on the bowsprit, protected in front and sup- 
ported firmly by the rails on each side, which here 
joined, and to which I could hold fast quite com- 
fortably and securely. Naturally the movement of 
the ship, the bow and stern of which were alter- 
nately lifted into the air and then deeply thrown 
down into an abyss by the movement of the waves, 
was strongest here. But it was not the unpleasant 
233 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
rocking to and fro that had brought disaster to the 
ladies in the saloon, but a highly pleasant swaying 
motion, as though one were on a very high swing. 
I cannot tell you at all how immensely well and 
merry I felt, and with what delight I inhaled the 
pure sea air and enjoyed the magnificent, gigantic 
waves. I had heard a great deal about waves as 
high as a house, 20 feet and more in height, and I 
had always believed this to be a myth and an 
exaggeration, but now it was completely realized 
before my eyes, and how grandly and splendidly! 
What a delightful sensation when the 12-ft.-high 
bowsprit first leaped up into the air, so that one 
could almost see the keel of the ship in front, and 
then again, like a storm bird, dive head first deep 
down into the valleys of the waters, so that the 
waves met high above our heads! And what shouts 
of joy every time we became drenched to the skin. 
Only too quickly for me and for the end of this 
unparalleled happiness, after four hours’ voyage, 
indeed, too ardently wished-for and warmly desired 
by the poor seasick people, there appeared on the 
horizon the reddish strip which proved when we 
approached nearer to be the “Holy Island.” Also 
this apparition, breaking the monotonous curve of 
the horizon, was quite a peculiar sight; indeed, the 
fact of being at sea, far out in the open where one 
is surrounded on all sides by nothing but air and 
water, and where only here and there at intervals 
a gull, a sea swallow or a storm bird interrupts and 
234 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
animates the immense desert of waves, has made 
quite an indescribable impression upon me. I 
believe this first trip, which I had so long previously 
been looking forward to enjoying, to be absolutely 
one of the most beautiful and most joyful events 
of my whole life. 
At 4 o’clock in the afternoon the beautiful three- 
masted steamer cast anchor between Heligoland 
and the Dune (or sand island). Immediately there 
appeared several boats manned by Heligolanders, 
who took the poor passengers, nearly all of whom 
were terribly run down by seasickness, to the small 
long-desired island. But here there was a difficult 
task still to be overcome. Whenever the ship 
arrives, a barrier about 80 paces in length is placed 
from the shore to the first houses, on each side of 
the 3-ft.-wide road which the strangers have 
to cross. As soon as three cannon shots have 
announced the arrival of the steamer, all of the 
seaside visitors and the inhabitants of Heligoland 
assemble there, and in quite a loud tone of voice 
they count the new arrivals one after another, and, 
in the most insolent and unrestrained manner, offer 
their critical and other remarks about them. Unless 
one has previously been made acquainted with this 
abominable reception, one really scarcely knows how 
to run the gantlet as quickly and unobservedly as pos- 
sible. After we had now happily escaped from the re- 
marks and jokes of the respective visitors, we im- 
mediately went with our things to look for rooms. . .. 
235 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
22. 8. Tuesday evening. 
If you should wonder how this blue sheet of 
paper tumbled in among the white ones, the expla- 
nation is that it was written in the morning on the 
Dune, quite extempore. It happened thus: I went 
this morning early, as usual, at 6 o’clock by the 
first boat with which the bathing attendants, male 
and female, cross to the Dune. After I had taken 
my bath a terrible squall, rain and storm, came on, 
so that I quickly took refuge in the pavilion which 
is there, and where I waited in vain for over an 
hour for a boat to take me back. But when none 
appeared I sat down in despair and began this 
letter. The praise bestowed upon this exceedingly 
magnificent bathing-place is certainly only weak in 
comparision with the inexpressible delight which 
I experienced in it, as well as in the whole of the 
marvelous seaside life, which is so absolutely new 
to me, and which introduces me into quite a strange 
new wonder-world. Indeed, dearest parents, you 
must not expect too much from my letters from 
here. I can only give you, verbally, the chief 
description of my life and doings here. I can find 
absolutely no time (which, at least for me, is here 
more precious than everything else) for letter- 
writing, but still less for the necessary rest, which, 
if I have indeed ever had the good fortune to obtain 
it, is now completely lacking. Scarcely have I ever 
had such constant burning anxiety and internal 
unrest as I have here, although my stay in this 
236 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
place could and ought to be a real paradise if only 
I would be less passionate. But life appears to me 
here to be a real chase. But more about this later. 
Now I shall continue my diary. 
On Friday, 18. 8., my first business was to go 
over for a bath to the Dune, or sand island, a 
narrow, long strip of sand at about a quarter of an 
hour’s distance from the island. Bathing takes 
place here almost daily, because the bottom of the 
sea is quite flat and sandy and the rolling of the 
waves is very regular. The only exception is on 
very stormy days, when the landing by boat on the 
bathing island is impossible, on account of the wild 
breakers, and then bathing takes place at a little 
spot on Heligoland itself. The bathing time lasts 
from 6 a.m. till 2 p.m., and on the whole, as I have 
already discovered, it is very much the same whether 
one bathes at high or at low tide. In both cases 
the breakers have very much the same force; at 
low tide there is still the agreeable fact that in order 
to get into deep water one need not run out too far 
from the shore. The bathing-places for ladies and 
gentlemen are situated on opposite points of the 
sand island. Here at each place there are standing, 
side by side, from 30 to 50 bathing-machines, in 
which one undresses and which are pushed out a 
little way into the sea. When one has finished 
bathing the two-wheeled machine is drawn back 
to the shore. Till now I have always remained in 
the water from two to five minutes at the outside, 
237 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
and have found this quite sufficient. At first when 
I go into the water I always feel a very unpleasant 
chill, but this gives place afterward to a warmth all 
the more agreeable. Some hours after bathing, 
toward midday, I even feel considerable heat all 
over my body, especially in my head. With what 
immense joy I always throw myself into the waves 
which are generally from 3 to 4 feet high, as they 
break on the shore, I can scarcely describe to you. 
You yourselves have found sea bathing so pleasant. 
How much more magnificent must it still be for 
me, an amphibian! 
On Friday, 18. 8., in order to make the first 
beautiful acquaintance of the sea as a bathing- 
place, to be followed by the second introduction, 
namely, to the marvelous manifold and glorious 
inhabitants of the sea, after I had refreshed myself 
quite early by taking my first sea bath, I collected 
the first seaweed, together with a quantity of mag- 
nificent little algae plants settled in it and between 
it, with little parasitic animals, crustaceans, worms, 
mollusks, etc., thrown up haphazard on the shore. 
So as to avoid repeating the same expressions of the 
highest delight in my description of my every-day’s 
work, I may remark once for all with regard to the 
marine animals and the marine plants, the study 
of which was the chief reason for my coming here, 
that all my expectations and hopes which you your- 
selves know were so highly strung, have not only 
been fulfilled, but even still by far surpassed, I 
238 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
cannot in the slightest degree succeed in making 
clear to you the delight and the happiness with 
which the observation and the acquaintance of this 
magnificent sea nature, with its numerous wonders, 
inspire me daily. Nay, hourly! I can only say the 
one thing, that with one touch of the wand I have 
been transplanted into quite a new world, just as 
though it were into another planet. Everything 
here is totally different! Everything—the animals, 
the plants, the earth, the water, the air, yea, even 
the men—is so strange and attractive to me. In 
short, I can tell you, once for all, that from the 
scientific point of view I am satisfied in the most 
perfect manner with my first seaside expedition. 
Besides our first microscopical and anatomical, 
zoological and botanical studies, immediately on 
the first day La Valette and I also visited the two, 
or rather three, men to whom we had been recom- 
mended by Joh. Muller, etc., to assist in procuring 
animals and plants and so forth for our collection. 
They are: an elderly islander who has always 
occupied himself solely with collecting marine plants 
and animals, and who is now my special friend and 
counselor (or vice versa), and two younger fisher- 
men, the brothers Oellrich Aenkens, sailors and col- 
lectors of natural curiosities, who possess a very 
beautiful collection of all kinds of marine specimens. 
These three form our contingent of assistants in 
natural science, they are our menials and personal 
attendants, and daily fetch and carry everything 
239 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
our hearts can wish for, starfish, crabs, polyps, etc. 
Even on the same evening we went out fishing 
immediately from 9 till 12 with the two Aenkenses. 
It was quite a dark, starless and wildly stormy 
night. I took my turn at holding the lantern, 
drawing up the net, etc., which amused me very 
much. The whole thing was very romantic. On 
this occasion we caught a great quantity of common 
crabs and some strange fish, especially Cottus 
scorpius, Aspidophorus cataphractus, Syngnathus 
Acus, Zoarces viviparus, etc. We also saw some 
little phosphorescent animals. . . . 
On Saturday in the afternoon I welcomed my two 
Transylvanian friends, whom I had met already in 
Hamburg at the landing stage; they had now come 
over for a day to have a look at the very peculiar 
island, which even in itself is worth a day’s visit. 
On Sunday morning in the most beautiful weather 
I made quite a charming excursion with them and 
their traveling companion, a financial counselor 
from Stuttgart, who was also botanizing seaweeds, 
by boat around the island. But the latter is really 
of miraculous construction! Quite a naked, bare 
rock of red sandstone, rising several hundred feet 
vertically from the level of the sea. Only here and 
there on the steep wall of rock is there any greenery 
growing, and that is the common garden cabbage 
(wild). The top of the rock, however, is quite flat, 
planted with potatoes, and upon it stands the light- 
house, as well as the fisherman’s village proper, the 
240 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
so-called Oberland. (I dwell in the Unterland, a 
washed-up sandhill on the southeast coast, where 
there are only dwellings for seaside visitors, and 
inns.) The western side of the rock shows the most 
magnificent groups of rocks, gates, vaults, walls, 
towers, and other rock-forms, all produced by the 
corroding action of the sea. In our little ship we 
did not know in what direction to look first, whether 
at these grotesque, picturesque rock-forms, or at 
the marvelously blue sea and its wide horizon, or 
at the raging breakers, high-rolling, dashing against 
the foot of the cliffs, or, finally, at the charming 
wonders of the animal and vegetable kingdom 
which floated about in our neighborhood. More 
than anything else, I was enchanted with the jelly- 
fish, or medusce, which I now saw for the first time, 
large glass bells, half a foot to a foot in diameter, of 
highly marvelous structure and form. Near them 
on floating seaweed there were attached small colo- 
nies of polyps, from which the jellyfish grow. But 
the most delightful of all were shoals of small jelly- 
fish with long tentacles, of which the accompanying 
picture (twice the natural size) will give you an 
idea. 
On Sunday afternoon, 20. 8., accompanied by the 
Stuttgart financial counselor and the two Transyl- 
vanians, I took a walk along the shore half round 
the island when the tide was lowest. At quite 
low tide one is supposed to be able to walk quite 
around the island, because the somewhat broader 
241 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
foot of the rock is then exposed. I found the first 
starfish (of a beautiful violet-blue), besides several 
sea snails and a sea anemone, quite a magnificent 
polyp, as large as a rose (on this account also called 
sea rose here) and shaped like an anemone flower. 
It was the strange Actina holostica. In addition to 
that there were attached to the stones lying bare 
at low tide, quite marvelous specimens of seaweed, 
red, violet, brown, and green, which we could not 
admire enough. In short, we were quite enchanted 
with the richness of the marvelous new gifts with 
which the alma mater natura once more surprised 
us here. In the evening I met my friends again in 
the local inn, “The Green Water,” where the inhab- 
itants of Heligoland performed their quaint national 
dances and showed themselves to the stranger in 
their native characteristic peculiarity. Another 
time I shall write more about these strange sea- 
folk, whom it is really quite worth while to come 
here specially to see. They are still quite a mag- 
nificent North German original tribe, although the 
foreign influx has already introduced many so-called 
customs (i.e., bad habits). On Monday morning 
my acquaintance left again. With La Valette and 
Aenkens I made an excursion by boat to the north 
of the island, where we caught a dogfish (Galeus 
canis) and several haddock, with pretty little par- 
asitic crabs in their mouths, and where with an 
iron dragnet, which is also used for catching oysters, 
we swept large areas of the bottom of the sea 
242 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
several times, and brought up much rubbish with 
it. There we found the strangest seaweeds (Cruoria, 
Laminaria, Phyllitis, Polysiphonia), overgrown with 
the most charming polyps (Flustra), etc., and very 
nice little worms, with large magnificent multicolored 
tufts of feathers (gills) on their heads, which live 
in compact tubes of chalk, and which can also 
retire into them (Serpula triquetra sive tricuspis); 
also many other little sea animals, especially 
crustaceans. But the most beautiful were several 
magnificent sea urchins, as large as one’s fist 
(Echinus esculentus), which present quite a mag- 
nificent sight with their pretty little rows of feet, 
when they are playing about in the water. And 
then we caught several of the really most delightful 
little jellyfish, the acquaintance of which we had 
already made on Sunday. You might well imagine 
that we had more than enough to do during the 
following days with these treasures as well as with 
those we collected on Sunday. I do not want to 
speak about work, for, taking into consideration 
the immense mass of material from all parts which 
inundates and overpowers to the most fabulous 
extent everybody who does not know the sea and 
its wonders, to undertake this is quite impossible 
here. The only thing that one can do is just to 
take one quick glance at the things, then to clean 
them as quickly as possible from the adhering dirt 
and sea water, and then immediately to put them 
into spirits or dry them between blotting paper. 
243 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
As you can easily imagine, this is in no way a very 
pleasant or sweet occupation in leisure moments, 
as I had altogether pictured my life here far too 
idyllically, but it is a highly uncomfortable and 
unrestful haste and hurry, without distinct pur- 
poses and aims; the quantity overwhelms, suffo- 
cates, in the real sense of the word, so that one has 
no time for a deep, calm, pleasurable contemplation 
of the individual wonders of nature, to say nothing 
of a thorough, penetrating study of them, which 
alone, in any case, affords real satisfaction. There 
can be no thought of drawing, painting, describing, 
dissecting, microscopy, etc., of the individual forms 
of animals and plants, as at first I had depicted to 
myself as being so charming and full of enjoyment. 
The time is scarcely sufficent to pack up the col- 
lected treasures for preservation, the animals in 
spirits, the plants in blotting paper. The micro- 
scope can only serve the purpose of a superficial 
and hasty glance at the sea wonders of the animal 
and vegetable kingdoms. I shall be thoroughly 
glad when I am able to sit at home again and when 
I can look at and study the collected treasures with 
enjoyment and at leisure. One feels quite upset 
from the eternal changing and mounting of the 
stinking, but very beautiful and peculiar seaweeds. 
Thus I have spent nearly the whole of Tuesday 
and Wednesday in this noble occupation. . . . Yes- 
terday morning Tein Taten brought me a few little 
creatures (Arenicola piscatorum), very interesting 
244 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
gill worms, and sand pike (Ammodytes tobianus); 
yesterday afternoon, Wednesday 23. 8., however, a 
real treasure which he had procured for me during a 
catch of oysters, a whole basinful of the most 
magnificent starfish (Solaster papposus), of a mag- 
nificent purple color and one-half to three-quarters 
of a foot in diameter, then the most marvelous 
polyps, crabs that live in shells, etc., etc. 
52. Heligoland, 30. 8.1854.. 
Dearest parents, 
The diary of my sojourn in Heligoland, which I 
began to keep and a page of which is inclosed here- 
with, will by this time probably begin to become 
rather tedious to you. In reality, it can contain 
nothing more than the same thing over and over 
again, namely, my immense joy in the sea and its 
life, its inhabitants and creatures, the magnificent, 
incomparable variety of the sweetest little animals 
and plants, and similar things. I cannot write it 
to you, as I should like to and shall relate it to you 
verbally; only the one thing instead of all the 
others, namely that my resolution to examine trop- 
ical seacoasts in the future as a naturalist, espe- 
cially as a zoologist, is now fixed (that is to say, as 
far as the human intention can here assert itself in 
any measure without the divine consent!), and that 
zoology has now crowded botany, definitely and 
forever, out of my heart. Further details concern- 
ing this I shall explain to you verbally, as it will 
245 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
probably be the best thing for me now to restrict 
the further writing of letters to some extent, as, in 
any case, I cannot find proper quiet and leisure for 
anything, least of all for reasonable letter-writing, 
and as I should like to devote ten times as much 
time to microscopy. Likewise there is indeed very 
little that is noteworthy, or rather interesting to 
nonnaturalists, to be recorded concerning my life 
here. One day passes very much like any other, as 
quick as a dart. I rise at 5.30 a.m., either go 
immediately to bathe or study with my microscope 
before doing so. After bathing, which I count 
among the greatest bodily enjoyments and which 
agrees with me very well, I drink coffee, that is to 
say, three cups of a decoction of beet and chicory, 
and with which I eat a whole loaf of white bread 
with heavenly appetite. With the same I eat my 
dinner, which I have brought to me by my former 
landlord, Joachim Stolt. I must admit that it 
costs half a taler, but it is quite excellent, very 
savory, and so exceedingly abundant that my 
student’s stomach-barrel is completely filled to the 
bung, so that afterward through percussion I can 
verify with satisfaction its absolute repletion. 
Although in Berlin we would perhaps all three be 
entirely satisfied with the gigantic portion, here as 
a rule I do not leave a single crumb of the entire 
meal (soup, roast joint with vegetables, fish with 
potatoes, pudding), which I eat with the greatest 
possible relish. Such a gigantic appetite is the 
246 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
result of the delightful sea bathing. To compensate 
for it, I generally eat nothing in the evening, but 
at 9.30, after an evening walk with La Valette and 
Esmarch, happy in my heart but with a stomach 
rather empty again, I go to bed, where I snore in 
an exemplary manner for fully 8 or 9 hours. Thus, 
physically and mentally, I could lead a real life of 
idleness and luxury here, if only I could have rest 
and leisure. Moreover, in this way of living I come 
off cheapest and best in the end. The first days 
I ate at a restaurant a la carte, and was provided 
with nothing specially good for very much more 
money, and in the end had to hunger the whole 
day through, of which I soon had enough. On the 
whole, living is very expensive here, just three times 
as expensive as it is in Wurzburg. Everything that 
costs a kreuzer there, costs exactly a shilling here, 
which is just threefold. But even if the abode here 
would be three times as expensive, I would not 
begrudge it, because it is simply invaluable to me. 
You cannot imagine what new things I see and 
learn here every day: by far exceeding my boldest 
expectations and hopes. Everything that I had 
studied for many a year previously in books, I now 
see here quite suddenly with my own eyes, as though 
conjured up by magic; as the present brings me 
surprise and instruction, so in the future will every 
hour afford me the most magnificent recollections. 
Moreover, everything is really interesting here (for 
which reason, naturally, the tedious bathing visi- 
247 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
tors, who seem to me to be like buttermilk soup, 
and disgust and repel me just as much, find every- 
thing, without exception, to be tedious here). Even 
the character of the people is quite peculiar. Natu- 
rally, year by year it is more and more spoiled by 
the strangers. It must, however, before this have 
been quite a magnificent northern original tribe, 
thoroughly German, of which the traces even till 
the present time are apparent everywhere. For 
instance, among all the men and women we do not 
find a single flat and small face, as are to be seen by 
the thousand with us. All have a distinctly marked 
character and sharp, but finely cut, features. . . . 
It just comes into my mind that I have forgotten 
nearly the chief point in my diary, namely, that on 
Tuesday evening an illumination of the grottos 
took place, but which was rather weak on the whole: 
altogether it consisted of about 10 to 12 red Bengal 
lights, which very romantically lit up the grotesque 
groups of rocks and caves in the southwest side of 
the rock. The chief pleasure it gave me was in the 
phosphorescence of the sea, which now in the pitch 
darkness of the night I saw for the first time. As a 
matter of fact, the whole of the sea was not phos- 
phorescent, but a beautiful silver streak of shining 
sparks followed every stroke of the oar and behind 
my ever paddling hand. To-day, moreover, I have 
examined under the microscope the dearest little 
animals (Noctiluca, Beroe, etc.), which produce the 
phosphorescence of the sea. On Thursday, 24. 8., 
248 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
I again received animals from Tein Taten, which he 
found in a haul of oysters, magnificent large star- 
fish, polyps, shells, snails, crabs, etc., etc., about 
which I was overjoyed. These things, so common 
here in the sea, could through their beauty and 
through their wonderful structure, if they would 
be more observed, provide the most beautiful pat- 
terns for works of art, etc. I am specially delighted 
with the marvelous eyes, which shine green and red 
like rubies and emeralds, attached by the dozen to 
the mantle edge of a shell (pecten). . . . 
On Thursday afternoon, when we watched the 
passengers who had arrived by the steamer pass 
through the double row of scandalmongers, we 
observed among them to our great joy and sur- 
prise, Johannes Muller, our greatest and most sub- 
lime authority, whose presence here we had wished 
for so much, but had scarcely ventured to hope for 
any more. He came with his son Max Muller, who 
is Dr. med., in order to study the larvae and stages 
of development of the echinoderms, i.e., of the star- 
fish, sea urchins, etc. The discovery of the history 
of the development of those highly peculiar animals 
has not a little contributed to Muller’s fame, and 
for many a year he has derived the material for 
this from Heligoland. When we welcomed them 
they greeted us in a very friendly manner, and 
immediately made an appointment to go for an 
excursion together to fish for sea animals, etc. 
Through this, our whole occupation and division 
249 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
of time has been suddenly directed into another 
channel. The collecting, drying of seaweeds, pre- 
serving of animals and dissecting, have ceased, and 
instead we go out in the early morning with the 
Mullers for one or two hours into the open sea, 
where in a short time with a dragnet we catch 
thousands of the most charming sea creatures, gen- 
erally invertebrate animals in different degrees of 
development, radiata, worms, and crustaceans, for 
the microscopy of which we employ all our spare 
time, and with which for a long, long time we can- 
not yet come to an end. Details about that I can 
only tell you more explicitly by word of mouth. 
53. Heligoland, Sunday evening, 10. 9. ’54. 
My dear old parents, 
First of all, heartiest thanks for your last letter, 
for which I had been anxiously waiting. Here, 
where one is so absolutely out of the world, the 
letters from home are really always the culminating 
point of the inner life, and when the steamer has 
arrived and the row of scandalmongers has melted 
away, there is nothing to be heard in every spot 
and corner but questions as to whether a letter has 
arrived. During the last week, as well, also, as in 
the two previous ones, I have been getting on very 
excellently as concerns both body and mind. Apart 
from the wicked old knee, on which the bathing 
has no effect at all, as it seems altogether to have 
become deadened to all excitation, I feel myself 
250 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
extremely well and happy in body, as I have not 
done for a long time, which I attribute chiefly to 
the quiet magnificent sea air which I inhale with 
true delight, and which, in comparison with the 
terrible dusty atmosphere of Berlin, is as day to 
night. The temperature here is also exceedingly 
pleasant—always the same agreeable coolness. 
There has never been a question of perspiring heat. 
The bathing suits my corpusculum exceedingly well, 
and I always rush into the waves with shouts of 
jubilation. On the other hand, the mental occupa- 
tion, work and play, during this week has been 
essentially different from that in the preceding one. 
Since Johannes Muller has been here with his son, 
our real day’s work has commenced with our going 
out at 8 o’clock, accompanied by this guiding star 
in comparative anatomy, for a sail for one or two 
hours, and we drag the surface of the sea with a 
butterfly net, when we always find a rich selection 
of the dearest little creatures for microscopy. These 
journeys are not only very instructive, but also 
amusing, because old Muller is almost continually 
entertaining us very merrily and wittily. But as 
the zoological treasures gained in this way com- 
pletely occupy us with the microscope thereafter 
for the rest of the day, we have little time left for 
other things, and especially there cannot be much 
thought of devoting ourselves to seaweeds and the 
larger sea animals. Besides these, I have made 
very few sea trips. On Monday, however, accom- 
251 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
panied by Doctor Esmarch, a friend of his, Pastor 
Henel, of Gottingen, and Weber, a merchant of 
Hamburg, I sailed around the island. Yesterday, 
there being a neap tide, I made a trip around the 
seal rock, which I had already for a long time wished 
to do, with La Valette and Tein Taten. These 
rocks are lying east of the island, are standing bare 
out of water for an hour only at the lowest tide, 
and are quite overgrown with seaweed. Of the 
latter I found a few nice parasitic species. But 
among the seaweed there were to be found many 
of the dearest little animals, specially charming 
polyps (Tubularia, Eudendrium, Actinia), sea spi- 
ders (Pycnogonum littorale), and a very strange 
member of the tunicata (Amaroecium rubicundum). 
Besides that, we saw a few seals at no great dis- 
tance from us. Yesterday in the evening we went 
out fishing with Aenkens to the Dune. There was 
a magnificent full moon, the night was warm and 
fine, and we fished there till about 12 o’clock. The 
strangest thing we caught was a beautiful green 
garpike (Belone vulgaris) with green bones, and I 
have been sitting all day examining the highly 
peculiar ova under the microscope; besides that we 
caught swimming crabs, a few shrimps, which are 
very scarce here, sea devils (Cottus scorpius), sprats, 
a quantity of different plaice and haddock (torsk), 
together with other fish. We had loaded our tin 
boxes and glasses rather fully with them, and in 
this respect our aim was reached. On the other 
252 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
hand, in the coming (the last) week I shall be 
chiefly busy with algae, of which I have already 
collected quite a considerable amount. With such 
occupations I do not know how the time passes 
here. Moreover, next week I shall be rather lonely, 
because all my acquaintances, La Valette, Esmarch, 
who sends his best compliments to you, and Herr 
Weber, are leaving to-morrow and I am remaining 
here quite alone. Johannes Mliller leaves next 
Thursday. I shall sail away in a week from 
to-morrow, Monday. I shall then have been here 
for four weeks, and during that time shall have 
bathed on exactly thirty occasions. As for the 
rest, unhappily enough I have to abandon the jour- 
ney to Aurich, for various reasons. The chief one 
of all is that I must put my treasures collected 
here as quickly as possible in order, otherwise the 
dear little creatures will become completely spoiled 
in the bad alcohol. Besides, I am rather tired of 
loafing about, and am again longing for home and 
for orderly, regular work. ... If you have no 
objection to it, my dearest parents, I intend to 
arrive again in Berlin on Wednesday or Thursday 
week. Till then think fondly of your old 
Ernst. 
54. Ziegenruck, 25. J. 1855. 
My dear parents, 
As you yourselves might surely have thought, and 
as it was scarcely to have been expected to be other- 
253 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
wise, I have passed very happy days here with my 
dear brother and sister in the beautiful nature of 
the mountains, so that I am really sorry to be 
obliged to leave this my Sans Souci again so soon. 
After having seen no mountains and no real forest 
for a full year, the undisturbed enjoyment of these 
adornments of nature does me infinite good, and 
now once more I see how intimately nature has 
taken firm root in my heart. The beautiful holiday 
time which I spent here I have devoted partly to 
a fresh, light-hearted enjoyment of the mountain 
woods, partly to reading something consecutive 
once again, for which I have had no time for a long 
while. For the latter purpose I had taken with me 
Karl Vogt’s Text-book of Geology and Palceontology 
(based on Elie de Beaumont’s lectures), which I 
have studied from beginning to end with the most 
lively interest. Hitherto I had only read desultory 
particulars about geology (especially by Burmeister 
and Cotta). In this book (which, with the habitual 
clearness and elegance of the pen which bestow a 
high charm upon Karl Vogt’s writings in general, 
is written very attractively) I found myself for the 
first time face to face with the magnificent science 
of geology as a whole. How much I regret now 
not to have thought earlier in Berlin, where the 
splendid geological collection would have been of 
great benefit to me, of making myself familiar with 
this field of natural science. But how shall I be 
able to find the time to penetrate more deeply into 
254 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
all the various branches of alma scientia, each one 
of which already claims a human life for itself! But, 
in any case, I must become more familiar with 
geology, and have firmly decided that that shall be 
my first task when I come to Berlin again, and 
when I have turned my back upon the loathed 
medicine. Naturally it is chiefly the palaeontolog- 
ical side of geology, palaeontology (the study of the 
animals and plants which lived on this planet before 
the present period of the earth, and that now exist 
only as fossil remains) that specially attracts me, 
and which is also a necessary complement to the 
systematic study of zoology and botany, from the 
fact that without a knowledge of these primeval 
organisms, which completely and essentially supple- 
ment the series of animals and plants now living, 
one cannot obtain a proper or complete survey of 
the range of the latter. Of course, I am attracted 
much less by the real geognostic side, or the study 
of the different rocks which compose the solid crust 
of our earth, because, unfortunately, in this I lack 
the necessary knowledge of mineralogy, which, 
again, cannot be cultivated without preliminary 
mathematical knowledge. The lack of the latter is 
the chief mistake of my entire training in natural 
science, and now, since I have recently recognized 
this more and more, I have very often cursed the 
stiff partiality of the Merseburg Gymnasium, 
where, instead of receiving proper instruction and 
guidance in mathematics, we were tormented by 
255 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
indigestible philosophical morsels and highly use- 
less and dry Latin compositions. But this great 
want will now scarcely be compensated for, and 
probably for the rest of my life I shall remain a 
duffer in anorganicis, to my great disadvantage! 
Also in another respect than the palaeontological 
one, the study of the geological text-book was most 
attractive, instructive and important through my 
having found detailed information in it concerning 
many wonders of nature which I shall encounter in 
my Alpine journey and be able to contemplate with 
twice as much understanding, for example espe- 
cially, the glaciers and the general orographical con- 
ditions governing the formation of valleys and 
mountains. . . . The study of this highly attractive 
geological textbook completely occupied nearly all 
my mornings till to-day, so that scarcely any other 
time was left to me for reading, and it was only in 
the evenings that I could still run through some 
parts of Goethe’s life by Viehoff, and recapitulate 
single episodes from Truth and Fiction. After I had 
read nothing of this kind for such a long time, this 
has afforded me great enjoyment, but has also 
specially contributed to brace up and stimulate my 
vital energies which already for half a year have 
been in a state of continual growth and develop- 
ment. When I see how even such an eminent genius 
as Goethe was doubtful about himself, and for a 
long time wavered to and fro during the finest years 
of his youth, till after he had left the university, 
256 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
in constant fight and struggle with the outer world 
surrounding him, as well as with his own innermost 
about himself, before he could determine upon a 
firm and definite course for his aspiration and his 
activity; and how then, after all, the rich blossoms 
of his spirit unfolded so magnificently, then I also 
begin to pluck up new courage and new strength, 
and to hope that in the gradual course of the devel- 
opment of my nature my serious and continual 
striving, if I pursue it with manly energy, will like- 
wise not be without good result. . . . 
During my abode here I have generally devoted 
the afternoons to making excursions into the extra- 
ordinarily charming wooded valleys in the beautiful 
neighborhood. . . . 
The most important and most profitable excur- 
sion, which occupied nearly a whole day, was that I 
made on Monday (23.4.), when I followed right up to 
its source the charming, romantic Otterbach, which 
holds the first place in my mind among all the beauti- 
ful wild mountain streams in the neighborhood, not 
even excepting my favorite one, the Sornitz. . . . 
I wish grandfather could once more have seen his 
dear little great-grandson, who is such a darling. 
He runs about the room as lively and merrily as a 
weasel. But I must admit that as yet he cannot 
talk. He only imitates very funnily the cries of the 
different domestic animals, from which, as well as 
from his delight in animals in general, I feel inclined 
to come to the conclusion that he possesses great 
257 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
zoological gifts. He also pronounces “Papa”— 
“Da-da” (by which he means all sorts of things) 
very nicely, and “Ice” in which he pronounces the 
“s” sound with the same lisp as in the English “th.” 
In all his very lively and amiable behavior, in his 
gestures and pantomime, he is exceedingly nice and 
funny and continually affords us the greatest hap- 
piness. That we (especially Mimi) do not miss a 
single opportunity of having all possible fun with 
the little homunculus you may naturally imagine. 
He feels quite a special joy when I take him on my 
shoulders and run about the room with him, when 
the whole of his very sly and nice little face is 
wreathed with laughter. He knows me very well, 
as, indeed, he exactly distinguishes between dif- 
ferent persons, and understands everything that is 
said to him. His character is altogether very sweet, 
he is always merry and joyful (like Mimi), but in 
addition to that also duly inflammable and impa- 
tient (as real Haeckels are). Like the latter, also, 
he wants constantly to be occupied and entertained. 
I shall miss the dear little pet very much. I have 
really become accustomed to him, and have passed 
many a happy hour with him. You also will be 
really pleased when you see him again. Altogether 
the happy family life here is too sweet, and when- 
ever I am here I always feel so extremely well and 
contented in it, so that often the longing desire, 
which scarcely will be fulfilled, arises, namely: Oh, 
if such happiness could one day be yours! . . . 
258 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
55. Wurzburg, 28. 4- 1855. 
. . . On Thursday (26. 4.) afternoon I left Zie- 
genriick, accompanied by a one-armed invalid who 
carried my things. Invariably I have such diffi- 
culty in separating myself from this place, which I 
love so much, and so, also, this time I left my dear 
brother and sister and the beautiful mountainous 
country with equal reluctance. My dear good 
brother still accompanied me on my way for a 
little distance. As I walked very quickly, I arrived 
already at 5 instead of at 6 o’clock at Schleiz, where 
I still had sufficient leisure to inspect, within and 
without, the residential town of the greatest German 
principality. It is ugly and intricately built, is 
extremely provincial, and, on the whole, gives the 
impression of anything rather than that of a 
princely residence. Only the small, but quite 
pleasant, castle is somewhat prettily situated on a 
hill, from which one obtains a wide view of the 
whole of the miserable little place, and over and 
beyond the next heights, toward the dear Ziegen- 
riick mountains. How provincial are even the 
inhabitants of this residence, the frontier barriers 
of which are decorated with black, red and gold, I 
also experienced myself on this very evening. After 
I had sufficiently looked around, I searched in vain 
on the old wall of the castle for a moss or some other 
little plant that I could incorporate in my herbarium 
as a botanical souvenir of the principality of Schleiz. 
At last, my eye fell on an old well standing in a 
259 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
small dark grotto in the middle of a semicircle of 
little stables, which were intended to represent the 
princely mews. From the outside nothing was to 
be observed; but inside, where the water was con- 
tinually trickling into a small basin, a green moss 
seemed to float, at the sight of which I thought with 
longing: Oh, if this should turn out to be the Cono- 
mitrium julianum! This is at the same time one of 
the most beautiful and rarest German mosses, 
which hitherto has only been found in two wells, at 
Pirna and at Stuttgart. I had nearly to laugh at 
myself for the boldness of this wish. But who can 
describe my astonishment and my joyful surprise 
when I found the little green moss actually to be 
the plantlet I have mentioned above and which I 
have wished to find for a long time. (At least I 
believe I have recognized it with my naked eye 
with certainty, but it is only an examination under 
a microscope that can prove it absolutely, and this, 
unfortunately, I have not yet been able to under- 
take.) Naturally I did not lose a single moment in 
taking out my forceps and stuffing some of it into 
glasses and laying some on paper, as much as I 
could find of the charming little moss in the well. 
As this was not a great deal, I thought that perhaps 
I might find some more of it in another well in the 
town, and after I had searched nearly all of them I 
was favored by fortune at the last but one. Now 
when I repeated the same maneuver and carefully 
collected as much as possible of it in a bottle, 
260 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
numerous children soon formed themselves in a cir- 
cle around me, contemplating my strange behavior 
with astonishment. It was not long before groups 
of grown-up people also joined them, and in a short 
time nearly all the windows of the little market 
place were occupied with inquisitive people, who in 
the twilight contemplated my strange doings, and 
who delivered themselves of wonderful hypotheses 
which greatly amused me. “He is making a fool 
of the inquisitive ones,” said some. “He is collect- 
ing healing herbs,” said others, etc., etc. At last a 
few old women could not help asking me: “For 
what, in Heaven’s name, can the green slime serve? ” 
Whereupon, very seriously and in a mysterious man- 
ner, I explained to them that these herbs, pointing 
to a few other innocent water plants which were in 
the well, were the real and true herbs from which 
Frau Graff (the quack doctor of Schleiz) prepared 
her elixir of life and her herb baths which cured 
all diseases. At first they did not feel inclined to 
believe me, but when I continued to pack up with 
all zeal, and then departed with my treasures, they 
made a rush upon the poor well, which they had 
soon completely denuded of all its herbs, except 
my moss, which, on account of its minuteness, had 
escaped their greedy hands. I wish them well of 
it! In any case, it will neither help nor harm the 
credulous people, more or less, than most of the 
other plants in our medical treasury. Perhaps even 
quite innocently I might be the means of healing 
261 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
some sick people by inculcating a firm belief in 
Veronica beccabunga, Nasturtium amphibium, and a 
few other harmless little water plants! . . . 
In all love your faithful 
Ernst. 
56. Wurzburg, 5. 5.1855. 
Dear parents, 
On the day before yesterday I received your let- 
ter, in which you announce to me the death of our 
dear good grandfather. The mournful news did not 
come to me unexpectedly. I had just been think- 
ing very much about him during the previous days, 
and had been wishing him speedy relief from his 
terrible suffering. With anxious restlessness I had 
looked forward to a letter from you, because I 
believed surely that it would announce his death, 
which is so afflicting to us and yet so desirable for 
him. What a strange thing is the human heart! 
When one contemplates how, after a long life full 
of so much happiness, such ardent, fertile activity 
upon which he could happily look back with full 
consciousness to having ever employed as much as 
possible for the advancement of good, the last 
months of the life of this magnificent man still had 
in store for him so much pain and terrible suffering, 
when the frail terrestrial garment in which the 
immortal spirit is here confined had to embitter 
his life so much, one could only foster the silent 
desire that he would be delivered as quickly as 
262 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
possible from this oppressive burden; and that was 
so particularly my wish that I often felt inclined to 
reproach God for having caused the magnificent old 
man to suffer so long and so painfully. And yet, now 
that he has actually been taken from us, I feel it to 
be a more severe and irreparable loss than I would 
ever have thought possible before! Grandfather 
was really ever the nucleus of the whole family, his 
house formed the center around which all individ- 
ual, far-dispersed members always reassembled 
from time to time. As the venerable old progen- 
itor, as the last surviving member of our forbears, 
he was the connecting link between the gray old 
past and the younger, weaker generation, before 
whose minds he shall stand for all their lives as the 
most dignified example and the truest pattern of a 
faithful German man and a real Christian, a man 
of few words but of all the more deeds. For me 
our magnificent grandfather will also ever be such 
a shining lodestar in the dark night of this poor 
miserable earthly life, during which we so often 
grope in the dark, stumble, and are often near to 
falling, and during which we so frequently and in 
so many ways wander astray. And if my weak and 
fickle character, which now possesses so little firm- 
ness and consistency, and which through vain 
doubts and anxieties is tossed about, now here and 
now there, is wavering to and fro, full of doubt 
and uncertainty, and knows not how and where to 
find and lay hold upon the right thing, then his 
263 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
strong, manly character shall always serve me as 
a guiding and encouraging example, indicating how, 
filled with courage and hope, I shall steer the only 
and right course between the rocks on either hand. 
How torn and splintered the whole of the big family 
seems all at once to be, like the limbs of a body 
rudely dismembered, the head fallen and the rest 
having lost its cohesive unity. So, indeed, I believe 
that now the individual members of the family will 
more and more lose one another and become sepa- 
rated. The stem, in the center of which all had their 
stronghold, and in which they were united, has gone. 
However, may we, the closer members of the family, 
stick together the more fervently and the more 
firmly, and not loosen the ties that bind us together. 
Only now have I seen once more with my dear 
brother and sister what a great, magnificent happi- 
ness it is to know oneself to be united fervently in 
brotherly love with such dear good people. May 
God grant us his blessing, so that in our future 
lives the more we are separated from one another 
by external and internal circumstances all the more 
firmly may we build our trust on one another and 
confide fully in one another. . . . 
Even now it gives me the greatest pleasure to 
think back upon my beautiful wanderings through 
the whole of the Ottergrund (on the 23. 4.). Rarely 
as on that magnificent day have I felt so fervently 
and deeply the immeasurable power with which I 
am chained inseparably to the miraculous con- 
264 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
struction of organic nature, and how I have grown 
so intimately with it in all my thoughts and actions, 
feelings and imaginations. Whether it was the 
beautiful spring weather, or the awakening of 
young nature from the long winter’s sleep (which 
has always had for me quite a special charm), or 
the profound loneliness of the wood in the wild 
rocky valley, through the midst of which the roar- 
ing mountain stream rushed down, undisturbed by 
any human sound, or, finally, the happy combina- 
tion of all these and still several other factors, the 
fact remains that in thought I have rarely been so 
supremely happy, even in the midst of more beau- 
tiful nature, I have seldom felt myself in such deep, 
harmonious unity with my nature. My progress 
in natural science during the past year also essen- 
tially contributed to increase this sentiment. I was 
able to give an account of every living being, even 
the smallest, that I met; I could say what it was, 
or, at least, to what class, order, family, etc., of 
the inexhaustibly manifold animal kingdom it 
belonged. All the infinitely varying forms of 
plants which I came across were such familiar old 
acquaintances, of which also I knew more than 
their mere names. And exactly that which people 
despise and tread underfoot as contemptible, infe- 
rior dirt, the green slime on old wood lying in the 
water, the turbid foam on the surface of the mire, 
does not my microscope prove these things to be 
just the most magnificent and most marvelous 
265 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
forms of creation? Never, by the way, have I 
missed my beloved microscope so painfully as in 
those days when the waters of the mountains offered 
me so much and such new material, animal and 
vegetable, for my microscope. So, thereupon, I 
took a solemn oath never, no matter how great the 
possible difficulty in the way, even on journeys, to 
let the dear companion of my life, which opens to 
me an infinitude of organic life where the unassisted 
eye sees nothing but rubbish and rottenness, out 
of my sight. By the way, I have even now found 
several highly interesting little animal and plant 
forms in the sludge I brought with me. 
You can scarcely believe what certainty and con- 
fidence, what vital energy and consolation, the con- 
sciousness of this profound intimacy with nature 
instils in me. I could scarcely place another spiri- 
tual, even moral element by the side of it. With- 
out this consolation, of which I am perfectly and 
firmly assured, I do not believe that I would be 
able to fulfill my intention of carrying through this 
study of medicine. I have deeply felt that during 
the last week (the first of my being here) when, 
indeed, I was practically on the edge of reverting 
completely into my old desperate condition of faint- 
heartedness. In fact, I had not thought that the 
real attempt at the study of medicine would still 
be such a hard and bitter nut for me to crack. I 
will now spare you a description of the different 
desperate moods into which I fell again, especially 
266 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
when I visited the clinics. You need only read my 
various former letters again (particularly the first 
ones), which I wrote to you from here regarding 
my study, my terrible abhorrence of practical med- 
icine, etc., in order to form for yourselves a dis- 
tinct picture of the “love and inclination” (?) with 
which I contemplate and work at the subject even 
now. Only one difference exists between then and 
now, but this, in any case, is too great a one. Then 
I abandoned myself, without any resistance, with- 
out any firm hold and will, to all kinds of desperate 
moods which the impressions of the moment awoke 
in me. Now I have at least established in myself 
the commencement of a proper serious will (thanks 
to the character-building intercourse with very 
many different people which I enjoyed last winter) 
and with the help of which (always growing with 
every victory over myself) I believe that, difficult 
as it might become, I shall succeed in carrying 
through the intention I have initiated. And that 
this is not an easy thing for me you might well 
believe. Now that quite suddenly I come com- 
pletely into practical medicine, I really feel that 
as yet I know nothing at all about it, nor what it 
will mean to have to learn all this abominable, 
senseless, tedious, and yet, on the other hand, so 
difficult and responsible practical rubbish! One 
must, indeed, possess a good deal of courage (such 
as I have only recently acquired) if it were not to 
sink below zero. The first thing I had to do was 
267 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
to take the firm resolution for the present (that is 
to say, for the next two years, by which time I 
shall have done with graduating, examination for 
the degree of doctor, and the State examination 
(!?), in short, to have finished the whole of the 
abominable, disgusting medical rubbish, and, as I 
hope, to be rid of it for ever and ever) completely 
to give up all serious geological and botanical 
studies, altogether the entire pure, beloved natural 
science and to be done with it finally, and to devote 
all my time solely and exclusively to abominable 
quackery. . . . 
It is a great comfort to me that while at Ziegen- 
riiek I have read the first part of Goethe’s life (till 
after his university years), where quite similar situ- 
ations have taken place. Moreover, Goethe him- 
self visited clinics in Strasburg simply for the pur- 
pose of getting accustomed to the sight, which was 
always most unpleasantly affecting him, of the 
frightful cases. Already for the same reason the 
attendance at the clinics, strictly carried through, 
will certainly not be without advantage to me also, 
although at the present moment it is still more 
distasteful to me than everything else. But, after 
all, I think that in the course of some weeks it might 
disappear. Goethe says: “It happens with every- 
thing as with the Merseburg beer: at first one 
recoils from it, and then one can no longer give it 
up!” This comfort, which is afforded by the force 
of habit, shall likewise encourage me. (By the way, 
268 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
I have not even fainted at a great operation recently, 
as several of my colleagues did)! With regard to 
the clinics, lectures, etc., themselves, I shall tell 
you more in my next letter. . . . For the rest, 
preserve my letters well, because at the same time 
they are intended to become my diary. . . . 
Hearty greetings from your old faithful 
Ernst H. 
57. Wurzburg, Ascension Day, afternoon, 
77. 5. 1855. 
My dear parents, 
... I am getting on with the study of medicine 
much better than I could ever have hoped. In 
reality, I am now beginning to see that I have com- 
menced the subject with terribly many prejudices 
and far too much anxiety. As a matter of fact, 
the useless fear of it during these long years has 
been quite superfluous. . . . 
The hopeful thought of a future voyage into the 
tropics, as the goal of all my wishes and the real 
destination of my life, and the firm hope that my 
most ardently beloved nature will surely some day 
not forsake me, and that the richest satisfaction 
and the highest terrestrial enjoyment will arise 
from it, are sufficiently consoling me for the fact 
that for a few years I have seriously to turn myself 
away from my favorite inclination and occupy 
myself with other very different things which are 
lying quite apart from my character. This com- 
269 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
forting thought of a more joyful future now gives 
me sufficient courage to bite bravely and freshly 
at the sour apple of iEsculapius, and the terrible 
specter of the State examination is a guaranty 
that I am doing this with due energy and endurance; 
sometimes even I conjure it up as a benevolently 
warning black apparition. 
That all at once I have so quickly and easily 
reconciled myself to this necessity, and that, once 
convinced of it, I shall accept it with appropriate 
endurance, I owe solely to the conditions in which 
I am involved here. And these are, on the one 
hand, local courses and the really perfect way in 
which the different branches of medicine are uni- 
formly and most harmoniously conducted here (in 
Berlin that would never have been possible, because 
not a single trace of this can be found there), and, 
on the other hand, the narrow circle of medical 
friends to whom I have already become quite accus- 
tomed here. In both respects I have found every- 
thing here as satisfactory as I could have wished. 
With regard, firstly, to the latter, it consists me 
incluso, of half a dozen men, of whom, again, 
each three are more closely associated together. 
The most excellent of them all is little Beckmann, 
who, together with Hein, is my chum. You might 
get Lachmann to tell you further details about this 
highly excellent and amiable young man, who in 
every respect can be an example to me, and in 
whom there is realized before my eyes the ideal of THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
a student and a man, as by right I myself should 
be. I shall also have much more to write to you 
about him in future. For the present only the one 
thing, namely, that he has the most beneficial influ- 
ence over me, which even in the few weeks of our 
more intimate acquaintance I cannot too highly 
estimate (I made his acquaintance superficially in 
the winter of 1852-53). This my Mentor has 
exactly the same favorite inclinations as his obe- 
dient Telemachus (which in every possible way I 
shall endeavor to be); formerly he was an ardent 
botanist and zoologist, as, indeed, comparative 
anatomy and physiology, the entire study of the 
normal organism, is his as well as my own favorite 
inclination; originally he also studied medicine from 
necessity (as he is quite a poor fellow!); but when 
he was once convinced that this was necessary, he 
made it his own with such thoroughness and energy 
that during the last winter here he was the first 
and best practitioner in the clinical hospital. Is 
not that an example very worthy of being imitated 
by me? He also hopes some day to adopt pure 
natural science alone as the profession of his life, 
but now, in order to provide himself with the ways 
and means to that end, he devotes himself very 
thoroughly and conscientiously to medicine. More- 
over, he not only shows me an excellent exam- 
ple, but several times he has already explained to 
me in a very comprehensive manner the relation 
between natural science and medicine, and the real 
271 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
value of the latter (which, indeed, in my partiality 
I have far too little appreciated) in such a way that 
I could completely fall in with his views. Above 
all, he pointed out to me, in which he is surely 
quite right, the high value that the exercise of 
practical medicine has for the development of the 
general human side of our mind, which hitherto I 
had neglected far too much. In another serious 
conversation he convinced me so much about the 
great partiality of the whole of my former way of 
thinking, that even on this account I made up my 
mind to make the attempt at once to study prac- 
tical medicine, in order also myself to adopt this 
higher general standpoint regarding the perception 
of human life. Indeed, already the first weeks of 
my closer acquaintance with this magnificent and 
in every regard unequaled youth have had more 
influence upon my unbending mind than all the 
sermons of my other friends; my new friends, with 
whom I am daily almost continually associated in 
the lecture room as well as at table and in the eve- 
ning, have endeavored as far as possible to make a 
man of me, and to round off my many rough cor- 
ners and edges by benevolent, frank reproofs, in 
one word, to drive the Philistine out of me. . . . 
If, thus, in regard to my closer association with 
others I have already had luck this time on my 
arrival (quite in contradiction to my former stay 
here, which on the whole was very secluded and 
restricted), I have also had more luck in regard to 
272 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
the courses, which in all probability I could have 
found nowhere else more exactly suited to my present 
purpose. If I had remained in Berlin, there would not 
have been the slightest idea of my being all at once 
so far dragged into medicine as a whole as I have 
been here. Without mentioning the fact that in 
Berlin only quite a few professors (here and there) 
are suitable for beginners in medicine, one would 
now probably look in vain in any other German 
university for a medical faculty which show’s theory 
and practice united in the most beautiful harmony, 
and for me, for whom science must be made at 
first tempting and acceptable, this is so extremely 
important. It is only through the fact that I take 
such a deep interest in theoretical medicine, which 
is surely represented here by Virchow more bril- 
liantly, more scientifically and more intellectually 
than anywhere else, that I can be induced to devote 
myself to the practical side. In fact, up till now I 
have always had special luck in the selection of the 
place for my studies, in reality it being more a dark 
presentiment than a clear perception as to what 
would be offered to me that guided me to this 
place first in the winter of ’52-’53, and last summer 
back again to Berlin. But never has this been 
more apparent to me than now, when I have to 
contemplate it really as the greatest good fortune 
for the carrying out of my next plan that I have 
just at the present time been wafted here again. 
Particulars about this I can only write to you later 
273 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
when I have become still more familiar with 
Virchow. At present I can only tell you that the 
purely scientific direction (at first in pathological 
anatomy) in which Virchow, on the basis of the 
microscope, pursues medicine, the peculiar cellular 
pathology which he has created now (and in which 
he traces all morbid processes in the organism, as 
normal naturalists do, to the life of the cells—for 
me the most powerful word!) is in the highest 
degree attractive to me, as I would never have 
guessed in the smallest measure that it would be; 
for when at that time I followed his theoretical 
course I did not yet understand him at all. I owe 
it chiefly to these highly intellectual Virchow courses 
that it has become possible for me to tear myself 
away for a time from my botanico-zoological studies 
and throw myself into medicine with all the strength 
at my disposal. . . . 
Three times a week, from 11 to 1, there is a 
course which compensates me completely for all 
“practical” tortures, and which I must reckon 
among the best and most instructive ones I have 
ever heard. This is the celebrated privatissimum 
with Virchow: demonstrative course of patholog- 
ical anatomy and microscopy—30 to 40 of us sit 
at two long tables down the middle of which in a 
groove runs a little railway on which the microscopes 
are rolling on wheels, and they can be pushed along 
from one to another. Thus one often has the 
opportunity in one hour of seeing the most peculiar 
274 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
and most rare pathological preparations, carefully 
arranged for the microscope in great quantities, 
while Virchow meanwhile delivers his quite excel- 
lent lecture (naturally adapted to the material from 
the clinics which is just at hand). These usually 
put in the clearest light the diseases which one has 
previously observed in the clinics in the living sub- 
ject, as is also the case with the lectures which are 
given alternately with Virchow’s course, in which 
he sometimes makes his pupils undertake the post- 
mortem examination themselves. It is just this 
connection between the clinico-pathological, anat- 
omical and microscopical condition in which the 
disease is found, which one thus obtains in the 
clearest and most convenient way as a complete 
comprehensive picture of the disease, which is 
exceedingly interesting, instructive and important. 
And one may seek in vain for such a thing in 
Berlin, where there is no question of pathological 
anatomy! That is only to be found here! How 
much I learn every time in this course I can scarcely 
estimate highly enough myself. Altogether daily 
I acquire here such a quantity of quite new, unac- 
customed knowledge (unfortunately enough, partly 
very repulsive to me) that I often feel quite giddy 
and have to take all possible care not to become 
confused. It is almost too much. On the three 
days when from 11 to 1 I have no course with 
Virchow, I skip the lecture on the history of devel- 
opment with Kolliker, because I have already 
275 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
heard it once and have almost completely mastered 
it. It is only the extraordinary interest of these 
indisputably most attractive and most important 
of all organic natural sciences on which the whole 
of the new comparative anatomy is based, as well 
as the extraordinarily clear and morphologically 
perspicuous delivery of Kolliker, accompanied by 
fine drawings, which have caused me once again 
to follow the exposition of these subjects which I 
know almost by heart. . . . 
Now, from 4 to 5, there comes the theoretical 
course of Virchow’s on special pathological anat- 
omy, which, although not superlatively wonderful, 
is nevertheless very good, appealing and instruc- 
tive. Virchow’s delivery is not very fluent or 
smooth, but fresh, compact, and distinguished by 
a peculiarly higher and general standpoint from 
which he contemplates everything, thus making 
the driest, most minute details attractive. Besides 
that, he is often exceedingly witty, whereby he 
amuses us very much. For instance, a few days 
ago he began his lecture thus: “Gentlemen! First 
of all you see here the important skull of a guardian 
of the general and public peace (that is to say, a 
night watchman), with a powerful blow on it 
which this noble citizen of the State received in 
the execution of his sentimental and contemplative 
calling. As, fortunately, he left the healing of the 
very deep wound which reached the brain simply 
in the hands of Mother Nature, it healed very well. 
276 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
But two years afterward he was foolish enough, 
when he had caught a slight cold, to confide himself 
for its cure to a medicus practicus, through whose 
treatment according to the rules of art he very 
happily departed this life,” etc., etc. At 5 o’clock 
the series of courses, which, with one hour’s inter- 
ruption at midday, lasts from 7 in the morning, is 
happily over. But on two days, from 5 to 7 o’clock, 
I have still taken up with my acquaintances an 
“experimental course in physiology,” with Profes- 
sors Kolliker and Heinrich Muller, in reality a 
lecture I only attend as a matter of form. I can- 
not say that one learns much from it, as neither is 
an experimentalist or a physiologist (in the proper 
sense). However, one can converse with people 
about all sorts of things, and can also learn some 
skill in the performance of physiological experi- 
ments. . . . 
58. Wurzburg, 3. 6. 1855. 
My dear parents, 
Yesterday evening I received your dear letter 
inclosing the obituary account about grandfather, 
which has pleased me very much. But I wish, 
dear father, that you would have entered some- 
what more into details, and that in addition you 
would have somewhat more emphasized his merits 
with regard to the State, and his magnificent char- 
acter, also, specially, his amiable simplicity as a 
private man, as well as the admirable wealth of his 
277 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
knowledge of all kinds, and would perhaps have 
illustrated it by exhaustive particulars concerning 
his rich life, which are so numerous and so interest- 
ing. I must admit that the space at your disposal 
was far too limited for such a detailed character- 
ization. But I hope that you will not abandon the 
idea of putting together at a later date a more 
detailed character picture, a proper biography of 
this unique man. In our weak and degenerate 
times, with the general indifference and lack 
of character, the punctiliousness and the self- 
interestedness, which reign everywhere, it is doubly 
necessary that such majestic and sublime examples 
of the most recent time are brought plainly and 
vividly before the eyes of the coming generation, 
so that they can learn from them and improve 
their minds. How few of such excellent characters 
as grandfather’s are there now, and how much in 
need are we of them at the present time! 
Regarding my doings and happenings during the 
last few weeks, I have, first of all, to tell you of my 
Whitsun journey, which passed off very well, 
although in quite another way and manner than I 
had expected. It did not happen at all like the 
zoologico-botanical, naturalist, pedestrian excursion 
I had always been accustomed to make with the 
greatest possible delight in nature, but a real 
so-called Studentenspritze (students’ rambling excur- 
sion) such as I had never made before and, at the 
same time, as I hope never to make again. For, 
278 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
although this time I was very merry and jolly and, 
indeed, for once made the acquaintance of a real 
student’s idle wandering, and had taken part in it 
myself, nevertheless this one tour has satisfied me 
once and for all, and I never wish to find myself 
again in the position of having to undergo one like 
it (of which, I may say incidentally, there is no 
prospect). Such a way of traveling might corre- 
spond well enough to the minds and the views of 
other students; but with my way of enjoying and 
exploiting nature this one is altogether uncongenial, 
and on this occasion I had from the very beginning 
to give up all my wishes and plans, in order to put 
myself within even the possibility of being able to 
stand such a wild jaunt for the whole length of four 
days. While I was always accustomed in my walk- 
ing tours to make the acquaintance as exactly as 
possible in all its entirety of the nature of the 
landscape I wandered through, even setting aside 
altogether my special hobbies, botanical and zoolog- 
ical, to look out at least for the most beautiful 
districts, before anything else to take in the whole 
surroundings, sketch from nature, etc., this time 
there was no question of anything at all like that. 
Here not even the inspection of the most interest- 
ing vantage points or the lovely woods and moun- 
tains, etc., was the governing idea, but only the best 
beer and the best wine, and if they succeeded in 
getting enough of these they were quite content, 
and only when these higher enjoyments were abun- 
279 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
dantly at their disposal could they perchance see, 
as a secondary attraction, the beauties of the sur- 
rounding country; but even these were only visited 
if the distance was not too great or too fatiguing. 
While I had always made it my chief consideration 
in my wanderings to walk till I was tired out; 
throughout the day to eat as simply and as little 
as possible and to drink still less; now we always 
trudged evenly and smoothly, step after step, along 
the highroad. Every inn we came to, where “the 
good God had stretched out his arm,” we had to 
enter and tap. Thereby the rest was twice as long 
as the walk. You can imagine that one does not 
go far with such a way of traveling, and that it was 
not the cheapest method is just as clear. If I had 
been traveling alone I would have done the entire 
distance, that took us four days to cover, in one 
or, at the utmost, in two, quite comfortably, and 
on about a fourth part of the money. Besides, I 
would still have reveled to my heart’s content in 
hay and beasts, would have sketched from nature, 
etc., all of which I only ventured to do quite clan- 
destinely and slyly. Naturally this whole manner 
of traveling, which my acquaintances described as 
being the only true and comfortable one, appeared 
to me to be highly uncomfortable and senseless. 
Indeed, I shall never again submit to such compul- 
sion. But, in spite of this, I have amused myself 
as much as possible, for, guessing already in advance 
that things would happen like this, and immediately 
280 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
surrendering from the very beginning my entire 
individuality with its special inclinations and views, 
I had firmly made up my mind to subject myself 
for once completely to the majority (against which, 
as the only representative of the minority, I could 
not stand up), and to do as the others did. Thus, 
then, also this wild wandering tour has, although 
not in the usual way, been of great service to me, 
and I have rounded off many a sharp edge of my 
stiff character, and have learned how to accommo- 
date myself to the sense and the wishes of people 
who think quite differently from me, which prob- 
ably I shall often have to do. But, altogether apart 
from the fact that I have learned to adapt myself 
to some extent to other heads and to resign my 
self-will, I have derived much profit from seeing 
for once quite a different manner of enjoying life 
(which, I must admit, does not please me at all), 
and have personally made the acquaintance of a 
totally different way of contemplating life. In any 
case, I have thereby completely satisfied my old 
desire to make once in my life a real Studenten- 
spritze. ... But, however, I must not do wrong to 
my acquaintances; I must put their merits in a 
proper light. For that which they spoiled (at 
least for me) through their eternal guzzling they 
partly made up for very abundantly by an immense 
number of sparkling jokes and an inexhaustible 
wealth of merry pranks and jolly freaks, so that we 
scarcely ceased laughing and bantering one another 
281 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
the whole day long, one always trying to surpass 
the other, whereby sometimes the jokes really 
became not a little peppery. I was always 
reminded of the words of Mephistopheles: “Before 
all things, I must introduce you to merry company, 
so that you may see how easy it is to live and to 
let live.” . . . 
[The excursion described in detail by Ernst 
Haeckel, which took place on foot, by carriage, 
ship and railway, went via Wertheim, Stadtprozel- 
ten, Freudenberg, Miltenberg to Amorbach, and 
returned via Miltenberg and Aschaffenburg to 
Wurzburg. ] 
On the whole, during the Whitsun trip, imperfect, 
according to my idea, as it may have been (and 
how much more profit and enjoyment I could have 
had from it if I had traveled alone!), I have never- 
theless seen rather much, have amused myself very 
well, as far as that was possible, and have for once 
been “jolly” in the true student’s sense of the 
word. To compensate for that the lectures tasted 
all the better afterward, and I am already quite in 
my old trim again. . . . 
Before you go to Ziegenriick I would still like to 
ask you to buy me several things, which you, dear 
father, can bring here with you. I would ask you 
to order for me at Dietrich Reimer’s the first, third 
and fourth volumes of A. Schaubach’s Die Deutschen 
Alpen (The German Alps), Jena, 1846, if they can 
be obtained separately; otherwise the entire work, 
282 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
which consists of five volumes, of which each 
(reduced) costs 1 gulden. It is quite an excellent 
work and absolutely indispensable for a scientific 
Alpine journey, as Richthofen can, if necessary, 
confirm. But I would like to ask you to order it 
immediately, so that you can bring it with you. . . . 
59. Wurzburg, 17. 6.1855. 
Dear parents, 
... I am immensely happy, dear father and 
brother, about your approaching visit; then for 
once I shall be able to pour out fully my over- 
flowing heart. For, as yet it has rarely been as 
full as it is now, and at the present moment I 
have not a single man here in whom I could or 
would like to confide. The chief cause is, that 
during the last weeks a very important and, as I 
hope, very favorable conversion and change in my 
special views of life have taken place. This meta- 
morphosis chiefly concerns my former highly one- 
sided and prejudiced view of the study of medicine, 
to which—thanks to the incomparable lectures of 
Virchow, and the good clinical course of Bamberger 
—I am now rather fully reconciled, at least so far 
that I shall now certainly carry it through, and 
even with a certain amount of interest, from the 
beginning to the end. I hope you are not less 
glad about this than I am myself. Thereby my 
whole inner being has really experienced an essen- 
tially quieting change. What a great comfort it 
283 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
is if one has before one’s eyes a distinct and definite 
aim, to the attainment of which one can work with 
all one’s strength and in tranquillity. Certainly I 
shall not fail to employ all my strength for that 
purpose, especially as in the meantime there will 
always hover before my eyes in the background, 
as the most magnificent reward of all my trouble, 
the palm of a voyage for natural scientific purposes 
into the tropical seas, which I dare hope only by 
this means to realize as the crown of all my terres- 
trial desires. But certainly it is quite another ques- 
tion concerning the requisite tranquillity, and the 
more I try to obtain it the more unquiet and 
stormy becomes the wild and violent struggle in 
my breast between the contradictory and rivaling 
thoughts and efforts. In particular, it is the old 
well-known story which torments me now more 
horribly than ever, namely the want of time. How 
much would I like to make all the numerous 
sciences and arts, upon the whole agglomeration 
of which natural science (in which I also include 
medicine as a practical branch) is built up, seri- 
ously and thoroughly my own; and yet these 
extremely scarce and scanty hours are hardly suffi- 
cient for me to grasp the very least and superficial 
of all, and not even a single one in anything 
approaching to completeness. When the truth of 
this terrible thought seizes me, as is naturally daily 
the case now, then every time, despairing and curs- 
ing the insufficient limit of my strength, I feel 
284 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
inclined to throw it all up. What on earth shall 
I do now when day after day, from early at 7 
o’clock till the evening at 7 (with only one, at the 
utmost two hours’ interruption) I am fettered to 
courses (mostly only practical ones, which do not 
require so much strength and activity of mind as 
the theoretical lectures) ? . . . 
My anxiety about courses, which I already 
described to you the other day, has become still 
more intense from the fact that, although supple- 
mentary but very much desired and really a pure 
recreation for me after the medical fatigues of the 
day, a zootomical preparation course has been 
arranged for twice a week, in the evening from 5 
till 7 o’clock, in which I, together with seven 
others, mostly very nice men, learn how to dissect 
the lower vertebrate animals, under my special 
helpers and friends, the two privat docents of 
zoology and comparative anatomy, Drs. Leydig and 
Gegenbaur. (I must admit that it is scarcely any- 
thing but a repetition for me, but in which, never- 
theless, I learn many nice little manipulations). . . . 
Even the only two week days which I had still 
free in the evening, from 5 till 7 o’clock, have now 
been filled by Kolliker having opened to me the 
museum of comparative anatomy in a most obliging 
(and for him nearly incomprehensibly liberal) man- 
ner. Now I am allowed at any time to fetch the 
key from him and then to inspect all the prepara- 
tions as much as I choose. Even the cupboards, 
285 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
with the very interesting and instructive prepara- 
tions in spirits, are open to me, and I am allowed 
to look at them, at least from the outside (which I 
could not do in Berlin, even with Muller, who only 
placed the skeletons, etc., at my disposal). That 
I cannot allow such a magnificent, favorable oppor- 
tunity of seeing so many strange and curious things 
(which in natural science is really the main thing, 
as here the personal conception surpasses every- 
thing) to escape me, you might imagine. But 
strange! While formerly, and especially during the 
last term, this inspection of the highly interesting 
zoological preparations would have afforded me the 
greatest enjoyment, it is now mingled with such a 
bitter flavor that I cannot rejoice at the wonders 
of nature with all my heart. I am in absolute need 
of tranquillity, without which such enjoyment is 
impossible. How shall I find the time for a thorough 
study of the collection, or even only for one thorough 
intelligent inspection of all the things! Even the 
few hours I can devote to it appear to me to be ill 
spent, and to have been robbed from the necessary 
medical study. The same thing happens to me 
with microscopy, for which likewise I can no longer 
find the necessary tranquillity. It is really as 
though an evil spirit had seized hold of me, spurring 
me without rest or repose to devote myself solely 
to medicine, in obedience to the call of duty. In 
any case, it is quite well that I am driven from 
morning till evening into the courses, so that, after 
286 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
all, no free time is left to me. But, from every 
point of view, in the long run this is an extremely 
uncomfortable and really insupportable existence. 
I believe that I shall never be able to obtain tran- 
quillity, for it is just the restless striving onward 
that is my life. . . . 
But it is only to a small extent that the conditions 
just discussed above, particularly the terrible want 
of time, make my present life appear to me to be 
so very uncomfortable, although in many directions 
it has taken such a favorable shape, especially in 
regard to strengthening me for my next task in 
life. Above all, I am in sore need of a friend to 
whom I could pour out my whole heart and who 
would understand me thoroughly. Now I begin 
gradually to abandon the hope that I shall find 
such a one. For three years now, since my student 
days began, I have searched for him in vain. I have 
made acquaintances enough, some of them very 
nice and amiable ones. Yes, what is generally 
called “a good friend” I have found in numbers. 
I have not a few friends who make all my special 
favorite occupations their own as well; others, 
although not many, who also share to some extent 
my general human, my moral, and my religious 
views; still others, with whom I very much like 
to spend the hours of leisure in my daily life—but 
I completely miss a real friend who would unite all 
this in himself, in all possible directions, however 
much he might otherwise differ from me in temper- 
287 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
ament and individuality, who would at least share 
the same fundamental views and principles; and 
it is only such a one whom I could “press heart to 
heart and soul to soul!” I must really be a strange 
and abnormal herb, that I am quite unable to find 
a congenial contemporary. I must admit that I 
might still have very many idealistic and false 
views of the world, of life and its tasks, quite irre- 
spective of all individual peculiarities, which are 
no doubt to some extent very unpleasant and repul- 
sive, but to discard which I am now always endeav- 
oring more and more. However, on the whole, I 
believe that I have perceived this task rightly and 
truly in the manner that you, dear parents, and 
also you, my dear brother, know me to have done, 
and I hope the more I go out into the world to rub 
off and discard the individual errors and peculi- 
arities which are still often ruling in me, for which 
also a little practice in medicine will surely be very 
helpful to me. And yet among my friends I can 
only find a few who understand their life tasks in 
the same way. I believe that I still harmonize 
most with noble, excellent Richthofen, the acquaint- 
ance of whom I have unfortunately far too much 
neglected during this winter in Berlin. Next to 
him would probably come Weiss and Lachmann. 
Here I believed that I had found such a friend in 
Beckmann, and in some respects this is the case. 
I am all the more sorry to have discovered, as our 
acquaintance developed, some fundamental differ- 
288 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
ences in our views of life which exclude a complete 
assimilation of them. I would not write so much 
to you in detail of all these circumstances if, 
especially during the last week, they would not 
have so extraordinarily occupied me and even 
shaken me to my depths, often really for hours have 
distracted me from all other thoughts. . . . 
The other day I had a very serious talk for several 
hours with Beckmann, with whom, in general, I 
harmonize very excellently, during which we 
exchanged our general fundamental views in regard 
to natural philosophy, nature itself, finally, also 
about the life of the soul, immortality, etc. Grad- 
ually it appeared that concerning the latter points, 
namely, about God, immortality, the life of the 
soul, etc., Beckmann had quite different concep- 
tions from my own. My views on these subjects 
you, dear father, know, as you yourself almost 
entirely share them. Here, however, Beckmann 
assumes quite a different standpoint, which surely 
is shared by the overwhelming majority of young 
naturalists, namely, the purely materialistic and 
rationalistic ones, which, for instance, Burmeister 
represents in the purest and most noble way, and 
which you, dear father, have till recently found 
expressed completely and distinctly in its character- 
istic features in Karl Vogt’s pamphlet Kohler- 
glauben und Wissenschajt (Blind Faith and Science). 
As you will remember, the characteristic features 
of this pure intellectual conception of things con- 
289 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
sist in the activity of the soul being contemplated 
solely as a function of the nerve substance in the 
brain and the spinal marrow, that, therefore, an 
independent invisible soul exists as little as an 
immortality, as a God. The place of the latter is 
filled by a blind, unconscious necessity of nature, 
to which we, as well as all matter, which in itself 
is of equal value, are all subject. According to this 
conception, faith exists naturally as little as does 
religion. They only exist in order to hold in check 
and keep together the great uneducated mass of 
mankind. The naturalists alone are called upon 
to unveil the truth for themselves, to recognize 
matter as the only factor governing the world 
according to distinct, blind, unalterable laws of 
nature. The further consequences result from these 
principles automatically. For the rest, I shall dis- 
cuss this verbally more in detail. On the whole, I 
was not very much surprised to find this distinctly 
materialistic and rationalistic view in Beckmann, 
because, as I have already said, by far the pre- 
ponderating majority of young naturalists and med- 
ical men embrace it completely (as I know from my 
own three years’ experience), and because it is 
represented by a section of the shining lights in 
modern natural science, but, above all, by Karl 
Vogt, Burmeister and Virchow, while most of the 
others, and especially A. v. Humboldt and Johannes 
Muller, observe a complete and mysterious silence 
about this cardinal point. As far as I have now 
290 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
grasped natural science in its depths, I can also 
completely explain in my own way (on the basis 
of the absolutely exact, purely empiric new natural 
science, in which the inductive method founded on 
the empiric, that is to say, on experiment and 
observation, induction and analogy, is everything, 
in which it is the principle and the first task of all 
research to trace the fact of the marvelous terres- 
trial nature to distinct, unalterable, chemical and 
physical laws) how those people have come to this 
conclusion through that pure intellectual concep- 
tion of things. The chief mistake of this whole 
tendency, which, moreover, is highly important and 
fertile at the present time for the construction of 
the young natural science as one founded on exact 
empiricism, although it must crumble to pieces 
later on, according to my opinion, is, as far as I 
can see, that it tries to explain and make use of 
chemico-physical laws where they are no longer 
operative, and, also, where there is nothing more 
to be explained, namely, in the sphere of the spirit- 
ual, where faith takes the place of intellect and 
knowledge, the subjective conviction of things, of 
which the senses can no longer convince us. But, 
because it cannot perceive it by means of the 
senses, it denies this entire sphere. For my part, 
I am firmly convinced that both spheres, namely, 
knowledge of the sensible and faith in the super- 
sensible do not exclude each other, as the others 
pretend, but that, on the contrary, they supplement 
291 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
each other for a perfect conception of the world, 
that one ends where the other begins. Likewise, 
as I have said, I understand very well how those 
purely rationally material naturalists arrive at this 
undue extension of intellectual research into spheres 
to which it no longer belongs; but, for my part, 
however, I do not understand how one can live 
in this conviction. Least of all, I do not understand 
how, holding it, one can be a noble and good man as 
those, indeed, are. Beckmann, apart from these 
purely material views of life, is (in the most noble 
sense of the word!) the best and noblest man you 
can imagine. I would like to say that his whole 
life, by its appearing to me governed throughout 
according to the laws of the same Christianity 
which as a confession he denies, belies this panthe- 
istic conception. In all his thoughts and actions, 
Beckmann is as pure, moral, good, noble, as only 
the best Christian could be. He is beloved here by 
all, by professors and students alike, as an example 
of a capable, diligent, clever, amiable, strictly 
moral man. (One can, moreover, say the same, 
although with certain reservations, of his teacher 
Virchow, who has indisputably exercised an im- 
portant influence upon him.) Beckmann, wflth 
all his rationalism is a man who is a hundred— 
nay, a thousand—times better and more per- 
fect than with my Christian convictions I am, 
so that in every other direction I must only 
try to emulate his excellent example. How 
292 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
highly must one esteem such a character! This is 
just for me the most incomprehensible thing about 
it. For myself, I confess openly that if I would 
hold this materialistic view of my life I would not 
be able to lead such a life or to stand it. If I had 
not the firmest conviction of an independent soul, 
in its nature distinct from this body, not insepar- 
ably bound to it, of a God preserving the whole 
world and guiding our destinies, of a better future 
spiritual life, I would long ago have shared the fate 
of unhappy young Ribbeck, of whose voluntary 
death you wrote to me in your last letter, and 
would just as voluntarily have put an end to this 
terrestrial life, which, in spite of all earthly and 
spiritual pleasures and enjoyments, is so extremely 
incomplete and faulty, and which, just through 
this faultiness and poverty, embitters in every 
respect all pure and true enjoyment, and which, 
on the whole, leaves you so greatly dissatisfied and 
empty. I would then, perhaps, have followed the 
example of those miserable ones to whom the 
greatest number of the materialists belong, and as 
I can also count them by the dozen among my 
contemporaries, especially among the medical men, 
who, likewise, do not want to know anything about 
religion, faith, soul, but to whom the pure and moral, 
so-to-say humane striving of those nobler, more 
refined rationalists, to whom Beckmann belongs, 
is lacking, and whose only principle consists in not 
doing as much as possible in this life (for which 
293 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
the latter are striving), but only and solely enjoy 
it to the fullest extent. All their thoughts and 
actions are directed toward procuring themselves 
as much pleasure as they can, whether the latter 
be more refined or more gross, more sensual or 
more spiritual. This principle governs all their 
actions, and alone is capable of moving them to 
effort. How empty and miserable inwardly must 
the great crowd of such people feel! No, then, 
rather quickly cut this wretched thread of life which 
leads to imperfection, and subside into the eternal 
nothing. That I stand this life, that I, having ever 
in view a perfect beyond, strive to use this life as 
far as possible for the training and perfecting of 
my immortal soul, I owe only to Christianity, to 
its divine, deep truth, which has been opened and 
made intelligible to me by you, dear parents, as 
well as by my excellent Merseburg teachers, in 
particular Simon, for which I cannot thank God 
enough. . . . 
I would not have written so explicitly to you 
about all these views and thoughts if they would 
not have deeply shaken me and occupied me just 
during the last weeks, especially since that serious 
talk with Beckmann. I am far from finding fault 
with Beckmann for his opposite views, to which a 
purely rational contemplation of things must neces- 
sarily lead him. Yes, when I contemplate the 
despicable, and certainly most objectionable, hypo- 
critical sanctimoniousness of our puritanical, ortho- 
294 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
dox ultramontanes, with their highly un-Christian 
and exclusively clerical haughtiness, when I think 
of the little better senseless, hierarchical bigotry, 
the sham religion of the Catholic Church, which 
daily confronts us here in the most unmitigated, 
most offensive, most undignified form (as only a 
short time ago in the extremest manner during the 
procession on Corpus Christi Day, which, in reality, 
was nothing short of glorified idolatry), then I can 
only too well understand how just the most noble, 
those who are most freed from egosim, the most 
educated souls are turning away with abhorrence 
from that caricature of the Christian religion, and 
rather fall into the opposite extreme. . . . 
Your faithful Ernst. 
60. Wurzburg, 27. 6. 1855. 
My dearest mother, 
This time also, as was the case two years ago 
when I passed the first summer here, I can only 
send you my most fervent greetings and the heart- 
iest congratulations on your birthday from afar. 
How happy would it have made me if I could have 
been at Ziegenriick on the 1st July, and have told 
you with a single fervent kiss and pressure of the 
hand all that I feel in my heart for you, and which 
cannot be expressed in a letter, no matter in how- 
ever many words. But you know, my most heartily 
loved little mother, how closely our souls have 
become entwined and how our hearts are united, 
295 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
and the consciousness of the faithful inner under- 
standing comforts and consoles me for the great 
want I experience in being so far from you. At all 
events, we are always together in spirit, and this 
fervent spiritual communion with you, dear parents, 
is my heartiest joy and my greatest comfort, and 
permits me to labor with twofold joyfulness and 
confidence in my life’s task which has been allotted 
to me. . . . 
That I have now finally discovered a sure, dis- 
tinct aim, for which I can work, to the attainment 
of which I can direct all my forces, and upon which 
I can concentrate myself, it is a great comfort to 
me, and gives me much more courage, hope and 
self-confidence, so that I can look forward to the 
life lying open before me with much joyful, hopeful 
pleasure to do something and to make the best 
use of my talents. I must admit that even now, 
in fact frequently, very weak and faint-hearted 
hours are overtaking me, in which the “how,” the 
way, and the manner of the execution of my plan 
of life appear to me to be very shadowy and uncer- 
tain. But if, according to my strength, I endeavor 
to fulfill my part, then I believe that also the blessing 
of God will not be denied to me and that in the end 
I shall find a sphere of activity suited to my 
capabilities. . . . 
But I can just as firmly promise you, as I hope 
to give you happiness by the fulfillment of this 
resolution, that for my part I will not fail to estab- 
296 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
lish myself in the place allotted to me in this 
life. . . . 
28. 6.1855. 
I could not finish this letter yesterday evening, 
because we six acquaintances held the first meeting 
of our “ Humanly-scientific ” Society, which is now 
to meet twice a week. On one of the evenings a 
short paper will be read about one of the different 
branches of medicine and natural science, which will 
be followed by discussions about the essay (I have 
been allotted as my subject microscopic and com- 
parative anatomy and the history of development); 
on another evening one of the half dozen will deliver 
a speech about some general human subject, which 
will then be followed by detailed discussions and 
debates on these general views and principles. I 
like the whole idea of these meetings, and I am 
convinced that such discussions will be very instruc- 
tive. But it is another question as to whether we 
shall be able to carry through the last-mentioned 
general human debates, as the individual views in 
the six heads are far too wide apart and seem to 
disagree still more than I had previously feared 
they would. Already yesterday evening these dif- 
ferences were extremely apparent. Hein opened 
the meeting with a lecture on the duties and the 
relations of the doctor (toward his patients and his 
colleagues). Naturally there followed a lively dis- 
cussion concerning a number of general principles 
and views of life which had arisen, and then it was 
297 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
discovered that even the most elementary ideas, 
such as “duty, morality, conscience,” etc., were 
understood by each one of us in quite a different 
manner, out of which there arose a violent dispute 
that lasted till after midnight and which ended in 
each being still more strengthened in his own 
opinion. Nevertheless, I believe that such discus- 
sions are very instructive. One learns to represent 
clearly one’s own views and to support them, and 
to refute those held by others, and it is sure that 
one considerably enlarges one’s knowledge of the 
latter, namely, the knowledge of men. On another 
occasion I shall write more explicitly about this, as 
perhaps it might interest you, and I shall now only 
remark that I and Bucheister took up the most 
diagonally opposite points of view (as is generally 
the case in the whole of our intercourse), and that 
for this reason we have always been opposing each 
other rather violently and not with becoming calm- 
ness. He is supported by Strube, while my first 
supporter is Braune; Hein and Beckmann take up 
a central position as mediating elements. I am 
really very anxious to know what will be the end 
of the story. But yesterday evening my rationalistic 
friends really appeared to me like kittens trying to 
bite their tails and in their effort to do so always 
turning round in a circle. They speak with zeal and 
consistency against Christianity, and against reli- 
gion, and against faith altogether, and yet in their 
whole better and nobler parts stand so entirely 
298 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
under their influence that in all their words and 
actions they are guided by them unconsciously and 
so to say, blindly. Yet more of this anon. . . . 
Your old and faithful Ernst H. 
61. Wurzburg, 1. 8. 1855. 
Dearest Mother, 
. . . The week that is still left to me I shall 
thoroughly employ in making myself somewhat 
familiar with the physical geography of the Alps. 
That I am looking forward immensely to this Alpine 
journey and that already during the last few weeks 
it has been pressing all other studies into the back- 
ground surely I need not tell you. I have only still 
to ask you not to have any uneasiness or anxiety 
about myself. As, through your incomparable gen- 
erosity, I have received much more money than I 
shall need for this splendid journey, I can under- 
take it thoroughly con amove and with all the ease 
and comfort I shall require. As I shall drag my 
luggage along with me all the time, I shall always 
take a guide everywhere when I do not follow the 
main roads or unmistakable public roads, and there- 
fore you can be completely at ease and free from 
anxiety. The letters that I shall write to you from 
the Alps will, on account of pressure of time, pre- 
sumably be very short, and only convey to you 
the most important news. I shall then describe 
the lovely journey to you in all the more details in 
the diary I shall write up afterward. 
299 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Now, farewell, my cordially loved mother. Be 
very happy, especially when you think of your boy 
who is reveling in the paradise of nature, and 
accept once more a thousand thanks for all your 
faithful love, 
Your old faithful Ernst. 
62. Hallstatt, Saturday, 18. 8.1855. 
Dearest parents, 
I have been in the Alps since the day before 
yesterday! From then the whole of my life has 
actually been nothing but one gigantic note of 
exclamation! For what can be said about this 
extraordinarily magnificent nature, which is still far, 
far more beautiful and sublime than I had antic- 
ipated, although on the whole I had made myself 
rather an accurate picture of it! In reality I ought 
to write down for you a whole series of interjections 
and expressions of admiration, such as: magnificent, 
glorious, divine, etc., etc., in order to express my 
joy to you. And all this in spite of the most 
miserably rainy weather, which drives all the 
travelers except myself to despair. But, neverthe- 
less, I see enough of the splendor, and collect 
treasures of the most wonderful little Alpine plants. 
In other respects, including the walking, I am all 
right. To-day, so that you may get some news from 
me, I shall only send this letter off without a lengthy 
description of the journey. In half an hour I intend 
to continue my way. 
300 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Wednesday, 15. 8., in the early morning from 
Linz by rail to Gmunden. Left the train at 
Lambach, and inspected the magnificent Traun 
falls. Then by boat from beautiful Gmunden to 
Traunsee; the most extraordinarily green water. 
Walked in the afternoon from Ebersee to Ischl, 
with six students from Prague, quite nice fellows. 
Passed the night at Ischl. 
Thursday, 16. 8. Walked in incessant rain from 
Ischl to this place. From Steg, where the lake 
begins, nearly to the Rudolf’s tower, always by 
the side of the salt-water pipes high up on the side 
of the mountain on the magnificent steep bank. 
Many waterfalls. At last, the great Muhlbach! 
Friday, 17. 8. Yesterday inspected the local salt 
refineries, then the Kesseler and Hirsch wells. In 
the afternoon, with the six Prague students, to the 
waterfalls of the Waldbachstrub, which have become 
quite magnificent on account of the uninterrupted 
rainfall. From here the others returned. I still 
made a very magnificent excursion alone into the 
wild forest as far as the source of the Waldbach 
and to the Klausen falls. Quite enchanted with 
the magnificence of the natural beauties! This 
morning I intend to go to Gosau. From there in 
two days to Salzburg. . . . On one of the next days I 
shall send you a parcel of plants. Later on you shall 
hear more in detail about me. Now I am in haste. 
In faithful love, your old, perfectly happy, 
Ernst. 
301 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
63. Berchtesgaden, Friday, 8. 1855. 
Dearest parents, 
Since I first wrote to you from Hallstatt, I have 
continually had the most splendid weather, and 
have made the most beautiful excursions. But 
there is really too much gathered together here of 
all that is beautiful and magnificent in nature. One 
superb and enchanting enjoyment follows another, 
so that it is impossible to arrive at a tranquil and 
perfect state of gratification. I would now like to 
come to a halt once every week, so that I can digest 
these grandeurs. But now I want quickly to give 
you a mere survey of my route. 
Saturday, 18. 8., from Hallstatt to Gosau, to the 
lakes there. 
Sunday, 19. 8., for the first time on a real Alp, 
the Zwieselalp, with a guide. Extraordinarily 
magnificent panorama of the entire northeastern 
part of the Alpine chain. Magnificent snow-fields 
on the horizon all around. A quantity of Alpine 
plants. 
20. 8. Walked from Abtenau to Golling. Mag- 
nificent waterfall there. In the afternoon by stage- 
coach to Salzburg. 
21. 8. At Salzburg! Perfect paradise! Quite 
magnificent town. In the morning Monchsberg, 
and all its curiosities. In the afternoon the 
Kapuzinerberg, Leopoldskron, etc. 
22. 8. In the morning once again to the Monchs- 
berg and to the fort of Hohensalzburg, with mag- 
302 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
nificent panorama. In the afternoon by stage- 
coach to Berchtesgaden. 
Thursday, 23. 8. Yesterday, accompanied by a 
farmer from Holstein, to the Konigssee, exceedingly 
magnificent, much frequented, then mounted for 
three hours to the Holzeralp. Magnificent view. 
Till now I have generally had very nice com- 
panions, particularly at Salzburg three schoolboys 
from Carinthia, splendid children of nature from the 
mountains, for whom I have really formed quite 
an affection: then at Gosau three rather stout, 
fat-bellied, bumptious, real “Viennese” Philistines, 
who have amused me extraordinarily! It is alto- 
gether very amusing to find what very different 
kinds of people one meets when traveling. How 
differently life exhibits itself to different brains! 
64. Ramsau, Saturday evening, 25. 8. 1855. 
Dearest parents, 
As I have just found a favorable opportunity of 
sending the first parcel of plants, which has been 
ready for a long time to be sent off, to the post- 
office at Berchtesgaden. I could not finish the letter 
I had begun, could not even wind it up, or give 
you a paste restante address for the next letters. 
Gastein, Monday, 27. 8.1855. 
As I had finished writing these last words I fell 
asleep from sheer fatigue. The reason for this was 
that the day before yesterday I climbed up the 
303 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Watzmann, the loftiest Alpine summit in Bavaria, 
9,058 ft. high, and I did so in the most magnificent 
weather, and with the greatest happiness. Most 
of the plants in the parcel are from there. Yesterday 
morning, when I had left Ramsau, quite unex- 
pectedly I met my dear old Wurzburg friend 
Brunnenstadt, with whom I walked for the whole 
of the day, via Hirschbichl (Bavarian frontier pass) 
and Saalfelden, to Zell. The Pinzgau is also quite 
magnificent and quite peculiar. Unfortunately 
to-day we had to separate again so soon, because 
he went straight on to the Tyrol. I walked from 
Zell am See, via Tarenbach and Land, to this place: 
another excellent excursion in which I passed for 
the first time from the Kalkalpen to the primary 
rock. I have now sufficiently enjoyed waterfalls, 
lakes, and Kalkalpen landscapes in the most various 
ways. Now comes the turn of the higher, primary 
mountain world, with the snowy regions . . . 
Meanwhile you will probably have received the 
parcel sent from Berchtesgaden, and you, dear 
little mother, might be so kind as to continue to 
dry the plants, even if they should already have 
partly become mouldy. Spare no amount of 
blotting-paper. The mosses you can dry in the air 
as they are. At the same time I also sent some 
extra specimens, and in addition a little souvenir 
from Berchtesgaden for each of you: for you, dear 
mother, the salad spoons, for father the napkin 
ring, for Karl the paper knife, for Mimi the little 
304 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Swiss chalet, for me the salt crystals, as a souvenir 
of the Berchtesgaden salt mine which I descended. 
In any case, from the 26 Alpine views you can 
form to some extent for yourself an idea of my 
magnificent enjoyment of nature, and accompany 
me in thought on my journey. It agrees with me 
excellently well, both bodily and mentally. I feel 
more fresh and happy than I have ever felt before. 
Also my feet, as well as the knee and the soles of my 
feet, are behaving excellently. But enough for to- 
day. I must be off at once. I hope to find a letter 
from you the day after to-morrow at Heiligenblut. 
The next after that in a week’s time at Meran. 
With the heartiest greetings, also to all friends, 
Your faithful Ernst. 
65. Indisch-Matrei, 2. 9. 1855. 
Dear parents, 
I hope you have received my last letter from 
Hofgastein, as well as the consignment of plants 
from Berchtesgaden (or rather Ramsau). . . .Mean- 
while I have been getting on very well, in every 
respect, with regard to the journey in general, the 
weather, the company, the plants, the legs, etc., etc. 
Tuesday, 28. 8., I went early from Hofgastein to 
Wildbadgastein, where I had a look around, then 
with Dr. med. Fiirstenberg, of* Vienna, via the 
waterfalls, to Nassfeld and then alone without a 
guide or carrier, with all my luggage, in particular 
richly laden with hay, crossed the central chain of 
305 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
the Alps, over the Nassfeld Tauern, whence I 
arrived in the evening extremely fatigued, but very 
happy, at Malwitz. On the 29. 8., with guide, to 
Fragant, over the 7000-ft. high ridge of the Schober 
to Dollach (all in Carinthia). Then on the 30. 8. 
early to Heiligenblut (quite magnificent!). In the 
afternoon with a Vienna hyper-Philistine to the 
Fleiss. 31. 8., with Hofmann, of Bamberg, a 
Lyceum professor of natural history, from Heiligen- 
blut, via the highest part of the Moll valley, to the 
Pasterzen glacier and then on to the Johannshiitte 
and Gamsgrube, the most celebrated botanical locus 
classicus. Simply reveled there in the rarest little 
glacier plants, facing the glacier itself and the most 
magnificent Grossglockner. Then back. Yesterday, 
the 1. 9. 1855, in the early morning at 4 o’clock 
with Mr. Anderson, of London, an English lawyer 
sixty years of age, a very nice man, climbed up the 
Leitner valley, by the Katzenstieg (steep high 
rocky walls to the right of the narrow path, to the 
left a deep precipice with a foaming glacier stream, 
quite magnificent!), then, via the Kaiser Tori to 
Kals, via the Materi Tori (that is to say, the ridge) 
to Windisch-Matrei, where I arrived in the dark 
as early as 8 o’clock, while the Englishman with a 
guide only arrived at 11 o’clock. To-day extremely 
fatigued; but quite happy in the enjoyment of my 
magnificent botanical finds, the rarest and strangest 
little glacier plants, which, as they are all great 
rarities, collected in the proximity of the eternal 
306 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
snows on the Tauern, I beg you, dearest mother, 
to dry very carefully. If possible, let them lie in 
the same order. Put the smallest, most delicate 
things into old books; you can dry the mosses in 
the air as they are. If some of them should have 
become mouldy, do not throw them away. Do not 
press them too heavily. As it is raining hard I do 
not yet know myself where I shall actually go to 
to-day. 
Lienz, 3. 9.1855. 
Traveling plans entirely changed; abandoned 
North Tyrol and Pinzgau; go via the Puster valley 
and the Fassa valley to South Tyrol (Bozen) . . . 
Hearty greetings to all of you: specially I wish 
you, dearest mother, improvement of your health. 
Your old Ernst. 
66. Bozen, Wednesday, 12. 9. ’55. 
Dearest parents, 
On Sunday, 9. 9., I arrived happily at Meran, 
where at last I thought for once I should surely 
find letters from you, as I had myself asked you in 
the letter before last to write to me there, and I 
had also asked at all possible places where there 
could, perhaps, be letters from you, to have them 
sent after me to Meran. Nevertheless, I found no 
trace of a letter from Berlin; therefore, since I 
left Salzburg I have been without any news from 
you, and I am in great anxiety, particularly about 
you, dear little mother. So that now I urgently 
307 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
beg you, in any case, to send me a letter, even if it 
is only quite a short one, to Milan. I expect to 
arrive there within ten days, that is to say, 
to-morrow I go to Trient, on 14. 9. to Riva, on 
the 15th to the Garda Lake, on the 16th Venice, 
three days there, on the 20th Padua, on the 21st 
Verona, 22d Milan, 23rd to Como, 24th the Lake 
of Como, thence to the Lake of Lugano and the 
Lago Maggiore, and through the Engadine, along 
the whole of the Inn down to Innsbruck, where I 
shall arrive about the end of September. Then I 
think of bringing the beautiful journey to an end 
with a week in Munich ... I hope that you have 
duly received the precious Heiligenblut consignment 
of plants from Lienz. My amiable Englishman 
took it with him to Innsbruck, at which place he 
offered to post it. If I am not mistaken, I broke 
off the account of my journey at Lienz, where we 
arrived on Monday, 3. 9. In the afternoon I 
made an excursion to the Dolomitic Rauchkofl. 
On Tuesday, 4. 9., according to a new plan, I 
intended to go, via Seichen, through the Hollen- 
stein valley to Empezzo, then into the Eassa valley, 
the most celebrated geological district, and, via 
the Schlern and the Seiser Alp, into the Grodner 
valley and on the Bozen; but as the rain continued, 
I had to go by stagecoach to Bruxen. On the fol- 
lowing day from there to Sterzing, where I spent 
the whole day in the most abominable rain, and 
took refuge in sheer despair with the chemist, who 
308 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
found great pleasure in showing me the whole 
installation of his pharmacy, even down to the 
smallest details, so that here for the first time I 
was able to get an idea of a pharmacy. 
Early on Thursday, 6. 9., as the abominable 
weather still continued, I abandoned my plans for 
the rest of the journey and made up my mind to 
go direct, via Innsbruck, to Munich. I was just 
about to enter the stagecoach when the dear sun 
came out and lit up the snowy mountains so fas- 
cinatingly that I resolved to push on at least as 
far as Meran (the more so as I felt certain that I 
would get news from you there), and then make an 
attempt at the Oetz valley. Therefore, in fairly 
good weather I still went on the same day over the 
Jaufen to St. Bernhard, stopped for the night 
at Hofer’s Inn-on-the-Sand, and on Friday, 7. 9., 
went over the Timbler ridge to Solden in the Oetz 
valley, once more in abominable rain and mist, so 
that the guide lost his way and for three hours led 
me round into quite another valley. That was a 
fatiguing march of fourteen hours, always steeply 
uphill, downhill; and on the following day I did 
another like it. But I was most brilliantly recom- 
pensed for this gigantic exertion. On Saturday, 
8. 9., contrary to every expectation, the weather 
was most marvelously fine. As fast as I could, I 
labored under my luggage for six hours through 
the magnificent Oetz valley till I came to Fend, 
and on the same afternoon I went over the Hoch- 
309 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Vernagtferner and Hoch-Jochferner to Kurzras. 
So far, this tour is the culminating point of the 
whole journey. All the hardships connected with 
it, following it, and preceding it, I would willingly 
have undergone twofold for such indescribable 
enjoyment. Never had I so closely approached 
the holy of holies of Nature. For two good hours 
we marched across the gigantic Hochjoch glacier, 
completely surrounded by the most magnificent 
snow-clad mountains and their icy summits, no 
sign of green anywhere, nothing but the most daz- 
zling white snow, and amongst it the little black 
spots of rock. Here for the first time I made the 
acquaintance of the magnificent, interesting, unique 
world of the glaciers in its actual character. Even 
a little shock only added to my delight. When, in 
the middle of a climax of the highest delight, I 
drew the attention of the guide to the magnificent 
outlines of the snowy mountains, I suddenly sub- 
sided with half my body buried in the snow. 
Neither of us had observed right in our path a 
deep snow-covered crevasse, into which I would 
have fallen (indeed, if I had it would have been no 
joke!) if, fortunately, I had not still had my inval- 
uable alpenstock on one edge of the crevasse and 
one of my feet on the other. Thus I escaped with 
a slight shock and bleeding hands. The descent 
from the glacier to Kurzras, however, was really 
dangerous, because the night had overtaken us. 
But, thank God, we arrived here safely, although 
310 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
late. On the next day I went, extremely fatigued, 
to marvelous Meran, where I first saw the southern 
nature, which also delighted me here exceedingly, 
particularly in contrast to the polar life of the ice 
world in the Oetz valley. Still on the same after- 
noon (Sunday, 9. 9.), I climbed up to the Burg 
Tyrol, whence I obtained a magnificent view. The 
next day, quite overjoyed, I spent with a law 
student, F. Mohr, of Heidelberg (son of the presi- 
dent of the Consistory, M., of Dessau), on the 
lovely Castle of Lebenberg. This was one of the 
most magnificent and most pleasant days of my 
life. Yesterday, Tuesday, 11. 9., I walked with 
him in the morning to this place, in the afternoon 
to the Kalvarienberg and into the wonderful Sarn 
valley. To-day alone to the strange earth pyramids 
and once again to the Sarn valley. This evening 
I am very tired, so that you will find very little 
that is reasonable in this letter. I must only ask 
you not to be in any more anxiety about me. The 
excursions that were somewhat dangerous have 
come to an end. Neither need you be anxious about 
the cholera. Even in the larger towns of Lombardy 
there are only occurring at the utmost three cases 
a day, which, specially for a medical man, is 
scarcely worth mentioning . . . 
For the rest, I wish that you could see me and 
see how splendidly traveling alone agrees with me, 
both physically and mentally. Not only are my 
muscles and sinews in continual development, but 
311 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
also my character, strength of decision, will, courage, 
etc. I have become quite another fellow. I am 
looking forward with great joy to Italy. Here I 
have already a foretaste of it. What a contrast to 
the Alpine world! 
I hope, dearest mother, that you are much better 
now. I am thinking so very much about you. 
How happy would I be if you, dear ones, could 
enjoy all these glories with me. I am very happy!! 
But to-night, terribly tired! Good night! 
Your Ernst. 
67. Milan, 21. 9.1855. 
Dearest parents, 
I thank you, dear father, heartily for the news 
about my relations and acquaintances. It has 
interested me very much. In a foreign country 
like this, where one cannot speak a word with 
anyone, a letter from home is of twofold value. 
Here in the South I learn thoroughly to appreciate 
the high inner value of our North German life. 
Magnificent and luxurious as this southern nature 
is, and much as it causes me to feel astonishment 
and admiration, especially in contrast to the Alpine 
life which is so very different from it (and which, 
by the way, I prefer), I regard, on the other hand, 
the entire life, the people, and their habits as being 
all the more repulsive and odious. So far I find 
all my unfavorable prejudices against the Italians 
confirmed. Hurrah for our Northern Germany! 
312 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Hearty greetings to all friends and relations. 
With all my heart I wish you, dearest mother, very 
speedy and thorough improvement. Consider your- 
self heartily embraced and kissed by your faithful 
old Ernst, who is very merry and in good health. 
22. 9. Now something about my journey since 
I left Bozen, whence I last wrote to you. 
On Thursday, 13. 9., I went early from Bozen 
through the beautiful valley of the Etsch, via 
Kaltern and Tramin, to Neumarkt. From there 
by stagecoach to Trient. On the 14. 9., the only 
day in which I did not speak a single German word 
throughout the day, at first in terrible rain and then 
in quite fair weather, through the Sarka valley 
to Riva. On the 15. 9., in the most beautiful 
weather, by steamer on the Garda Lake—quite 
glorious! In the afternoon to Verona, which has 
pleased me to an extraordinary extent. On Sunday, 
16. 9., early to Venice, where I have seen as much 
as possible in three days. Now, instead of all 
further description, I am only making three large 
notes of exclamation!!! and telling you that the 
whole impression of Venice is absolutely “magical.” 
The whole thing appears to me like a dream. . . . 
The impressions received are unique in their way, 
so that one has to ponder over them for a long time. 
The fabulous magnificences still make me feel quite 
confused in my head. Yesterday I have looked 
around here in Milan, also a very magnificent town. 
The cathedral is splendid, the most beautiful thing 
313 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
of its kind I have ever seen. For a long time here 
I have reveled in a very beautiful picture gallery. 
The appearance of the town is more brilliant than 
that of Venice. 
68. Mals, at the foot of the Finstermitolnz Pass, 
evening, 27. 9. 1855. 
My dear little mother, 
As I know you will have no rest till you know 
your old boy once more safe on honest German 
level ground, and as far away as possible from all 
glaciers, as well as from cholera, you will already 
have another sign of life from me, although the 
letter will not arrive in Berlin much later than the 
one from Milan. The regret that I felt on the first 
day of my departure from Venice that I had not in 
preference traveled direct, via Trieste and Vienna, 
to Berlin and taken you by surprise, was soon for- 
gotten in the enjoyment of the unique character- 
istics in which Milan is so rich, and it has since 
then been changed into decided joy that I have 
strictly carried out my original plan, for the return 
journey as well. For I have seen glories during 
this last week that transcend all others, and this 
has delighted me all the more, because I had not 
expected much from it. In particular, the tour on 
the day before yesterday from Bormia over the 
Stilfser (or Wormser) Joch to Prad has beyond 
doubt been the most brilliant point of splendor in 
the entire journey. However, instead of letting 
314 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
myself go in expressions of delight which, after all, 
are inadequate to describe to you the high degree 
of this unique pleasure, I shall tersely indicate to 
you instead the route from the time I left Milan. 
I had intended, as you will have seen by my last 
letter of the 22nd, to leave Milan again on this 
(the 2nd) day; but the beautiful art treasures in the 
Brera and, above all, the magnificent, incomparably 
sublime cathedral, have pleased me so greatly that 
I decided to devote yet another day to them. 
Besides that, an opportunity was thereby offered 
to me of seeing the most brilliant and the largest 
theatre in Italy, where, on the evening of the 2nd, 
I heard “La Favorita,” by Auber. The music 
was very good, but, on the whole, the performance, 
which lasted from 7.30 till 12!! o’clock, did not 
please me at all—least of all the very celebrated, 
quite dissolute and immodest ballets, which lasted 
for an hour-and-a-half, and which were generally 
contemplated as the chief items in the programme. 
On the 23rd, a magnificent Sunday morning, I 
left Milan and went by rail to Como, thence by 
steamer over the magnificent Lake of Como, the 
most beautiful of all I have seen. I would very 
much have preferred to remain a day at the world- 
renowned Bellagio, a real paradise, with its Villas 
Serbelloni and Sommarina. But, as the time was 
pressing for me, the cholera very bad and malignant, 
and I had also grown heartily tired of Italy and 
longed for the dear mountains, I went by post-cart 
315 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
from Colico to the splendidly situated Chiavenna, 
and at Castasegna I entered the Swiss canton of 
Graubtinden. I cannot tell you with what joy at 
every step I greeted the gradual reappearance of 
the dear Alpine nature, and with what happiness 
also I heard the first German word, a true Swiss 
honest “Griiss di Gott,” from the mouth of the 
Swiss frontier officials. I spent the night quite 
excellently at Vicosoprano, where I ate to repletion 
again for the first time since I left Bozen. In Italy 
I have (in the literal sense of the word) starved, 
and yet expended from four to five times as much 
as the whole of the rest of the journey had cost!! 
On the 24. 9., I walked through the beautiful Val 
Bregalia and over the Maloja pass to S. Mauricio. 
From here I meant to wander through the whole of 
the Engadine to Finstermiinz, but I made a side 
detour from the direct road which runs from Cel- 
lerina to Pontresina, in order to see the grand 
Bernina and the Rosegg glaciers, and was happily 
enough detained by rainy weather. For here I 
learnt that one can reach Bormio from there in a 
day, right through the wild mountains. I wanted 
to take a guide, as it is almost an unknown district 
(this summer, although there were more visitors in 
Pontresina than in any former year, only one 
traveler had made the tour!). But as the fellow 
demanded 20 francs, I made up my mind to venture 
the way by myself and to trust to my luck. And, 
indeed, this did not desert me, for I was fortunate 
316 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
enough to find the very wild, lonely path that led 
through nothing but glaciers and icy mountains. 
It was a good day’s march, one of the wildest 
excursions (via Livigno and Trepalle), but very 
well wTorth while. During it I still found a number 
of the rarest Alpine plants in bloom, which, even 
in the Oetz valley, had already ceased flowering. 
So you can see how icily cold and wintry it is here! 
Although I was quite enchanted with this day, it 
was only a mild prelude to the quite uniquely 
magnificent happiness which on the following day 
(26. 9.) really transported me into a heaven of bliss. 
I am now still too much intoxicated and benumbed 
with all these grandeurs to be able to write any- 
thing, even reasonably, to you about them. For 
the present only enough to let you know that 
everything combined to make this day the most 
glorious and most heavenly one of the whole 
journey. Throughout the day not the shadow of a 
cloud in the sky! The air so pure that one could 
recognize every crevasse in the most distant glaciers 
and rocks! I had never found before such a wealth of 
the rarest Alpine plants still in bloom—particularly 
mosses! The most magnificent glacier fields in 
the whole of the Alpine chain (Switzerland not 
excluded!), the most magnificent man-made roads 
(not inferior to those of the ancient Egyptians)! 
Everything, everything elevated me into such a 
magnificent, blessed mood as I have never expe- 
rienced before, and in the evening, out of sheer 
317 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
excitement, I still walked in the most beautiful 
moonlight for two hours longer than I had intended! 
Innsbruck, 29. 9. 1855. 
I intend to send you the enclosed, which I wrote 
at Nauders, from there. But as the post had 
already left I resolved to send it off from here 
instead, whence, in any case, it will still reach you 
as quickly as from there. In the meantime I have 
had two magnificent days of traveling. The day 
before yesterday I went from Prad (at the foot of 
the Wormser Joch) to Mals and on to Nauders, 
during which time I always had the most magnifi- 
cent backward view of the ice-world of the Ortler. 
In Mals I met a medical student, Horn, of Bremen 
(nephew of the administrator of the Charite), who 
is studying at Munich, a very nice lively fellow, with 
whom I shall now complete the rest of the journey 
and afterwards run freely about in Munich, which 
pleases me very much. Yesterday I walked with 
him from Nauders through the Finstermiinz Pass 
and the lower Inn valley to Landeck, a very nice 
mountain excursion (via Obladis), and to-day we 
drove together in a stagecoach from Landeck 
to this place, still a very nice concluding tour, 
always in the same beautiful weather that glorified 
the way over the Stilfser Joch. Altogether, it seems 
to me that the entire remainder of the journey will 
shape itself just as splendidly as the whole of the 
first part. It happens by chance that to-morrow a 
318 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
brother of the Emperor will be installed here as 
Governor of the Tyrol, and that for the celebration 
of this festivity a very magnificent shooting match 
will take place, for which occasion festively deco- 
rated competitors from all the Tyrolean districts 
have appeared in great numbers. There are swarms 
in the most multicolored and most picturesque 
dresses. To-morrow a highly magnificent proces- 
sion of several thousands of festively decorated 
visiting marksmen will be arranged. On the day 
after to-morrow we go from here, via the Achensee 
and the Tegernsee, to Munich, where from the 4th 
to the 7th (Thursday to Sunday) the great musical 
festival will be held. This will be immediately 
followed by the celebrated Munich October festival, 
during which one has the opportunity of becoming 
acquainted with the South German, Bavarian 
national life in its complete character. Everything, 
therefore, is working together splendidly, so that 
at the end of my magnificent journey I shall be 
afforded the chance of seeing on my way a very 
great abundance of the most varied pictures of life. 
It has really been a most magnificent journey, and 
I cannot thank you, dearest parents, enough for 
it and for having granted me this incomparable 
pleasure, which is connected with so much profit 
to my physical and mental training. A thousand, 
thousand most cordial thanks for it. I cannot tell 
you what an extraordinary wealth of the strangest 
and most varied conceptions I have acquired 
319 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
through it. When during the beautiful drive to-day 
I recalled the individual days of the journey to 
my memory, such a richness of the most magnifi- 
cent, most multicolored pictures, one after the 
other, rushed through my mind, that I believe they 
will satisfy me for the rest of my life. In addition 
to that, I am physically as extremely well and cheer- 
ful as I have ever been before. But now enough 
for to-day. I am very tired and am heartily long- 
ing for rest. Greet all friends very cordially, and 
for yourselves a very fervent greeting and a kiss 
from your old Ernst. 
69. Munich, 10. 10.1855. 
Dearest parents, 
On Monday, the 1st October, early in the morn- 
ing we climbed up to the castle of Ambras and the 
Lanser Kopfl, two hills south of Innsbruck, whence 
one enjoys quite a magnificent view over the very 
wonderful valley in which the town is so prettily 
situated. On Wednesday we visited the interesting 
Tyrolean Landesmuseum at Innsbruck (quite anal- 
ogous to the Linz museum for Austria) and then 
we went by stagecoach to Schwartz. From there 
on the next day, 2. 10., we went on, via Jenbach, 
the magnificent Achensee and Bad Kreuth, to 
Tegernsee, a very nice tour of fifteen hours. Unfor- 
tunately at the beginning there was just as exquisite 
a rainfall for taking leave of the high Alps as there 
was on my entrance to the Alps at Ischl. Later on, 
320 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
however, it cleared up fairly well. Tegernsee is 
also very prettily situated. Thence (on Wednes- 
day, 3. 10.) we went by stagecoach to Munich, 
quite a miserably flat journey of eight hours, 
which, however, we only covered in ten hours, 
because there were only beer-drinking Bavarians 
as passengers and these had to swill at every inn 
which the dear God had planted by the roadside. 
Although the way was terribly monotonous, I was 
in such a blissfully happy and thankful mood, in 
such a state of fervent and peaceful elation at all 
the marvelous beauties which I had been enjoying 
during these eight weeks, that I did not observe 
anything of the tedium which seemed to over- 
whelm my traveling companions. It is probable 
that I have rarely been for so long a time in such 
a blissful mood, in which I could calmly rejoice in 
God, as during those first days after the journey. 
It was only in the sorrowful idea of taking leave of 
the marvelously sublime and magnificent Alpine 
world which I had learned to love so infinitely, in 
which I had become so profoundly confident, that 
the silent feeling of happiness was somewhat dis- 
turbed. In what a different mood had I set forth! 
I had set out with a thousand trembling fears and 
anxieties, uncertain and undecided, I believed that 
neither physically nor mentally I possessed the 
strength to carry out such a journey: in particular 
I had feared that already within the first week my 
knee would have succumbed to such fatigues. And 
321 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
how very differently and magnificently has every- 
thing turned out! I have seen a thousand times 
more, and more beautiful, things than I had hoped 
to do, have undergone far greater exertions than I 
had expected, and all these with the greatest advan- 
tage to my body no less than to my mind. You 
ought to see me and speak to me now, in order to 
appreciate how I have become quite another man 
through this single journey. While formerly in a 
fit of hypochondrium I imagined myself to be 
banished in a miserable weak body, I now realize 
from experience that I can stand fatigues and 
marches, that I can undertake walks in the moun- 
tains as few other Alpine travelers can do. At 
least, among the (approximately) 60 travelers with 
whom I walked for long distances I found only one 
who could beat me (strangely enough, a Catholic 
theological student, a hardy fellow who, I must 
point out, had not to drag about 30 lbs. of luggage, 
as I generally had to do). In short, I now feel the 
fresh, new fire of youth coursing through my veins 
as never before. Surely my mind has not become 
less strengthened thereby! I made a point of 
putting aside a great part of the childish unsocia- 
bility and the timid anxiety which hitherto have so 
much spoilt my pleasure in my intercourse with 
strangers. But putting altogether aside all the 
benefits which the magnificent Alpine journey has 
exercised upon my character, it has also infinitely 
enriched and augumented my knowledge and con- 
322 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
ceptions. Naturally, quite in particular those 
appertaining to natural science, and in specie to 
botany. How very differently shall I be able now 
to study geology and physical geography! The 
richness of my new conceptions is really so fabu- 
lously grand that for a long time I shall still have 
to work so that I may bring these marvelous impres- 
sions into something like order. But what alto- 
gether different views have I also formed of men 
and of social life, and how much have I gained in 
independence through intercourse with friends! In 
short, dearest parents, the real true profit which I 
have derived from this journey, setting completely 
aside the purest and most noble enjoyment .of 
nature itself which I have experienced in such a 
rich and high measure, merely for the training of 
my character is so infinitely great that I cannot 
thank you enough for having afforded me the means 
of making this journey. But how thankful must I 
also be to God that he has ordered everything and 
guided me so graciously and mercifully. Although, 
on the whole, I was really seldom in serious danger, 
the Oetz valley excursion, for instance, could have 
had rather a bad ending. What still makes me 
most particularly happy is that, generally speaking, 
I have so strictly carried out my original traveling 
plan (which in the first place I owe to my dear 
Richthofen), with the exception of the northeast 
Tyrolean portion (Kriml, Zillertal, Tuxertal), which 
was made impossible on account of the rain. When 
323 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
I compare the Alpine part of my journey with that 
occupied by my stay in towns, particularly the 
week in Italy, I decidedly give the preference, in 
contradiction to most of the other travelers, to the 
former. In reality, it might be that the special 
natural scientific interest afforded by the Alpine 
nature by far surpasses in me the latter, the more 
ethnographico-historical art interest, but as a mat- 
ter of fact the manifold difficulties and exertions 
connected with the Alpine journey lend a value all 
the higher to their enjoyment. 
Till now the least interesting thing to me was 
the celebrated musical festivity, about which so 
much exaggerated noise is made. I have once 
again come to the conclusion that my musical 
sense is in reality equal to zero. The only music 
in which I take any interest is the popular song. 
The day before yesterday a gigantic military con- 
cert took place in the glass palace here (there were 
225 musicians, all bandsmen of the Munich gar- 
rison), which interested me far more than the much 
more celebrated great musical festivity with its 
900 vocalists and 200 instrumentalists. The 
description of the latter (on the 4th and 5th) you 
will probably have read in the papers. I have not 
been very much charmed with it. On the other 
hand, the very marvelous, beautiful and rich treas- 
ures of plastic art, which confront one wherever 
one goes, have made an all the more important 
impression upon me. Chiefly the new Pinakothek, 
324 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
and, again, the Glyptothek, and the marvelous 
frescoes of the Odyssey and the Nibelungen in the 
Residency, in my opinion surpass everything else 
that I have seen hitherto . . . 
Good-by! The next letter once more from 
Wurzburg. 
* O XT 11 
Your old Drnst. 
♦ 
I wish you could have seen me in my traveling 
costume as I entered Munich. It was very fortunate 
that Hein had sent me a complete suit here paste 
restante. My grey traveling coat had literally fallen 
from my body in rags. Of the three shirts I had 
taken with me, there are only some of the upper 
portions still existing. 
70. Wurzburg, 18. 10. morning. 
Dear parents, 
So it is from Wurzburg that I greet you once 
again! As you can see by the enclosed letter to 
Aunt Berta, which you might give her on her 
birthday, I cannot yet get accustomed to my life 
here. The roving spirit and the traveling unrest 
are still in all my limbs, and hinder me from quiet 
continuous work which is so very necessary. The 
contrast between the Philistine daily life here, into 
which I must plunge again, and the marvelous 
Alpine world, which a short time ago I enjoyed in 
such a wonderful manner, is indeed far too great. 
How terribly pedantic, dusty, and grubby every- 
thing here appears to me to be. How different, on 
325 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
the other hand, to be on the sublime mountains, 
with their grandeur, I might even say their super- 
terrestrial nature, where man is so perfectly free, 
where he so completely forgets himself and his 
petty daily life. Surely in this unrestricted freedom, 
in this divine self-oblivion, there lies no little part 
of that unspeakable glow of joy which in the 
loneliest, the grandest parts of the mountain world 
irresistibly draws the soul upward to heaven, so 
that one really feels nearer than ever to the super- 
terrestrial, to the divine. The more I strive now to 
force myself again into the old Philistine life, the 
more I see from day to day how immensely far I 
have been snatched out of it through the journey, and 
howl have come into quite other and higher spheres 
of thought and of life. On the other hand, I must 
admit that the long interruption of my medical 
studies has thrown me back very much, and I 
observe every hour with new terror how much I 
have forgotten and how much has evaporated in 
the interval. Yesterday, when I held in my hand 
for a few hours the fat-bellied textbook of materia 
medica, the most terrible instrument of torture that 
ever the senseless quackery of practicing medical 
men has fabricated for the torment of free intel- 
lectuality, and when I tried in vain to recall from 
it the old reminiscences, I almost completely 
despaired, and it would have taken very little to 
induce me suddenly to pack up my bundle and 
rush to you in Berlin for a few days, which I have 
326 THE DEVELOPMENT, OF A YOUTH 
felt myself tempted to do almost every hour since 
my return, and more than once I was actually on 
the point of putting the wild thought into execu- 
tion. I would so much like to pour out my over- 
flowing heart to you, but yet it cannot be, and I 
must wait till Easter. The vacuum in my medical 
studies is now so gigantic that, as a matter of fact, 
every second ought to be valuable to me in order 
to fill it. And yet since the journey I cannot, with 
all my efforts, collect my thoughts and force them 
under the old yoke. I hope that with the beginning 
of the lectures and of the clinical course it will 
become better! My only comfort now is Tschudi’s 
magnificent book on the Alpine world (with which 
Karl has presented me). Yesterday the following 
sentence which was as though spoken out of my 
own soul, attracted my attention: “As the moun- 
tains rise aloft and solitary out of the level land, so 
the thoughts of God which repose in them rise 
above everyday life and sentiment, and probably 
we would breathe more freely and break through 
the veils that dim our conceptions of the world, 
which are so often based on petty misguided educa- 
tion, if we would more frequently brighten up and 
extend our range of ideas and our inner life in the 
presence of those eternally beautiful originals, of 
those crystallized thoughts of creation of the All- 
Pervading Spirit of the Universe!”—!! . . . 
A thousand hearty greetings from your old 
Ernst H. 
327 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
71. Wurzburg, 23.10. 1855. 
Dear parents, 
. . . On Sunday at last I took a bold step and 
with one jump plunged desperately into the noble 
ars medica. That is to say, since the “ever mem- 
orable” 21st October, 1855, A.D., I have become 
a real clinical hospital practitioner! Hear, hear!! 
And now spend two hours every morning with my 
patients!!! Would you not like to be in the place 
of these poor little creatures?? It really sounds 
ridiculous, but nevertheless it is true! I only wish 
that you could see with what highly imposing 
gravity, his grey clinical hospital hat on his head, 
stethoscope and percussion hammer in his pocket, 
the important Herr Dr. is strutting about on his 
round of visits! My first patient was a man of 
45 years of age, a stoker, who four days ago had 
been suddenly seized by a very violent attack of 
cholera sporadica. It was lucky for him that it 
only came into his mind to send for the doctor on 
the fourth day, after the illness itself had in reality 
passed over. So now I had only to attend to after 
treatment, and then, after all, after I had examined 
into the details of all the corners and ends of his 
body for a few hours, I was fortunate enough to 
discover (through physical exploration) on the 
lower part of the left lung traces of Emphysema 
pulmonum, from which the man has probably been 
suffering for years without complaint, but which, 
now that he is undergoing treatment, must be 
328 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
treated without mercy and for which then and there 
I solemnly launched my first prescription . . . 
You want to know further details about my 
glacier adventure. This, as a matter of fact, is 
very simple, but is much easier to be demonstrated 
in corpore than by portraying it or trying to describe 
it. I had the inestimable alpenstock eight feet in 
length, to which alone I owe my salvation, firmly 
grasped in my right hand. When I fell down and 
when I subsided with half of my body in the snow, 
it remained right across the crevasse, so that I was 
able to hang on to it quite safely, and could work 
myself out on it with my disengaged hand, while 
the guide kept hold of me. More complete details 
have not become clear even to myself, particularly 
as at that moment I did not feel inclined to make 
accurate observations concerning the physical direc- 
tion of the line of descent, or the “how” of the 
extrication, but thanked my God that I was out of 
the fix, for which, indeed, I had every reason . . . 
Be heartily greeted by your old 
Ernst Haeckel. 
72. Wurzburg, 2. 11.1855. 
Dear parents, 
. . . That, in addition to my practical efforts on 
the other hand, I try to become more human you 
can see from the fact that I am now going to take 
dancing lessons (!) (hear, hear!), which will begin 
this week. I am also taking lessons again in the 
329 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
English language, as a very favorable opportunity 
for this has been offered to me by a born English- 
man, who, in order to distract his thoughts, gives 
lessons, and who, therefore, does it very cheaply. 
If only I had more time I would take more of them. 
But when the courses begin again I already feel 
that I shall not know how to find it. The worst of 
all now is that I have suffered a very sad relapse 
of phytoviania or hay-collecting fever, so that now 
on several afternoons I could not resist the tempta- 
tion of carefully examining my treasures of Alpine 
flowers, of putting them in order and completely 
classifiying them with the help of the university 
herbarium, which Professor Schenk placed at my 
disposal. I must still add that Dr. C. Gegenbaur, 
the privat docent who has now come to Jena as 
professor of comparative anatomy in place of Oskar 
Schmidt, has presented me, in addition to four very 
rare and beautiful foreign (tropical) birds, with all 
the duplicates of his herbarium to the number of 
twenty large portfolios, in which I have reveled for 
several days quite after my old manner and my 
old delight in plants which were so long forgotten 
and dormant. Naturally in this process very much 
old rubbish was thrown awray, but also very many 
new beautiful and rare things were acquired, so 
that my herbarium now obtains the very gratifying 
increase of ten strong volumes. The rest of my 
spare time, which the clinical hospital practice and 
my occupation with the dear little plants has left 
330 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
me, I have spent chiefly in the anatomical and 
zootomical museum, of which Kolliker was kind 
enough to hand me the key . . . 
I hope that you will like the flavor of the Wurz- 
burg grapes, and when you eat them think at the 
same time of your faithful old 
Ernst H. 
73. Wurzburg, 19.11. 1855. 
My dear father, 
... It becomes more and more clear to me at the 
present time from my entire life and its individual 
phases that in every direction, scientific as well as 
human, I have now made important progress in 
comparison with last year, when, I must admit, I 
remained in many respects more backward than 
I ought to have done. It is probable that I owe the 
chief thanks for this to my magnificent Alpine 
journey, which in so many ways has made me 
acquainted with other people, views, and inclina- 
tions, which has extricated me from the narrow, 
restricted limits of my old philosophical caprices 
and narrow-minded perceptions, and has intro- 
duced me to the wide many-sidedness of the varie- 
gated life of the world. Next to it, for my versatile 
training and the enlargement of my views of life, 
I owe a great deal of thanks to medicine, especially 
to the practical side of it, which has likewise afforded 
me a real view of life as it is and how we should 
accommodate ourselves to it. I must admit that this 
331 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
violent extraction from an imaginative world of 
visionary ideals and my sudden transference into 
stern reality, the acquaintance of which in its 
entire character I am only now making, is by no 
means agreeable; but I am all the happier now 
that this cruel leap, which nolens volens had sooner 
or later to be taken, is over, and that I can now 
contemplate the real world with just as real eyes 
as it deserves. In this regard, practical medicine, 
and particularly the clinical hospital where one 
becomes thoroughly acquainted with the miserable 
imperfection and the wretched defectiveness of our 
physical and intellectual life, is quite an excellent, 
although at the same time bitter and hard, school. 
At first this sudden annihilation of all the beautiful 
mental pictures by means of which I have created 
for myself in my secluded mind an ideal conception 
of the world, independent and bare of all reality, 
naturally appeared to me hard and unbearable 
enough. But now I gradually accustom my whole 
way of thinking and conception more and more to 
this real contemplation of human affairs, and now, 
when I enter further into the rough stormy life, I 
shall be all the less surprised at its illusions. If, 
for the rest, I have reconciled myself for the present 
to practical medicine, at least in as far as I am 
convinced with ever-increasing self-conquest (which 
I chiefly owe to the clinical hospital school) I can 
some day really practice it in case of need, I do not 
mean in any way to say that my unbounded pre- 
332 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
dilection for the theoretical natural sciences (spe- 
cially scientific zoology and botany and microscopy 
in general) have in any degree diminished. On the 
contrary, through my beautiful Alpine journey, 
which brought before my eyes so many fields of the 
most interesting natural science, the latter has been 
considerably increased and has received a powerful 
stimulus, so that I am now a more passionate 
“naturalist” than ever before. But from this you 
can already see how much I have gained in self- 
conquest, and that, notwithstanding this, for the 
immediate future and in specie for this winter I 
have completely given up my purely theoretical 
natural scientific studies, and that at last I have 
firmly resolved to carry medicine to a perfect con- 
clusion, so that I can pass our State examination ... 
From 7 till 9 o’clock in the evening is the time 
now for the celebrated dancing lesson, which for- 
tunately I take with several acquaintances, espe- 
cially with my more intimate friend Dreier, of 
Bremen, and his acquaintance Knauf, so that we 
can make the extremely tedious affair rather merry 
and pleasant by mutually finding amusement in it. 
Our dancing master, Herr Quasar, a lump of meat 
nearly as broad and deep as it is long, as well as 
his scarcely less corpulent madame, the ballet- 
mistress, furnish us, through the scantiness of their 
brain which seems to have become atrophied in 
proportion to the hypertrophy of their adipose tis- 
sue, with enough material for merriment and 
333 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
mockery. He occupied the first lessons with simply 
instructing us how to pay compliments, but in 
particular how to behave ourselves in the presence 
of the king and the queen. At the present time we 
are diligently studying “Frangaise” (with six 
ladies), in which I, with my long legs, often make 
magnificent leaps half across the dancing room. 
Naturally, my awkwardness is perfectly admirable. 
After the dancing, or, on the days when it does not 
take place, after the English lesson, which I enjoy 
with my very strange Englishman, Mr. Watson 
Sratshard [?], I generally go for a little while with 
Beckmann and Strube to have a drink. Then from 
12 to 1 o’clock we continue regularly to work at 
home. During these hours I specially want to go 
on now with the description of my journey, the 
composition of which gives me an infinitely great 
pleasure, because in doing so I experience over 
again in spirit all the magnificent enjoyments of 
that unforgettable wandering. It is only a pity 
that, with so little practice in writing, which is 
unfortunately too much neglected in our univer- 
sity studies, so that we soon lose the slight pro- 
ficiency in style acquired at school, I am so little 
capable of faithfully reproducing the various lively 
feelings, views and enjoyments, which still actively 
excite all my senses at the recollection of the splen- 
did incidents . . . 
I have still added to the Bocksbeutels, which I 
hope, dear old people, you will heartily enjoy on 
334 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
papa’s birthday, a few specimens of the magnificent 
Tyrolean Alpine plants of which I have brought a 
large bundle with me; also, so that you can more 
easily follow me on my way, I have traced a graph- 
ical representation of the route of my journey 
exactly according to the excellent map of the Tyrol 
by Mayr, which was of the greatest service to me 
everywhere, and which I have traveled through in 
its fullest extent, from the west (Milan, Lake of 
Como) to the east (Hallstatt, Traunsee), and from 
the north (Augsburg) to Upper Italy in the south. 
Finally, I enclose a little sketch-book of my journey, 
which, in reality, is only of some value to the 
draughtsman himself, for whom in every stroke of 
the pencil a crowd of recollections of the sweetest 
kind is attached, while other people will scarcely 
be able to make anything out of the contortions 
and scrawls in the sketches, naturally thrown off 
in the greatest haste. Most of the sketches only 
represent the outlines of the mountain chains, 
which in many ways were interesting to me. I 
thought, however, that some, for instance specially 
the later Tyrolean views, the Ortler peak, etc., 
might not be quite without interest to you, dear 
papa. Later I intend to execute still larger land- 
scapes from these sketches. Now I am often sorry 
that I have not made more sketches. As a matter 
of fact, they are such a precious remembrance, and 
in every little picture, imperfect as it might be, 
the whole of the interesting situation in which the 
335 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
outline was dashed off comes back to my mind. 
Whenever I contemplate such an outline I fall into 
a whole series of recollections of my travels. It is 
one of the great advantages of traveling alone that, 
in case time and conditions allow, one can sit down 
and draw when and where the inclination arises. 
The solo traveling has altogether pleased me so 
exceedingly well that in future I shall always keep 
to myself on the route, unless I discover as a 
companion a very intimate friend who shares all 
my inclinations and desires. In this way one 
becomes much more independent, is more com- 
pelled to come into communication with other 
people, and has to come out of oneself much more. 
It is also very pleasant to be one’s own master, to walk 
and to rest how, when, and where one likes, and to 
stop at any particular spot as long as one chooses ... 
The only movement I have now is the clinical 
hospital town trot to my patients in the different 
districts, whereby at the same time I thoroughly 
make the acquaintance of the old intricate town. 
On the whole, this sort of practice pleases me fairly 
well, as medicine proper is still most of all to my 
taste. On the other hand, I cannot yet find any 
liking at all for surgery and obstetrics. Now I am 
also practicing the latter and have thereby the 
really not very enjoyable pleasure of being called 
to the births in the lying-in hospital, which usually 
happen just during the night when other honest 
people are enjoying their best sleep. Thus, for 
336 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
instance, yesterday I had been working till 1 o’clock, 
had gone exceedingly tired to bed, and had scarcely 
slept an hour when I was called up again; through 
this I was occupied for over two hours and could 
only go to bed again after 4 o’clock, so that summa 
summarum I have not slept for quite four hours. 
And so one gradually makes the acquaintance of 
the delights of practical medical life. But, after 
all, I will bear these things with pleasure so long 
as I shall not have to devote myself to them for 
the whole of my life . . . 
74. Wurzburg, 3. 12.1855. 
Dear parents, 
. . . What you, dear father, observe with regard 
to the heavy style of the description of my traveling 
is unhappily too true, and in making this attempt 
I have altogether come to the conclusion once more 
how greatly the mistake in our school work consists 
in our being solely dependent upon a purely recep- 
tive study, and also in our not being more frequently 
obliged to exercise ourselves in original independent 
execution. The limited skillfulness in style which 
one has hitherto acquired at the classical secondary 
school by doing free compositions in German is soon 
quite lost through this total neglect of writing, and 
if later on one is obliged to describe something, it 
takes a long time before one can get even into 
partial trim again, and in the end, in spite of all 
endeavor, the whole story becomes heavy and 
337 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
unpalatable, although it has occupied much time. 
This, however, will not deter me from making the 
attempt to go on with it. During the last weeks 
I was absolutely unable to find the time to do so, 
as my small work on typhoid and tuberculosis, 
which I have undertaken with Virchow, completely 
absorbed every spare moment. Unfortunately, this 
accursed want of time has also hindered me from 
accepting another very friendly offer made to me 
by Virchow, who invited me to make a delicate 
microscopic anatomical examination of the “forma- 
tion of cysts in the plexus chorioidei of the brain” 
in his room and under his guidance. For a long 
time I had wished to try for once what I could do 
in such special work, and just this opportunity of 
making such a trial myself with Virchow, to whom 
with regard to the finest microscopic work, which 
is also my chief aim, I must adjudge the first prize, 
is only what has been intensely desired by me. But 
to my greatest regret I was obliged to refuse this 
favorable offer, as it is simply impossible for me with 
my present medical practice, which claims the 
whole of my day, in any way to find the necessary 
time and leisure for it . . . 
In old faithful love your Ernst. 
75. Wurzburg, Saturday morning, 8. 12. 1855. 
My dear, good little mother, 
. . . You can well imagine how terribly Rich- 
thofen’s magnificent prospects of traveling have 
338 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
excited me. Every item of such news now sets in 
motion a whole army of rebellious traveling thoughts 
in my restless mind. I must really take care not 
to read descriptions of travel, etc. For, as soon as 
I hear of new discoveries in far-off tropical coun- 
tries, my thoughts are immediately occupied in 
depicting for themselves in detail the entire fauna 
and flora of that country. Thus, for instance, the 
reading of “Petermann’s News from J. Perthes’ 
Geographical Institute,” which papa also knows 
well and which also hangs up here at the Harmony, 
has a decidedly pernicious influence upon me. The 
other day when I read in it the account of Vogel’s 
travels in Africa, but specially of the glacier excur- 
sions of the brothers Schlagintweit in the Himalayas, 
my rebellious mind dreamed of nothing else but 
traveling, and ever again of traveling for days 
afterward! . . . 
76. Wurzburg, SO. IS. 1855. 
Dear parents, 
. . . Have you also such bitter cold in Berlin? It 
is a more severe winter here than anybody can 
remember since 1829. The subtropical Wurzburg 
climate, celebrated for its mildness, has suddenly 
been converted into arctic cold. Although, as a 
rule, I am a great lover of cold and inurement, this 
is awkward for me in the icy condition of my airy 
room, and in the evening when I sit at my table I 
am nearly frozen, so that when I get up to go to 
339 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
bed at 12 or 1 o’clock I am quite stiff and rigid, 
and it takes me a long time to get only fairly warm 
in my bed. When, after all, I have at last succeeded, 
and I feel once more quite warm and comfortable 
in my nest, then, usually at about 2 or 3 o’clock, 
there tinkles the pernicious bell of fate calling me 
to a confinement. During the week before last, 
in particular, the births came in shoals (the con- 
sequence of the carnival week at the beginning of 
Lent!), and I was awakened on three consecutive 
nights, so that I cursed mother Nature who does 
not permit the human race to propagate by means 
of eggs like the greatest number of the animals, 
or, better still, by the formation of shoots and buds 
like the polyps. But what is the use of that! This 
winter must be put up with! . . . 
77. Wurzburg, Wednesday, 26. 12. 1855. 
Dearest parents, 
Just now, on the evening of Boxing Day, I 
received the loving Christmas box, which I had 
longingly awaited and which I had nearly given up 
this afternoon. But now the joy it afforded me was 
all the greater! A thousand, thousand thanks for 
all your kindness and your love. Once again you 
have so richly cared for me that I cannot thank you 
enough for it. The picture of grandpapa, which is 
really a very good copy, has given me very par- 
ticular pleasure, The expression of the mouth seems 
to me even more kind than in the original; only 
340 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
the eyes do not please me quite as well. It will be 
a real ornament in my nice study in Berlin. There 
the picture shall hang just above my writing table 
and shall constantly remind me of my magnificent 
grandfather, to emulate the noble mind and spot- 
less character of whom shall ever be my endeavor. 
You have also given me a very great joy with Van 
der Hoeven’s Zoology, which for a long time I had 
wished to possess. I received the beautiful book 
already four days ago. To you, dear mother of my 
heart, I still express my special gratitude for the 
tender care with which you have thought of my 
larder. With the Spartan food which I generally 
eat here one can really make very good use some- 
times of such little dainties . . . 
Notwithstanding the distance from you dear ones, 
and in spite of my loneliness here, which made a real 
comfortable, homely and merry festivity impossible, 
this time I have enjoyed Christmas more deeply 
and fervently than, perhaps, I have done before. 
I must admit that on Christmas Eve there was 
very little of it to be observed. Rather glum and 
dull, I spent it with Strube and Beckmann in a wine 
bar. Thoughts of home might also have been very 
much in the minds of my two friends, for they were 
in anything but a merry mood. Even Peter, who 
is generally so merry and witty, was to-day quite 
silent and could not rouse himself to a pitch of 
merriment. Each one thought only of the dear ones 
far away, and thus we sat quietly and silently 
341 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
facing our famous Steinwein, which as a rule so 
easily loosens both heart and tongue, but which 
this time was not capable of dispelling the settled 
gloom and the shadow of homesickness. Constantly 
I saw before my eyes the fir tree, decorated with 
large sparkling lights, around which you dear ones 
would at that moment have all been assembled, 
and under which my dear little nephew, or rather 
my little godson, would be filled with his pure 
childish joy. Then I thought again with longing 
of the earlier years of my own childhood, when I 
had also given myself over quite innocently and 
free from sorrow to the beautiful and sweet joy of 
Christmas. The more sadly and more gloomily 
Christmas Eve passed for me, the more joyful and 
happy Christmas Day appeared to be. I must 
admit that even then I had no friendly soul to 
whom I could have revealed and communicated 
my whole innermost, and the exalted satisfaction 
of being able to express my thoughts and feelings 
to a corresponding mind and to find in it harmonious 
accord, which alone affords true inner joy and sta- 
bility, was again missing to me to-day as it was 
yesterday. But all the more fervently and deeply I 
felt how much my most ardent convictions and 
most strenuous endeavors find the full and deep 
acknowledgment that they deserve in your faithful 
hearts, dear parents; and this comfort, the firm 
unalterable conviction of our spiritual communion, 
transported me, in spite of the great distance, 
342 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
exactly into your midst so vividly that I felt noth- 
ing else but that at that very moment I had the 
happiness of being also with you in the flesh and 
of being able to pour out to you, face to face, the 
whole of my full heart, with all its hopes and doubts, 
joys and sufferings. The happy mood in which I 
spent Christmas Day was, to a great extent, due 
to an excellent sermon which I heard preached here 
on the 25.12., by an old church dignitary, and which 
so well corresponded to my own thoughts and hopes 
at this great feast that it seemed to emanate from 
my own soul. Thereby I was once more led to 
meditate more deeply about my relation to life and 
about my task in it. Then, finally, I arrived at the 
satisfactory conclusion that, in any case during 
the last year, I had approached the task of my life 
by an important step nearer; altogether I enter 
the new year 1856 with quite different hopes and 
resolutions to those on the preceding ones. Whereas 
during the last three years of my studies New 
Year’s Day had always been one of the bitterest 
pain to me, a day on which I did not think I could 
ever do anything better than to plunge myself into 
a deep moral state of depression over the wasted old 
year and the bad use I had made of it, and to regret, 
instead of doing good, the many errors I had com- 
mitted during it, this time it is altogether different. 
However, I am now, perhaps still more than 
formerly, conscious of the great imperfection and 
defectiveness from which, in spite of the best 
343 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
intentions, all my actions suffer. But now, instead 
of vainly grieving over what has occurred, I rather 
direct my view full of confidence toward the future, 
simply with the best will to do better henceforth. 
If at that time I had only looked with childish 
timidity into the black new year, from which I 
believed that I could expect just as little as from 
the one just completed, now, on the other hand, 
I have taken joyful and happy courage, and hope, 
with the help of God, to do something decent. 
Although the riddle of my future is hovering in 
indistinct outlines before my eyes, perhaps still 
more now than before, I no longer indulge now as 
at that time in such subtle enquiries, so full of 
anxiety, but in full confidence yield up the whole 
of my care for it to my God, who will surely not 
forsake me. Yes, at last I might, without boasting, 
hope to become an able, fine fellow, and I pretend 
to possess the same firm unalterable will to do it. 
I believe with joy that I may consider this essential 
change in my character to be the result of the past 
year. At last, at last, strength, courage and hope 
have entered into my dismayed, weak and despond- 
ing heart. At all events it is about time that at 
least I abandon that childish weakness, that exag- 
gerated self-mistrust, which stunted all my energy 
and stifled all my courage in life. Although later 
on it will be my constant care with strict love of 
truth to become fully conscious of all the defective 
weaknesses of my will and action, I will not, how- 
344 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
ever, as hitherto, be disheartened and without 
courage concerning this, but by powerful and per- 
fect deportment will endeavor all the more ardently 
to approach my ideal. I cannot possibly describe 
to you here how radically and thoroughly I now 
feel changed, as I hope very much for the better, 
in my character. Only verbally can I pour out my 
whole heart about it, and I think that you will 
notice it in my entire mode of action . . . 
Now to what circumstances do I owe this 
thorough change in my entire will, thought and 
action, about which presumably you will not be 
less glad than I am? I attribute it, before all else, 
to two causes: first, to the magnificent Alpine 
journey, and second, to the serious school of life 
through which I have passed here during the last 
year—particularly during the last months of it. 
Regarding the former, every day I become more 
conscious of the inestimable advantages which it 
has had for the training of my mind and character, 
not to speak of the inexpressible enjoyments and 
conceptions of nature which will ever remain 
unforgettable to me, and which will make that time 
appear to be the most beautiful of my life. How 
prejudiced does a man remain who always vegetates 
only in the narrowest circle of his immediate 
environment, and who in the dark recesses of his 
study imagines for himself the magnificent God’s 
world beyond it! It is with one’s own eyes that 
one must see life, it is with one’s own senses that 
345 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
one must become acquainted with the infinitely 
manifold modifications with which it is accepted 
by the varying brains of different individuals as 
well as in the national life of entire peoples, and 
make oneself a true conception of the endless many- 
sidedness of it, and, in conformity with it, also train 
one’s own acts and thoughts in a distinct direction 
which one pursues with persevering persistence. 
It is probably this circumstance, namely th.e 
entering into, and the acquaintance with real life, 
the abandonment of theoretically formed nebulous 
shapes of ideals, which, although in quite another 
direction, has been the really creating and develop- 
ing element in my life here during the last months: 
and there again, before all, it is the practical study 
of medicine to which I must offer this recognition. 
How much do I now thank you, dear parents, that 
you have so mercilessly forced me, however despi- 
cable and contrary to my whole aspiration it might 
have been from the very beginning, to carry through 
this study consistently. Not counting the inval- 
uable advantages with regard to my future sub- 
sistence, and specially for the purpose of the 
realization of my favorite (traveling) plans, which 
I shall derive from my practice as a doctor, I have 
obtained thereby a much more correct, and there- 
fore better, conception of life as it is than I have 
theorized it out in my head. As surely as I believe 
it to be necessary that every man who is striving 
with true seriousness after the most possibly com- 
346 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
plete accomplishment of his life task forms a certain 
ideal which floats in front of him in all his actions as 
the aim to which he has to approach as close as 
possible, and as surely as I hope to have created 
for myself such an honest ideal, so just as certainly 
do I now believe that I have become convinced that 
in too prejudiced a pursuit of it, with complete 
neglect of and estrangement from outward real life, 
one recedes from the task which one tried to reach 
through the latter by means of the former. There- 
fore it is my serious aspiration, which will also soon 
be crowned with success, to make myself conversant 
with this real world, without in this endeavor becom- 
ing unfaithful to the precious ideals toward which 
my young mind is still bent; and this intention I 
have now to a great extent reached through my 
present life here . . . 
In old true love your 
Ernst H. 
78. Wurzburg, 13. 1.1856. 
Dear parents, 
The new year has begun with me as the old one 
has closed, i.e., I am now looking with joyful 
courage and confidence, full of hope, into my 
future life, although just now I see before me less 
than ever a definite plan for it. I believe that the 
dear God will keep a subaltern position open for 
me somewhere in the vast realm of natural science. 
“We cannot all be alike!” One of the chief advan- 
347 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
tages I have gained during this winter in this regard 
is the fact that I have learned to perceive that 
medicine is not quite as bad as I had imagined, 
although as a science it is miserable enough. But 
I have at least advanced to this recognition that if 
need be, if the worst comes to the worst, I could 
assume the airs of a practicing doctor. In any 
case, the main thing about it is self-confidence, as 
Mephistopheles very rightly observed: “For only 
if you feel confidence in yourself will other souls 
feel confident in you!” . . . 
With an assistant in the infirmary (Dr. Koch), 
I have been following a private course which has 
given me a very deep inlook into the blackest of 
the black seamy side of medical practice, and have 
had to get accustomed to the most abominable 
things which only half a year ago I could not have 
believed myself possibly capable even of looking 
upon. At first it was very difficult; now I occupy 
myself with these subjects with the same quiet 
cold-bloodedness as with all the others. The purely 
scientific conception of them makes these evil things 
immensely easier to deal with and the greatest 
difficulties easier to be overcome. Only for surgery 
I have a hellish respect, but probably this will also 
partly diminish when I have advanced more in it. 
Up till now I have not practiced it at all, and have 
reserved it, as the only thing left, for Berlin, where 
I hope to get somewhat accustomed to it through 
Langenbeck’s brilliant skill in operations. The 
348 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
advantage which arises from such a systematic 
habituation to disgusting and abhorrent things and 
scenes, from which the non-medical heart recoils, 
is that it assists in the strengthening of character 
and will, and therefore cannot be too highly esti- 
mated, and I remember that I have read in Truth 
and Fiction that Goethe also visited hospitals in 
Strassburg with the sole object of accustoming 
himself to the depressing effect of such revolting 
scenes and thus hardening his supersensitive mind, 
in which he succeeded admirably. And with me it 
is exactly the same thing. But, in addition, I owe 
the truly scientific conception of things which alone 
raises me over these difficulties to the, in this 
respect, incalculable beneficial influence of Virchow 
himself. 
I spent a very merry evening a week ago to-day 
(Sunday) with Beckmann and Strube, when for 
once, in spite of all divergencies of views, we spoke 
out our minds very thoroughly and in a friendly 
spirit to one another. Finally, the conversation 
naturally turned upon our several futures, which 
we depicted to one another in all the various colors 
of youthful imagination, and this brought us into 
so merry a mood that Herr Bundschuh’s excellent 
Leistenwein seduced us into making the following 
comical wager pact: “On New Year’s Eve of the 
year 1866, that is to say, in exactly ten years from 
now, we three would meet again and each leaf of 
the trefoil who in the meantime should have 
349 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
brought home a wife should pay to each remaining 
bachelor ten bottles of the best Wurzburg Bocks- 
beutel!” But the best of it was that each one 
admitted afterward that, as a matter of fact, he 
was half convinced that as far as he himself was 
concerned it seemed to be rather a doubtful bet, and 
that he could not confidently guarantee that mean- 
while his proud youthful neck would not have bent 
under the matrimonial yoke. I, for my part, believed 
myself the most sure of the three, because I hoped 
that that very day ten years hence, or still earlier, 
I would be promenading in the shadows of the 
palms on the shores of a South Sea island, or in 
the forest primeval of Madagascar, rather than in 
the streets of an honest German university town . . . 
On the 2nd January, the anniversary celebration 
of the foundation of the university took place, 
during which the new rector, Hofrat Scanzoni, 
made his inaugural speech, which by reason of its 
outspoken candor produced extraordinary surprise 
and applause. He took as his subject “The free 
right of nomination by the universities.” In a 
historical introduction he pointed out first of all 
that, from the beginning, the universities had been 
nothing but independently united colleges, neither 
founded and ordered, nor under the tutelage of or 
even ruled by the state. Then he further developed 
the fact that one of their first and most precious 
rights is to nominate their own teachers according 
to their own free opinion, and that without this 
350 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
right the universities would soon become slavish 
institutions of education and punishment, as many 
governments took more care to stupefy the people 
and to keep them on as low a plane of education as 
possible than to advance them through the out-spread 
of science. Then followed a tirade, as powerful as it 
was energetic, against the Bavarian Ministry, which 
is just now making strenuous attempts to annihilate 
this right of free nomination of the professors . . . 
I am very sorry that poor Adolf Schubert is again 
worse. I had intended at Christmas to send him 
a little book, which I believe will be most successful 
in the invigoration and strengthening of his whole 
hypochondriacal mental disposition. At least I 
myself owe a great part of my vital energy and 
will power, which I am acquiring more and more 
now, to this little book. It is The Dietetics of the 
Soul, written by Dr. Ernst von Feuchtersleben. 
You would do me a great kindness if you would 
buy this quite excellent little book, which appears 
to me to be created for the healing of Adolf’s con- 
dition, and if you would give it to him from me, 
with the urgent request that he will read it 
repeatedly and thoroughly . . . 
In old faithful love your Ernst. 
79. Wurzburg, 1. 2. 1856. 
My dear Aunt Berta, 
Although I have not written to you for such a 
long, long time, you will surely be convinced that 
351 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
I have been all the more in spirit with you, and 
that I have thought of you in all the joys and 
sufferings that I have experienced during the past 
year in which we have been separated from one 
another. During the delightful pleasure which the 
magnificent Alpine journey has afforded me and 
which has made me so strong and healthy in body 
and mind, I have very frequently thought of you 
and wished that I could communicate to you all 
these most noble of all enjoyments; but all the 
same you were not standing less in spirit before me; 
you strengthened me and comforted me with your 
customary faithful and friendly encouragement 
when I had to accommodate myself here in Wurzburg 
gradually more and more to the conditions of my 
study and of the profession which at first I disliked 
so strongly, and to grow accustomed to the practice 
of which has cost me so much and such difficult 
self-conquest. Thank God, this time is now over, 
and by the self-conquest which I had to learn in 
connection with it, quite another and new, a truer, 
and therefore better, conception of the world than 
I had before has dawned for me. But, as it happens 
with every progress in our human, terrestrial life, 
at every step forward, at every step which after 
much trouble and effort we have mounted upwards, 
a new battle ground is again opening before us, 
and a new aim demanding fresh struggles and new 
strenuous effort beckons in the distance. Thus I 
am also becoming more and more convinced now 
352 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
that, in reality, this quite short span of life is only 
destined for continual fighting and wrestling, and 
that it would be vain and unjust to expect peace 
and rest here. But with every victory won the fight 
becomes all the more difficult: for only thus can 
strength be braced up and continually increased. 
Thus, now that after a long time and years of 
groping and wandering in the dark I have at last 
climbed up to a new stage of light and recognition, 
I can also see that a number of new and previously 
unknown errors and temptations are lying in wait 
for the youth who is entering upon the world, and 
these demand caution and meditation. There is 
one matter that now occupies me a great deal, 
and the more I try to discover light and truth in it 
all, the more dark and confused it appears to me. 
It is the relation of our modern science, the most 
ardent apostle of which it is my greatest pride to 
consider myself, to Christianity on the one hand 
and materialism on the other. The farther that 
research penetrates, the clearer and simpler the 
general natural laws develop and can be reduced 
more and more to purely mechanical conditions 
and, finally, at last, to mathematical formulae 
(which, after all, is contemplated to be the highest 
aim also in organic natural science), all the nearer 
lies the thought and all the greater grows the 
temptation also to seek the last cause of all things 
in such a mechanical, blind, unconscious, natural 
law which knows no exception, and to extract all 
353 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
the consequences which modern materialism deduces 
from it. The consistent and rational natural scien- 
tist, marching forward step by step on a math- 
ematically defined road, as a matter of fact in the 
end finds himself in a fix and a dilemma out of 
which, if he follows the evidence of reason and his 
five senses alone, he searches in vain for a means 
of exit, and of which the layman, who is a stranger 
to the details and thereby also to the spirit of 
natural science, has, indeed, no idea. And do we 
not daily see that the greatest heroes and the leading 
lights of our modern natural science lose their way in 
this labyrinth, succumb in this struggle and finally 
take their refuge in the purest most overt material- 
ism as the only means of salvation? The Vogt- 
Wagner quarrel, about which in the course of 
barely a year a whole library has already been 
written, is a speaking witness to this! And yet, 
how empty, how superficial, how insipid is 
this rational conception driven to its culmination 
point—and how unsatisfied and comfortless it 
leaves the soul that is striving after truth and 
enlightenment! After all, with all their sagacity 
and their sophistry, people always arrive at one 
point where they seek in vain for a way out, and, 
with their restricted human understanding, must 
confess to themselves that they can progress no 
further. It is the point where knowledge ceases 
and where faith, which they would so much like 
completely to deny and abolish, begins. And yet 
354 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
this faith, which has found in Christianity its 
most complete and truest expression, is the only 
anchor of salvation for the soul, which seeks in vain 
for other comfort and other satisfaction. Also I 
myself can only find comfort and peace in this 
Christian belief, which is contemplated by so many 
and such important minds to be mere ridiculous 
foolishness, by my admitting this life of faith as a 
sphere quite apart from the life of knowledge and 
understanding based on the evidence of our five 
senses, which is not only possible side by side with 
it but also necessary, just as justified and even 
infinitely more important . . . 
Your faithful nephew Ernst H. 
80. Wurzburg, 2. 2. 1856. 
Dear parents, 
. . . The carnival pleasures which find such a 
lively and warm reception on the part of the people 
here and which are carried out with so much 
splendor and extravagance have passed without 
leaving a trace, as far as I am concerned. If I had 
felt inclined, I could probably have gone to a ball 
every day; but the two first Harmony balls after 
the new year, at which I was present, have 
thoroughly taken away my appetite for further 
delights of the dance. I must admit that this 
might also be due in part to my way of regarding 
the local balls, which I look upon essentially in the 
light of gymnastic exercises, for which reason, 
355 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
anxious to do my duty, I danced every dance on 
the programme, without allowing my body during 
the whole of the time any refreshment whatever, 
whereby I learnt quite excellently to fast in the 
midst of the abundance that surrounded me. As 
a matter of fact, the Wurzburg ladies are of such 
quality that one cannot contemplate the thing in 
any other light. At least, I endeavored in vain to 
begin a reasonable conversation (which I must 
therefore save up altogether for Berlin) with one 
of them, and as for flattering them about their 
figure, hair, eyes, amiability, etc. (with which their 
other partners entertain them), I have not the 
remotest inclination for this, nor can I perceive 
any justification at all for it. Therefore I leave 
them alone! . . . 
In the infirmary there have been less interesting 
cases than before Christmas, when it was simply 
overflowing with them; on the other hand, how- 
ever, there take place some very strange post- 
mortems, about which I am now quite keen. The 
demonstrations and lectures by Virchow, which 
accompany the post-mortems and follow them, are 
quite delicious, and nowhere else could one hear 
anything like them. If I had not such warm love 
for zoology and botany, to which I shall always 
remain faithful, I would choose pathological 
anatomy before anything else, but specially 
histology . . . 
Your old Ernst. 
356 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
81. Wurzburg, 17. 2. 1856. 
Dearest parents, 
First of all, the heartiest, most fervent thanks 
for your invaluable parental love which you have 
shown me again in such a cordial and sincere man- 
ner on my birthday by so many tokens and words 
of love. It is my most ardent wish, and which was 
also yesterday strengthened in me till it became a 
firm resolution, to make myself more and more 
worthy and deserving of this your precious parental 
love, which to me is always the most valuable and 
on every occasion and under all conditions the most 
comforting and most pleasurable gift, and to 
return your kindness and fidelity as gratefully as 
possible by a strong continuous striving after the 
true and the good, as far as this lies within my 
power. . . . 
What infinite thanks I owe to you, my kind 
loving father, for having forced me, against my 
will, to continue the study of medicine exfundamento 
and to the bitter end. What extraordinary advan- 
tages have I gained thereby! Indeed, I believe that 
there is no better or more thorough school capable 
of stripping off all the numerous hereditary and 
acquired prejudices, and of teaching how to acquire 
a true and naked conception of things as they 
actually shape themselves in real life, than the 
study of medicine, which, as Virchow rightly says, 
is, in reality, the study of man in respect to his 
body and mind, anthropology in the most complete 
357 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
sense of the word. In connection with this, how 
much has the clinical hospital practice, unimportant 
as it was from the scientific point of view, opened 
my eyes! And what a calm outlook into the future 
does this recognition afford me! Although the 
natural scientific, theoretical knowledge of normal 
life, of the vegetable and animal wonder-world, 
will always be my favorite occupation and the chief 
aim of my study, nevertheless, I could now reconcile 
myself to medical practice, which even a year ago 
I would have thought to be simply impossible, 
without much difficulty. And, according to the 
plan of my life as it now lies in front of me, I shall 
have to reconcile myself to it soon enough. I feel 
almost inclined to say that I have become really 
healthy only through the study of disease, at least 
the condition of my constitution as it is now, that is 
to say in general, is a decided state of (compara- 
tive) good health—compared with those hysterico- 
sentimental childish follies through which during 
the last seven terms I embittered my life and that of 
others. I believe that this happy progress is already 
apparent from the fact that since the beginning of 
my magnificent Alpine journey I have not even 
once had a recurrence of my so-called moral fits of 
the blues, which previously, as you know, were a 
part of the regular and necesary events of every 
week with me. And nowT if I ask what in reality 
has produced this happy change of mind, I always 
come back again to medicine, into the study of 
358 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
which I have plunged this year up to my neck. But 
chiefly it is to genial Virchow that I owe the deepest 
gratitude: through his method, indeed the only 
true and correct one, he has given me a taste for 
medicine, that is to say, for the study of the sick 
man, which, but for his natural scientific treatment, 
would in truth have remained for me, as it had for 
so long till now, the same old lumber heap of 
unfounded theories and crude empiricism. I can- 
not tell you what extraordinary elevation, what 
high degree of advancement, not alone of special 
medical training, I owe to Virchow. If you were 
not in Berlin now I would not hesitate to remain 
here still for another year, because just now the 
position of assistant to Virchow will fall vacant. 
I would surely get it without any trouble, and could 
then make myself quite conversant ex fundamento 
with all the details of special pathological anatomy, 
about which I have acquired nothing but a superfi- 
cial idea, and of which I am now standing on the 
threshold. Yet who knows what advantage it 
will be to me that I now turn once again to other 
subjects and learn to move in another sphere? . . . 
20. 2. 1856. 
... In my clinical hospital practice I have now 
to attend the most remarkable old, old witch that 
can be imagined. I really thought that I had dis- 
covered “the old woman with the spindle” in the 
fairy tale of “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood.” 
359 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
At first, up various ladders and through some old 
passages; I had then to climb up an old dilapidated 
staircase, which was near to falling into pieces, and 
under the low roof of an old tower-like watch- 
house, where, in quite a miserable little closet, 
thickly covered with a veil of cobwebs, which had 
probably not been cleared away for years, the gar- 
ret windows of which were pasted over with paper, 
I saw a very old, hoary woman, with a face as yel- 
low as a quince, and parched to a skeleton, sitting 
before a spinning-wheel. Although rather accus- 
tomed to such shuddering scenes, my flesh involun- 
tarily “crept” and some time had elapsed before I 
could begin the usual medical conversation with her, 
through which I learnt that she had already been 
sitting here quite alone for seven years, crippled by 
gout and old age. It was only at midday and in the 
evening that a niece brought up some food to her! 
In addition to her, I am also blessed with old 
women. One fine day I attended two samples at 
once, one more hideous than the other. Yet one 
of them had a very pretty foster daughter. 
Last week in a hovel in the Main quarter (on the 
further side of the Main, a veritable district of 
squalor and misery), I had to visit a nest of half- 
a-dozen foster children, the most wretched worms 
that one can imagine, suffering from rickets, scrof- 
ula, eye diseases, etc. On the whole, however, it 
is very remarkable with me in my clinical occupa- 
tion. Till now not a single patient has died 
360 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
(although I had a few very dangerous cases), 
whereas with an acquaintance of mine ten out of 
thirteen have died! My fellow students envy me 
for this, while I am very sorry, because thereby I 
get no post-mortems, which with all sick people is 
for me the most important—yea, the only interest- 
ing part. In order to compensate me for this bad 
luck, which the others call good luck, last Sunday 
Professor Rinecker made me undertake a post- 
mortem quite alone, from A to Z, from his private 
practice (a five-year-old girl with meningitis tuber- 
culosa, a very beautiful and well-defined case!), 
during which I made such excellent use of all 
I had learnt with Virchow that the professor 
repeatedly and very flatteringly praised me, even 
to Virchow himself. But, indeed, there is nothing 
I am more keen about than dissecting. I run for 
several hours for a single one, just as eagerly as 
formerly for a rare plant!—Tempora mutantur. et 
nos mutamur in illis! The prospect of independ- 
dently making very many post-mortem examina- 
tions is, after all, the only attraction which could 
induce me to practice medicine. I am regard- 
ing the post as assistant to the professor of 
anatomy as being quite a magnificent one, for 
instance, that at the Infirmary, concerning which 
the rumor (?) was spread to-day that it would be 
entrusted to Virchow, with the prospective founda- 
tion of a professorship of pathological anatomy. 
That would be splendid . . . 
361 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Now I must still tell you of a great joke that 
has happened to me, although it is not at an end 
yet. 
At the beginning of this term Virchow made 
me the honorable offer of working up some 
selected lectures of his demonstration course (path- 
ological anatomy and histology), specially with 
regard to rare cases and less-known subjects, and 
to send them to Vienna to the Wiener Medizinische 
Wochensckrift, the editor of which, Dr. Wittelshoefer, 
has asked him for more frequent contributions. 
Although I made sundry objections (about non- 
capability, want of time, etc.), and thus tried to 
get out of it, he pressed me so hard that I seriously 
resolved to make the attempt. Soon afterward 
there occurred two very strange cases of typhoid 
(nerve fever) which were exactly appropriate for it, 
and in connection with it Virchow made a classical 
lecture about the “relation between typhoid and 
tuberculosis.” Therefore I worked this up and 
sent it to Vienna. It appeared in the first two 
numbers of this year’s series (1856) of the Wiener 
Medizinische Wochensckrift. Thereupon there 
appeared—but I will let my editor speak for him- 
self. In an editorial note to the second article on 
“fibroid of the uterus,” which appeared a few 
weeks later in No. 7, he wrote as follows: “We 
must observe emphatically that the articles appear- 
ing under the heading ‘From the pathologico- 
anatomical course of Professor Virchow at Wiirz- 
362 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
burg’ are worked up by permission and under the 
supervision of Professor Virchow, and that in part 
they refer to very interesting cases and in part to 
such chapters as the celebrated professor has not 
published hitherto. We made a similar statement 
already a fortnight ago in anticipation that in the 
malign meanness of the Czecho faction of the so- 
called ‘Viennese School,’ with their parasites, they 
would oppose us with their well-known vulgar 
insinuations—but our statement was ignored. Herr 
Heschl of Cracow, as scribe of the Austrian-Czecho 
faction, took it upon himself, in a communication 
to Herr Haeckel, which was couched in terms of 
unusual cynicism, to oppose the views of Virchow 
as expressed in our articles in the Zeitschrift fur 
praktische Heilkunde. It is not our task to criticize 
the material contents of that article; the person 
attacked will best know how to defend himself. 
But we must throw a light ourselves upon the 
perfidious insinuation which was intended as an 
attack upon us, etc., etc.” This is a short account 
of the facts. In the meantime Virchow has written 
a reply to my aggressors, which will probably 
appear in the next number, together with my third 
composition on “Ovarian cystoids.” He also left 
it to me specially to defend myself if I desired to 
do so, but for which I did not in the least feel 
inclined, as I am still far too young a recruit! 
But how sweet to be attacked for Virchow’s 
sake!! . . . 
363 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
But now, dearest parents, let me greet you for 
the last time from Wurzburg! How immensely 
glad I shall be to see you again so soon. I can 
scarcely await the time! I feel as though I had 
never felt so immensely happy before about my 
home-coming. 
Once again, the heartiest thanks for the beauti- 
ful birthday presents. You have made me quite 
particularly happy with the collection of Virchow’s 
essays, which I am now reading with true delight. 
Thus, for instance, the very first one of all, “The 
Efforts for Unity in Scientific Medicine,” is quite 
delicious, and I could never grow tired of reading 
it . . . 
Now, then, the last happy “good-by”! In three 
weeks from to-day I shall be with you! Hurrah!!! 
Your happy old 22-year-old boy 
Ernst H. 
82. Wurzburg, Wednesday, 23. 1856. 
My dear parents, 
“Alea jacta est—the Rubicon is crossed—I have 
just signed—. . .” These were the words with 
which my honored teacher and present principal 
Virchow surprised me last Saturday at the Anhalter 
railway-station, in order to announce to me his 
definite acceptance of his call to Berlin; with the 
same words I now present myself as his newly 
constituted assistant, under the title of “Royal 
Bavarian assistant at the Pathologico-anatomical 
364 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Institute at Wurzburg,” at an annual salary of 
150 gulden, which, however, in any case, will be 
paid for only half a year! Thus a series of hopeful 
new prospects has been opened out to me. It is 
certain that Virchow will go to Berlin in the autumn, 
and I have now become his assistant here for this 
summer, in the hope that I may continue to be 
the same for some time there. Therefore, we can 
now be heartily glad about the winter! The much- 
dreaded examination was undergone very success- 
fully this morning. In reality the day fixed for it 
was to-morrow (Thursday), but as Virchow told 
me yesterday that if a subject should be available 
it could take place to-day and when I heard this 
morning at 9 o’clock of the arrival of a corpse at 
the School of Anatomy, I lost no time in hastening 
to Virchow. There, accidentally, I met a rival, 
who had abandoned his competition this morning 
and had just given Virchow notice of his with- 
drawal. I was therefore relieved of a great burden! 
From Virchow I went immediately to find the 
Dean, Professor Narr, for whom I searched in 
vain for a whole hour. At last, at 10 o’clock, he 
came home and immediately put up a public notice 
at the Julius Hospital, announcing that the exam- 
ination would take place at 10.30 (which had the 
great advantage that only a few students could 
have the opportunity of reading the notice and of 
honoring me with their presence during the exam- 
ination). At 11 o’clock it took place in the presence 
365 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
of Professors Virchow, Kolliker and Narr (the 
latter in his capacity of Dean), and at 1 o’clock I 
was the assistant! The dissection was interesting, 
but not difficult (haemorrhagic pleurisy on the left 
side, chronic bronchitis on the right side, complete 
adhesion of the pericardium to the lungs, the 
diaphragm and the heart, chronic endocarditis). 
Dr. Grohe, the former assistant, wrote down the 
protocol which I dictated. After I had made the 
autopsy, Virchow made me draw lots for one of 
the three subjects on which I had to make an 
extempore lecture. As good luck had it, I drew: 
“Histology of the tubercle and the structures 
closely related to it.” As I had specially studied 
it (when I supplied the articles to the Wiener 
Medizinische Wochenschrift) the whole story was 
simply child’s play to me. I did not even make use 
of the time offered to me for consideration, but 
immediately began the lecture quite extempore, 
which was absolutely no trouble at all. To-morrow 
I enter upon my new duties, and shall take over 
the pathologico-anatomical museum. Hurrah!!!. . . 
83. Wuezburg, Thursday, 8. 5.1856. 
Dearest parents, 
It is exactly a fortnight to-day since I entered 
upon my new appointment, and consequently it 
is about time that I told you something about it, 
particularly as I have become rather accustomed 
to it and have settled down to my diurnal routine. 
366 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
The first week was more difficult for me than I had 
feared, and the most miserable feeling, without 
courage or comfort, with which I have hitherto 
begun every term (but have not ended one of them 
in the same manner), was also not lacking this 
time. But certainly there were sufficient reasons 
for it now. The contrast between the sublime life 
of the last weeks in Berlin, where I dwelt, extremely 
happy, in the circle of the many dear ones no less 
than in being occupied with my plants and animals, 
and the new life I have had to begin here now 
without all these joys and pleasures, was too great 
to prevent the intense conflict between desire and 
duty, between sentiment and reason, coming to a 
new outbreak. Above all, at first it was the 
thought of my abandoned zoology that would give 
me no rest, day or night. Like the picture of a 
faithlessly abandoned lover, the highly enjoyable 
hours that I owe to this my unforgettable favorite 
study, constantly stood before my soul, and I felt 
that it was almost treason to myself, to my best 
will and aspiration, that I had now so completely 
turned away from it and had diverted my attention 
to an altogether different field of natural science, 
which was originally much more of a stranger to 
me. I am quite unable to tell you how tormenting 
this thought was to me. The whole of the present 
position which I have now acquired so easily 
and which at the end of the last term seemed 
to me to be worthy of the most strenuous endeavor, 
367 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
appeared to me now when I really possess it to be 
so unimportant and unthankful, so low and despic- 
able, that I did not understand how I could have 
preferred it to the divine enjoyment of working 
with Johannes Muller this summer. Gloomy and 
melancholy, I wandered through the bare rooms of 
the pathologico-anatomical museum, and thought 
longingly of the treasures belonging to comparative 
anatomy in the other wing of the anatomical build- 
ing, over which Beckmann was now the absolute 
ruler. Strangely enough, the latter envies me for 
my pathological studies and duties in exactly the 
same manner that I envy him for his zoological 
ones, and it was exceedingly comical to hear us 
mutually complaining in the evening about our 
misfortunes and how one envied the other. It 
was exactly the same story of the two couples in 
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” who had unright- 
eously fallen in love with one another through the 
agency of Puck! May God grant that, after all, 
an Oberon will appear who will guide each one into 
the arms of his true love! To this eternal misery 
there still came the more external and uncomfortable 
feeling which the unacquaintance with all the duties 
and obligations attached to my office caused me, 
and the finding of my way through the overwhelm- 
ing masses of material which were solemnly handed 
over to me from Thursday, 24. 4., till Saturday, 
26. 4. In short, during this first week I felt myself 
so highly uncomfortable and comfortless that it 
368 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
would not be worth while any further to describe 
this miserable state to you, but I know that you 
follow the doings and life of your boy with the most 
loving sympathy, even in his weak and unsatis- 
factory hours. At last, on Monday, 28. 4., that 
is to say, after the lapse of the first week, as with 
one stroke the turning of my thoughts toward 
courage and hope, to energy and love of work, 
began, and I am willing unalterably and continually 
to keep them up to the same satisfactory pitch 
during the whole of this term. The prospect of 
this precious time which is still in front of me in 
Berlin for the next term, and specially the firm 
hope to be able still in the end to give myself up 
entirely for once and all to my most beloved one, 
to zoology, endows me with courage and strength 
to make the best use of the extraordinarily educat- 
ing, although not pleasant position, which, after all, 
I now occupy only as a transitory exigency, and to 
turn it to the best possible advantage. What in 
the beginning of last week lifted me so suddenly 
out of my self-tormenting moods and melancholy, 
which were specially nourished by the fact that, 
in reality, I did not know what I ought to do, was 
the simple circumstance that all at once I became 
completely aware of the latter, that is to say, that 
I had so much work to do that if business is going 
on like that with my official work I shall not have 
spare time in which to prepare an essay. It is true 
that my work as an assistant will not absorb all 
369 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
my strength uninterruptedly as it has done in the 
last days. Often for weeks scarcely any corpses 
for dissection arrive, whereas now, at the sudden 
commencement of the extraordinary cold and damp, 
unpleasant weather which is still lasting to-day, all 
the patients who in the preceding beautiful days 
of April had become seriously ill died all of a sudden 
like flies, and this overcrowded the School of 
Anatomy with so much material that we were 
scarcely able to keep pace with it. Nothing can 
be more desirable for me at the beginning than such 
an almost superabundance of work. There is not 
a spare moment left for me to give myself over to 
useless, egoistic thoughts, and I am so much driven 
from one work to another, that all my forces and 
wits must necessarily be concentrated upon them. 
But in a mood and a position like this present one, 
this is exactly the right thing for me. When I 
know so very distinctly and clearly what I have 
to do, and can then hasten restlessly and untiringly 
during the whole of the day without interruption 
from one completed work to another, then in the 
evening I feel quite happy, and I think with rejoic- 
ing that in any case the day has not been wasted. 
At the same time one glides in this manner so 
absolutely and completely, and at the same time so 
rapidly and comfortably, into the new position that 
one does not perceive the difficulties of it at all. 
This is the case with me now, thanks to the happy 
elasticity of human nature. I am now already as 
370 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
completely at home in my new sphere of activity 
as though I had worked in it for half a year, and 
on the whole I am comparatively quite satisfied 
with it. In it I can still learn much more than I 
had previously thought I would, although at the 
same time there are many unpleasantnesses con- 
nected with it which I had not anticipated would 
be so great. Yet it is all still too new to me for 
me to be able to judge of it completely, and I must 
therefore reserve a full description for a later 
letter . . . 
I rise regularly at 5 o’clock, slowly drink my so- 
called coffee (a decoction of various dried roots, etc.), 
during which time I repeat my normal anatomy 
from my magnificent Atlas by Froriep, and at 
6 o’clock I am already at the School of Anatomy, 
which from then, with the exception of the midday 
hours from 2 till 3, is my continual abode till the 
evening at 7 o’clock. During this time I generally 
remain in Virchow’s working room, a small one- 
windowed room which looks so confusedly mystical 
and admiredly disordered that a witch’s kitchen, 
or, better still, the laboratory of an alchemist of 
the Middle Ages, could only give you a faint idea 
of it . . . 
After all, how much can one change! A year has 
not yet passed since I could have jumped out of 
my skin at the bare idea of a surgical operation, 
and now I am already performing these things 
myself as coolly and quietly as though I were dis- 
371 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
secting a frog. What cannot habit achieve! Grad- 
ually I begin to believe that a man with a serious 
will is capable of training himself to all possible 
things . . . 
Three times a week, from 6 till 7 o’clock, my 
dear good Beckmann reads his first lecture, a 
repetition of zoology, which I also follow, although, 
far inferior to him in other things, I have exactly 
as much knowledge about this as he has himself. 
Nevertheless, it gives me very great pleasure. 
From the very beginning, Beckmann’s delivery, 
as I had expected it would be, was very good, and 
I surely believe that some day he will have great 
success as a docent. On the whole, I am on as 
excellent terms with Beckmann as I could wish. 
The very disturbing foreign elements which mingled 
in our intercourse last winter are now very happily 
absent, and thus I get along with him alone quite 
excellently now. Beckmann’s remarkable personal 
amiability and modesty, his rich natural scientific 
and general knowledge, make his intercourse with 
me exceedingly pleasant, and he also seems (in 
respect to my serious humanitarian endeavors) to 
be much more satisfied with me . . . 
The most delicate and the most difficult thing 
about my present position now is my relation 
toward my chief, of which, however, I shall only 
be able to tell you later when I know more about 
it myself. Till now Virchow has been very nice 
and friendly to me. Yet he is far too reserved and 
372 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
cautious for me to be able to judge whether he is 
satisfied with me or not. At first it appeared that 
he was not. My whole character, my whole manner 
of treating things, is so different from his own that 
he could scarcely approve of it. Unhappily I 
have not received from nature the slightest trace 
of the divine calmness, coolness and consistency 
with which he, ever the same, conceives everything 
highly objectively and clearly, and my haste, heat 
and unrestfulness are not very agreeable to him. 
How often during the first days, when I was taking 
over the collections, etc., from my predecessor, 
Dr. Grohe, who knew how to adapt himself com- 
pletely to Virchow and who likewise has much 
more of a congenial nature, had I to listen to words 
like these: “No, that will not do here like that, 
dear Haeckel; only quiet—cool—dry! Why all 
the haste and excitement? Only quite gently 
and calmly, and everything will proceed much 
better! ” 
Now, after all, I shall have to get accustomed to 
it, and it will be very beneficial to me if I adopt 
as much as possible this coolness and calmness. 
In any case I have the best opportunity for doing 
so, as from 10 o’clock in the morning, when 
Virchow comes to the School of Anatomy, till 7 or 
8 in the evening I am almost constantly with him. 
This continual close intercourse with such a man 
as Virchow will altogether be the most advantageous 
and most profitable side of my assistantship. It is 
373 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
really most interesting and instructive to follow 
and to see the whole day long such a tremendous 
genius in all his movements, how he begins, pene- 
trates into and combines all things—in a word, to 
see him work and create. 
Certainly by the side of such a gigantic spirit I 
feel all the more what miserable worms I and most 
of my fellow students really are, and one actually 
feels inclined to despair altogether of one’s own 
ability. But for the moment for once I think of 
completely abandoning all self-thought, and of 
striving as well as I can to follow and train myself 
after his extraordinary example. The former assis- 
tant, Dr. Grohe, who is remarkably obliging, 
officious and attentive, and who has now quite 
spoilt Virchow in this direction, has created some- 
what of an awkwardness in my position toward the 
latter. Under these circumstances it is doubly 
difficult for me, who know nothing of this by nature, 
to win Virchow’s approbation. Nevertheless, I shall 
do my utmost to adapt myself to such close per- 
sonal services, especially as I have dedicated this 
summer entirely to this office. In any case, there 
is no time to work for myself at anything else, and, 
moreover, there is much that is pleasant in devoting 
oneself for once exclusively to one branch without 
being distracted by others. 
Naturally, my relations with the other professors 
are very pleasant, as well as with the students, 
who pay me great respect, which at first was not a 
374 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
little flattering to my vanity, but to which I have 
now grown quite accustomed . . . 
Heartiest greetings! 
Your Ernst. 
84. Wurzburg, 20. 5. 1856. 
Dear parents, 
. . . On Whitsun Day I went again early to 
church, for the first time this term, and it will also 
probably be for the last, for, as a rule, on Sundays 
(when Virchow will always visit his family at their 
summer residence at Veitshochheim) I shall have 
just as much to do as on the other days, and, 
secondly, I must confess that the capacities of the 
preachers here are in my opinion far from satis- 
factory. Putting aside the fact that the Divine 
Service here is already inclining very much toward 
that of the Catholics, which, if possible, is probably 
still more despised by me than by yourself, dearest 
mother, the dogmatic-orthodox standpoint, which 
is universally accepted here and which affronts our 
natural science convictions based on facts, also, 
necessarily, cannot be very agreeable to myself; 
and a Christian rationalism, as Sydow declares in 
his excellent sermons, or an ethical humanism, as 
Weisse (the Leipzig philosopher) expounds in his 
essays, or perhaps both together, constitute for my 
present religious conscience and needs the only 
suitable standpoint. Nevertheless, I am still of 
the opinion that each one can and must firmly 
375 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
create his own religion for himself, according to his 
individual peculiarities, and that the words of 
Schiller: “In seinen Gottern malet sich der Mensch” 
(Man is reflected in his Gods), are in this respect 
surely very true. I am impelled all the more to 
this freer and more independent conception, the 
more strikingly and repulsively the superstitious 
formalism and the quite un-Christian image wor- 
ship, the priest rule and Mary cult of Catholicism, 
confront me here now in these Whitsun days and 
the time of festivity following it, the acquaintance 
of which in its most disgusting excesses I already 
made last autumn in the Tyrol and in Upper Italy. 
May it be ousted more and more by enlightenment 
and true education, for the propagation of which 
we natural scientists are specially capable . . . 
On Whit-Monday, the weather being fairly good, 
we took a special train to Veitshochheim, where in 
the great park, laid out and trimmed in the old 
French style, a real Bavarian (that is to say, beer) 
people’s fete was taking place. But as the one is 
just as despicable to me as the other, the Bavarian 
beer national life if possible still more than the 
abominable French rococo style, very soon I with- 
drew from my friends, who tried in vain to amuse 
themselves in the noisy crowd with bad beer, and I 
climbed up through the vineyards to my beloved 
old Edelmanns-Waldspitze, the same prominent 
edge of the wood above the high vineyards to which 
I dragged you up, too, dearest father, during your 
376 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
stay here. There, amid the magnificent green 
foliage of May, under the wide blue sky, I felt in 
a very fervent and uplifted mood, and nearly 
became sentimental. Indeed, the whole environ- 
ment filled me to the depths of my heart with silent 
happiness, “rejoicing in my God,” as old Hein says. 
But now, as I entered for the first time from the 
dark, dead anatomical school and my cell of a 
study, into the fresh splendor of spring, this was 
redoubled bliss for me. And then, the wonderfully 
magnificent view from the high point of the wood, 
up and down the smiling Main valley—along the 
blue stream the numerous cheerful little villages, 
with their red roofs and slender church spires 
nestling in the fresh May verdure of the orchards; 
the solemn calm of the festival day, only inter- 
rupted by the merry piping of the finches and the 
melodious trill of the nightingale, overspread 
the whole scene; and then the wonderful play of 
the wild wind with the swaying clouds, which, rolled 
together and massed into the strangest, most 
adventurous shapes and fanastic forms, it drove 
in front of it, and how on the southwestern horizon 
they all towered together in a great encampment, 
just as once before I observed such a cloud forma- 
tion on the Watzmann!—all, all this together pro- 
duced such a unique, delicious spectacle that I felt 
as though nature had prepared for her darling, or 
rather her lover, quite a special festival pleasure, 
of which all the thousands of people crowded in 
377 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
the narrow comfortless artificial garden had no 
idea; and there was I, lying up there for several 
hours, quite enchanted and blissful under the green 
trees, throwing myself out in ecstatic joy into the 
wide valley of the Main, and missing nothing but 
you Berlin souls to make my joy complete. But 
this spot of earth here has now become my favorite 
one in the whole of the surroundings of Wurzburg. 
How often have I lain down here for hours quite 
alone with my nature, and have brought back with 
me to the cramped existence in my room and 
study, strength and refreshment in the scent of 
the woods and the air of the mountains! It is 
exactly from this point that I have already taken 
leave of the Wurzburg country more than three or 
four times, always with the idea that I would never 
return to it; and yet I have always come back, 
and each time to new advantage and profit. Thus, 
a short time ago, in the beginning of February 
when I was there for the last time before the vaca- 
tion, I believed that that would surely be the last 
time for ever—and now, contrary to all expecta- 
tion I was there once more on Whit-Monday, 1856, 
and, as I surely believe, only for a new advantage 
to my inner development. Following this thought, 
I became filled with joyous thanksgiving to God, 
who, without any effort being made either by you 
or by me, has guided me so successfully during the 
precious time of my studies, and who has always 
led me back to this place, undoubtedly for my 
378 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
greatest benefit. What would have become of me 
if I had always remained in Berlin! An extremely 
dull, misanthropic Philistine, a narrow - minded 
bookworm, and, in any case, also no medical man! 
When I except Johannes Muller, who, I must admit, 
has had quite a decisive influence in the direction 
of my favorite study, I owe everything else that I 
am and have acquired in respect to science to old 
Wurzburg with its inspiring and vigorous teachers, 
its lively scientific tendencies and its sound common 
association. How much have I learnt here, and 
how much have I altered! All those thoughts came 
so vividly into my mind on this beautiful Whit- 
Monday, and brought me into such a happy mood 
of contentment that I thought I had never had 
such a joyous holiday, and in the most serious 
manner I renewed the firm resolution I had made, 
that I would pursue the lofty aim of the “true, 
good and beautiful” with the exertion of all my 
strength. These were hours of an elevated mood, 
and I know well that I am not so sure and confident 
that they will not once more be followed by hours 
of faintheartedness and despondency. 
But let them come! Such uplifting hours always 
give me strength and courage for a long time, and 
gradually I acquire a somewhat firmer, more con- 
stant equanimity, a more settled, manly character, 
to attain which I am now passing through quite an 
excellent, although not a very pleasant school, in 
my assistantship with Virchow . . . 
379 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Wurzburg, 21. 5.1856. 
... I have now become quite accustomed to 
my new official conditions. As I have already 
written to you, the first three or four days were 
very difficult ones for me. Now that I had to sur- 
render it so suddenly, I found for the first time that 
I could thoroughly appreciate the sweetness of 
academic freedom, the happiness of disposing of 
my time exactly as I wished. Surely I have always 
been accustomed to continuous work; but that I 
had for once to do something not only for my own 
development but also for others, appeared to me 
at first to be very repugnant. But fortunately 
there was soon so much work to be done that I had 
no time to brood over it. With one jump I fell 
completely into the sphere of activity, and after a 
week had passed by I was already quite accustomed 
to it. Now I feel as though it could not be otherwise, 
and everything appears to me to be quite easy and 
natural. As I had foreseen, all the many unpleas- 
antnesses of the delicate position are more than 
counterbalanced by the great advantage which it 
has for the development of my knowledge, as well, 
especially, as of my character. There is daily a 
greater demand upon it, but gradually it is able 
better than ever before to stand every test and 
task. It often seems to me to be almost incredible 
that men can eradicate even the most deeply rooted 
and most firmly engrained weaknesses simply 
through progressive habit. Sights and thoughts, 
380 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
at the mere mention of which I believed only a 
year ago that I would have jumped out of my skin 
from sheer sensitiveness and sensibility, I now 
suffer with the same equanimity and indifference 
with which I follow any mathematical process. 
The scientific interest undoubtedly helps one to 
overcome many difficulties, and, besides, my present 
daily work is exactly adapted, more than anything 
else, to rid me of such weaknesses. Thus, for 
instance, the first post-mortem that Virchow handed 
over to me altogether to perform by myself was on 
a medical student, Schmitt, of Lippspringe, to 
whom this last winter I had been talking almost 
regularly throughout the whole of the nights in the 
lying-in hospital. Even shortly before Easter he 
had wished me a merry farewell “till we meet in 
Berlin!” And now, instead of that, he was lying 
on the dissecting table before me, having died from 
acute general tuberculosis. Another hard trial 
was happily overcome the day before yesterday. 
Hitherto I had always made the dissections only 
in the presence of a few doctors or students, but 
two so-called “clinical dissections” were announced 
to take place the day before yesterday, and during 
them not only the whole of the clinical auditorium 
was filled, but the professors were also present. 
As a rule these are made by Virchow himself, and 
I have only to write down the protocol. The day 
before yesterday I passed through the dissecting 
room shortly before they were to begin, and when 
381 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
I saw the great crowd I said to myself: “You are 
lucky not to have to make the dissection!” This 
had scarcely crossed my mind, when the servant 
came rushing to me and cried: “The professor 
has sent me to say that you are to make the two 
dissections; he has to go to the station to meet two 
gentlemen from Berlin!” Here was another bolt 
from the blue, quite sufficient to make me lose my 
head altogether. However, it had to be done! 
The audience was there, and whether I wanted to 
or not I had to make the two dissections (two cases 
of pneumonia, almost exactly similar to one 
another), extempore in the presence of Professor 
Bamberger, etc. Naturally I began by cutting 
my finger several times with trembling hands 
(happily without any evil consequences), and it 
was only with difficulty and with a choking voice 
that I made the opening observations. But after 
the first quarter of an hour all my nervousness had 
disappeared, and I went through with my task 
without further embarrassment. Contrary to all 
expectations, I have also become quite accustomed 
to the surgical operation course, and to my satis- 
faction I observe there daily that I am far from 
being the most clumsy one, as in this I am decidedly 
surpassed by several older ones. Yes, the systematic 
amputation of arms and legs, the exarticulations 
and trepannings, etc., even begin already, although 
more as curiositatis causa, to afford me some 
pleasure. So the last barrier which I feared would 
382 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
make it impossible for me to become a doctor, and 
which I had believed to be unsurmountable, has 
fallen, and I am already so far reconciled to the 
thought of becoming, in case of need, a practicing 
doctor, that the realization of it no longer appears 
to me to be so impossible, especially when I think 
of a very nice family life in connection with it, a 
happiness surely quite unique in its way! But 
before that I must travel! The joy of traveling is 
far too deeply and ineradicably implanted in my 
whole being that it could be subservient to any 
other consideration, and on such beautiful days as 
to-day and yesterday have been it makes my legs 
tremble as though I ought immediately to climb up 
the Watzmann! The powerful development of my 
muscles which I acquired on the journey last 
autumn is now with much sitting really inconvenient. 
I have altogether far too energetic a carcass for an 
eternally sedentary life, and I must absolutely go forth 
some day and wander through the world for a few 
years! I do not yet know how I shall be able to stand 
the whole summer here in this narrow little spot! 
With regard to my personal relations with the 
chief, now the most difficult question, they are not 
yet quite as they should be! And it will scarcely 
become different; surely never easy. If Virchow 
would only not be so extremely reserved and never 
indicate in the slightest manner what he really 
wants and means. Thus, for example, he has never, 
even once, spoken a word of praise or blame about 
383 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
what I have done, although he has had abundant 
occasions for the latter. He looks at everything 
with such astounding calmness, unmoved and 
objectively passive, that daily I learn more and 
more to admire his extraordinary stoical calmness 
and sang froid, and I shall soon estimate it as 
highly as I do the remarkably clear sharpness of 
his mind and the wealth of his learning, If he 
could only bestow some of it upon my bubbling, 
sparkling spirit! Well, it will be all right in time! 
Now, at least, I have advanced so far that I think 
over every sentence I say to him for a quarter of 
an hour, and even then I turn it around ten times 
in my mouth before I utter it. Thereby I shall 
surely learn silence magnificently! The only reason 
for my doing this is that during the first time when 
I blurted out my thoughts quite unrestrainedly, as 
I had been accustomed to do, I either burnt my 
muzzle so much that afterwards I stood as though 
I had had a cold water douche, or I was led by 
him ad absurdum to such an extent that I felt I 
was the most trivial worm among all the stupid 
people. The most satisfactory retort that I have 
been able to extract from him hitherto was when I 
communicated to him an idea that had struck me 
concerning a microscopical observation, and from 
which I had promised myself wonders. “Yes,” 
said Virchow in his usual calm manner, after he 
had listened to me, “at a certain period of my life 
I had also once the same idea myself!” In com- 
384 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
parison with this quiet, clear, sharp greatness, 
how often have I cursed the triviality of my unrest- 
ful spirit, which flutters to and fro like a will-o’- 
the-wisp and can never detach itself definitely and 
distinctly from its own self! How little is such a 
cloudy, confused, subjective being fitted to be a 
naturalist! And yet, there are hours when I would 
not like to change places with Virchow. Can 
Virchow ever enjoy such a charming pleasure as 
I do so often in my subjective contemplation of 
nature, be it of a beautiful landscape or of quite a 
dear little animal or of a pretty plant? Surely not! 
It would be terrible, too, in this world if all men 
were so matter-of-fact and reasonable; nearly as ter- 
rible as though they all possessed such crazy, 
chaotic brains as those of my humble self . . . 
85. Wurzburg, 11. 6.1856. 
My dear parents, 
... I have been working for nearly a month on 
the subject given to me by Virchow for an essay, 
without arriving at the slightest result. I am to 
investigate the nature and the manner of the forma- 
tion of small cysts, which are very frequently found 
in the network of blood vessels (plexus chorioidei) 
in the cavities of the brain; this is a confoundedly 
delicate and difficult subject, and for my rough 
hands, and particularly with my restless impatience, 
rather too delicate. Already I have often enough 
completely lost courage, and sometimes, after I have 
385 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
been sitting from two to four hours behind my micro- 
scope without any result, I would like to run away. 
But my motto is: “Stick to it!” and at all events 
it teaches me patience. But of hope I have little . . . 
Last week, as an exception, there was very little 
to be done. Absolute immortality seemed to have 
entered into the hospital. All the more time wherein 
I could work at anatomy. But the day before 
yesterday, as well as yesterday, there were suddenly 
three post-mortems, so that I had more than 
enough to do. During the great heat the post- 
mortems, with their dirt and stench, the corruption 
being greatly accelerated at the same time by the 
considerable humidity, become very unpleasant 
now, even for Virchow himself. But I have now 
thoroughly overcome every kind of aversion and 
terror, have so completely thrown off the whole 
load of prejudices and moods which I dragged 
along with me as a snail drags its house, that 
absolutely nothing of all the horror, and for the 
layman gruesomeness, which there is in medicine 
can any more in any way put me out of countenance. 
How one can change! When, in 1852, I began as 
a miserable “fag” to make anatomical prepara- 
tions, I could only pick up everything as far as 
possible with forceps and rags, and if by accident 
I cut my finger, even over quite a healthy subject, 
I immediately cauterized myself with lunar caustic 
so strongly that the wound suppurated for six 
weeks afterwards. Now I rummage, even with 
386 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
torn and scratched hands, in all the foul matter as 
indifferently as though I were arranging plants, 
and, up till now, nothing untoward has happened 
to me. The absolute indifference with which one 
regards death is really strange, and I would never 
have thought that I could stand all this with such 
stoical calmness . . . 
My personal relations with Virchow always 
remain the same, cold and objective, and this is 
certainly highly advantageous to me, for the reason 
that thereby I get thoroughly rid of my terrible 
subjectivity. But while it lasts, there is something 
sad about it, and I would render my little services 
with much more readiness and attention in every 
respect if at the same time he would approach me 
more sympathetically. How much happier has been 
the experience of Lachmann with his divine 
Johannes Muller, to relieve as far as possible the 
most tedious and unfertile trouble of whom must 
be a real pleasure! . . . 
Now I take somewhat more regular exercise. My 
plethoric carcass cannot stand the everlasting sitting 
without a break, and the good resolution I made 
not to go out of the town for the whole of the 
summer, and to squat in the School of Anatomy 
day in day out, has already been broken. In the 
evening towards 9 o’clock, I generally go to a place 
below the Kappele and swim about there in the 
Main for half an hour in the twilight or the moon- 
light—quite a divine pleasure. Next to mountain 
387 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
and rock climbing and the “three-legged” sliding 
down over the sloping snow fields, swimming has 
for ever so long been my greatest pleasure; but 
since I have tasted the delights of the magnificent 
waves of the stormy North Sea and the mirror of 
the mild Adriatic at Venice, the modest rivers have 
no more any flavor for me. So then I try to make 
up for the lack of waves by the most extreme bodily 
evolutions, and I splash and flounder about in the 
tame water like a whale on a harpoon. Altogether, 
the wild exuberance of the youthful gayety of my 
childhood begins powerfully to awaken after a 
long and lazy slumber, and the feeling of “far, far 
out into the world” often seizes me as though I 
must suddenly escape from the narrow cage and 
go for a journey or into the wars. Then I look out 
longingly toward the blue mountains of the Rhon 
and the Odenwald, which are shimmering across 
over the high bank of the Main, and I wonder what 
there might be behind them, and console myself with 
the hope of better times. Little Beckmann has 
very often such a warlike fit of craziness also, and 
we vividly inspire one another in thought with the 
heroic deeds we shall perform in the next war . . . 
Your old Ernst. 
86. Wurzburg, 27. 6.1856. 
My dearest mother, 
. . . The enclosed pictures are meant to be 
nothing more than a visible token of my filial 
388 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
birthday greeting to you, my dearest mother. For 
a long time I have not drawn anything nice, so 
that I have become quite out of practice, and 
nothing satisfactory has come of my efforts. But, 
as you are always glad, even with the worst work 
of your boy, I send them to you. Probably Aunt 
Berta will also have given you a large picture of 
Bozen, Meran and its surroundings, at least I asked 
her to give it to you before your departure. 
Besides that, you will also get a few Bocksbeutels 
from me, but I did not want to send them to you 
now at Nenndorf, because in no case will you be 
allowed to drink them there. I shall bring them 
with me in the autumn, and surely they will taste 
twice as good because they have been purchased 
with my first hardly-earned salary. I am paid the 
latter now in monthly instalments of VH}4 A- (that 
amounts daily to 24 and 48/73 kreuzer). In addi- 
tion, there came quite unexpectedly yesterday 
rather a nice extra remittance, which I had not 
reckoned upon at all. That is to say, I received 
from Vienna, to my surprise, an honorarium of 20 
taler (say twenty taler!) for my articles in the 
Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift. You can imag- 
ine how astonished I was at this generosity on the 
part of the editor and the reception of the “smart- 
money” (as Virchow called it)! I shall devote this 
respectable little sum, together with my salary, to 
ordering for myself a small microscope, of which I 
am in absolute need, at Schieck’s for 50 taler . . . 
389 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Last week was distinguished here by a great fes- 
tivity: the King and Queen of Bavaria stopped 
here for a day on their way through to Bad 
Briickenau. Professor Scanzoni, personal physician 
to the Queen, who at the same time is the Rector 
of the University now, took all the trouble to 
arrange a magnificent torchlight procession of the 
students in honor of the event and as the torches 
were supplied gratis, it really passed off very 
brilliantly. The five corps, with their multicolored 
caps and banners, naturally played the leading 
part in it. But also the bulk of the others, the 
so-called “wild” students, about 700 in number, 
made quite an imposing impression. When the 
great crowd took up its position on the large 
presidential square in front of the castle, the red 
glow of the torches completely dimmed the pale 
luster of the illuminations and the thick black 
smoke rolled like a heavy cloud. The streets and 
houses still show the sad traces of it to-day. I 
also played a role in it, as I conceived the happy 
idea, as I had done already before (1852) on the 
occasion of the torchlight procession in honor of 
Virchow, to don my large black dissecting overall, 
which, as a matter of fact, has become a kind of 
official dress for me. My long black figure, with 
fair hair and an old dark Calabrian hat, is said to 
have looked really grandiose, and excited general 
applause. Some took me for a member of the fire 
brigade, others rather for one of the devils who 
390 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
brought down Don Juan; item, I gave a very 
effective character masque. Indeed, the event 
afforded me such enjoyment that in spite of myself 
I became quite frolicsome and swung my long 
torches about. Such a torchlight procession always 
makes me feel very jolly, because there is some- 
thing so wild and fantastic about it, and the thought 
that this would probably be the last one in which I 
would have the chance of taking part chiefly led 
me to participate in it, although, in reality, I saw 
no reason why we should give a torchlight proces- 
sion in honor of a king, and least of all the King of 
Bavaria. On the other hand, I was specially 
reprimanded from the Bavarian side, as a servant 
of the Royal Bavarian State, for such a lack of 
patriotism and such Prussian particularism, so that, 
in order not to spoil myself with the Bavarians, I 
resolved to take part in the fun . . . 
Your faithful old Ernst. 
87. Wurzburg, 10. 7.1856. 
Dear parents, 
The day before yesterday I received your last 
dear letter, which has made me very sad by the 
news that you, dear little mother, are suffering 
from intermittent fever. Almost greater than my 
grief, however, was the anger I felt against your 
two doctors, the one because he has sent you to 
such a fever-stricken spot, and the other because 
he treats you in such a manner. If what you say 
391 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
about the latter is really true, namely that he is 
not uneasy about it and that he believes “that 
there might be something remaining in mother’s 
system which the latter wants to throw off in this 
way,” if he really meant that, the Herr v. M., 
no matter how much he pretends to agree with you 
in your political views, is, to say the least of it, 
such a duffer, or, better still (with all due respect), 
an a-s, as only a daft watering-place doctor can be. 
I cannot tell you how angry I have been about this 
single sentence, which must offend every rational 
medical man to his soul; I felt most inclined to 
throw the first book that came to hand on febris 
intermittens at his head! This is really too insane! 
Indeed, one need not be an experienced medical 
man to know that intermittent fever has nothing 
to do with mother’s “residuum of disease,” which, 
in fact, is non-existent, except in the heads of 
medical practitioners, but has solely and alone been 
produced by peculiar unfavorable combinations of 
the climatic and soil conditions of the places where 
it occurs; it is specially swampy atmosphere that 
is the main cause of it. Please write very soon and 
let me know how Mama progresses, and answer 
the following questions: 1) Is your apartment per- 
haps situated on damp, low soil (in which case you 
must immediately change to a dry, airy one), or has 
Mama perhaps taken a walk in the evening in such 
country? 2) Whence do you derive your drinking 
water? 3) Are there many cases of intermittent 
392 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
fever in Eilsen? 4) How is Eilsen situated, on a 
river or in a swampy district? 5) How often do 
the attacks of fever recur? once a day? and when? 
6) Up till now have they diminished or not? To 
ease your mind I can assure you that, although 
intermittent fevers are very unpleasant, they are in 
no way dangerous; indeed, it is in reality the 
disease that is the easiest and the most certain to 
be cured, because it is the only one against which 
we possess a really infallible specific remedy. It 
is, as you will know, Cinchona bark, and still better 
the drug quinine made from it; the chief of all 
remedies, because the only sure one ... In case 
Mama has not taken any quinine yet, I am sending 
you the enclosed prescription, which Mama must, 
whatever happens, take. Dearest little Mother, 
according to it you will receive twelve powders 
which, however, you are only allowed to take 
when you have no fever, and then at first one 
every two hours, later on, when the fever does not 
recur, every three hours. In order to take away 
the bitter taste, you had better swallow it in a 
spoonful of black coffee, and after it a thin slice of 
lemon covered with sugar. Even when the fever 
is over you must continue to take the quinine 
powders for at least a week aftei'wards, but then 
you need to take only three to four doses a day. 
If, again, Eilsen is a place where intermittent fever 
is endemic, where individual cases of it always 
occur, you must absolutely leave the place as 
393 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
quickly as possible, otherwise all the quinine in 
the world will scarcely help you, and there will 
always be a recurrence of it in the swampy 
atmosphere. . . . 
But I have also been in no little anger about 
your doctor for having sent you to such a watering 
place. May all these damnable watering places, 
together with all their doctors, go to the devil! 
I cannot tell you how I hate them, and how angry 
I am with the doctors who send reasonable patients 
to such places, to which in reality only those people 
go who do not know how else to get rid of their 
money, time and boredom! In any case, the waters 
are always of very little assistance or even of none 
at all. The real effect is that these people are 
abstracted from their ordinary everyday conditions, 
they forget the customary domestic anxieties, wor- 
ries and work, they have quiet and leisure, as well 
as the greatest possible enjoyment of free and beau- 
tiful nature. But all this your doctor would have 
attained much better if, instead of sending you to 
a monotonous watering place, where one sees noth- 
ing but cripples, he had sent you into a magnificent 
mountainous district, as, for instance, the Salzkam- 
mergut, which is very easily accessible, even for 
ladies, to Berchtesgaden, Ischl or Gastein, where 
in the divine Alpine air you would quickly become 
well again, and where you could also even have 
taken baths ... 
I wish you had been here at the beginning of this 
394 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
week, for there was held the great 50th anniversary 
celebration of the foundation of the Polytechnic 
Society, the first and greatest in Germany, and 
which lasted from Sunday till Wednesday (the 6th 
till the 9th), and for which numerous visitors had 
streamed in from every direction. It was indeed 
exceedingly imposing. I have never seen such 
crowds of people at one time. The most beautiful 
of all was the great festival procession which 
paraded through all the main streets of the town 
on Sunday and lasted from 9 till 1 o’clock. Taking 
part in it were the schools, the citizens, visitors, all 
the members of the Society, especially of all the 
guilds who appeared and paraded in a really very 
well arranged and tasteful fashion. Most of the 
corporate bodies took part, festively decorated in 
the allegorically ornamented dress of their respec- 
tive callings: in front was carried a flag, then came 
the emblems and the signs of the different trades. 
In addition, many corporations decorated a cere- 
monial festal car, filled with ingenious representa- 
tions, which went in advance with brass and drum; 
amongst them the masons, sawyers, architects, 
whitewashers, foresters, tool-manufacturers, car- 
penters, locksmiths, etc. The very poetically 
garbed fishermen, who paraded in a very suitable 
and nice old-German fisherman’s dress, carrying 
flags woven from nets, and other emblems, were 
the best of all. In their midst, drawn on four 
wheels which were concealed by reeds, there was 
395 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
a large boat decorated with water-plants, sails, 
pennants and flags, which was directed in front by 
old Neptune, while under a bower, delicately woven 
out of nets, there sat charming little children who 
were netting. The carpenters, with cradle and 
coffin as emblems, with flags formed from wood- 
shavings, with compass and square as coat of arms, 
etc., also made a very good impression. The 
appearance of the carters, who formed a cavalcade, 
riding on their jaded screws of horses, real regi- 
ments, was very comical. The gardeners with the 
flowergirls were also very prettily dressed and 
decked out in green and white, carrying between 
them a gigantic bouquet of flowers with garlands. 
Also the tinsmiths, equipped in knightly armor; 
glaziers, hung around with very beautiful multi- 
colored glassware; butchers, in red and white, 
flourishing their knives; chimney-sweeps, in a cere- 
monial state car; goldsmiths, decorated with rich 
dresses; builders, driving a whole bridge with 
scaffolding, and workmen on a car, etc. You ought 
to have been there and have seen the whole turn- 
out, in order to form an idea of the glamor and 
splendor of it all. On the whole these people develop 
much more glamor and splendor, jest and ingenuity, 
than I would have given them credit for. The 
sorriest impression was made by the figures of the 
men themselves, who, with few exceptions (notably 
the fishermen, masons, tailors, etc.), exhibited a 
gloomy picture of the decadent, weak character 
396 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
of our present generation, among whom one sought 
in vain for strong, manly old-German statures . . . 
With the heartiest wishes for your speedy and 
complete recovery, 
Your old faithful Ernbt. 
88. Wurzburg, 17. 7. 1856. 
Dearest parents, 
... I thank God that our dear Mother has 
somewhat improved. I cannot tell how much the 
thought of her, especially the well-grounded fear 
of her being in the hands of a miserable quack, has 
tormented and worried me day and night. This 
one distracting thought has scarcely allowed me 
to have any others, and at least has had the good 
result that I have hardly taken any notice at all 
of several very unpleasant events which have 
affected me during the last few days. If your letter 
to-day had not brought me the tardy news that 
that ass of a doctor has at last resorted to quinine, 
I would have prepared a letter for him from which 
he could have acquired the taste of truth, word for 
word, in rather a bitter way. Such behavior in the 
year 1856 is really unheard of, and deserves to be 
exposed as a “caution to snakes.” This fellow has 
so annoyed me that out of sheer hatred and anger 
I could have given him a good thrashing . . . 
If you, dear father, believe that you have found 
in M. such an amiable man, holding similar views 
to your own, be aware and consider that these 
397 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
people are like courtiers, or like galoshes, or still 
more like the gutta percha wine-stoppers, which 
take any shape you may care to give them—and 
who only dance to the tune you play to them! 
While he is in your presence he swears he is a 
liberal, and in the next moment he glorifies abso- 
lutism with a Junker, while a little time before that 
he has been swearing with a democrat for the Red 
Republic! These shallow, oily, polished people of 
'‘high breeding” offend me to the soul! . . . 
For my part, I have often thanked God recently 
that he made me study medicine, so that, at all 
events, I shall not fall an innocent victim myself 
into the bungling hands of such a quack, and that 
at least I can protect and warn my dear ones against 
him. 
. . . May the dear God make everything happen 
for the best, and make good all that men endeavor 
to ruin. I trust that he will soon restore you, my 
dearest little mother, into my arms, quite well and 
happy like my old dear one! . . . 
At present I am getting on quite well with 
Virchow. It seems as though we are gradually 
getting somewhat accustomed to one another. The 
day after to-morrow we are to give him a great 
farewell banquet. Beckmann becomes more and 
more friendly, and is really quite a splendid man. 
My best physical pleasure now is swimming, which 
I practice with almost excessive vigor. For example, 
the day before yesterday I floundered about in the 
398 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
Main for over an hour, till I was quite limp and 
done up, in fact, until I was actually dog-tired. 
Afterward I always feel very comfortable and very 
well . . . 
89. Wurzburg, 21. 7. 1856. 
Dear parents, 
The last days have unexpectedly brought some 
very pleasant variety into my monotonous life, for 
which reason I shall describe it all to you in some 
detail. My first slice of good luck was that I 
suddenly found on the plexus chorioideus of a lunatic 
the key to the difficult examinations which I have 
been making for some time on pathological vesicles 
(cysts) which occur in these organs. In this partic- 
ular preparation I discovered with practical cer- 
tainty that these strange occurrences are produced 
by a very peculiar development of the particles of 
the connecting tissues. All my observations which 
had previously remained so enigmatical to me have 
now all at once become clear, and if called upon I 
can very quickly hammer out of it a fairly good 
essay. This was once more a proof of how patience, 
perseverance and pertinacity are essential to the 
attainment of an aim in view. I made these vital 
observations at the very moment when I was quite 
disgusted and desperate about the time and trouble 
I had been expending over it in vain for so long a 
time, and I wanted to abandon it altogether and 
to take up a certain subject instead connected with 
399 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
comparative anatomy, for which, naturally, I have 
much more inclination. It is the more delicate 
microscopic anatomy of the common crayfish, par- 
ticularly of its nervous system, which, moreover, I 
shall pursue all the same, because it is very 
interesting. 
In the evening of Saturday, 19. 7., we, that is to 
say, a group of 120 medical men, gave Virchow a 
ceremonial farewell festivity, a grand supper with 
beer in the “English Garden.” As it soon became 
too chilly in the open air, we had to go indoors and 
there do honor to the ceremonial repast in the very 
nicely decorated hall. When Virchow arrived at 
6.30 he was received with a grand flourish of trum- 
pets by the musicians and with cheers by us. Then 
Beckmann, as chairman of the celebration com- 
mittee, made an extraordinarily good, hearty, and 
well-thought-out speech, after which we presented 
Virchow with our testimonial, a very beautiful, 
magnificent silver goblet, made by Strube in 
Leipzig, and which cost 130 taler. Virchow was 
very much surprised, delighted, and, as far as his 
cold temperament would admit, even touched. He 
replied and returned thanks in a very long, excellent 
speech, in which he explained to us his entire 
scientific and, at the same time, political and 
religious creeds, so very frankly, sincerely and 
freely, that we listened to it with enthusiasm. 
Virchow specially pointed out that his entire scien- 
tific and human effort and thought, his conceptions 
400 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
and aspirations, were solely and only dedicated to 
the bare, naked truth, its unprejudiced recognition, 
and its unaltered diffusion; how he found his entire 
satisfaction in consistently striving after this one 
aim; how he gained thereby many enemies, but 
capable and noble friends as well; and also how he 
will always pursue this way of reckless pure truth 
in future, regardless of hostility. Then he encour- 
aged us, as the studying youth, and specially the 
medical, being those who are occupied with anthro- 
pology, the study of the healthy and the sick man 
in the widest sense, who constitute the only forceful 
element from which a good stock of German men 
filled with truth and strength can ever again be 
recruited, always to persevere in our efforts. Then 
he exhorted us to discard more vigorously all other 
prejudices with which unfortunately we have been 
crammed since our childhood, and to regard things 
simply and naturally as they are. He concluded 
with a description of his entire career to the present 
time, and specially emphasized how much he owed 
to Wurzburg, why the latter was so dear to him, 
and how his experience here will always remain 
cherished and valued by him. In reality, Beck- 
mann’s speech pleased me much the better of the 
two, as not only did he deal with the intellectual 
side and very nicely emphasize Virchow’s brilliant 
merits in the cause of science, but he also admitted 
the right of sentiment to take its share, and 
explained with warmth the great influence Virchow 
401 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
has acquired at the same time over our purely 
human development. With regard to the goblet 
itself, it was, although not large, of very splendid 
and precious workmanship. On the lid there stood 
the figure of Hygeia, with the inscription: “To 
their revered teacher, from his grateful pupils”; 
underneath it a laurel leaf. Around the bowl of the 
goblet were entwined sprays of ivy and vine under 
which was written the quotation from Bacon which 
had been adopted by Virchow as his motto in his 
“Endeavors for Unity”: Homo naturae minister 
et interpres tantum facit et intelligit, quantum de 
naturae ordine re vel mente observaverit, nec amplius 
scit aut potest! very significant of Virchow’s purely 
empirico-realistic tendency . . . 
Of the invited guests, who included all the pro- 
fessors of the University, only about half were 
present, among them, however, one whose presence 
made us terribly angry, and on his part was nothing 
less than a masterpiece of impudence and insolence. 
He was a professor of mathematics, Mayr, formerly 
a Jesuit scholar and Catholic priest, who had not 
only denounced Virchow and Kolliker on several 
occasions on account of their secular observance 
of Sunday, but who also on other occasions had 
shown himself in the most scoundrelly manner to 
be their open as well as their secret enemy. This in- 
famous fellow now had the impertinence to take a 
seat exactly opposite Virchow, although I had twice 
called out to him that it was reserved. This was 
402 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
positively too outrageous, and so I organized a real 
cabal against him, through which I fortunately 
succeeded in driving him away. At first I placed 
myself with several acquaintances immediately in 
front of him, and when he walked about in the hall 
I initiated a regular growl against the Jesuits and 
the ultramontanes, as being men of falsehood and 
hypocrisy. This soon brought him quite beyond 
himself with rage, and completely put him out of 
countenance; but still more so the observations 
which two acquaintances of mine, who had seated 
themselves on either side of him, made to him about 
Virchow’s services in the cause of freedom and 
liberty of thought and belief, etc. Consequently 
he quickly sneaked out, and as he went I still 
shouted after him in the doorway that the best 
thing that ultramontane spies could do was to 
sneak out in good time. Thus our wrath had 
changed to joy. The other uncongenial elements 
soon disappeared and, left to ourselves, we were 
extremely jolly, and the cheerful sound of music 
and the singing of students’ songs brightened us up 
tremendously . . . 
Cn Saturday Kolliker kindly invited me to 
accompany him to Trieste in the autumn vacation, 
in order to observe marine animals there. This is 
indeed a thought which can relegate all other con- 
siderations to the background, and which imme- 
diately fired my imagination so vividly that all my 
good resolutions to devote myself to pathological 
403 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
anatomy, etc., here during the holidays were sud- 
denly scattered to the winds. I would be able to 
accept the very kind and extremely valuable offer 
all the more readily, as Virchow will now probably 
remain here for the greater part of the holidays! 
Yet I shall allow my first terrible excitement to 
cool down to some extent before I speak more about 
it to Kolliker and to Virchow himself. For the 
moment I will only tell you that this is another 
opportunity which can occur to me only once in a 
lifetime, and one that is extremely important for my 
zootomico-histological development! . . . 
Your old faithful Ernst. 
90. Wurzburg, 25. 7.1856. 
Dear parents, 
. . . The days of extreme joy were followed, as 
ever happens as a rule with me, by days of excessive 
misery. Only this time the cause was not, as was 
frequently the case before, merely self-created or 
imaginary but had a very material foundation. 
Already when the good people from Stettin had 
left on Monday morning I did not feel quite well, had 
absolutely no inclination for work (which I thought 
could be explained by the splendid jollification on 
the previous day!) and in fact did nothing all day 
long, and felt very limp and depressed. During the 
night I had a very violent attack of diarrhoea, 
which increased, accompained by the most violent 
pains in the abdomen and feverish shivers, to such 
404 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
an extent that already at 9 o’clock I had to leave 
the School of Anatomy and go home. On the way 
I suddenly became so weak that I could neither 
stand still nor proceed. My chum Dr. Rausch, of 
Speier, a very nice, homely fellow, immediately 
put me to bed and fetched Beckmann and Dr. 
Grohe (my predecessor). All three now held a 
consultation about me, and were soon in agreement 
as to the mode of treatment. They dosed me with 
large quantities of opium (which I had already 
taken in the night) and prescribed hot poultices 
all over the abdomen—as hot as I could bear them. 
Meanwhile the attack had reached such a pitch as 
I had never experienced before. From 10 till 11.30 
I was in continual agony, to such a degree that I 
writhed about like a worm, and without a moment’s 
rest was lying in the most violent state of convul- 
sions. Combined with it, in spite of double bed- 
covering, I shivered all over my body. At last, 
toward midday, the cramps decreased to a con- 
siderable extent as the result of the continuous 
application of the poultices, which at first were 
very painful. As a consequence of the strong doses 
of opium, the very violent diarrhoea also stopped 
in the afternoon. At 1 o’clock, after the course 
was over, I was visited by Virchow, who, instead 
of the pure tincture of opium, prescribed Dover’s 
powders and ordered the hot poultices to be con- 
tinued. However, my stomach was so inflamed 
that as soon as I had taken the second powder I 
405 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
began to vomit violently, for which reason I left 
off the powders and returned to the pure opium. 
Toward evening the violence of the attack had 
passed over, but I was so completely done up and 
exhausted that I lay motionless in a kind of stupor, 
and was so completely indifferent to everything 
around me that I could neither think nor do any- 
thing. I can only remember that before evening 
I fell into a deep and sound sleep, and that I awoke 
the next morning at 8 o’clock absolutely bathed in 
perspiration; but, although very weak and run 
down, I felt comparatively bright and clear in my 
head. As it was very warm and fine in the after- 
noon I was allowed to get up for a little while and 
walk about. Yet I was still so much done up that 
I could scarcely walk or stand up, much less work. 
Also yesterday (Thursday) I was still totally 
incapable of doing anything, and tried to get 
gradually accustomed to some extent to my ordinary 
way of life. It is only to-day that I am completely 
recovered, and am more fresh, lively, and fit and 
ready for work than on any other day before this 
happened. I have so minutely and accurately 
described the whole story to you, because it is an 
excellent contribution to the theory of my system, 
which, bodily as well as mentally, always seems 
to love extremes, and to jump suddenly from one 
to the other. I have surely inherited a good deal 
of my terrible nervous irritability and reflex excit- 
ability from my dear old mother, who is also so 
406 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
very frequently tormented by her “ nerves!” What 
was really the actual cause of the whole affair, the 
learned doctors are not even now united in their 
opinions: probably a serious error in my diet (of 
which I am not at all conscious), or a terrible cold 
(which I could only have caught on Sunday during 
a trip on the water). Their unanimous diagnosis 
amounted to: rheumatic cholic, with a sharp 
catarrh of the intestines. As for the rest, my 
acquaintances were all very friendly and attentive, 
particularly Dr. Grohe, who made me feel quite 
embarrassed by his kindness. My landlady also 
nursed me very kindly, and Virchow’s sympathy 
actually took me by surprise. I had visitors nearly 
all day long, and almost continually there was one 
or another to look after me! I would not have 
thought that people could show such extraordinary 
sympathy toward me. Subsequently I was much 
chaffed about the whole affair, because the entire 
feverish attack was confidently attributed in causa 
nexus to the presence of my two amiable cousins, 
on whose account I have had to put up with much 
banter one way and another, from my acquaintances 
as well as from Kolliker and Virchow; but, never- 
theless, they made me very happy last Sunday! . . . 
Now that I have regained my strength, the most 
important thing that is running in my head and 
occupies my thoughts more than anything else, 
is my journey to Trieste. In the meantime I have 
talked to Kolliker about it, and the idea seems to 
407 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
to take a very good shape. Kolliker intends to go 
with Heinrich Muller (from here) in the middle of 
September to Vienna for the meeting of naturalists 
(which will last from about the 16th till the 22nd of 
September), and from there for several weeks to 
Trieste, in order to observe marine creatures there 
(quite an excellent habitat, where Johannes Muller 
has made many of his most important discoveries). 
I need not say how exceedingly welcome in every 
way the frequently repeated and most friendly 
proposal made by Kolliker that I shall accompany 
him has been to me, and what extraordinary fruit 
this splendid opportunity will bear for me. I will 
only add the one thing that the plan can be excel- 
lently combined with the conditions prevailing here: 
that is to say, Virchow will only leave at the 
beginning of the holidays, and at the end of Septem- 
ber, just when I would be in Trieste, he will be 
here and will not be in need of me then, because 
his successor will also have arrived. But the whole 
question is still too remote for me to write more 
about it in detail now. If it should happen that 
there will be another recurrence of cholera in 
Trieste, Kolliker will go instead to Nice, where 
probably I would not be able to follow him, for 
pecuniary as well as for other reasons. If, however, 
our Trieste plans should be realized, I would most 
fervently beg you, dearest parents, to grant me the 
permission and the means to undertake this journey 
of four weeks, the reasons for which I shall not 
408 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
waste any more words upon now, as they will 
surely be quite obvious to you . . . 
With hearty love, your old Ernst. 
91. Wurzburg, 8. 1856. 
Dear parents, 
. . . How much would I like to be with you, 
especially as just now a thorough relaxation from 
my former conditions appears to be more and more 
urgent in order to keep me going, mentally and 
physically. For the last three months of the summer 
have been extremely useful in every way, and 
hitherto I have had no cause to regret that I have 
sacrificed the whole of the summer to this position. 
First of all, I have penetrated ex fundamento into 
pathological anatomy, to which I have now almost 
exclusively devoted myself for a year and a half 
under the guidance of Virchow, more than I shall 
probably require for my special purposes, and more 
than is requisite for an average medicus. Through 
the constant, although certainly not agreeable but 
extremely instructive and enlightening personal 
association with Virchow, I have profited to such 
an extraordinary degree, not only in my special 
scientific but also in my general human training, 
that, indeed, I believe that I have essentially 
improved and that I have overcome many bad 
habits and eccentricities. In spite of all that, how- 
ever, I do not believe that it is worth my while to 
occupy this position any longer. First of all, I 
409 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
have no intention whatever of making pathological 
anatomy my favorite study, which for the whole 
of my future will rather be “scientific zoology,” 
that is to say, comparative anatomy and histology. 
But, secondly, I also see that after I have now 
mastered the most essential parts of it, a further 
study of it would in no way be worth either the time 
or the trouble which such a specialization would 
require. As a matter of fact, there is an immense 
number of very tedious things connected with my 
office; for instance, the constant scribbling down 
of protocols, diaries, descriptions of post-mortems, 
etc., which only outweigh, to a small extent, the 
great collateral advantages of training and increase 
of knowledge. Finally, it is really high time for 
me once more to approach medicine from another 
and more practical side, in view of the State exam- 
ination (in the winter of ’57-’58). Therefore, under 
no condition shall I continue to hold the position 
of assistant to Virchow in Berlin. Moreover, the 
question will be settled of its own accord in this 
direction and with Virchow’s approbation, the con- 
ditions there being altogether different and on a 
much wider scale! In reality, Virchow will not 
directly have any assistant there but his own 
prosector, and the latter will only then select his 
assistant. Since I have begun to grow tired of 
pathological anatomy, and since the dissections, 
so interesting at first, become on the whole very 
tedious to me by reason of their monotony and 
410 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
constant repetition, I am now quite glad that I 
shall at last have done with it, and am heartily 
rejoicing that once more I can work completely 
con amore all through the winter in my nice little 
study, and be able thoroughly to fill out the many 
theoretical gaps in my medical knowledge. What 
destroys my pleasure now more than anything else 
in my continued sojourn in old Wurzburg, to which 
by the way I am extremely grateful for my three 
years’ apprenticeship, is the restless love of wander- 
ing, just as happens with the migratory birds, 
which awakes regularly every year at the beginning 
of the autumn holidays. Since Kolliker made me 
the delightful offer, the rambling spirit, which 
previously had been suppressed by a great effort, 
has powerfully taken possession of me, and now my 
entire and sole thought is concentrated on the sea 
and its numerous and marvelous inhabitants. I 
have now turned my back upon pathological anat- 
omy, to which I had dedicated my entire service 
for three months, and the dissections, etc., are only 
still performed by me with official diligence but 
without any special interest. I was really sur- 
prised and, at the same time, glad to see what a 
slight impetus was necessary to carry me completely 
back again to my dear old inclinations and favorite 
occupations. But I must now employ all the rest 
of my time before the journey in preparing myself 
as thoroughly as possible for it. The definite deci- 
sion as to the actual place to which we shall go 
411 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
will only be made in a fortnight’s time. On the 
same day that I received your last direct dear letter, 
in which you, dearest father, promised, with 
the most liberal kindness, to provide me with the 
traveling money not only for Trieste but also for 
Nice, Kolliker said that probably he would not go 
to Vienna and Trieste, but to Nice, and asked me all 
the more cordially and urgently to accompany him 
to this even far more interesting place. At first 
I was very much surprised, because, in reality, I 
had not seriously thought of Nice, a journey to 
which place seemed far too expensive and splendid 
for me. But the more I thought about it, the more 
attractive and full of promise Kolliker’s plan and 
proposal appeared to me, and when I had finally 
skimmed once again through Vogt’s Ocean and 
Mediterranean my plan was quickly and definitely 
decided upon. The latter work is very well adapted 
to awaken in every reader, although at first he 
might not be as enthusiastic about nature as I am, 
the greatest longing for this garden of Paradise of 
Europe, and in specie this choice resort of its most 
select and most varied marine creatures. It is 
natural that the impression it has made upon me 
with its charming zoological descriptions of nature 
has been all the greater, and already last year, when 
this book first came into my hands, and I repeatedly 
read it over and over again, it excited in me such a 
longing for this spot on the shores of the Mediter- 
ranean, so full of these most delightful, most mag- 
412 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
nificent wonders of nature, that I contemplated it 
to be the highest happiness if I should some day 
be allowed to observe and make researches there 
for some time. I did not guess that there would 
be so speedy a realization of this thought, and for 
this reason, when now the fulfilment actually seemed 
to take shape, the prospect of it appeared to me to 
be so problematical that in the first days the whole 
thing struck me as being nothing more than a 
beautiful dream. It was only quite gradually that 
I could accustom my thoughts to it, and accord- 
ingly change my plans for the autumn holidays 
which I had thought I would be compelled to drag 
out here. If everything turns out as we have so 
far planned, I shall start from here on about the 
8th or 9th September, shall go, via Frankfort, 
Bale, Berne, to Vevey, where I shall pick up 
Kolliker, who will already start for there in a week’s 
time. Then we intend to go, via the St. Bernard or 
Mont Cenis, to Turin, and over the Col di Tenda 
to Nice, where we shall study with our microscopes 
for over four weeks. From there Kolliker and 
Heinrich Muller will go to Paris, while I intend to 
direct my homeward journey via Genoa, Novara, 
Lago Maggiore, Spliigen, Chur, Lake of Constance, 
Augsburg, etc. What a great pity it is that the 
limited time will compel me to hasten through the 
magnificent Swiss country at such a pace! How 
beautifully and comfortably could this route 
be combined with a delicious Swiss journey! 
413 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
But unfortunately this is impossible, and I 
have to reserve that pleasure for some future 
time . . . 
Kolliker and, particularly, Heinrich Muller him- 
self, who has been several times in Nice, have 
assured me that life there in summer is relatively 
cheap, a franc for a room, 2 to 3 francs a day for 
food, which, therefore, comes to about a taler; on 
the whole that would be considerably cheaper than 
in Heligoland. It is only in the winter (from 
November), when Nice is overcrowded with swarms 
of consumptive Englishmen, that it becomes very 
expensive. Thus the chief expense would fall on 
the long journey to and fro. But you are aware that 
in this I am so little extravagant and know so well 
how to curtail my expenses, as can only be expected 
of a German student without means, that summa 
summarum the six weeks’ journey would, at the 
utmost, cost about 150 taler. But I can still send 
you further details about this. If this sum should 
appear to you to be too large, I ask you, dear 
parents, to consider that this will be the last 
journey that will be allowed to me for several 
years, because next year there will be the State 
examination, and 1858, the military year, will 
chain me to Berlin. Likewise, I promise you that 
I will try to make up for this great expense by all 
possible economies and curtailments in my life in 
Berlin, where I shall give up all enjoyments with the 
greatest willingness. Finally, there is also to be 
414 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
considered that in addition to the quite extraor- 
dinary delight and joy in nature that the journey 
will afford me, the benefit to my training in special 
science and comparative anatomy and histology 
will be quite immense, and will be out of all propor- 
tion to the relatively small expenditure. That, in 
addition to all this, I shall still have the privilege 
of being introduced into this zoological paradise by 
my widely celebrated and highly esteemed master 
Kolliker, is a happiness which can only blossom 
for me once in such a way, and which has come to 
me just as unexpectedly as it is so greatly desired. 
But enough of this! Otherwise I shall fall again 
into the danger of becoming too enthusiastic and of 
having my nose tweaked by you, dear father, for 
my inclination to fall into extremes. However, 
with regard to the latter I must acknowledge that 
you are absolutely right in your remarks about it. 
Only I believe that this, that is to say, my very 
slight inclination to steer a golden middle course, 
has also for the moment its good side, namely 
during the years of my development (from the 
20th to the 25th year). At least, I see that very 
many of my acquaintances, who have always been 
most careful to steer this middle course, have 
become very average people, and can only produce 
average work. On the other hand, I believe that 
I owe the happy direction which I have recently 
followed, and in which I can now continue further 
to train myself with scientific consciousness, in a 
415 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
great measure to the undoubtedly partial, extreme 
enthusiasm, to the intensity with which I take up 
and pursue all things that really interest me. I 
must also admit that there is much that is injudi- 
cious in this narrow point of view, and Virchow is 
quite right when he calls me the “enthusiastic” 
instead of the “matter-of-fact” observer. More- 
over, through the firm direction which I owe to 
your consistent and religious education, dearest 
parents, I am more protected than others against 
the errors that are involved in such wavering from 
one extreme to another . . . 
Your old Ernst. 
92. Wurzburg, 13. 8. 1856. 
Dear parents, 
. . . The marine fauna of Nice belongs to the 
richest and most remarkable that we know. Not 
only are those species of marine creatures that are 
represented in Heligoland, with their rich, beautiful 
and various species, to be found there, but there 
are also swarms of the many and very peculiar and 
instructive families which are rare or non-existent 
in Heligoland. But to them belong just the most 
peculiar of all the invertebrate animals, above all 
the magnificent Siphonophores,or swimming polyps, 
then the Salpes, the innumerable army of ink-fish, 
or Cephalopods, the ribbed jelly-fish, a selection of 
the most wonderful fish, crabs and shells, the 
Pteropods, etc., etc., in short, in this respect, Nice 
416 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
is the universally recognized paradise of the scien- 
tific zoologist. That I shall now be introduced to 
this overwhelming profusion, in which I can only 
find my way with difficulty, by the aid of an expe- 
rienced scientist who already knows all these forms 
thoroughly, that, besides that, this mentor will be 
my highly esteemed master Kolliker, to whom I 
owe the foundation of the whole of my anatomical 
education, that I shall be allowed to absorb while 
yet a student these impressions with the most sen- 
sitive mind of a youth, is, indeed, such good fortune 
as but rarely occurs, and which I could only have 
imagined in a dream. Another of the chief advan- 
tages that a stay in Nice would bring me would be 
the attainment of material for an essay on zootomy, 
which would be very agreeable to me. That there 
will be no lack of material there is self-evident. I 
will say nothing about the extraordinary enjoyment 
of nature which I would also have in Nice, one of 
the most magnificent spots on the shores of the 
Mediterranean, with its prolific southern vegetation 
and marine flora, because it does not come into 
consideration, although I might well deserve it after 
a whole summer of difficult pathologico-anatomical 
work! I would only like still to mention the 
great advantages which my body, being in great 
need of relaxation after the atmosphere of the 
rooms, would derive, especially from the delicious 
sea bathing. . . 
Your faithful old Ernst. 
417 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
93. Wurzburg, 22. 8. 1856. 
Dear parents, 
Naturally I am now living here in a semi- 
moribund condition, because with at least one half 
of my thoughts I am only in Nice, and with 
the Mediterranean Salpes, Pteropods, Cephalopods, 
Pyrosomes, Holothuries, Siphonophores, etc., and 
many other magnificent creatures which I have 
never seen, fished, caught, admired, dissected, 
observed through the microscope, etc., in Heligo- 
land. I can scarcely abide the time till I can enter 
this zoological paradise. Often everything appears 
to me only like a dream, and all the greater is my 
joy when I assure myself that it shall indeed be 
realized. To-morrow Muller also leaves, so that 
I am now absolute autocrat of the School of 
Anatomy . . . 
Yesterday I received a very nice letter from 
Lachmann, who sends you his best compliments. 
Johannes Muller is also going to the Mediterranean, 
probably to Marseilles, perhaps to Nice as well. 
It would be too magnificent if we were to meet this 
most divine of all natural scientists there! . . . 
Your old Ernst. 
94. Wurzburg, 27. 8. 1856. 
Dearest parents, 
... I have not yet settled the day of my depar- 
ture, and shall arrange it according to whether you 
come here or not. If you really abandon your visit 
418 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
to Wiirzburg, as you have distinctly said you would 
in your last letter, I would leave here already on 
the 5th or 6th September with Dr. Kunde, who 
will wait for me till then. We would then travel 
by Bale and the Biel and Neuchatel lakes to 
Lausanne, where I could stay for a few days on the 
magnificent Lake of Geneva. This would be espe- 
cially agreeable to me, for the reason that Claparede, 
who has urgently requested me to pay him a visit 
at his beautiful country seat Clermont, near Geneva, 
is there now. This would also afford me an oppor- 
tunity of having a closer look at some beautiful 
places through which I would otherwise have to 
fly. It is said that this part of Switzerland, and 
in particular the Lake of Geneva, is so charming 
that I would very much like to do this. However, 
I ask you urgently under no condition to be diverted 
from your visit to Wurzburg in case you would 
still like to visit me here on the 6th or 7th September. 
In that event I would only leave here on the 8th, as 
I am not obliged to be in Vevey before the 11th if 
I am to leave there with Kolliker on the 12th. I 
shall probably see the Lake of Geneva, Geneva, 
Lausanne, etc., on some later occasion, and natu- 
rally, you know what pleasure your visit would 
give me . . . 
Now, farewell, you old Wurzburg! Now, for the 
last time, farewell! How often have I already said 
to myself: “Farewell, for the last time!” And I 
have always returned. But this time it would have 
419 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUTH 
to be a very remarkable circumstance if I were to see 
the old place again, that is to say, to remain here 
for any length of time. It is here that I have first 
become a man, a physician, a natural scientist; 
here I have made the acquaintance of, and have 
learned how to explore the most precious depart- 
ments of our magnificent science! Here I have 
found the best friends and masters; it is only here 
that I have learned to come out of myself and step 
forth into life! A thousand thanks to you, old 
Wurzburg! Never shall I forget these services I 
owe you, although often you have given me bitter 
and most depressing lessons! . . . 
I greet you in the heartiest manner, 
Your grateful, most loving, old young Ernst. 
THE END 
420