He spent fome time at the public school, where he was foon diftinguished for uncommon abilities. He exhibited his theme in Greek, when Latin only was prefcribed, and, before the ufual age, he paffed through his claffical examinations.

Eighteen months were spent in the trammels of fo tedious a mode of education. Haller then obtained permiffion to vifit a school-fellow, whofe father lived at Bienne. He was an eminent phyfician, but enthufiaftically attached to the fyftems of Defcartes. Conformable to thefe tenets were the inftructions which his youthful gueft received. Poetry, however, was preferred to philofophy, and he wrote feveral poems, which he faved, at the rifque of his life, when the houfe at which he refided had taken fire; and congratulated himself that he could fo preferve, what he then deemed inestimable treasures.

The fictions of poetry, however, were foon difcarded, and philofophy occupied his mind without a rival; and fo matured was his judgement, that he refolutely condemned to the flames thofe very productions, which but twelve months before, he had fo hazardously refcued. Among thefe poems were feveral fatires. This fpecies of compofition feemed to have been well adapted to Haller's genius. As he advanced in life, however, his knowledge of human nature, and his natural goodnefs of heart taught him that a virtuous man fhould rarely employ punishment which cannot correct.

The bent of Haller's difpofitions had ftrongly urged him to the contemplation of nature. In order, therefore, to purfue this favourite object, he determined to devote himself to the study of phyfic. By this choice he was not precluded from offices in the ftate, though the occupation did not lead to them; as the government of Berne admit the afeful and learned profeffions, though they confine their offices to a fixed number of families.

In 1723 he went to Tubingen, and, under Camerarius and Duvernoi, profecuted his ftudies with unabated ardour. At fixteen years of age, he began his travels; his difguft for wine,

which was occafioned by his witneffing the exceffes of the students at Tubingen, restrained him within due bounds, and prevented the dangers, which might have rendered deftructive the liberty which he enjoyed at that early period.

He arrived at Leyden in May, 1725, where Boerhaave then divided his time between medical confultations and academical lectures. This great man had, about fifteen months before, recovered from an illnefs, of which the hiftory can fcarcely be read without horror.

For five months he lay on his back in bed, without daring to attempt any motion. "The leaft effort renewed his torments (fays his biographer) which were fo exquifite, that he was at length not only deprived of motion, but of fenfe." This recovery, which had been ardently defired, was celebrated with general joy, and public illuminations.

Boerhaave foon difcovered the rare abilities of his fcholar, who found not only a profeffor of talents the most flendid, but every concomitant afkftance that could encourage ftudents, and invite their application.

He was foon, however, obliged to take a journey, for the recovery of his health, into lower Germany. He was not long abfent from Leyden, and, at his return, took the degree of doctor of Phyfic. In his thefis, which was eminently ingenious, he expofed Cowitz's pretended difcovery of a falivary duct; and confuted it by diffections of brutes and human bodies.

He went to England in 1727, and formed an intimacy with Sir Hans Sloane, whofe natural collections were then an object of univerfal attention. He became acquainted with Plumtree, Chefelden, and Douglas, whofe profeflional abilities were then highly diftinguished.

After vifiting Oxford, he paffed over to France. His refidence at Paris was of fhort duration, for a neighbour informed against him, on account of the offenfiveness of a body which Haller was diffecting. He apprehended that the laws against thofe who take up

dead

dead bodies extended to the anatomists, and left a country in which he fuppofed every inquirer into fcientific truths was expofed to imminent danger.

In order to fhun this fcrutinizing obfervation, he went to Bafil, and ftudied mathematics, under John Bernoulli, that he might enable him.elf, by this science, to avoid reasoning on mechanical principles, with refpect to medicine. He also applied himself to botany, which he had hitherto avoided from averfion, and cultivated it with fuch fuccefs, that he formed the plan of a book on this fubject, when he was fcarcely acquainted with the moft common plant. This work he afterwards completed and publifhed under the title of Enumeratio Methodica Stirpium Helvetia Indigenarum, &c.

When Haller had reached his twenty-fecond year, he returned to his native country, and refolutely purfued the plans which he had formerly adopted. The fciences were not much cultivated, and his affiduity frequently provoked raillery. But, as Benedict fays, in Much Ado about Nothing: "A college of witcrackers could not flout him out of his humour."-He was too feriously engaged in fcientific purfuits to difmifs them flightly. He was too firmly attached to literature and philofophy, to fuffer ridicule to damp the ardour of his refearches.

Poetry was now again in favour, and Haller drew his ideas from nature, fuch as he had obferved her, amidst the ceafelefs fnows of the Alpine mountains. He fometimes inveftigated mathematical and moral queftions in his poems. Sometimes defcribed the fweets of a rural life, the bleflings of friendship, and the raptures of virtuous fociety. Sometimes he paints Vice in her proper colours: Vice,

"That to be hated needs but to be feen."

Sometimes, he pours his anathemas against hypocrify, and intolerance, while his defcriptions of religion, render her at once attractive, and an object of reverence.

To the influence of Haller's two friends, Mr. Stahalin, afterwards profeffor at Bafil, and Mr. Gefner, pro

feffor and canon of Zurich, the world are indebted, for his return to the mufes. Thefe poems were foon tranflated into French. Philofophy and poetry appeared in the clofeft union, and Europe with aftonishment perufed the productions of a poet, who was a German and a physician.

Thefe ftudies, however, were only admitted to relieve his mind, when it was harraffed with long and laborious anatomical difquifitions. They did not prevent his laying the foundations of that vaft extent of knowledge, which comprehended almost every fpecies of fcience. Neither the viciffitudes of fortune, at a more advanced period of life, nor any embarraffment in his affairs, could divert his attention from the allurements of science. His memory was retentive, and he accuftomed himfelf to exactnefs of arranging. He extracted, when he read, whatever appeared of confequence, and treasured up the various difcoveries of every age, and every nation.

A natural defect in his eyes was an impediment to his progrefs in his favourite ftudy of botany. In the years 1730 and 1736 he vifited the highest mountains of Jura and the Alps: he climbed up the Glaciers; with great fatigue and imminent danger and in his botanical excurfions he travelled though feveral of the marshes and plains of Switzerland. During these journeys, his refearches were not confined to botany. He attended, with equal ardour, to mineralogy, zoology, and to all the other branches of natural hiftory.

So numerous were Haller's protectors, fo powerful were his friends, and fo univerfally acknowledged was the fuperiority of his talents, that in 1734 a public amphitheatre was eftablished by the republic of Berne, in which he taught anatomy. He was appointed phyfician to the hofpital; he was honoured with the care and arrangement of the public library, and the cabinet of medals. Thefe, he catalogued, examined, and fet in order, during the firft year of his appointment.

His own country, however, was not alone to reap the advantages of his extraordinary

traordinary abilities. King George II. established a botanical, anatomical, and furgical profefforfhip, in the Univerfity of Gottingen, and conferred it on Haller, whofe labours he justly imagined would promote, in the higheft degree, the profperity of that feminary. He accepted the royal gift, and with his wife and three children left Berne, his native country, in which his youth,. at prefent, was a bar to his receiving any very lucrative state employment.

The hopes, however, of fecuring an early independence, were not his only motives for removing to Gottingen. His fatires were not forgotten, though they had been committed to the flames. His anatomical researches would be lefs confined, and the avenues to fcience more numerous, in fuch an univerfity. He, therefore, determined to remove from Berne, and take poffeffion of the profefforfhip.

His journey was fatiguing and tedious. His own health was infirm: he was a ftranger to the country: the diftance was great, and children are not eafily conveyed. Juft at his arrival, the carriage was overturned, and his beloved Marianne, whofe perfonal attractions had engaged his heart before marriage, as her fweetnefs of difpofition had enfured it afterwards, died in confequence of fome injury which the received by this accident.

Haller did not immediately recover this fhock: his friends and relations were at a distance. He was in a land of fuangers. At length, however, the rectitude of his mind taught him to fearch for confolation in literary fociety, in feientific difquifitions, and in pu:fuing the dictates of religion. is colleagues focn difcovered that common report had not beflowed fuch ample plaifes on him without foundation. They exerted their utmost efforts to divert his melancholy; and Mr. Huber, a man of great learning and extenfive knowledge, was invited to Gottingen, by the regency of Hanover, in order to afft him in his firft effays.

The employment of a profetor of phyfic is a very laborious employment. He ought to watch every important difcovery, and attend to the progrefs of

medicinal preferiptions in every difeafe. All his knowledge fhould be founded on experience. The delicacy of the human frame is foon disturbed, and in phyfic, uncertainty is never safe, and errors are always dangerous.

To his pupils, he thould not merely give public lectures. He should attend then in their private ftudies. Their difpofitions fhould be accurately known; their faculties fhould be carefully weighed. His admonitions thould fpur the indolent, and retrain the incautious flights of the ardent and fpeculative. To his difciples his time fhould be devoted, and the promotion of their advantage fhould awaken his application.

In faint colours we have defcribed the office of a profeffor, but from this picture our readers may form fome idea of the manner, in which Haller was employed at Gottingen. His duties were important, and his labours were unremitted. During this period, his moft elaborate performances were compofed, his literary reputation was eftablished, and his name immortalized.

He now chofe PHYSIOLOGY as the principal object of his ftudies. It had long been degraded by unmeaning fyftems, and clogged with an unintelligible jargon of terms. Haller, however, was an accurate and profound natural philofopher, and he did not allow that he fully comprehended every part of this extenfive branch of medicine, till he had spent thirty years in laborious refearches, and in a numerous body of memoirs had difcuffed very fully every queftion of difficulty and importance that related to refpiration, the circulation of the blood, the formation of the bones, and generation.

To his first edition, he gave the humble title of Effay. In this work, he examined the opinions of every author, concerning phyfiology. Several he rejected, feveral he explained more fully, but upon all he did not decide. This book is in the hands of every physician and naturalift. io give an

account of it would be ufelefs. To attempt criticifm would border upon temerity.

The publication of this work forms the era of a revolution in anatomy.

Haller's

Haller's difciples boafted that phyfiology was no longer fubfervient to the wildnefs of metaphyfical notions: it was established by facts, and verified by experiment.

This book was attacked by feveral authors. In all his difputes he conducted himself with a candour equal to his abilities. He was, however, very poignantly chagrined by Lametrie, who jocularly formed a fyftem of materialifm, upon his difcoveries refpecting a property in animated nature, which he named irritability. From his infancy, his religious principles had been untainted, and he obferved with horror, that he was held up to the eyes of the world as an abettor of materialifm. He wrote an answer, to which his antagonist replied. Haller then prepared a long and elaborate refutation, which he was going to publish, when Lametrie died; and he then difcovered that his delicacy had made him the dupe of irony.

Haller's lectures were not confined to anatomy. He taught alfo botany, and formed a catalogue of the plants in the phyfical garden at Gottingen. His fyftem was original, though he occafionally adopted the divifions of Tournefort, Linnæus, and Juffieu. He juftly confidered facility as the firft and grand object, and to this he frequently facrificed regularity and uniformity.

In order to ease the labour of students, and to direct their judgement, he formed a project of four bibliothecas: I. Anatomy. II. Botany. III. Surgery. IV. The Practice of Medi

cine.

In each of thefe he propofed giving a comprehenfive lift of books; an account of their objects, and the new information they contained; with an opinion of the confidence which each author deferved. His firft effay appeared in a commentary on the method of ftudying Boerhaave's fyftem of medicine, in which he diftinguifhed the merits of a variety of writers, both living and dead, by a greater or fmaller number of atterifks prefixed to the title of each performance.

Haller by this ftep hazarded his repofe and his importance. He was, LOND. MAG. Sept. 1783.

however, fenfible of the utility of his plan, and did not hesitate. He difcovered, in the execution of this work, great critical abilities. His mind was correct: his ideas were well arranged: his opinions were expreffed with propriety and concifenefs.

The Gottingen review of new publications had been fome time established. Haller approved of the work, and undertook in it feveral very im portant departments. In the whole circle of medical fcience, in natural hiftory, phyfic, chemistry, metallurgy, and economics, he reviewed the different articles. To which he added, accounts of voyages and travels, examinations of the tranfactions of the various academies and focieties for the promotion of literature and philofophy, and criticifms on hiftorical writings.

His erudition was here difplayed with new fplendor, and the reputation which he had acquired by his original works was augmented by the diverfified learning which he difplayed in this literary journal.

A mutual fondnefs for the fciences was the foundation of a steady friendfhip between Baron de Munchaufen, prime minifter in the electorate of Hanover, and Haller; from which the latter always found protection and affiftance, and the former derived the moft rational pleasure.

This friendly intercourfe was productive of very folid advantages to the Univerfity of Gottingen. For, during Haller's refidence in that feminary, the King of Great-Britain established a fchool for furgery: an academy of fciences: an hofpital for lying-in women, in which, the art of midwifery was taught: and a fchool for defign, where the pupils delineated all the objects of natural hiftory. Befides thefe, a collection was formed of anatomi cal preparations.

Ey Haller's follicitation, the regency of Gottingen erected a formed church for the ufe of the profeffors and ftudents of the proteftant perfuafion; and under his care the building was erected. He promoted the plan of fending the ingenious Mr. Mylius to America, for the purpose of making

E e

obfervations

obfervations and forming collections. Several princes, and numberlefs literary men were engaged in the fcheme; but the death of this young man defeated their defigns.

His Britannic Majefty procured for him the rank of a noble of the empire. He was created a baron, but he declined the title. In Switzerland, fuch honours are branded, as badges of vanity, though the diftinction might have proved advantageous to his family, if he had continued at Gottingen.

During his refidence at the univerfity, he enjoyed the public regard in a high degree. He faw his efforts for eftablishing the reputation of the feminary fucceed beyond his wishes. His fame was rendered immortal by his productions; and new difcoveries continually rewarded his affiduity, and foothed his labour.

In domeftic life, however, he was not fo fortunate. He loft two wives: the first, upon his arrival at Gottingen; the fecond a few months after their marriage. Another trial proved more fortunate. His third lady attended him in his laft illnefs, and furvived him.

The love of his country, that amor patrice which is never extinguished in the breaft of a Swifs, and his bad health, after feventeen years absence, made him refolve, in the year 1753, to return, and end his days at Berne. He had vifited his native fpot in 1745, when he was elected a member of the Sovereign Council, which enabled him to fill feveral offices in the government.

In the first year of his return, he was elected a magiftrate by lot: a mode of choice which prevails at Berne. He was now in a new ftation, but in it his knowledge proved of eminent fer

vice.

During his magiftracy, the falt works were brought to perfection. He attended the hofpital for Orphans: he Taid a plan for a fchool, in which the children of the rich might be qualified for offices of the republic. He prevailed on the government of Berne to augment the appointments of the clergy, that they might, in fome mcafure, be independent, and be able to aflift

the poor, as well as adminifter fpiritual confolations. He was himfelf intrufted with the diftribution of these increafed falaries.

At Berne there is a council of health, who attend the common people during illness. Haller employed his influence to regulate the laws of this affociation, and attempted to render ineffectual the innovations of a fet of empirics, who are known in Switzerland by the name of Meiges.

Haller, for fome time, had a feat in the Supreme Confiftory, and in the Chamber of Appeals for the German part of the canton; and, during the troubles at Geneva, he was appointed with three others of the Grand Council to affift the fecret council of state. He employed his pen alfo in the public fervice, He drew up feveral memorials: he wrote the Directory for preventing the epidemic diforder among the horned cattle, and was author of the methods for recovering those who were apparently drowned or fuffocated.

During his public occupations, he formed a regular and complete system of political economy, part of which he delivered to the world in three romances. In the firft, he defcribed a nation made happy by the wifdom of a virtuous, though abfolute monarch. In the fecond, the nobles and people were fuppofed to have a fhare in the government, while the fovereign held the balance between their different interefts. The third formed the picture of an aristocracy. The defcription of the democracy fhould have filled a fourth work; but it may reasonably be conjectured, that Haller was afraid of alarming that fpirit of government which prevails at Berne, and on this account never completed his plan.

The duties of the magistrate, however, did not refrain the refearches of the philofopher, or confine the fervices of the phyfician. Haller ftill continued his phyfiological labours: arranged his bibliothecas, and began to collect his works, that had been feattered under fuch a variety of titles. He wrote the articles on medicine, anatomy, and phyfiology, in the fupplement to the Encyclopedic. He fre

quently