Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 37.djvu/270

258 the humanitarian courses in the pro-gymnasium of his native village, and thence, for the completion of his studies, to the Jesuit College at Cologne. His lively intelligence and assiduity attracted the attention of all his teachers. He exhibited a marked predilection for mathematical and scientific studies, especially in physics.

He was still undecided as to the career he should choose, when he enrolled himself, in October, 1829, in the class in philosophy at Bonn. His family were deeply religious, and would have been glad to see him become a clergyman like his elder brother Peter, who died in 1881, Professor of Theology and honorary canon at Frauenburg. Therefore he began with a mixed course, including metaphysical and logical studies, along with those in mathematics and science. The latter branches in the end absorbed all his attention, and he decided to study medicine.

He became the pupil of the anatomist and physiologist Johann Müller, and that fixed his destiny. Müller, with a full appreciation of Schwann's abilities, made him an associate in his labors, and they experimented together on the motor and sensitive roots of the spinal nerves, and on the coagulation of the blood. Having passed the philosophical and scientific examinations at Bonn, Schwann went to Würzburg, where he passed three semesters, and then removed to Berlin to complete his studies and go through his final examinations. He found Müller here again, as Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, and under his direction performed the investigation on the necessity of oxygen to the development of the embryo in the hen's egg, on which was based his inaugural dissertation on receiving the degree of doctor of medicine.

Müller, insisting upon Schwann's following a scientific career, had him appointed in 1834 aid at the Anatomical Museum, of which he was director. The position was an extremely modest one, and not at all pleasant. The late Director of the Berlin Museum, Peters, speaks of having seen Schwann at work for whole days scraping the fins of a giant ray while preparing its skeleton; and many of the specimens in the zoölogical collections bear witness to the conscientious care with which he performed this monotonous work. The five years which Schwann spent here with Müller were a period of intense application, marked by a succession of discoveries. All the great works which illustrate his name date from this epoch.

A characteristic portrait of Schwann as he appeared at this time has been drawn by Henle, who passed several years under the same roof with him. He says: "He was a man of stature below the medium, with a beardless face, an almost infantine and always smiling expression, smooth, dark-brown hair, wearing a